Iyengar Tamil
Iyengar Tamil is a dialect of the Tamil language spoken mostly in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the adjoining areas in South India. Iyengars are followers of the Visishtadvaita philosophy propounded by Ramanuja. They are also followers of Sri Vaishnavism. Iyengars are present in large numbers in various regions of India, such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. However, the spoken dialect differs from state to state.
| Iyengar Tamil | |
|---|---|
| Region | Karnataka, Tamil Nadu |
Native speakers | Unknown, various Iyengars from around the world speak the language in their respective regions. |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | – |
| Glottolog | aiya1239 |
The Hebbar Tamil variety is spoken by the Hebbar Iyengars. The closely related Mandyam Tamil is spoken by Mandyam Iyengars, originally concentrated in the Mysore and Mandya regions of Karnataka.
In ancient times, Brahmin Tamil was used only by Smartha Brahmins, the Vaishnavite Iyengars having a unique dialect of their own, called the Sri Vaishnava Manipravalam which interested linguistics for its peculiar grammatical forms and vocabulary. However, due to the development of a homogenised Brahmin identity during the medieval period, Vaishnavite Brahmins in the Tamil country have largely assimilated Brahmin Tamil with their own dialect, retaining several words of the Vaishnava Manipravalam in their vocabulary. The Hebbar and Mandyam Iyengars who reside outside the Tamil country, however, continue to use Iyengar Tamil as their mother tongue.
A peculiar characteristic of Iyengar Tamil is its retention of divine or holy food terminology. For example, Iyengar Tamil makes distinctions between potable ([t̪iːrt̪o]) and non-potable water ([d͡ʒʌlo]), the former considered sacred but both borrowed from Sanskrit. Standard Tamil exhibits only the generic term for 'water'.