User:Manu Neethi Cholan (MNC)

Korean Tamil Queen

Heo Hwang-ok (Chempavalam in tamil) is a legendary queen mentioned in Samguk Yusa, a 13th-century Korean chronicle. According to Samguk Yusa she became the wife of King Suro of Geumgwan Gaya at the age of 16, She was Tamil Princess from Ayi, a vassal state of the Pandya Kingdom in present-day Tamil Nadu, India. Kanyakumari is have been called Ayuta in ancient times.She came through a boat with Twin Fish Flag and Emblem.She then married King Suro and became the first queen of the Gaya kingdom. to some Korean historians there are more than six million present day Koreans, of which the majority are from Gimhae Kim clan with surnames Heo and 이 (Lee/Yi) that trace their lineage to the legendary queen.Her native kingdom is believed to be located in Southern part of India by some; there is, however, no mention of her in any pre-modern Indian sources. Researchers thought that Ayuta is actually Ayodhya in India. But there has been mounting evidences to indicate that she was from Tamil Nadu, in particular Pandyan or Aai kingdom.Recent genetic studies by researchers Jeong-Sun SEO and Kim Jong-il on the remains of her tomb revealed genetic similarities between Indians and Koreans,” explains the scholar, adding that a lot more research needs to be done.

International cultural Conference

An international conference on ‘Cultural exchange between India and Korea in antiquity' Organised by the Consulate General of Korea, International Institute of Tamil Studies and the InKo Centre, the conference on ‘Cultural exchange between India and Korea in antiquity’ brings together researchers and scholars, with an aim to trace and establish linguistic and cultural links between Tamil Nadu and South Korea. Rathi Jafer, Director at the InKo Centre, points out that the link between South India, more specifically Tamil Nadu and South Korea, goes a long back.

The origin

Korean researcher Jung Nam Kim, who had participate in the conference, says many theories have been proposed to explain the origin of the Korean language. “The most prominent of these link Korean to the Altaic languages of central and east Asia, a family that includes Turkish, Mongolian, and Japanese. However, there are very few words, which have the same pronunciation and the same meaning between Korean and each of the Altaic languages. The competing theory associates Korean with the Dravidian languages, notably Tamil, which has many similar words to Korean,” notes the Canada-based researcher.

Kim’s research delved into the arrival of Tamilians in Korea. “Tamilians must have arrived in South Korea in first century B.C. In addition, the Korean people have been called ‘the nation of white-coloured dress’. Why? Traditionally the Korean people like wearing the white-colored dress despite the cold weather. This custom must have been brought in by Indians including Tamilians who are used to wearing the white-coloured dress because of the hot weather,”.

“Archaeological evidence indicates that the people of Tamna [of Jeju Island just under the Southern tip of the Korean Peninsula] were engaging in active trade with Han Dynasty China and Yayoi Japan, South-east-asian nations, with the Tamil Chola dynasty, as well as mainland Korea, by the 1st century AD.” So Tamil-Korean trade links have existed from ancient times.

Cultural similarities

The Korean drum dance is very similar to Thappaattam of Tamil. Scholar Kannan Narayanaa of Tamil Heritage Foundation, who has extensively been researching on the links between the two nations, says there is also a shared genetic connection. Recent genetic studies by researchers Jeong-Sun SEO and Kim Jong-il on the remains of her tomb revealed genetic similarities between Indians and Koreans,” explains the scholar, adding that a lot more research needs to be done. In early days pandyas had Trade link in korea. Around 1st century BC lot's of people travelled and settled in korea. Beside that, agricultural equipments were also similar to olden equipments used by Tamil people's. Chuseok celebrated as harvest festival in korea which is more similar to pongal which is a harvest festival celebrated for 3 day's in tamil nadu.

Similar words in Tamil and Korean

Many people knows the words like appa ,amma are similar. Researcher Kim drew a linguistic parallel between the two cultures. “‘Apahada’ in Korean and ‘Avadhippadu’ in Tamil share the meaning of ‘ to be painful, to suffer’. Similarly, ‘Omomo!’ in Korean is the same as ‘Amama!’ in Tamil, which signifies ‘astonished, stunned, flabbergasted, appalled, shocked, dumbfounded’. The Tamil word ‘thalattu’ is the same as Korean word ‘dalaeda’ because they refer to soothe, calm down, mollify, cajole, coax a person, especially a crying baby,”.

Word bond

“Researchers have found 500 words which are similar in Korean and Tamil, with the same meaning and connotation and 1400 korean words are having root tamil words. There have been instances of blacksmiths going from here to South Korea. There is the historical journey of Bodhidharma, the monk believed to be from South India who spread Buddhism to China and Korea. We aim to initiate a research project soon to examine the historic links between South India and South Korea, both the ancient trajectories and the contemporary manifestations of this inter-cultural exchange. Of particular interest will be the Buddhist links that existed between the Pandyan, Pallava and the Gaya kingdoms, the manner in which Buddhist scriptures, iconography, language and the introduction of iron and steel are credited as having been transferred from South India to South Korea,”.