This is one of the most significant interviews for several reasons. I have several editions of Tholkappiam in Tamil with modern commentaries, but none brings out these facts . There is a tendency to hide or pass over important aspects with which the Dravidian political dispensation does not agree. While scholars can differ, to suppress facts is neither honesty nor scholarship. I wish Dr.Nagaswamy would write a simple commentary , at least of select parts, which have a bearing on our culture. Obviously, Tolkappiam is not merely a grammar of language , but a mirror on the culture of the land, which shows the organic unity and integrity of India. Grateful for this interview.

I was always wondering why south indian scrips look so similar to bengali, thai etc if they were supposed to be so distinct. And if tamil and thai are similarities then hey thai culture traces its roots to Hinduism!

Sanskrit and Tamil divine languages for 84 divya deshams(Narayana) of tamilnadu with Alvars.( Nalayira divya prabhandam)

I wonder what will happen to Aryan Dravidian politics. Very good work sir. People like you unite us. Thankyou

Both languages my mother language no campare between languag.... love from Uttrakhand India 🇮🇳🦁😎 we all Indian brothers.....Don brothers 😎🤘

This is my humble request, you are doing a great job sir. We want to listen the guest. 2:45 Please never stop the Guest/speaker before he finishes what he wants to tell. Finish off all the introduction/Context in first 5-10Mins and then, please let the guest talk.

Well written. And factual .Indian must accept the reality in general and don't belittle our ancient language. Tamil language has its roots from ancient times. Please read all to understand better the history of oldest language. Before the Indian government declared Tamil as a classical language, Dr. George Hart from UC Berkeley sent this letter to them. Interesting.👇👇👇 I have been a Professor of Tamil at the University of California, Berkeley, since 1975 and am currently holder of the Tamil Chair at that institution. My degree, which I received in 1970, is in Sanskrit, from Harvard, and my first employment was as a Sanskrit professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, in 1969. Besides Tamil and Sanskrit, I know the classical languages of Latin and Greek and have read extensively in their literatures in the original. I am also well-acquainted with comparative linguistics and the literatures of modern Europe (I know Russian, German, and French and have read extensively in those languages) as well as the literatures of modern India, which, with the exception of Tamil and some Malayalam, I have read in translation. I have spent much time discussing Telugu literature and its tradition with V. Narayanarao, one of the greatest living Telugu scholars, and so I know that tradition especially well. As a long-standing member of a South Asian Studies department, I have also been exposed to the richness of both Hindi literature, and I have read in detail about Mahadevi Varma, Tulsi, and Kabir. I have spent many years - most of my life (since 1963) - studying Sanskrit. I have read in the original all of Kalidasa, Magha, and parts of Bharavi and Sri Harsa. I have also read in the original the fifth book of the Rig Veda as well as many other sections, many of the Upanisads, most of the Mahabharata, the Kathasaritsagara, Adi Sankara’s works, and many other works in Sanskrit. I say this not because I wish to show my erudition, but rather to establish my fitness for judging whether a literature is classical. Let me state unequivocally that, by any criteria one may choose, Tamil is one of the great classical literatures and traditions of the world. The reasons for this are many; let me consider them one by one. First, Tamil is of considerable antiquity. It predates the literatures of other modern Indian languages by more than a thousand years. Its oldest work, the Tolkappiyam, contains parts that, judging from the earliest Tamil inscriptions, date back to about 200 BCE. The greatest works of ancient Tamil, the Sangam anthologies and the Pattuppattu, date to the first two centuries of the current era. They are the first great secular body of poetry written in India, predating Kalidasa’s works by two hundred years. Second, Tamil constitutes the only literary tradition indigenous to India that is not derived from Sanskrit. Indeed, its literature arose before the influence of Sanskrit in the South became strong and so is qualitatively different from anything we have in Sanskrit or other Indian languages. It has its own poetic theory, its own grammatical tradition, its own esthetics, and, above all, a large body of literature that is quite unique. It shows a sort of Indian sensibility that is quite different from anything in Sanskrit or other Indian languages, and it contains its own extremely rich and vast intellectual tradition. Third, the quality of classical Tamil literature is such that it is fit to stand beside the great literatures of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Chinese, Persian and Arabic. The subtlety and profundity of its works, their varied scope (Tamil is the only premodern Indian literature to treat the subaltern extensively), and their universality qualify Tamil to stand as one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world. Everyone knows the Tirukkural, one of the world’s greatest works on ethics; but this is merely one of a myriad of major and extremely varied works that comprise the Tamil classical tradition. There is not a facet of human existence that is not explored and illuminated by this great literature. Finally, Tamil is one of the primary independent sources of modern Indian culture and tradition. I have written extensively on the influence of a Southern tradition on the Sanskrit poetic tradition. But equally important, the great sacred works of Tamil Hinduism, beginning with the Sangam Anthologies, have undergirded the development of modern Hinduism. Their ideas were taken into the Bhagavata Purana and other texts (in Telugu and Kannada as well as Sanskrit), whence they spread all over India. Tamil has its own works that are considered to be as sacred as the Vedas and that are recited alongside Vedic mantras in the great Vaisnava temples of South India (such as Tirupati). And just as Sanskrit is the source of the modern Indo-Aryan languages, classical Tamil is the source language of modern Tamil and Malayalam. As Sanskrit is the most conservative and least changed of the Indo-Aryan languages, Tamil is the most conservative of the Dravidian languages, the touchstone that linguists must consult to understand the nature and development of Dravidian. In trying to discern why Tamil has not been recognized as a classical language, I can see only a political reason: there is a fear that if Tamil is selected as a classical language, other Indian languages may claim similar status. This is an unnecessary worry. I am well aware of the richness of the modern Indian languages - I know that they are among the most fecund and productive languages on earth, each having begotten a modern (and often medieval) literature that can stand with any of the major literatures of the world. Yet none of them is a classical language. Like English and the other modern languages of Europe (with the exception of Greek), they rose on preexisting traditions rather late and developed in the second millennium. The fact that Greek is universally recognized as a classical language in Europe does not lead the French or the English to claim classical status for their languages. To qualify as a classical tradition, a language must fit several criteria: it should be ancient, it should be an independent tradition that arose mostly on its own not as an offshoot of another tradition, and it must have a large and extremely rich body of ancient literature. Unlike the other modern languages of India, Tamil meets each of these requirements. It is extremely old (as old as Latin and older than Arabic); it arose as an entirely independent tradition, with almost no influence from Sanskrit or other languages; and its ancient literature is indescribably vast and rich. It seems strange to me that I should have to write an essay such as this claiming that Tamil is a classical literature - it is akin to claiming that India is a great country or Hinduism is one of the world’s great religions. The status of Tamil as one of the great classical languages of the world is something that is patently obvious to anyone who knows the subject. To deny that Tamil is a classical language is to deny a vital and central part of the greatness and richness of Indian culture. (Signed:) George L. Hart Professor of Tamil Chair in Tamil Studies

there were about 650 languages in the indian subcontinent. while the politicians are engaging us in fighting over two of them, all these languages and their contents, including these two languages , have disappeared from the memory of indians and the worlds most deficient language called English has taken their place.

those who believe in Aryan invasion theory should read Dr B R Ambedkar's book "who were the shudras" where he said that aryan invasion theory is bogus any a myth and shudras were also aryans.

Tholkaappiyam is a Tamil word which means "protected old work"... Thol - old/ancient Kaappu - protected Iyam - work Kaappiyam not meant the same as kaavya...

The whole basis of the theory of Tamil being the only indigenous language of India and Sanskrit coming from outside is the "Aryan Invasion/migration" theory which has been duly debunked in today's day and age. It simply failed to provide any scientific or archeological evidence. But the problem is that due to the R1A genetic marker and proven similarities of Sanskrit and European languages the obvious implication now is that most Europeans might have part Indian ancestry, which is extremely uncomfortable for white supremacist western historians. So they desperately hold on to the notion of some imaginary ancient civilization in Ukraine/Kazakhstan that spoke the imaginary language PIE disregarding the absence of any archeological evidence and also common sense that with pre 5000 year old technology it was nearly impossible to sustain such a large civilization in those cold barren regions that might have the numbers to change the whole DNA of much more populous India to this extent. But more ironic is the fact that Aryan-Dravidian politicians for the sake of their political motives have been indirectly supporting white supremacy all this time by basing their divisionary theories off of the Aryan Invasion theory!

Stop your lies! Thol means ancient and it is pure Tamil. (not thoal) Kaappiyam and kaviyam do not mean the same. Kaappiyam is kaappu + iyam. Iyam means text/book and kaappu means preserve or protect. So tholkaapiyam means a book that protects the purity of Tamil language. Kaaviyam means an epic but Tholkaappiyam is never an epic! The ancient Tamils had Three Sanggams; first/muthal, second/idai and third/kadai. Tholkaappiyam is second Sanggam grammatical text that is dated around 1000BC! Thikku, Thisai are pure Tamil words and aren't sanskrit words. Don't simply conclude if words used in Sanskrit means those words are of Sanskrit origin. Sanskrit language is mixture of languages from the dead vedic language that was once spoken, prakrits and Tamil. It is an CE language and not a mother tongue to anyone. The recent excavations in Tamil Nadu proves that the so called Tamil Brahmi Script predates the Ashoka Brahmi script by several centuries. The Tamils gave the grantha script to write Sanskrit when all the Vedic texts were compiled, revised and edited in the Tamil land around 7th to 12th century CE. Thirukkural is an antithesis to Vedic and Sanskrit ideology, just like Jainism and Buddhism. It condemns Varnashrama Dharma, caste discrimination and irrelevant vedic philosophy. Periyar opposes Vedic Brahmanism in a very crude manner but Valluvar does the same enlightenment but in a fine manner. Kural places the Farmers in the top most rank whereas Vedic tradition upholds the Btahmins. Kural is based on Righteousness/aram for all whereas Vedic tradition emphasizes Dharma, a set of rules and regulations based on varnas! How come two opposite ideologies be the same! One should feel shamefulness when indulge in falseness.

Hats off to you Shri Iyer for your ability to bring so many distinguished scholars to interact on these mind boggling topics and still you make the interactions so simple that even common people can understand the essence of what these distinguished speakers have to share after an enormous scholarship. Indebted to you for the service to the Mother Land and Sanatan Dharma.

And Mango is an English word derived from Manga in Tamil (as per oxford dictionary). Therefore, Is "welcome" also derived from Vadakkam?

A very Fascinating conversation, just blown away with the knowledge this man has, and this comment is to some who are commenting he is doing misinterpretation that let me tell u I just verified with few pandits I know and can say it with utter confidence that he is not misinterpreting

His last book Tirukkural I'm not getting it on e-commerce website someone inform him

Older does not necessarily make it better. Sanskrit is special because this was developed with concious effort to improve spoken languages and literature, with proper grammar and structure. With contribution from all areas of India through leaning centers. We have many such examples. Concious effort to improve collective fitness = yoga Concious effort to improve collective eating = Ayurveda Concious effort to improve music = Hindustani,Carnatic music Concious effort to improve dance = Natya shastra Concious effort to improve speaking = Sanskrit Let’s use it because we have spent thousands of years to develop it Tamil Hindi no different from Kannada or telugu

May be both language are like two brother because there are sanskrit words in Tamil and Tamil words in sanskrit both language can survive without using each other words. It can be possible may be our ancestors are bilingual .

All sorts of people go to the US. About a couple of years ago an anchor of a program kept on advertising that they will be going to US & their first stop would be கெணத்துக்கட்டு (Kenathukkattu). I was curious about why should they go all the way to US if they want to see கெணத்துக்கட்டு ! They will have one in their backyard ! I kept on watching the program regularly & when they conducted the program in the US, the board in the auditorium read, "Tamil sangam, Connecticut" !

The language constructs of Sanskrit and Tamil are very similar. Words can move from one language to another.

This is relevent today with Mr Stalin heading the new DMK govt.

Yeah true, Both are language of God

A superb interview. Dr. Nagaswamy presents an authentic perspective on the links between Samskrtam and Tamil. Kudos to Pgurus for the presentation; both Dr. Nagaswamy and Pgurus have rendered a great service emphasising the unity of the Rāṣṭram.

Divided by politicians on basis of languages but we are all united by Adi Yogi Lord siva, shiva..

Very very informative. Obviously most people who get into arguments about Tamil culture and antiquity don't do their HW like studying the samgam works. However I have a doubt. The core Tamil areas don't seem to include tamarabharani or vaigai river valley settlements. Madurai, adinchanallur , keezhkarai etc. So how do these places tie in. Not questioning the fact that santana dharma was a pan indian principle from the time of recorded history. How about before that. These places I mention perhaps have more clues.

Fascinating! What proper historical scholarship with the likes of Dr. Nagaswamy can reveal! 🙏🏽

Tamil is not just a language alone; it is a cultural expression. Our Sangam literature points to the nature of our bulls, and even crocodiles that are in the Indus seal. Our bulls did not come from Sumeria or Syria. Avestan, an Iranian language, is 70% of Vedic Sanskrit. Tamil and many Dravidian (unwritten) languages are older than Sanskrit. Sanskrit borrowed heavily from us, and Aryans kept telling the world that Sanskrit is the mother of our languages. Bos Indicus bull in Indus with a hump is very Indian. Tamils had a secular expression when Aryans came. Aryans got the whole sub-continent only obsessed with their faith, fears, and Gods; created castes to establish hierarchies. The myths they created cannot be viewed as facts or history; science, genetics, and archaeology are busting all their myths.

செல்வம் கொட்டிக்கிடக்கும் இடத்தில் தான் இலக்கியம் வளரும், வறுமை உள்ள இடத்தில் கற்பனைக்கு பஞ்சம் வரும், என்ன ஒரு அருமையான கருத்து.

Nice to hear Dr.Narayana swamy on tol kappium tamil. But we couldn't hear much about Sanskrit. I have heard that when Shiva started beating Damaruga from one side Sanskrit errupted and Tamil from other side. This sounds were transcripted by great saint Pani. Please we will be happy and great full if someone looks with this angle also. Again Pranamam to all.

Please do your research on vallalar's comment on origin of languages.

We are talking about Tamil in 2nd/3rd century BCE with an example (Tolkappiyam). All it could possibly say is that - Prakrit/Sanskrit etc. was in Tamil sphere of influence at that time (albeit the outermost layer and weak). There is a theory that Tolkappiyam is influenced by Aindra school of grammar. This may well have been the case and Tolkappiyar would have learned the grammar in Sanskrit and modelled the grammar to suit Tamil. Now, this has nothing to do with origin of Tamil and Tamil society. Society evolves due to trade, war and natural evolution etc., They get influenced by many ideas outside their region. Some of those could have come from outside from interactions with different societies outside India through sea and land. We got a lot of Western influenced words/culture lately which will be internalised (Indianised) . Can we say in 500 years time that all Indian thought was Western, so Indian languages has its origin in English language? Same is the case here. We don't know what was Tamil before this time, because Sanskrit got preserved orally and there is no oral tradition that I know of in the Tamil world. Indian archaeology is not very professional/speedy regarding knowing facts in this regard. Vedas existed at least 3500 years back (going by widely accepted date). Earliest Tamil text is around 3rd century BCE. Both should have existed prior to those times as we see grammar/poems composed by these people. 1. If pre-dominantly Tamil and Sanskrit speaking society were one and the same, then why did they start speaking different languages (not even mutually intelligible)? 2. If Tamil branched out long time back from Sanskrit (as some Sanskrit chauvinists think), why simple things like numbers, pronouns etc., look different. Also the language grammar. Slavic/Baltic languages show more affinity in this regard than Tamil. Given the geographical proximity, I expect Tamil to be closer. The only thing that India has in common is the Indian-ness that can be attributed to 2000+ years of interaction between all parts of India or a founder population (Indus Valley) influenced both ASI and ANI population. We are talking about 5000 years of history and I am sure there will be influences at various periods that we don't even have clue about. Some may say founder population language was Dravidian/Sanskrit. But decipherment of script will tell. Until then we can just look at a slice of time in Indian history and see a particular state of the world.

Dr Nagaswamy is a walking library & please do more interviews with him.

Nagaswamy is a very controversial figure. No single Tamil scholar accepts his ideas and interpretations. It's not my problem. I just want to point out that many people have a tendency to say Tamil words as Sanskrit words with zero evidence. In Tamil, each word carries a meaning. By decomposing a word you get the cause and meaning of the word. By this we can say that if the word is a Tamil word or a word borrowed from other languages. Example, we call god as KADA+VUL where KADA means transcendence and UL means immanence.

Nagaswamy lays emphasis on the unity of our rashtra

17.25 Venkadam means VENN KADAM meaning white muntain mostly indicating himalayas , not necessarily thiruppathi . This means the whole of the sub continent was tamil nadu !

It's great that we have two ancient languages. Our Sage like Adi Shankaracharya, who established 4 dham math, also stressed on our Philosophy, spirtual side of our culture.

Excellent video. Very well presented. Can you ask him perhaps next time about the inscriptions? What I found interesting is the inscriptions in SE Asia are grantha Sanskrit characters not Devanagari proving Tamil exposure in those countries. Why does he think of George Coedes work?

Thanks to P Guru channel to present such knowledgeable interview with Dr. Nagaswamy a prominent scholar. Dramila or Dravida is referred to Tamil speaking people by non Tamil speaking people of that era. This substantiate the stands of Mr. Subramaniam swamy and Mr. Rajiv Malhotra ji that the DNA of all Indian are one thereby negate the Aryan Dravidian divide which was spread by people having vested interest.

Such a wonderful discussion! Could you please also tell us a bit about the relationship between Tamil and other South Indian languages and Bengali?! There were many Buddhist scholars from Bengal such as Atish Deepankar. And the history of Bengali language is still vague. I would like to ask you to enlighten us on these topics

Sanskrit is more developed by Kannada scholars Ramana, gonna, ragavanka, harihara, Pampa and many more. Kannada is as rich as Sanskrit.

Sanskrit is a codified or grammatical of Indian languages to enable communication between different countries within Indian subcontinent..so, natural languages like Tamil, Kannada etc should predate Sanskrit otherwise it is as good as saying that there was sanskrit language well before humans came which does not make sense....if not, then there is a chronology for Sanskrit and how it evolved which will disprove that it is not as old as natural i.e. Prakriti languages

This video needed accompanying graphics. Even a blackboard would have helped.

Why can't we just consider Tamil and Sanskrit as twin brothers and move on, instead of fighting over which is older? What difference does it make today? A sheer waste of time!

He says there in no Tamil in malayala Nadu. But I heard Malayalam is developed recently

Namaskarams, Tolkappiyar was such a great grammarian of Tamil and had not thought of Varga letters in Tamil. Why? Sir, can you pl.explain. Varga letters are found in almost all Indian languages other than Tamil. Because of its absence in Tamil, it is resulting in wrong pronunciation of Tamil words one by one. Which is very dangerous. In due course of time one by one all words will be replaced by other wrongly pronounced words. It will result not only in the loss of originality but also in the slow death of the Classic language. Sir, can you find a way to introduce Varga letters in Tamil. If you can please seriously think about it and bring about the changes.. Only then Tamil will be spoken with constantly correct pronunciation and will survive for ever. I do mention here few words. சால சிறந்தது.- It should be Chala Chirandhadhu- but people have wrongly pronounce this as Sala Sirandhadhu. Even in Telugu the word சால is there, but always they will say this as Chala only. It can never will be changed to Sala because of the varga letters சோறு - Choru has changed to Soru. Even in Malayalam this சோறு word is there. They can never change Choru to Soru because of the Varga letter. பாக்யம், is pronounced as Pakyam, Pakkiyam Whereas in Kannda they say it as Bhagyam because of Varga letters. You have mentioned Tolkappiyar himself has told to include Sanskrit words in Tamil. We too have so many Sanskrit names and words in Tamil but are pronounced wrongly because of lack of Varga letters. They keep name as Mahesh but will call as Magesh, Makesh and Shanmukham is called as Chammugam, sanmugam. Bhuvi as Puvi, Bhooma as Pooma, Booma, Bhama as Bama, Pama and Raghavan as Rahavan, Rakesh as Ragesh, Rahesh etc. But it will never happen in any other Indian languages because of Varga letters. Sir, it is high time people like you should put an end to these type of carelessly committing grave mistakes by the ignorant lot.

I read many of the comments underneath and found that in the country with so much of chaos where there are so many children who can't read or write any language they all are idiotically fighting to prove which language is older 😑😑😑😑 India does large number of stupid people "inko haath mai soney ka katora bhi pakdaden na tabbhi inko usmey bheekh hi mangna hai"

Where we can buy his books

Now we are united by our Vedic culture my tamil brethren, dump Stalin's DMK which wants to keep us divided

Classical Tamil does not use Sa Re Ga Instead ku thu kai, based on animal sounds and it is called as kural thutham etc... when these sounds are pronounced it will resonates the “perfect pitch” of the note.

You are doing great work sir. I had a conversation with a Tamilian over Hindi imposition issue. I am pasting here. There are some people who are writing outrageous comments don't listen to them. No party in India endorses such things like they wanna eradicate Diversity. We want Unity in Diversity that's why there should be a language of Indians which is native and known to maximum people known to all people. People say why not English. First English is a foreign language and assume if situation arises that No Outsiders are being given jobs and second If India has to become a superpower then it Has to generate lots of opportunities which we have like there are many states deprived of Development and their are states which are developed so there is gonna be a time when developed states will have saturation in the no. Of jobs while a nom of jobs will be getting created in the developing states. In such scenario a person who is from other state eg. Andhra and he got a job in Bihar where max people don't know English so it will be great if they know a common language. I mean an Indian will have job opportunity in whole of India like Europe which has many different countries' with different languages but one common language helps them get job opportunity elsewhere. @TTagore you are contradicting yourself - you can accept English which is not a Dravidian language. Let's not get into Aryan And Dravidian languages. Let research clear that out. Are north Indians really Aryans or not cause a new Out of India Theory is emerging. If we go by your logic that If one wants to come south then study Dravidian, then if West a different language, north different language, north east another language. Remember we are talking about efficient conversation and a lot of people even today after 70 years are not profound in English. We need a language which can unite us all. That language will be decided after research completes. And Now about imposition, you are behaving like Only Tamilians are being imposed, you should be happy we are a democracy nobody can ever impose anything. Tamilians have created this complex that they are being neglected, not taken care of, are the greatest culture, infact behaving like a girlfriend who doesn't wanna adjust even a little bit but wants reverse imposition of Tamil on all. You know only Tamilians feel like that. No other state has this much of protest. Plz understand by not learning English and learning a native language with cOmmon language will make us strong as a Civilizational nation. There are forces who are exagerating this and exploiting our differences to break India. You might not know each language in India has a lot of pride. Language is a culture in every state. Like Tamils in Maharashtra we have Marathi, it is not one of the oldest language but we still have pride for it as much as Tamils have for Tamil and even after so many Hindi speakers in the state. There's no threat to Marathi we have preserved it very well. You should watch the movie " Mi Shivaji Raje Boltoy ". You believe that there are no Sanskrit speakers today right then it is a moral responsibility of you too to preserve it. So instead of Hindi we should Make Sanskrit as a Unifying Language. In this way, all native languages- Tamil, Kannada, Marathi , Gujrati everyone will be preserved and we will reduce our dependency on English. In this way your argument that why Hindi and why not Tamil will be achieved. Hindi will be preserved to UP, Tamil in Tamil Nadu and in similar way all other languages. Plus Sanskrit will again become a living Language. So I think Sanskrit is the Answer. I believe that India should have two language policy : One Civilizational Language Sanskrit and One Regional Language according to State. In This way we will be able to preserve Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil and all the languages. And if anyone wants to study English cause they want to go abroad in countries like UK, USA etc. Then they should join private classes of English just like people who want to go to Japan or Germany or France study Japanese, German and French. After all Bharat is a Civilizational State kzfaq.info/get/bejne/fNBzjaVimd2lcYU.html Well u said you respect all languages but not Accepting Hindi and accepting Marathi. This statement is disrespectful towards language of UP brothers and sisters. Please don't do that. My reason for not Hindi is that it is yet another regional language and then it is very different from Southern States Languages and right when there already are 2 great languages Tamil and Sanskrit. Out of which Tamil already has a good enough amount of active speakers but just Sanskrit is dying. That's why Sanskrit I feel should be revived. Also the great texts of ours are in Tamil and Sanskrit so Both can be respected. So I feel Sanskrit is the answer. Here there is no question of Superiority or Inferiority of any language over other. Noticeable thing is that everyone fights in English only.

Etymology of Sanskrit Sanskrit = Sans + Krit Sans < Sams < Samas < Samans < Saman < Samam (Refined) "Krit" which is the root for "Script" (Writting) Krit < Krith < Kirith < Kiruth < Kiruthu < Kiruku < Kirukal < கிறுக்கல் < கிறு + கல் < கீறு + கல் (கல்லில் கீறுவது - scribbling on rock - writing on rock/stone) கீறு < கீற் / கீர் / கிர் - it is the sound produced when we scribble on stone. Sanskrit = Samam+Kirukku = Refined script (of Prakrit language). Prakrit is the spoken language, whereas Sanskrit created for religious language.

The divide was a clever creation of the European missionaries. The result is evident today.

A supremacist will keep on saying they are superior even when there is no evidence to support that. Are people saying Tamil is older than Sanskrit when unfortunately they have no evidence to prove it similar or not

Conclusion Sanskrit is Mother , Tamil is Father all other languages are Sons ,both languages originated from Shiva , sanskrit was taught to Kashyapa , Tamil to Agastya. Tamil Spread towards the east and Sanskrit Spread towards the west . All other countries can't accept the greatness of this land so they tried Create divide . Both the languages are great . BTW I have studied both Tamil and Sanskrit

Very much needed in today's political scenario especially in Tamil Nadu...Thank you PGurus and sree Iyer ji for doing this.

Can you please ask Dr.Nagaswamy to elaborate more about Vellalars and their history? That would be great

To Pgurus: Hope you take this in a positive way. In the comments below there are a few one from "Karthi k" , reading his posts and getting to the thread , he is very clearly an anti-Brahmin anti-Sanskrit bigot. He discredits the professor ONLY because Karthi has deduced the prof might be a Brahmin. However your response to him is poor. You guys are showing us light, you're spreading this great knowledge, why dont you engage him positively and constructively and not lose your temper. Guys like Karthi are the ones who vote for DMK who end up stealing temple funds/idols and sell them and abuse Hinduism. It is our duty to educate and sway even bigots like Karthi to a more rational , fact based position backed by knowledge and vote for Hindu centric parties which will improve TN and eventually our nation. - thanks

Agasthiya muni( one of sabtha rsi) Created tamil. Agasthiya muni belongs to Vedic tradition. Sanskrit is mother of all languages

Great to hear Prof. NAGASAMI SIR. HIS WORDS that Tamil Culture is nothing but Vedic Culture should be held aloft. But the Dravidian Elements changing all these to suit their ends are deplorable. Thanking Gurus for this Priceless gift.

I'm afraid, with due respect, Dr Nagasamy, is contradictory, when initially he says Vada Sol means Sanskrit and Prakrutam and when he says later Vada Sol includes Telugu, Vadugu etc

Natya Shastra of bharat written around 6000 BCE , Clearly says that India hace thousands of language in ancient times. But same culture. But tamilnadu politics will not tell you this to divide Indian people.

Should have listened more to my mother and talked more to her . I used to listen to her and so I can understand and speak Tamil . Thanks dear Mum.

Tholgappiam traces the origin of Tamil, original Iyazh Tamil, Thisai Sol, Vada Sol etc and rules of Grammar in using other than Iyazh Tamil, like தற்பவம் and தற்சமம். But, it does not mean that Tholgappiar said we should use all such variants of the language. We should endeavour to speak the native language in its original form and wherever its usage is unavoidable, it should be used within the native grammatical structure of Tamil.

Aasevagam was the religion followed by the Tamilians who were living in KUMARIKANDAM. KUMARIKANDAM is the area comprising of Tamilnadu, Srilanka and Australia as a one continent. This interview by these persons are not speaking the authenticity and scientific approach, many interpretations. Please read books by Ma. So. Victor and Mr Nedunchezhian. In fact Indus Valley civilization connected to Kezhadi excacavations. Still many interpretations in the interview. All the vedas, upanashids and Mahabharat were sourced from the Oldest Aasevagam /Tamilian language. Sanskrit was a language sourced from Tamil.

I don't understand why he stops in and says it's Sanskrit word. What is his intentions behind it.

You tell everything same by telling Tamil is from Sankrit. Wonderful. I don't understand why temple and god's in Tamilnadu not understanding Tamil

We all Indians must find out the reasons to unite us all but not the reasons of division between us, as the anti Bharath/ Bharat forces precisely want conflicts. We may have some disagreements on any subjects but it can't be reasons of conflict.we must respect our diversity of language, traditions, attire etc. Yes we must have Research, debate , discussion to find out the reality. We have so long history that it can not be settled down instantly. After all these efforts I am sure we will get to know we all are one. We all are sons & Daughters of Mother India. Vande Mataram 🇮🇳🙏

3 . 34 Thol + kappu + iyam is tholkappium . which means a treatise ( iyam ) to protect ( kappu ) antiquity ( thol ) A great scholar cum polyglot by name Chattambi swamigal of kersala wrote a book called adhi bhasha in which he establishes that tolkappium was the fore runner for sanskrit grammar ashtadhyayi itself .

Why modi told Tamil is older than sanskrit!!

World may call it German and Germany, but the native speakers call it Deutsch.

As per Dr. Nagaswamy himself in Tamil country the Sanskrit is referred as Vada Mozhi which means language of north. That means Sanskrit was originally from north India and Tamil and other south Indian languages developed on their own. In later period they got influenced by Sanskrit. Which proves Sanskrit is not mother of south Indian languages and only influenced Southern languages in later years. Tamil country was not part of Vedic culture. We can hardly find any reference to Vedic Gods in early Tamil Sangam literature. We can find few references in literature from 2nd Century AD. Which proves that Vedic culture also came to Tamil country along with Sanskrit. Tamil country became Vedic only after Bhakthi movement from 7th Century AD onwards with advent of Nayanmars and Alwars. Also he is wrong about saying Kerala was not part of Tamil Country. Kerala was part of Tamil Country until 10th Century AD, the language spoken was Tamil and there were lots of great tamil poets from Kerala during that time.

Thank you sir, Inscription of Sanskrit & Tamil need to be debated by ( Tamil & Sanskrit scholars) unfortunately this both hosts are Brahmins,,,,,,( at least Trivaluvar is was Tamil) thank you Sir,,, In addition to that, the latest finding in KEELADI in Tamil Nadu, has been kept secret by Central Gov of India,,, not knowing why,,, maybe for political reasons,,, Just queries, to be a such scholars. It’s important to clarify in details, absolute meaning of the word itself “ Tamil “ and “Sanskrit” first, and how it’s derived? by Iyer host as much he proclaimed the word “ Toolkapiyam” is Sanskrit ,,,,,

Excellent talk! Can I conclude that both words Dravid and Tamil come from the Sanskrit/Prakrit word Dramida/द्रमिडा?

His theory has flaws. I think he already decided that Sanskrit is the mother of all languages and done his research. Now archeological dna test on Indus Valley proved that it’s more close to South Indian people. If we watch closely even now all South Indian languages resembles old Tamil. In north it’s Prakrit until Ashoka . If Sanskrit spoken by predominantly in India why people spend in developing other language. Where r the people who speak Sanskrit as mother tongue now. First Sanskrit archeological evidence is in AD. There is a archeological evidence in palani hills in old Tamil scripts which u guys call brahmi which is older than Prakrit atleast by 200 years. Why can’t all these works copied from tamil to Sanskrit at later date.

Nagaswamy's Mirror of Tamil and Sanskrit: Dr. Nagaswamy was an eminent archeologist. He was solicited by Hindutva interests to make some forays in the linguistic area. The objectives seem to be clear; to establish that there is nothing independent of Sanskrit in Tamil, culturally and linguistically. He published two books in English to reach out to the North and the West. His first work, 'The Mirror of Tamil and Sanskrit' is the first to consider in our review. Tamil had achieved classical status in the West. Exposure to ancient works starting from the Sangam era coupled with knowledge of Tamil and Sanskrit, great linguists like Late AK Ramanujan and Dr/Mrs. V.S, Rajam in the US, and Late Kamil Zvelebil in Hungary wrote articles and books on this subject. Antiquity is not the only requirement in the world of linguistics to attain classical status. For example, the Munda family of languages are older than Tamil and Sanskrit in India. The tribal elders lost writing and they never had control over a landscape to establish a literary tradition. The classical status also requires 'independent ethos expressed in literary form and independent grammar'. NS chose to attack the grammar and 'sentiments' expressed in Tamil. … NS had to also fit Tamil into a paradigm that is closer to Sanskrit. We know that Tamil's independent tradition has a lot of literary work that does not affiliate to caste, creed, or religion. He chose to pick Natya Sastra written later in the 4th century AD to draw a parallel to Tolkappiyar's poetic grammar. He tries to fit Bharatha Muni's work to Tolkappiyam that is more exhaustive and overwhelming for a non-linguist. yAppu is the structure of poetry starting from a grouping of letters - acai, sIr, and building line (adi) leading to thodai and a final finished poem -pAttu. These are very unique in Tamil. Without deeper study into structural poetry construction (yaaththal) one cannot analyze a pAttu ( a creation like veNpa). He concludes unwittingly an earlier work like Silappathikaram as work on dance-drama. He rules out the characters who are real heroes and heroines. There is a dance element of Mathavi in arangERRu kaathai that describes her performance. But Silappathikaram is not just a treatise on dance alone; it denotes places that we can relate to. It has many historical events. The biggest difference in ethos between Sanskrit and Tamil epics is also ignored; all Tamil epic heroes are neither kings nor religious people. They are all simple lay common men and women. The story of Cheran Senguttuvan is real and he chooses to ignore it. His conquest of the North is not something worthy of consider for NS. UV Saminathaiyer's exhaustive commentary tells all the descriptions of space, kings that were allies of the Cheran (in Central India)..and his entire conquest to get the stone (rock) from the Himalayan region. But that is all fine. The man gets caught in mapping structural Tamil poetry to the beauty elements of Natya compositions in Sanskrit. Sanskrit has a decorative element called yamakam. This is what our NS finds cool to use to generally fit the entire Tamil poetic landscape. Yamakam falls into aNi (alangkaar in skt). They are used in both words and meanings. It is a complex play of elements that can give rise to different (and wrong) interpretations if we are not familiar and well-versed. This yamaka(m) is seldom used in Tamil as a decorative element. Tamil fits this in its structural poetry. Something in dance performance this yamakam in Sanskrit can be a simple repetition. A scholar of Tamil grammar picked all NS's examples where he tries to fit the Sanskrit yamakam into Tamil and shows how it is part of the structure ( yAppu). …Where Naga made a childish conclusion and became a laughing matter is with Auwwai's poetry. He sees Sanskrit word repetition that is sometimes added for sound repetition - serves the same in Tamil. Auwwai's goal is always conveying meaning (poruL) in a direct way, not repeating, or doing a fancy dance. For more detailed reading, one can refer to TamilaNNal, SRM University

🙏🙏💐💐It is for their survival that Dravidian Parties are pushing this Dravidian Model Politics not knowing that in a couple of centuries when their generations are gone, concept of Dravidian or Dravidam will also PERISH.

Mr Naga, after Keezhadi evacuation, Tamizh Brahmi is much older than Ashoka Brahmi by 500 years...so Tamizh is old and primitive.. simple logic

Point 1. Yes Tamil is developed as dramatic script from Sanskrit.

Finally some OBJECTIVITY and NO VENOM from a Tamilian about the historical position of Tamil !

so much knowledge is lost when someone is no longer there, so much have been lost over thousands of years,

Worst archeology department man India ever produced is this man nagaswamy

Historical evidence found during excavations in Keeladi near Madurai is significant, which negates these kinds of commentary that Tamil culture is originated from Vedic literature. The culture that flourished in that area, was more civilized and older than the Indus Valley civilization, which was considered to be the oldest one until Keeladi was found. The most crucial point noted from the evidence is that those people practiced ancestral worship, and there ere no religions practiced. But Vedic civilization practiced, patronages the Hindu religion. It is evident that Tamil civilization which flourished on the banks of Vaigai river is 2200 year old based on the carbon dating done on those evidence found in keeladi near Madurai. Apart from the above, I am not clear on the reason for taking Tholkappiyam as a reference point for this discussion. I believe this discussion is for somebody's convenience who try to prove Tamil culture is based on Vedic civilization, which I strongly disagree with the Keeladi evidence.

This dialogue is designed to say that Tamil literatures are from Sanskrit with out any concrete evidences. Please bring Tamil scholars in the session along with Sanskrit and discuss or debate than just speaking without concrete info

So the word Dravida was used by the Aryans of the north to refer to the Tamils of the south, the Tamils have never called themselves Dravidians. This is still prevalent today, where the north try to impose it's language and culture on the south. Tamil and Samaskrutham are very much vedic language of the ancient India.

He is a national treasure .Amazing man .

If there is no aryan invasions then can anyone explain the genetic variation between ANI and ASI

Why does one needed to use Bhavam when there is a Tamil word to denote that meaning called Unarvu?

Again, I am unable to subscribe to the view that Senthamizh is the ancient classical Tamil spoken in Cauvery delta. Classical Tamil language that originated and thrived in Sangam. Sangam had it's home in Pandya kingdom. Three Sangams were established in different places in Pandya kingdom, the last being Madurai, and the classical Tamil of Sangam period should be ascribed to the territorial region of southern Tamilnadu, especially Madurai.

We admire the great work of Dr Nagasamy on Tirukural and Vedas, Hope soon the people of TN will support Modiji to make the state free from dynastic, corruption rich governance that promote nothing but hatred and negativity.

Better listen to Dr Nedunchezhian speeches.

13:09 that's why shiksha is one of the vedanga

உண்மை என்கிற வார்த்தை சமஸ்கிருதத்தில் கிடையாது. எந்த மொழியிலும் கிடையாது.. மெய்\பொய் (true/false; सत्य/ असत्य sath(sathyam)/asath) தான் உண்டு. அதற்கு எதிர் பதமும் கிடையாது. நரம்பில்லா நாக்கு நாலும் சொல்லும். அதற்காகவே தமிழ் வழிபாடு தேவை. ஒழுக்கம் என்கிற வார்த்தை சமஸ்கிருதத்தில் கிடையாது. எந்த மொழியிலும் கிடையாது. கடவுள்(கடந்த உட்பொருள்) என்கிற வார்த்தை சமஸ்கிருதத்தில் கிடையாது.பிரம்மன் என்பத அறிவ சார்ந்த பொருள். வேதத்தில் உள்ளது தேவர்கள்\தேவாஸ். உண்மை, ஒழுக்கம் இல்லாத ஒன்று மந்திரமல்ல, தந்திரமே. உண்மை , ஒழுக்கம் இல்லாத மொழியில் இருக்கிற மந்திரம் தந்திரமே.

He is the biggest liar I have ever seen. He never dared to debate with any Tamil scholar. Sanskrit is just a branch language od Tamil.

Excellent wisdom on tamil. Great feel on seeing this discussion. Like to meet you ayya.

In kerala, karnataka, andra what language people spoke at old ages

சின்ன மனிதன் பெரிய மனிதன் செயலைப் பார்க்க சிரிப்பு வருது. நான் படவில்லை, யாரோ பாடியது.

Most of the facts shared are very well known ... I am recollecting my readings almost 10 years back

This should be made in Tamil for our misguided youth. This is now viewed by the elite few.

எனக்கு வந்த அருமையான ஒரு பதிவு........ தமிழ்நாடு என்று அண்ணா-தான் பெயர்வைத்தார். _தமிழக முதல்வர். (தினத்தந்தி செய்தி 19-07-2022) (Tamilnadu Day On 18 July 1967) அண்ணா பிறந்தது Born: 15 September 1909, Kanchipuram Died: 3 February 1969, Chennai பாரதியார் பாட்டு எழுதியபோது அண்ணாத்துரைக்கு -4- வயது இருக்கும் என்று நினைக்கிறேன்... மகாகவி சி. சுப்பிரமணிய பாரதியார் பிறந்தது Born: 11 December 1882, Ettaiyapuram Died: 12 September 1921, Triplicane, Chennai. செந்தமிழ் நாடெனும் போதினிலே - இன்பத் தேன் வந்து பாயுது காதினிலே - எங்கள் தந்தையர் நாடென்ற பேச்சினிலே - ஒரு சக்தி பிறக்குது மூச்சினிலே. வேதம் நிறைந்த தமிழ்நாடு - உயர் வீரம் செறிந்த தமிழ்நாடு - நல்ல காதல் புரியும் அரம்பையர் போல் - இளங் கன்னியர் சூழ்ந்த தமிழ்நாடு காவிரி தென்பெண்ணை பாலாறு - தமிழ் கண்டதோர் வையை பொருனை நதி - என மேவிய யாறு பலவோடத் - திரு மேனி செழித்த தமிழ்நாடு முத்தமிழ் மாமுனி நீள்வரையே - நின்று மொய்ம்புறக் காக்குந் தமிழ்நாடு - செல்வம் எத்தனையுண்டு புவிமீதே - அவை யாவும் படைத்த தமிழ்நாடு நீலத் திரைக்கட லோரத்திலே - நின்று நித்தம் தவஞ்செய் குமரிஎல்லை -வட மாலவன் குன்றம் இவற்றிடையே - புகழ் மண்டிக் கிடக்குந் தமிழ்நாடு கல்வி சிறந்த தமிழ்நாடு - புகழ்க் கம்பன் பிறந்த தமிழ்நாடு - நல்ல பல்விதமாயின சாத்திரத்தின் - மணம் பாரெங்கும் வீசுந் தமிழ்நாடு வள்ளுவன் தன்னை உலகினுக்கே - தந்து வான்புகழ் கொண்ட தமிழ்நாடு - நெஞ்சை அள்ளும் சிலப்பதி காரமென்றோர் - மணி யாரம் படைத்த தமிழ்நாடு சிங்களம் புட்பகம் சாவக - மாதிய தீவு பலவினுஞ் சென்றேறி - அங்கு தங்கள் புலிக்கொடி மீன்கொடியும் - நின்று சால்புறக் கண்டவர் தாய்நாடு விண்ணை யிடிக்கும் தலையிமயம் - எனும் வெற்பை யடிக்கும் திறனுடையார் - சமர் பண்ணிக் கலிங்கத் திருள்கெடுத்தார் - தமிழ்ப் பார்த்திவர் நின்ற தமிழ்நாடு சீன மிசிரம் யவனரகம் - இன்னும் தேசம் பலவும் புகழ்வீசிக் - கலை ஞானம் படைத் தொழில் வாணிபமும் - மிக நன்று வளர்த்த தமிழ்நாடு தமிழ்நாடு என யார் பெயர் வைத்தார்கள் என்று மக்கள் முடிவுக்கு விட்டுவிடுகிறேன்…

The heritage of India is in these two languages. It's important to preserve both. Tamil remains to be an active tradition while Sanskrit is dying. It's time to revive Sanskrit and unite it with Tamil as a divine language of our scripture. The Vedas are in Sanskrit, the basis of our culture. Not to mention the diverse Tamil scripture like Periya Purana, Tevaram, Tirumantiram and Tirukurral. If we wish to unite Hinduism, we have to bring to an end this Aryan, Dravidian divide and Tamil and Sanskrit divide.