I have been observing for quite long,that the use of  the letter 'r ' in Tamil for some words in Tamil is sightly different as to what I have known from young.The Internet and Google transcription provides a platform completely free to type and share Tamil Documents and Papers.I have come across many websites and blogs where this ' r ' is typed differently.As for me personally writing a Tamil Novel (possibly in future ), the typed version of this letter ' r ' is different from the printed one that is available as Books.There is a wide variance and many people well versed in Tamil language find this difference to be a little annoying.They see words that completely appear different  although the meaning does not differ much.Surprisingly this can be found only in the letter ' r ' and not in any other letter of from the remaining 17 Tamil consonants.( Tamil Alphabet has 18 consonants, 12 vowels and one character) 

One can notice the difference of  ' r ' (ir , irr) from the above image.During my chat with a few Tamil Blogger in Face Book,I asked them the same question.Though they understood , they could not come with a proper answer and in fact many feel comfortable with  the present Transliterated ' r ' for their blogging.

The letter ' r ' becomes Tamil ' ir' / 'irr' and the letter ' R ' becomes 'itir' / 'itirr' when transliterated .Also from the above picture, you can clearly notice that this happens only for the small letter 'r' .

Recently I came across a paper 'The history of R'  from  the Journal of the American Oriental Society   where in a similar doubt was arised by the use of 'R' in Tamil Linguistics.Though understanding this concept was beyond my knowledge of Linguistics ,I am embedding the same for convince 

Journal of the American Oriental Society © 1937 American Oriental Society

PS : Tamil has always been a powerful and interesting language ..The authors of the Unicode fonts and TSCII fonts have come up with a way of typing Tamil easily in Computer and Mobile Applications.As a ardent lover of Tamil , I have highlighted what I felt was different in using the letter 'R' or 'r' than what I know it when I grew up. 

The purpose of this post is to highlight my own opinion for Tamil Transliteration of the letter 'R' or 'r'Kindly share your thoughts if you feel I am right or wrong.

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Kavadi Aatam is a religious dance offered to Lord Murugan during Pilgrimage mainly by Mens.They literally means dance carrying a kavadi.The Tamils have to walk a long distance on their pilgrimage journey carrying the offerings to the gods. These offerings were tied on both the ends of a long stick, where pots are either filled with milk or coconut water. They should carry them balancing the stick on the shoulders of the pilgrims.The poles or sticks are made from Teak wood, which is known as Purasai. The bamboo strips are bent like a half-moon (huge bow) on the tops covered with a saffron-colored cloth and is richly decorated with peacock feather on the sides as it is believed that the peacock is the vehicle of Sree Subramanya. The dancers twist and spin in a row. A group of such kavadi dancers make a beautiful sight

PalaniMurugan

In order to lessen the pain and boredom on the long journey, they sang devotional songs which is known as Kavadi Sindhu.They sing and they dance balancing a pole and this type of dance is called as Kavai Attam.

In Kerala , Kavadiyattam is widely prevalent in the Subramanya temples all over Kerala during the festival seasons .They use two  two types of kavadis  namely pookavadi whish has clusters of multi-colour paper, cloth or plastic flowers and ambalakavadi , a structured and decorated like temple.The dancers dress up in  bright yellow or saffron costumes and dance to the beats of  percussion instruments like udukku, chenda and nadaswaram .

More Details:

Lord Murugan : He is the second son of Lord Siva and Godess Parvathi after Lord Ganeshan, the famous elephant God.Lord Murugan was born as a power to defeat the demon,Naragasura. Lord Siva opened his forehead eye to create Six Great Fire Sparks that dropped into the holy Ganges. It was then that, Lord Shiva approved six beautiful maidens called 'Karthigai Pengal' (Women of Karthiga) to look after the babies.When the babies attained a certain age Lord Shiva blessed them and made them as one person-Lord Muruga; the divine warrior.There are a lot of special festivals for Lord Murugam.We will see some of them here:

Thai Poosam:
One important is " Thai Pusam ".Thaipusam or Thai Poosam is the Tamil festival observed in Thai month (January – February). This festival is celebrated on the day of star Poosam around Pournami day. Thaipusam commemorates the killing of demon Tharakasuran by Lord Murugan.It is the most special festival since it helps in "Annadanum" known as free offering of food to the poor which is most welcomed and liked by the Lord Murugan.

Panguni Uttiram:
Next, is the Panguni Uttiram.Its again a festival of Lord Murugan on the full-moon day.The name has been derived from the Tamil Year"Panguni" and the auspicious Nakshatria "Uttiram",one of the 26 Nakstra(the twelfth month of the Tamil solar calendar i.e. Panguni (March–April)). So the name"Panguni Uttiram".On Panguni Uthiram, Narayana marries Kamalavalli Naachiyar and give his Kalyana Kola Seva to his Bhakthas. Again, Valmiki's Ramayana says it is on this day and star that Sita's marriage with Rama was celebrated.

The day is intended to underline the glory of grahasta dharma (or the married life of a householder). The Almighty manifests in the marital state as Uma Maheswara, Sita Rama, and Radha Krishna – despite his changelessness, sans childhood or youth or old age. The Lord is indeed a Nitya Kalyana Murthi. It is our duty to celebrate this day when the Lord, in both Shiva and Vishnu temples, appears to devotees in his married state. On Panguni Uthiram, in all places where Lord Subrahmanya has a temple, his devotees carry in a kavadi the requisites for puja for him, in fulfilment of vows. Such vow fulfilment by devotees carrying kavadis is a special feature of Subrahmanya temples wherever they happen to be.(Source:Wiki)

Kanda Sasthi Viradam
Following them, are the festivals of Kanda Sasthi Viradam .The Sashti falling in on the waxing moon period in the Hindu lunar month of Aippasi or Aswin (October-November) is the day on which Lord Muruga is believed to have killed a super-demon called Sura Padman. This is commemorated in the six-day festival of Kanda Sashti as a symbol of perpetual destruction of evil by God. Each of these six days is, by custom, set apart to recite the glory of Lord Muruga from one of the six scriptures in His praise, namely: Tirumurukarruppadai, Kandar Kalivenba, Kandar Anubhuti, Kandar Alankaram, Kanda Sashti Kavacam and Kanda Puranam. Giant-sized images of four demons (asuras) are moved on uplifted chariots, and these are symbolically encountered and destroyed by the Lord.

For this festival only, the deity of Chinnakumarar comes down from the hill temple, kills the demons (asuras) at the corners of the four direction while on a festive procession around the hill, and triumphantly returns to His abode in the hill. This is on the sixth day, i.e., the sashti day. All the other events of the festival take place in the hill temple. On the seventh day, Muruga marries Valli. This divine marriage is celebrated both in the hill temple and in the Periyanayaki Temple.

Conclusion:
The dance"Kavadi Attam " is performed during all the above festivals of Lord Murugan.Sometimes this dance is accompanied by Pambai and Naiyandi Melam.

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OM SARAVANA BHAVA

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Karagattam is a Tamil folk dance associated with the worship of Godess Amman .It involve the balancing of decorated clay or metal pots on the dancers head. They dance with these pots without falling to the rhymtm of music.The uniqueness of this dance form lies in the dexterous handling of pots by the dancers.This dance provides visual treat to the eyes.In today times ,the old mud pots decorated with beautiful arts and once integral part of Karagattam, are now replaced by bronze and stainless steel pots maintaining the inherent aesthetic characteristic of the dance is still as pristine as ever.

Karagatam Suresh

There are two distinct of Karagattam popular among the village peoples

1. Aatta Karagam - It is limited to the premises of sacred temples of Tamil Nadu
2. Sakthi Karagam - It is performed on public platforms for the people

Everyone in Tamil Nadu will remember a popular movie "Karakattakaran" which depicts a life of a person ,the hero who is a karagata artist.The popularity and significance of Karagattam maintains its essence than other forms of Tamilian arts and that is good news for us all.

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Kolattam is an ancient village art which is performed by women only, with two sticks held in each hand, beaten to make a rhythmic sound.  The stick provides the main rhythm and this dance is performed during village festivals.Traditionally, the Kolattam festival is associated with the harvesting season ( October/November) . After sowing paddy, millet and red gram the women sing and dance for the next few days. The  kolattams and the pinal kolattam are danced during the festival celebrating the Karthiga season.

Kollattam

The Kolattam is a combination of rhythmic movements, songs and music.The age group of dancers varies from 8 to 40 and are performed by  8 to 40 artists grouped in pairs.. The artists led by the leader move into two circles moving in and out .The  inner circle groups receives the strikes while the outer circle delivers them according to the rhythm of the sticks.The sound /rhythm of the sticks are itself a music to hear .

Another dance known as  Pinnal Kolattam is danced with ropes which the women hold in their hands, the other of which are tied to a tall pole. With planned steps, the women skip over each other, which forms intricate lace-like patterns in the ropes. As coloured ropes are used, this lace looks extremely attractive. Again, they unravel this lace reversing the dance steps. This is performed for ten days, starting with the Amavasi or Newmoon night after Deepavali.This is also known as pashu kolattam - a form of the kolattam dedicated to Kamadhenu the celestial cow of plenty

Pinnal Kolattam

Kolatam offers a great variety of entertainment to the spectators as well as the dancers.They cheer while they dance.

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Every temple has festivals and dances all around the year.This dance is one such that is performed  in temples during Amman festivals or Navaratri festival. The dance is in praise of all female deities, the most preferred being the powerful angry goddess - Kali or Durga

The dancers wear ankle-bells and hold anklets or silambu in their hands, which create sound when shaken. Their gracious leg positions are the major attraction.They perform various stepping styles jumps. 

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The descendents of Veerapandiya Kattabomman preserves this folk dance .They are a dynasty at Kodangipatti of Madurai District his dance is pure folk in its form.


Devarattam is a combination of "Muntherkuruvai" and "Pintherkuruvai" of the ancient Tamil Kings.This dance is performed once a year near the temple denoting the victory of the King in the war .The joyous dance sometimes accompanies the kings and his marshalls including the soldiers and other female dancers .

Devarattam

The dancers hold a kerchief in each hand and swing them as they dance.They usually wear a white costumes including the headgear.


Have you ever seen the film song oh oh annanoda pattu from 'Chandramuki'.It resembles this type of dance.
The actual dance from youtube is  here:

You can see that  this dance does not have any songs but only danced to the beat of Urumi Melam or Thappu Melam .The whole group imitates the dance ..its like a group festival.

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