Tamil - Part - 1

Its strange that you start loving your mother Tongue once you are away from your Hometown. Its been almost 7 years since I have left Madras ( and TN too) . I was reading a post by a friend of mine and thought of writing on this topic.

I had a wonderful Tamil teacher when I was in 8th Standard ( she continued till 10th standard) . That is when I started falling in love with the Language. We were encouraged by her to read loudly the Tamil Ilakiyam in the class. Tamil Ilakiyam is one heck of a tongue twister ! I became immensly proud of its rich literature ( TholKaappiyam,Thirukural,Iymperum Kappiangal,Aga Naanuru,Pura naanuru,Aathi Choodi,Bharathiar Paadalgal ...the list is endless) . The deep chasm between spoken Tamil & Tamil Ilakiyam (Sangam & post-sangam era) also provides an interesting and rather sad tale in Sanskritisation ( and now Anglicisation ) of the Language.The Spoken Language is totally different from its Literature.

Alongwith Sanskrit , Tamil is generally acknowledged as one of the Oldest Languages in the world. Tholkaapiyam was supposedly written in the 3rd Century B.C .According to Historians, when the Aryans entered India through the Khyber & Bholan passes, most of the Dravidians were pushed south , a fact corroborated by the fact that the ancient language Brahui (Spoken in Baluchistan ) bears a striking resemblance to Tamil. The ancient Tamils were immensely proud of their language and the Madurai Tamil Conference is a testimony to their efforts to promote the Language.The Kings encouraged the language a lot and numerous stories of poets getting rewarded for their contribution to the language are galore. Thiruvalluvar , Avvaiyaar,Ilango adigal,Kambar,Bharathiar are all tamil poets revered even today for their immeasurable contribution .

Tamil is spoken by around 80 Million people in the world . Apart from India its quite popular in Sri Lanka,Malasiya,Singapore,South Africa,W.Indies and now thanks to the Globalization in US,UK,Canada & Australia.