What is the difference Between Sanskrit and Tamil?
Some Known factors……………….
Tamil Language
Primitive and original.
Spoken and living language.
Of Lemurian-Indian Origin.
Scriptural studies exoteric.
Inculcation of cosmopolitanism.
Admission of all to asceticism.
Holding higher education common to all.
Encouragement of gifts to all the poor and needy.
Love of truth.
Laying of emphasis on love, as means of attaining eternal bliss.
Having monotheistic Sai-vism and Vaisnavism as religions.
Literary description natural.
Sanskrit Language
Derivative.
Semi-artificial literary dialect.
Of Indo-European Origin.
Scriptural studies esoteric.
Division of society into numerous castes on the basis of birth and parentage.
Restriction of asceticism to Brahmins.
Restriction of higher education to Sanskritists.
Enjoinment on the donors to give only to the Sans-kritists.
Love of imposture and plagiarism.
Laying of emphasis on knowledge, as means of attaining union with the universal soul.
Having a system of sacrifices to minor deities as religion.
Literary description imaginary.
Timeline for the evolution of mankind and Tamil is as follows:
ca. 500,000 BC: origin of the human race,
ca. 200,000 to 50,000 BC: evolution of "the Tamilian or Homo Dravida[1]",
ca. 200,000 to 100,000 BC, beginnings of Tamil
ca. 100,000 to 50,000 BC, growth and development of Tamil,
50,000 BC: Kumari Kandam civilisation
20,000 BC: A lost Tamil culture of the Easter Island which had an advanced civilisation
16,000 BC: Lemuria submerged
6087 BC: Second Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
3031 BC: A Chera prince in his wanderings in the Solomon Island saw wild sugarcane and started cultivation in Tamilnadu.
1780 BC: The Third Tamil Sangam established by a Pandya king
7th century BC: Tolkappiyam, the earliest extant Tamil grammar
Sanskrit and Tamil
The six most ancient languages in the world are Sanskrit, Tamil, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and Latin. All these six are classical languages as well. Of these six classical languages Tamil and Sanskrit are the two classical languages, which flourished in India since very ancient times.
Sanskrit, the mother of all European languages and of many Indian languages is as old as the hills. The exact antiquity of Sanskrit cannot be established with any degree of certainty. This is because, we have written records only for the past 5000 years. Therefore, history beyond that period is in the realm of fancy and conjecture. The Rig Veda, the oldest among the Vedas is said to be 10,000 years old, if not older. But, there are no written records to prove this fact. But, the fact remains that Sanskrit was the lingua franca of India for thousands of years.
Sanskrit is the foundation of Hinduism. In fact, it can be said without fear of contradiction that without Sanskrit, there is no Hinduism. The four Vedas and the Upanishads, the Brahma-Sutra written by Veda Vyasa, the two epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and the Bhagavad-Gita which forms part of the Mahabharata are all in Sanskrit. There are numerous devotional works and hymns in Sanskrit
.
Sanskrit literature is one of the richest in the world. The number of standard works in Sanskrit is mind-bogging and runs into several hundreds.
Sanskrit is a veritable storehouse of knowledge and there are standard text-books in it in all faculties or disciplines including science, technology, mathematics, astrology, astronomy, botany, medicine etc. So, it is not as if Sanskrit is literature alone, including devotional literature and nothing else. It is gratifying that the Government of India is doing its level best to promote the learning of Sanskrit in India, including spoken Sanskrit The greatness and glory of Sanskrit must spread throughout the world. This is possible only if all the important works in Sanskrit are translated into English.
I shall now give a brief resume of Tamil literature. If there is any Indian language which is equal to Sanskrit it is Tamil only and not any other Indian language for that matter. Sanskrit is a match for Tamil. Conversely, Tamil is a match for Sanskrit in grandeur and greatness.
It is difficult to say how old Tamil is. But, it is the considered opinion of Dr.M.Varadarajan, an outstanding Tamil scholar that it is 25,000 years old. It has a vast repertoire of classical works. The earliest extant classic in Tamil is, of course, Tolkappiam, which is said to be 5000 years old. But, there are references in Tamil literature about works earlier to Tolkappiam, but these have been irretrievably lost to posterity. Generally speaking Silappadigaram, Chintamani, Manimekalai, Valayapathi and Gundalakesi are considered as five great classics in Tamil literature, of which the last two have been lost to posterity. But, the greatest classic in Tamil literature is undoubtedly Kamba Ramayanam, an epic poem of around 12,000 verses, written in grandiose style. The number of literary works in Tamil is legion. And each literary work has a distinctive flavor of its own. For example, Villibharatam, excels in the use of choice diction and resonant rhymes while Kalingathu Bharani glorifies heroism on the battlefield. There are also several devotional works in Tamil like Devaram, Tiruvachagam, Thiruppavai, Tiruvembavai, Nalayirathu Divya Prabandam, Thiru Arutpa and Thiruppugazh, to mention only a few among them. This is because piety has been the hallmark of Tamils since antinquity.
One of the greatest works in Tamil which is of timeless value is, of course, Tirukkural, containing nuggets of wisdom. There are several commentaries on it, but that by Parimalazhagar is regarded as the best by erudite scholars. Modern students of Tamil literature can make profitable use of the rendition of the Tirukkural into simple prose by Dr.M.Varadarajan, a name to conjure with Tamil literature. His work Kallo Kaviyamo is a masterpiece, which has won wide acclaim.
The history of Tamil literature can be divided into two periods namely Tamil literature before the advent of British rule and Tamil literature after the establishment of the British rule in India.
Before the British set foot on our soil, Tamil literature had a stunted and lopsided growth. There was superabunclant poetry, a small amount of turgid prose and little else.
The renaissance of Tamil language/ literature took place only during the British regime. New forms of writing in Tamil never known before, like skit, modern prose, article, essay, drama, one-act play, short story, novel, satire etc. blossomed only after scholars and writers in Tamil were exposed to English and its literature. Thus, English contributed to t
like white mother & black daughter…..SANAT.
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Tamil is a primitive and a original Dravidian language with about 26 alphabets where as Sanskrit is much more developed with about 52 alphabets. It is much more easy to express your thought in Sanskrit because it is more phonetic than Tamil.
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are we now reigniting the whole Sanskritization debate / movement of the mid-20th century ?
are we reinventing the wheel ?
down the centuries & millennia, how many languages have remained totally isolated & pure ?
there has been so much exchange between cultures, including adopting & incorporating words, syntax, usage, customs, mores, rituals, etc. that no language that is still surviving & thriving can claim to be untouched by others.
languages that refused to incorporate changes & accept other cultures, have fallen by the wayside.
Change has to be embraced for survival; whether it is genetic/biological or cultural.
all the very best
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Sanskrit and Tamil
The six most ancient languages in the world are Sanskrit, Tamil, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek and Latin. All these six are classical languages as well. Of these six classical languages Tamil and Sanskrit are the two classical languages, which flourished in India since very ancient times.
Sanskrit, the mother of all European languages and of many Indian languages is as old as the hills. The exact antiquity of Sanskrit cannot be established with any degree of certainty. This is because, we have written records only for the past 5000 years. Therefore, history beyond that period is in the realm of fancy and conjecture. The Rig Veda, the oldest among the Vedas is said to be 10,000 years old, if not older. But, there are no written records to prove this fact. But, the fact remains that Sanskrit was the lingua franca of India for thousands of years.
Sanskrit is the foundation of Hinduism. In fact, it can be said without fear of contradiction that without Sanskrit, there is no Hinduism. The four Vedas and the Upanishads, the Brahma-Sutra written by Veda Vyasa, the two epics Ramayana and Mahabharata and the Bhagavad-Gita which forms part of the Mahabharata are all in Sanskrit. There are numerous devotional works and hymns in Sanskrit
.
Sanskrit literature is one of the richest in the world. The number of standard works in Sanskrit is mind-bogging and runs into several hundreds.
Sanskrit is a veritable storehouse of knowledge and there are standard text-books in it in all faculties or disciplines including science, technology, mathematics, astrology, astronomy, botany, medicine etc. So, it is not as if Sanskrit is literature alone, including devotional literature and nothing else. It is gratifying that the Government of India is doing its level best to promote the learning of Sanskrit in India, including spoken Sanskrit The greatness and glory of Sanskrit must spread throughout the world. This is possible only if all the important works in Sanskrit are translated into English.
I shall now give a brief resume of Tamil literature. If there is any Indian language which is equal to Sanskrit it is Tamil only and not any other Indian language for that matter. Sanskrit is a match for Tamil. Conversely, Tamil is a match for Sanskrit in grandeur and greatness.
It is difficult to say how old Tamil is. But, it is the considered opinion of Dr.M.Varadarajan, an outstanding Tamil scholar that it is 25,000 years old. It has a vast repertoire of classical works. The earliest extant classic in Tamil is, of course, Tolkappiam, which is said to be 5000 years old. But, there are references in Tamil literature about works earlier to Tolkappiam, but these have been irretrievably lost to posterity. Generally speaking Silappadigaram, Chintamani, Manimekalai, Valayapathi and Gundalakesi are considered as five great classics in Tamil literature, of which the last two have been lost to posterity. But, the greatest classic in Tamil literature is undoubtedly Kamba Ramayanam, an epic poem of around 12,000 verses, written in grandiose style. The number of literary works in Tamil is legion. And each literary work has a distinctive flavor of its own. For example, Villibharatam, excels in the use of choice diction and resonant rhymes while Kalingathu Bharani glorifies heroism on the battlefield. There are also several devotional works in Tamil like Devaram, Tiruvachagam, Thiruppavai, Tiruvembavai, Nalayirathu Divya Prabandam, Thiru Arutpa and Thiruppugazh, to mention only a few among them. This is because piety has been the hallmark of Tamils since antinquity.
One of the greatest works in Tamil which is of timeless value is, of course, Tirukkural, containing nuggets of wisdom. There are several commentaries on it, but that by Parimalazhagar is regarded as the best by erudite scholars. Modern students of Tamil literature can make profitable use of the rendition of the Tirukkural into simple prose by Dr.M.Varadarajan, a name to conjure with Tamil literature. His work Kallo Kaviyamo is a masterpiece, which has won wide acclaim.
The history of Tamil literature can be divided into two periods namely Tamil literature before the advent of British rule and Tamil literature after the establishment of the British rule in India.
Before the British set foot on our soil, Tamil literature had a stunted and lopsided growth. There was superabunclant poetry, a small amount of turgid prose and little else.
The renaissance of Tamil language/ literature took place only during the British regime. New forms of writing in Tamil never known before, like skit, modern prose, article, essay, drama, one-act play, short story, novel, satire etc. blossomed only after scholars and writers in Tamil were exposed to English and its literature. Thus, English contributed to t
References :
http://www.aurovillelanguagelab.org/Research/
A typical question, posed by zealots of the ilk of DevaneyappaavaaNar of the previous century.
There is already a verse of yore in Tamil:"Aariyamum Senthamizhum aaraindu idaninidu, seeriyadu enDronDraich chepparidaal, Aariyam Vedam uDaittu, Thamizh Tiruvalluvanaar odu kuraTpaa uDaitthu."
= Since it it is difficult to conclude which between Sanskrit and Tamil is better, even after assiduous research, it is better to say that Sanskrit has Vedas (because of which it is great) and Tamil has the ThirukkuraL of TiruvaLLuvar (because of which it is great).
It is wrong to state that Sanskrit is exoteric and Tamil is esoteric. Both have the twin features. Ignorance is no excuse.
Saint Tirunaavukkarasar, was not a brahmin but has penned the subtleties of Vedic texts in simple Tamil. So did Tirumangai and Tirumazhisai Alwars. The devotional works of these are recited with utmost reverence in all temples, whose priests are brahmins.
Vedanta Desikar, wrote that only after studying the ‘pasuram’s of Azhvar poets, he could discern the inner meanings of several vedic mantras. Appar Swamigal has candidly ruled for ever the nature of Shiva as "Aariyan kaNDaai, Thamizhan kanDaai, vaDamozhiyum thenmozhiyum aanaan kaNDaai", = Thou art the Aryan, the Tamilian, the embodiment of both Sanskrit and Tamil.
MVRAO is wrong in his answer. Tamil has 13 vowels, 18 consonants and 216 vowel-consonants, totalling 247. The Devanagari table originally contained 15 vowels, 33 consonants, three deemed consonants, totalling 51 alphabets, which added to 495 vowel-consonants took the total alphabets to 546. Present Devanagari table contains only 13 vowels, 33 consonants and 429 vowel-consonants totalling 475 alphabets. Unfortunately all Indian languages have adopted the Devanagari pattern with distinct scripts of course.
Both Sanskrit and Tamil are phonetic as well as all the other Indian languages. The only alphabetical language in use is Urdu, which has been patterned after Arabic and Persian, which are alphabetical.
Panini’s Vyakarana sutra, "Nrittaavasaane Nataraaja rajaH nanaada Dhakkaam nava panchavaaram" explains the evolution of Sanskrit alphabets as "a i uN", "R lrk" …. ‘hal’ iti MaaheshvaraaNi sootraaNi"
The Tamil language has evolved without the need for hard sounds, and roots are tinged to native soil. Sanskrit expanded the alphabets to include four variations each in the consonants ‘ka,ca,Ta,ta,pa’, and evolved a distinct pattern.
Incidentally Lord Nataraja emanation of Shiva, was in Chidambaram, in the Tamil country of Chola raajyam.
Another curious thing is the hard sounding "LH’ is still in vogue in Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam (besides Marathi and Oriya, the lands adjoining South India, but with no script in written form), which is in the very first mantra of the Rigveda "AgnimeeLHe purohitam", but the alphabet is not in the Sanskrit of post-Panini era, and totally extinct in all other languages. I suppose, Rigvedic seers were from Tamilnadu speaking Tamil and were the original progenitors of prototype Sanskrit which amalgamated and standardised various dialects spoken in the present lands north of the Vindhya mountains.
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