தமிழ். Dravidian family.
Widely spread in Tamilnadu, Pondichery, Srilanka.
Native to India, Srilanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, Reunion.
70 Million Native speakers. 8 million as second language.
The first language known to humans. The oldest of all languages which was meant to be origins of many other languages. Once, was spoken all over the world. Apparently, is the world's own.
Most of today's existing religions, cultures, civilization are a mere 2000 years old while Tamil dates back to over 20000 years. Even much earlier than Harappa, Mohenjadaro, Sumerian civilizations. It is not a coincidence that the name of the first city in Sumer is "Ur" (Tamil word for large permanent settlements). Though this claim has been disputed.
According to authentic sources, an undeciphered ancient script that was in use even before the last ice age bears close resemblance to Tamil brahmi script.
Researches suggest that a set of people from Jothimanikam (a village in Madurai, Tamilnadu) was discovered to have a rare NRYM130 DNA marker which was believed to have been found in early humans (50000 years ago)
Even after thousands of years, the idea of a lost continent - Lemuria aka Kumari Kandam refused to die, and it is still believed that Lemuria was an actual continent that existed in the past. After all, most of the ancient theories have been challenged by few.
Out of over 2 lakh palm scriptures/ manuscripts depicting the wealth of ancient Tamil, not even half has been translated and yet we have epics like அகநானூறு, புறநானூறு, திருக்குறள் and many more.
It is a fact that the world's largest Temple in Cambodia, Angkor Wat which was built for Lord Vishnu by Pandava King Suryavarman was later transformed to Buddhist use.
Brihadeeshwarar temple in Tanjore, “தஞ்சைப் பெரிய கோவில்", the largest in India and one of the greatest architecture is 8 times bigger than The Great Pyramind of Giza and was built in a span of just 6 years that still amazes most modern architects and has stood over 1000 years.
It is also a fact that தமிழர்கள் taught the world art, science, medicine, culture and lifestyle. Tamil is beyond all these. This is also the land of the great ராஜராஜ சோழன். So much wealth we can take pride of.
This is only to reiterate that we pride our Tamil and do not by any means subdue other languages nor to de-promote the use of English. Fine enough we use English as a common mode of communication. Most of our jobs demand it and also help in talking to the ones who do not know or understand Tamil but otherwise we must stick to our native language. Not necessarily in it's purest form, but still just speak and not feel low about it. Language is meant for communication after all and whatever our mother tongue is, we should be proud to represent ourselves and not feel shamed. Most of our generation cant keep a long conversation in Tamil now and we must not allow this to kill our language eventually.
So on this day let's take a pledge - No matter how many languages we learn, let's make sure to not lose our mother tongue and pass it on to our future generations.
"தமிழன் என்று சொல்லடா தலை நிமிர்ந்து நில்லடா..."
P.S. This article is in english since 1/4th of the people who speak Tamil do not know how to read or write the language.
- DC
Courtesy:
Hip Hop Thamizha - Manithan Tamizhan album
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