Murukan Symbolism and the Nature Symbolism of the Yi Jing:

A Rapprochement of the Zheng & Murukan Nature Phenomena

Synopsis of forthcoming paper by Dr. T. Wignesan

My paper will attempt to equate on a primary level the features/qualities attributed to the Murukan concept as a force of Nature, on the one hand, and the role of Zheng (Thunder = Quake), the eldest son in the Yang-Yin family of complex natural forces, on the other. As Murukan incarnates the Tamil concepts of divine youth, beauty, and power of destruction, so does Zheng, as the vigorous, youthful dispeller/conqueror of the Yin forces with the awakening of thunder in spring (February/March). Zheng is also the eldest son - and thus inheritor - of Qian (Heaven), the Father, fully invested with Yang. So might Murukan sometimes be construed as the son of Siva. Since the Yi Jing dates from Fu Hsi (2953-2838 BC), the first Chinese emperor, as legend has it - though the book itself took firm form under King Wen Wang (ca 1160 BC) - one might be goaded into presuming its relevance to Murukan worship among Tamils (Dravidians) ever since the advent of the Indus civilizations (Mohanjo-daro & Harappa) when the Siva (Linkam) divinity was apparently prevalent as a symbol of worship. My paper will nevertheless dwell on the philosophical relations/rapport between the two concepts of the symbolism, between those of the Chinese and the Dravidian.

Dr. Wignesan may be contacted at:

National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS)
School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS)
BP 53, 94268 Fresnes/Paris Cedex
France
Tel & Fax: 33-1-42371593
E-mail: wignesh@classic.msn.com

Bio-Data

T.Wignesan was expelled from Malaysia, his birthplace, in 1962 and ever since his passport was confiscated by the British Embassy in Madrid in 1967, he has been a stateless person. He read for the Bar in London, 1953-56. His Master's thesis (University of Paris), in Spanish, was on Pio Baroja's novels, etc. An aesthetician-comparatist (mainly in English, Spanish, Tamil and Malay), he obtained his higher doctoral degree in aesthetics (poietics): Doctorat d'Etat es lettres et sciences humaines from the Pantheon-Sorbonne. In between working as a journalist and an all-jobs-man in Kuala Lumpur, Seremban, London, Heidelberg, Berlin, Madrid and Paris, he taught English at schools in Malaya and Spain, at the European Division of the University of Maryland and at the Sorbonne-Nouvelle. He has also lectured for the Commonwealth Institute, London, on South and Southeast Asia.

Since 1973, Dr. Wignesan has served as researcher-lecturer at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique of the French Ministry of Higher Education, Research & Technology. He is also the founder-editor of the bi-lingual The Journal of Comparative Poietics.

Publications by Dr. Wignesan include:

T Wignesan, 'The Yi Jing: The Canon of Changes or Mutations', in Le Canard Laqu (Association Asie-Extreme, Institute of Political Science, Paris), Spring 1991, pp 12-15.

T Wignesan, 'The Poietics of the Yi Jing: The Temps Principle and the Gregorian Calendar', in Proceedings of the 14th International Symposium of Asian Studies 1992, vol. V (Hong Kong: Asian Research Service) pp. 551- 560.

Tracks of a Tramp (poems, KL-Singapore: 1961)
Bunga Emas: An Anthology of Contemporary Malaysian Literature (London:1964)
Etude comparee des literatures nationales et/ou officielles de la Malaisie et de Singapour depuis 1941 3 vols. (Lille:1987)
co-ed. Fire Readings (contemporary Anglo-American writing, Boston-Paris: 1991)
and numerous contributions to learned journals, magazines and newspapers. (Cf. Marquis' Who's Who in the World)