Dravids and Languages

The language of the Vedas is Sanskrit, so called because of its divine perfection. Its other synonyms viz Sura-Bharati, Deva-Bhasha and Geervan-Bhasha all point to its divine origin.

Vedic Sanskrit is the basic ancestral language of the world, and not of India alone, because of its antiquity and also because the Vedas were bequeathed to mankind. There is also other comprehensive historical evidence to prove this.

All other languages, whether of the east or west, developed as regional "Prakrits". The very word "Prakrit" signifies a language "shaped out of" another (i.e. out of the divine Sanskrit). That is why all languages of the world can be traced to the language of the Vedas.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, therefore, rightly notices an affinity between the Rigved and Dravidian languages. The very root "Vid" is common to both Rigved and Dravid.

Sage Agasti (or whosoever else) and his group formed the first generation Dravids, i.e. seers and sages through whom the Vedas were bestowed on mankind by divinity not only in India but even in Europe. As proof one may cite the word "august" in European languages. August the European month, the title Augustus applied to Roman emperors and the Druids (priests) who dominated social life in ancient Europe. Druid is the European variation of the Sanskrit term Dravid. As an incidental clue one finds the Shiva samhita listed in the literature of the European Druids.

This disproves the fancied hostility between Aryans and Dravids. It must now be realized that Vedic culture is otherwise known as Aryan culture, and Dravids were the first generation seers and sages who spread Aryan culture throughout the world. Those two terms are, therefore, complementary adn not mutually exclusive or antagonistic.

Tamil, Telugu, Kannaa and Malayalam form the four main Dravidian languages in India. In modern parlance the term Dravid connotes South India. The four languages, grouped as "Dravidian" because they pertain to the Dravid region, all differ in their scripts, phonology and grammar. Similar is the case with other regional groups too, such as North Indian, European and (so-called) Semitic languages. And yet they are all Prakrits (i.e. shaped out) of Sanskrit. It is currently mistakenly assumed that Prakrits preceded Sanskrit.

Thus each language bears some regional affinity to neighbouring languages on one hand and to its remote ancestor, Sanskrit, on the other. This applies to Tamil too. The phonology of the Tamil alphabet is the same as that of Sanskrit, while its theological, social and moral thought content is identical with Vedanta.

Wide ramification from a common origin is a common rule applicable to all aspects of human life, including linguistics. Like biological cells, the multiples, while bearing some similarity to the original, continue to diversify from generation to generation.

If therefore Tamil appears different, that is not from lack of affinity to Sanskrit but from its antiquity, its generation gap. The wider the diversity, the greater the time gap.

It should therefore be realized as a basic fact of every aspect of human civilization, including linguistics, that the Vedas and their language, Sanskrit, form the origin of all human knowledge, including speech. Consequently, Panini's Sanskrit grammar must be regarded as the grammar of all grammars.