History: Which is the Oldest Language of India? Sanskrit or Tamil!

It is a common belief that Sanskrit is the oldest language of India. Script is very important aspect of any language. Script is a written form of a language. Script is considered one of the important evolution of a language as people can transmit their knowledge through writing to future generations with ease. In olden days, words of languages were written in rocks and stones.

The oldest known Sanskrit inscriptions on stone, written in the Brahmi script, are the Hathibada Ghosundi inscriptions, dating back to the 2nd-1st century BCE, found near Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. Sanskrit didn't have it own script during those days. So, they used brahmi script for writing Sanskrit. Most stone carving found in North India had Brahmi scripts in it. So researchers assumed, Brahmi was the oldest script in India with Sanskrit as the oldest language.

But, many stone carving & inscriptions found in Tamil nadu and Kerala didn't match with the Brahmi script. Also, the language written in stone carving were also not Prakrit or Sanskrit. This forced the researchers to find the language and script of stone carving found in Tamil nadu and Kerala. It was finally decoded by historian and epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan that script used in these stone carving were a unique script called Tamil-Brahmi and language used was Tamil. This script was then called Tamili (தமிழி). Mahadevan was awarded Padma Shri by Indian Government for his contribution in epigraphy. This opened the door for new discoveries and possibilities.

A Mud pot with Tamil- brahmi inscription

In last 10 years, Archaeological excavation in Tamil Nadu's Keeladi, Sivakalai, Adichanallur, Porinai and other places found that mud pots with Tamili scripts all over it. Archaeologist also found paddy stored within the mud pots at these excavation sites. When sent for carbon dating to US Beta lab, it showed that the age of these paddy in mud pots bearing Tamil letters belonged to 700 BC. At some places, Tamil was written even in a "grammatically correct manner". Ancient Tamil grammer book is called "Tholkappiyam". Even today, written tamil follows many of its grammer based on this book. This grammer book was written before Buddha This makes Tamil the oldest living language of India.

Megasthenes was a Greek historian who visited India during the reign Chandragupta Mauriya (300 BC) forefather of Ashoka, the Great. He notes that neither Chandragupta Mauriya nor his ministers had no writing knowledge.

But, during the same period, in Tamil Nadu, common people were able to write on the mud pots using their own script, Tamil-brahmi with their own language Tamil. This habit of writing in pots, plates continues even today in Tamil Nadu. Experts says still there is a lot of excavation needs to be done throughout Tamil nadu to bring the true history of Tamils to light as they think history of Tamils much older than this.

The most important aspect of language is for communication between people. In this context, it is also important to note that Sanskirt is not only younger than Tamil, but also a dead language with only few hundred academic people who will be able to understand the language while Tamil is a alive language spoken by millions across Singapore to Tamil nadu to Mauritius making it oldest living language.

Other interesting archaeological findings:

Alexender the great, (350 BC) defeated King Porous of India. The King offered Iron as a gift of respect to alexander. During those days, iron was more valuable than Gold. The Iron Age was a pivotal period in human history, marked by the widespread use of iron tools and weapons, leading to advancements in agriculture, warfare, and societal structures, ultimately shaping ancient civilizations. It was widely believed that Indus valley was the oldest Iron age site of India. Anatolia in Turkey was believed to be the oldest iron age site in the world.

Recent, archeological excavation shows a different picture. Recent archeological findings in Sivakalai, suggest that the Iron Age in Tamil Nadu began as early as 3345 BCE, potentially rewriting the timeline of the Iron Age date of the entire planet. Sivagalai in Tamil nadu is the oldest Iron age site in the Planet.

All info share here are scientific findings that can be verified independently by anyone.

Selva karthik, the Author of this article. To know more about the author's indigenous seed conservation work, click here,

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