Sanskrit and Tamil - Both are Ancient- But why people don’t accept Tamil as a Ancient Language In India?

Question

There are lot of strong material evidence shows that Tamil is the older than Sanskrit. Whereas Sanskrit has material evidence in only AD. people argue saying that Sanskrit was passed
orally from one to another. If so then the same will be applied to Tamil also, which also could have been passed orally before it was written in Palm leaves is it?.
Tamil is holding the material evidence itself in 600 BC – reading these scripts archaeologists say 600 BC itself Tamil was well developed language on all prospects, and they says that
“ It shows that Tamil could have born at least by 5000 BC”


Sanskrit material evidence only in AD - Please see - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_first_written_accounts

Most of the historians confirmed that Rig Veda borrowed lot of words from Dravidian Languages(Please do not feel bad about it, because both of the languages are Indian Languages).
which was spoken from south to north in India before Aryan arrived India with Sanskrit.

please see - http://www.pbs.org/thestoryofindia/ask/answers_2.html#q18

I feel that Sanskrit and Tamil was root to all other languages in the word, I am proud to be an Indian where these languages born. Because I like both of them and love them.

My advice to people in India – do not discriminate or talk bad about these languages. Please be proud of them.

But why most of the people in India - especially in North do not accept that tamil is the ancient language - which is still living language in India?

Answer 1

It is sad that many people dont know these facts and look down on Tamil and Tamilians and other South Indians also. It is true that many north Indians have the Hegemonistic attitude, that they are the superior ones. Also since the majority of population of India is in the North(Especially the Hindi Belt) they try to bully others. The Hindi Belt alone has like 25% of the landmass of India and nearly 50% of the population of India and is the lest developed part of India.



But there are also nice people from north India, who know the facts and give equa respect.



It is a problem with the Govt...and the schools which doesnt teach the proper history...the politicians are mainly Hindi people and hence they are trying to dominate on others...



for example the stupid minister Kapil Sibal recently said Hindi must be made compulsary to all Indians...

Answer 2

Well the constitution denotes it as one of the four classical languages (along with Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada). What more could you ask for? In fact, three of the four classical languages (Tamil, Telugu and Kannada) are Dravidian languages while only one (Sanskrit) is Indo-European. I think you're getting off pretty well if you were to ask me.



And you're very right that the Dravidian languages out-date Sanskrit. Tamil is one of the most ancient languages in the world-- there's no reason why Indians shouldn't be proud of it! They have a unique cultural heritage that no one else has by having a language so ancient.

Answer 3

If you include the proto-languages, which later became Sanskrit and Tamil, they both have about the same age, from 2000 to 1500 BCE, according to linguistic evidence. All the rest is idle speculation or unconfirmed theories. "In order to explain the common features shared by Sanskrit and other Indo-European languages, many scholars have proposed migration hypotheses asserting that the original speakers of what became Sanskrit arrived in what is now India and Pakistan from the north-west some time during the early second millennium BCE. Evidence for such a theory includes the close relationship of the Indo-Iranian tongues with the Baltic and Slavic languages, vocabulary exchange with the non-Indo-European Uralic languages, and the nature of the attested Indo-European words for flora and fauna." "The earliest attested Sanskrit texts are Hindu texts of the Rigveda, which date to the mid-to-late second millennium BCE. No written records from such an early period survive. However, scholars are confident that the oral transmission of the texts is reliable: they were ceremonial literature whose correct pronunciation was considered crucial to its religious efficacy." "A written record may encode a stage of a language corresponding to an earlier time — either as a result of oral tradition, or because the earliest source is a copy of an older manuscript that was lost. Oral tradition of epic poetry may typically bridge a few centuries, and in rare cases, over a millennium. An extreme case is the Vedic Sanskrit of the Rigveda: the earliest parts of this text are dated to ca. 1500 BC, while the oldest known manuscript dates to the 11th century AD, corresponding to a gap of approximately 2,500 years." "The linguistic evidence suggests that Proto-South Dravidian was spoken around the middle of the second millennium BC, and that proto-Tamil emerged around the 3rd century BC. The earliest epigraphic attestations of Tamil are generally taken to have been written shortly thereafter." "Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods, Old Tamil (300 BCE – 700 CE), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present)."

Answer 4

My association with North Indians since 1981 to today has divulged many aspects on Sanskrit-Hindi-Tamil issues.



Even if they know that Tamil is the most ancient language they are not ready to digest it.



Tamil is official Language in India,Singapore,Malaysia,Sri Lanka and Spoken by Tamils in South Africa,Mauritius Trinidad and Tobago,Myanmar,Indonesia,

These facts irritate them.



Maritime too Tamils were in the forefront.



Architecture like Temples built by Tamils in many countries,

Music like Carnatic,

Governance like using coins etc show their acumen.



Tamils have contributed a lot on science,sports,education,music,cinema wherever they live.

But their ancient culture is only ridiculed.



Three Nobel laureates are Tamils.



Many things are there but no time to write about.

Answer 5

The government and education institution should hold unbaised attitude only then justice will unfold itself to show the ancient language Tamil which dates back to sangam age dating as back to 30000BC to 18000BC. If steps are taken to unreveal the mysteries of Kumari kandam Tamil's history will come to lime light.

Dear Mr. Manian Tamil does have numerals which is very ancient for eg it has single dinomination to show numerals like 10, 100, 1000.... even more than infinity (Anathakodi=single dinomination). Tamil nadu government must start using Tamil numerals only then they will come into useage. Time shall reveal.....

Answer 6

I am a Tamilian and since your question is to others, I share my thoughts and experience.



Our education system is responsible. How?



About 30 years back when I was in Mumbai, I was shocked by a question by my relative, as to why there is no freedom fighter from Tamilnadu? While we read a lot about all north Indian leaders in adition to ours, I think they read nothing about Rajaji, Bharathi, V.O.C, Subramania Siva, Sathyamurthy etc etc...



Another Tamil felt very proud of Marati because he said, Marathi had letters for numerals while Tamil does not have! Unfortunately though we do have it, we have changed with times and are not studying about Tamil numerals.



So it is the fault of our biased education system.

Answer 7

I'm okay with Hindi and I don't want to speak in neither Tamil nor Sanskrit.

Read this Q too and my answer:-

https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20091013210303AAFTgYl&show=7#profile-info-Vxs3OgdVaa

Answer 8

If it is a fact then it is immaterial wheather someone accepts or not.It is like initial reluctance that aryans were outsiders to india.But both languages i think are equally old and rich too.

Answer 9

Cultural wars maybe?

Answer 10

simply, because we dont know abt this. Now i know...aah!! interesting