Sunday, February 21, 2010

The conflict of languages - Tamil and Sanskrit

Most readers are aware of the great Tamil Studies scholar Vaiyapuri Pillai’s predisposition to drag the period of ancient Tamil texts down to the Anno Dominis, while admitting without any issues, the period of Vedas, Upanishads, Ithihasas and Yashkanruthams. But, my regards for the scholar as unwavering in scientific spirit was shaken to the core recently, on reading his article on the Mauryas, in the first volume of his collected works. His articles on the history of Sanskrit works that run over 150 pages in the fourth volume of his collected works further augmented the doubts on the credentials of his works.

For instance, the author of Panini notes in his work, that the Vedic language was called Sandas and the spoken language then prevalent Basha. This confirms the view that Panini was well aware of the older Vedic language and the newly evolving Sanskrit during his period. Scholars have established beyond doubt that, the new Sanskrit evolved only after the second or third century ADs. In spite of that historical fact, Vaiyapuri Pillai still takes for granted the opinion that Katyayana, the commentator on Panini, lived around 250 BC.

Full report here Truth Dive

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