Self immolations in Tamil Nadu when ADMK supremo Jayalalitha was arrested raised a lot of questions. This was certainly not the first instance. A similar account can be found in the Wikipedia page on MGR "His death sparked off a frenzy of looting and rioting all over the state... The police had to resort issuing shoot-at-sight orders. Tamilians from Bangalore rushed to Madras in trains to see the mortal remains of MGR. Government had announced free train facility for this visit. The violence during the funeral alone left 29 people dead and 47 police personnel badly wounded. This state of affairs continued for almost a month across Tamil Nadu. Around one million people followed his remains, around 30 followers committed suicide and people had their heads tonsured"
Why emotions carve the political landscape in Tamilnadu?
Language plays a major role in the way we think and behave much more than we give it credit for.
A few years back, I read a study by Lera Broditsky, Professor in Stanford on how language determines thought process, values, knowledge, and behavior. HOW DOES OUR LANGUAGE SHAPE THE WAY WE THINK?
Her research includes her experience with Kuuk Thaayorre, a tribe in Australia. Their language has a lot of spatial words that are imperative to constructing a sentence (Equivalent to 'Move your cup to south, south west', 'Your north-west leg' etc). This forces them to stay alert on spatial attributes because they cannot communicate without that. She found them to have a very high level of spatial cognition.
Broditsky conducted an experiment asking people to arrange shuffled pictures to show temporal progression (E.g. a man aging). She found that native English speakers arranged the pictures from left to right and Hebrew speakers tend to arrange the pictures from right to left. People from the tribe Kuuk Thaayorre arranged the pictures from east to west. That is, when they were seated facing south, the cards went left to right. When they faced north, the cards went from right to left etc. and they were always aware of their spatial orientation.
Tamil as a language encourages valor, sacrifice, loyalty, idealism etc. at the cost of survival. If a native tamil speaker is not exposed to any other language, the language imparts such values with a higher intensity.
Learning a new language or being exposed to other languages has a unique way of balancing us. Allowing our brain to consider different ways of thinking tempers intense beliefs.
Tamilians are fiercely loyal about their language. The unique vocabulary and the values it espouses shape one's thinking. Tamil was my second language in school and I found it intoxicating. The Heroes of Tamil literature valued Courage and Truth above everything else. They were always ready to lay down their life for a cause. Shrewdness was considered cowardice. The followers of the thalaivan (Head) followed him with intense loyalty. Death was the only choice if survival meant dishonor. Tamilians who know additional languages are less intense.
Learning a new language rewires the brain. Hopefully, the new generation of Tamils who are exposed to other languages find a way to rise above jingoism.
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