| Tamil – A Journey through the Ages |
| Tamil Nadu has been well-documented as the home of the best-known works of the South, with links to the greatest of writers and perhaps the highest-grossing entertainment industry after the Hindi film center, Bollywood. It is also the ancient birthplace of one of the most populous South Indian languages, Tamil. This article traces the evolution and history of Tamil. |
| Perhaps the most powerful of all the South Indian languages, Tamil is spoken by over 74 million people all over the world and boasts a well-established and unbroken historical legacy spanning more than two thousand years. In recent times, Tamil has officially been recognized as a "classical language" in the wake of its millennia-spanning rich literary history. Sharing ranks with other languages like Latin, Greek (Hellenistic) and Sanskrit, Tamil is the first "living" language (with reference to continued usage in its original form) to be given this honor. |
| The exact chronological point of evolution of Tamil has been an ongoing quest for several decades now. One of the reasons ascribed to this current difficulty lies in the fact that Tamil evolved a writing system from the Brahmi script, circa 300 BC. However, the dating system on the manuscripts alluding to this date have not provided conclusive results on this date, as these manuscripts are made from palm leaves, which imply that these documents are products of repeated reproduction. The earliest discovered text was the defining point in Tamil poetics and grammar – the Tolkāppiyam, which was produced between the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. Recently excavated evidence in 2005 indicates the existence of the language as long ago as 1000 BC. Another great epic in the history of Tamil literature was the Silappadhikaram ("The Anklet"), estimated to have been written in the timeline of the Tolkāppiyam. Silappadhikaram is considered one of the Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature along with Manimegalai, Seevaga Sindhamani, Valayaapathi and Kundalakesi. Other great works like the Sangam, Kumarikkandam, Thirukkural, Aathichoodi, Muthollayiram, Periya Puranaam, Divya Prabhandham, Thiruppavai, Thiruvempaavai and Dhevaaram serve as the finest examples in affirming and confirming Tamil’s rich literary tapestry. |
Contemporary linguists categorize the evolution of Tamil as a cultural medium, into three periods:
- Ancient (encompassing developments between 200 BC and 700 AD)
- Medieval (documenting Tamil history between 700 and 1500 AD)
- Modern (highlighting Tamil's growth from 1500 AD till date)
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| Sanskrit's influence on the evolution was estimated to be at its peak during the Medieval period, as evidenced by the large number of words of Sanskrit origin present in Tamil's lexicon. |
| Perhaps one reason for Tamil's continuing prosperity could be the language's ability to adapt its structure and usage guidelines to cater to all sections of society. This event, termed as diglossia in linguistic terms, has been the prime reason behind Tamil's continued popularity as well as, paradoxically, a certain degree of degradation from the official, multi-textured language of the ancients. |
| The classic form of Tamil called "Chentamil", shows a marked difference from the colloquial form called "Koduntamil", which is employed by most members of society today. However, this diglossia has been evident since early recorded history, with Chentamil finding widespread usage in art, including temple inscriptions and poetry, and documentation like literature and court transcripts. However, Koduntamil, a broad term traditionally referring to all spoken Tamil dialects, found its niche as a common means of expression across regions and societal classes by extensive employment as a spoken form. |
| Tamil writing is a phonetic system, believed to have evolved into the form prevalent today from the Brahmi script of Emperor Ashoka's era. Subsequently, a variant of the Brahmi script evolved into the Grantha script, which is utilized to write both Sanskrit and Tamil text. Between the 6th and 10th centuries AD, a new script, "Vettezhuthu" (literally meaning "letters that are cut") evolved to facilitate stone inscriptions. The changes involved, inspired some people to also call this script, "Vattezhuthu" (meaning "curved letters") on account of its smoothened edges and curved features. Linguistic changes such as the introduction of the overdot diacritic for pure consonants and the ligatures for the compounds of certain vowels were also incorporated in subsequent centuries. |
| The Tamil alphabet has 12 vowels and 18 consonants, combining to form 216 compound characters. There is also one special character called "Aaytha ezutthu", serving a purely grammatical function as an independent vowel form (or the equivalent of the overdot diacritic of plain consonants), giving a total of 247 characters in the entire alphabet system. The vowels are called "Uyir ezhuthu" (literally "life letters") and are classified into five short, five long and two diphthongs. The consonants are classified into three categories with six in each category: vallinam ("hard"), mellinam ("soft" or "nasal") and idayinam ("medium"). With restricted consonant clusters, the lack of aspirated and voiced stops and the lack of distinction between voiced and unvoiced sounds (although both are present in the spoken form), Tamil is very distinctive from most other languages. |
| Another example of Tamil's agelessness is the high retention of classical Tamil words in the modern Tamil vocabulary. This factor, along with institutional endorsement of classical works like the Thirukkural, has made classical Tamil comprehensible in various degrees to most native Tamil speakers to this date. Sanskrit words are extensively used in the context of spiritual terminology and abstract nouns. The presence of certain words from Persian and Arabic also provide hints of an active trading culture since the times of the Cheras, Cholas and the Pandyas. In recent times, English words also are freely used in colloquial Tamil, mainly in modern technical terminology. |
| Tamil has also contributed several words to the English lexicon. Cash, Cheroot, Mango, Catamaran, Mulligatawny are few examples of Tamil's migration into other languages. The Summer Institute of Linguistics lists over twenty-two current dialects of Tamil, including Adi Dravida, Aiyar, Aiyangar, Arava, Burgandi, Kasuva, Kongar, Korava, Korchi, Madrasi, Parikala, Pattapu Bhasha, Sri Lanka Tamil, Malaya Tamil, Burma Tamil, South Africa Tamil, Tigalu, Harijan, Sanketi, Hebbar, Tirunelveli, Madurai, Kongu and Kumari. Tamil also hosts a large number of languages in its fold, like the Irula, Kaikadi, Betta Kurumba, Sholaga, and Yerukula. Malayalam, spoken widely by the people of Kerala, displays a marked resemblance to Tamil in terms of vocabulary, syntax and the writing system employed. |
| Throughout its 2,500-year history, Tamil and the culture it serves has faced many changes and challenges that could have rendered it defunct or sidelined it into obscurity. However, Tamil’s inherent flexibility and the resilience of patriots have ensured its place in history and in the hearts of people, crossing boundaries and traversing oceans to virtually every corner of the modern world, earning a deserved place in history and glory. | |
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