Words make this world.Genesis Chapter of the Holy Bible says how this world was created with words.If there is 'something' and it does not have a 'word' to name it,it is as good as it is not 'existing'.Word distinguishes and defines things and concepts.
Bible answers this question in Gen Chap.1.1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. ......................." It goes on like this.Now John 1.1 explains this further:"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". so it is clear that God created matter with 'word' only .So any thing that exists but does not have a word to call it does not 'exist' in our realms !
So what defines Hinduism ?
What is the distinguishing feature of Hinduism ? What is the unique character of Hinduism that sets it apart from other religions ?Christianity is the religion founded by Jesus Christ ,Islam is founded by Prophet Mohomed.Buddhism,Jainism,Laoism,Taoism etc .can all be defined.But if you ask 100 Hindus to define 'Hinduism' ,you are bound to get 100 different perceptions.
Can I call this 'Hinduism' ? How ? If not,why ?
How about this ?
Why not this ?
This one ?
So as the OP says the Hinduism as we call it now may be at the most 300 Plus years old.
The linguists of India have ,over a period of time used many words for referring to Tamil or to avoid the usage of the word Tamil.It’s surprising to observe that the word Tamil is not found even in essential references about languages of India.
The substitute words invented for this purpose are:
Prakrit
Dravida
Devanagari
Neesha Bhasha
Pracya,
Bahliki,
Daksinatya,
Sakari,
Candali,
Sabari,
Abhiri,
Dramili,
Odri.
Many such alibi words.
Since Tamil is spoken/written from time immemorial in India,if there’s any page on the Indian languages and if Tamil does not figure there,be sure that some other substitute word is used in its place.
Take for example,the Wiki page on Prakrit vide Prakrit - Wikipedia .The entire page does not have a single word ‘Tamil’ any where! So,was Tamil,a pan-Indian language, not present at the relevant period ? If ‘Prakrit’ was a language ,were there native speakers called’Prakruts’? History does not support any such inference.
So,what exactly does the word ‘Prakrit’ mean ?We all know that the word ‘Sanskrit’ is derived from Tamil words ‘Samam=Levelled+Kirukku=Script’ i.e. ‘Refined Script’. Similarly ,the word ‘Prakrit’ is derived from 2 Tamil words’Pira=Other+Krit=Kirukku(Script)’ i.e. ‘Miscellaneous Scripts’.These miscellaneous languages were dialects/variations of Tamil only.
The pre-Kannada,pre-Telugu,pre-Malayalam people should have spoken Tamil obviously.The evolution of these languages from Tamil is visible through the history.
A section of linguists are of the view that Tamil is the mother of many languages including the so-called Dravidian languages(sic).The timeline of the history of the major southern languages is roughly as under:
Tamil——Conservative estimate circa 5000 B.C. as Tamil is the Indus Valley language.Earliest around 10000 B.C. at least as proved by the work Pranava Vedam by MaMuni Mayon
Telugu—-Circa 400 B.C .Bhattiprolu inscriptions
Kannada—Circa 230 B.C. Ashokan edicts at Brahmagiri
Malayalam—Earliest branching could be by circa 9th c.A.D.
The timeline clearly establishes the mother hood of Tamil over the other languages.
The hypothesis of a language called ‘proto- Tamil’ having existed and all these languages descending from the same is untenable for the following reasons:
Linguists believe that there are no valid grounds to infer the existence of any mother to Tamil as its etymology,grammar,syntax etc. is complete and leaves no scope for such a belief.
For argument sake,if it is accepted that a ‘proto-Tamil’ language existed and all these languages descended from it,then all languages should be of same age which is not true here. No language can descend from a mother language after a gap of more than 1000 years.
If ‘proto-Tamil’existed,it should be like Tamil’s mother .Then,how can Telugu,Kannada,Malayalam be born out of grand-mother directly?ask linguists.
Any ‘proto-language’ exists before the concerned language comes into shape. In other words,any proto-language is an unrefined,raw form of language that disappears after the concerned language is formed.So,linguists feel that claiming that proto-Tamil existed after Tamil was formed and other languages descended from it is untenable.
TIME LINE ASSUMING PROTO-TAMIL EXISTED:
Proto-Tamil(?)—circa 5500 B.C.
Tamil——Conservative estimate circa 5000 B.C. as Tamil is the Indus Valley language.Earliest around 10000 B.C. at least as proved by the work Pranava Vedam by MaMuni Mayon
Telugu—-Circa 400 B.C .Bhattiprolu inscriptions
Kannada—Circa 230 B.C. Ashokan edicts at Brahmagiri
Malayalam—Earliest branching could be by circa 9th c.A.D.
Gap between Proto-Tamil and Telugu is 5100 years,Kannada is 5300 years and Malayalam is 6400 years.How can a language descend from Proto-language after such a long gap?is the question posed by linguists.
Surprisingly,there’s no subject called ’Motherology’in Linguistics that would help us trace the mother of any language!Nevertheless,some linguists have recently formed certain ground rules to identify the mother language of any language in question.
’CDDT’ (Core Diction Deduction Technique) lists out a few ground rules for the purpose.
What are the rules?
1.The fore most deciding rule is the presence of common core words between the ‘mother’ and the ’daughter’ languages discussed.List of ’Core diction’ is furnished elsewhere.
2. The chronological precedence of the ‘mother language’ needs to be established beyond reasonable doubt.
3. The ‘mother language’in question should have identifiable lot of ’native speakers’ to prove independent origination and spoken status as of now.
What are the core words/core diction for the exercise?
When any language ‘originates’the first words to originate are all ‘verbs’ normally.For example, core verbs like’come,go,sit,eat’ etc originate first followed by core nouns like’food,water,mom,dad,brother,sister’etc.’.
Linguists are of the view that a language is original if at least 90% of the following core diction A is proved to be original,meaning its ’own’.The view is based on the understanding that ‘verbs’ are the drivers of spoken basics and no language can originate without its own verbs.’Nouns’ may be borrowed from any language from any where.
A-Core Verbs
1. Go
2. Come
3. Run
4. Sit
5. Eat
6. Pee
7.Shit
8. Stand
9. Lie
10. Sleep
11. Bath
12. Drink
13. Fuck
B- Core Nouns
14. Man(Person)
15. Woman(Female)
16. Mom
17. Dad
18. Wife(my woman)
19. Food
20.Water
21. Brother
22. Sister
23. Hot
24. Cold
25. Fire
26. Good
27. Bad
28. God
29. Fear
30. Sad
31. Dog
32. Cow/Bull
33. Animal
34. Cave/Home
35.Tree
36. River
37. Forest
38. Etc.
(This is a sample list only for illustrating the concept)
However,if 90% of the core diction of Daughter language D is derived from another chronologically older mother language M,then it can be safely concluded that the second language M is the ‘Mother language’ of the first language D.
An illustration would help understand the CDD Technique better.
Let’s take a simple set of languages for easy understanding,say Tamil and Malayalam.
Almost 95% matching is seen in this study.Some words may not match exactly as another equivalent word of M language may be used in D language, like for ‘eat’.Sometimes phonetic changes in D words may disguise the words from immediate recognition .
Most of the words in B List Core Nouns are also likely to match thus strengthening the relationship.However B List words are prone to undergo more changes with time and varied cultural contacts..So B List matching may be considered as supplementary/additional/extra proof only.
Those who put up edit suggestions are requested to submit their thoughts as a separate answer as I have more than 1100 answer drafts to work on and so,not in a position to spare time for edit suggestions.Thanks for your understanding.
Hence,any reference to Proto-Dravidian may be taken as referring to Tamil,world’s oldest surviving language.The sounds ‘Ha,Sha,Ja’ are found in Tamil but pronounced so according to natural phonetics.
Examples:
Sundar சுந்தர் is pronounced as ‘Shundhar’ while Chuttipayal சுட்டிப் பயல் is pronounced as Chuttipayal and not Shuttipayal.
Aaharam ஆகாரம் is pronounced as Aaharam and not Aakaram.
Tamils,undoubtedly are a ‘unique people’ incomparable to any other’people’in the world ,like the Jews are.They are the only people who are known to have a claim that they are as old as the earth is.Their saying ’Kal thonri mann thondra kaalathe munn thondri mootha kudi’ means’people who appeared much before stones and sand appeared!’ This is not an empty boasting as it is supported by ample collateral evidence. There is also another popular saying ’Tamilan endror inamudu,thaniye atharkkor gunamundu’ which means’There is a race called Tamil,their qualities are quite different and unique’.
Now ,what are those unique good qualities?How have these qualities turned against them and are exploited by others to their advantage?Lets take a look.
Quality 1 :’Let Us Welcome Every One Into Our Land !’
‘Yathum oore!Yavarum kelear! is an age old Tamil adage which means’"To we Tamils, all towns are one, all men our kin'' This policy has led Tamils to welcome foreigners into their land ,with open hands,not just as a guest but for living here,among them.The quote Vandhaarai vazhavaikkum Thamizhagam (Tamil Nadu nurtures those who come to live here) is an off shoot of this policy .While Tamils trying to settle down in other states are either resisted or unwelcome,Tamil Nadu welcomed them with open arms.This resulted in all sort of people moving in and settling down in Tamil Nadu peacefully. TOI says”According to just-released census figures, there are about 35 lakh Telugu-speaking people in Tamil Nadu, constituting almost 5.7% of the state's population. The Kannada-speaking add up to about 10.5 lakh (1.7%) almost double the number of Malayalis who — at 5.55-lakh strong — make up less than 1%.”Apart from these Rajasthanis,Gujaratis,Marwaris,Jains etc.are found throughout the state.
But ,its not the number of non-Tamils living in Tamil Nadu that matters but the wealth and power they have drawn from TN here that actually matters . An average Tamil in Bengaluru may be a labour just barely eking out a living there ,making both ends meet .He does not own a Shopping Mall nor 500 acres of lay out there.At the most,he may own a house or a small business.Compare this with non-Tamils in Tamil Nadu who owns substantial businesses,malls,shops,colleges,hospitals in Tamil Nadu:
· Chennai has colleges/schools owned by Malayalees,Jains,Telegus etc.
· Major hospitals in TN are controlled by non-Tamils
· All bakeries in Coimbatore are owned by Keralites.
· Large layouts/bungalows in all TN towns/hill stations like Ooty, Kodaikanal,are owned by non-Tamils
· 50% of Rubber Plantations in TN are owned by Malayalees.
· 90% Veg/Non-veg restaurants in TN are owned and staffed by non-Tamils
· Almost all Star hotels in TN are owned by non-Tamils .Only roadside eateries are owned by Tamils !
· The Coonoor Tea business is controlled by north Indians and Malayalees.
· TN Bullion business is controlled by non-Tamil Marwaris entirely.
· All major Textile Showrooms across the State do not belong to Tamils.
· The Tamil Chettiars who were in the fore front of global trading centuries ago are no where now.’Murugappa Group’ is the sole survivor now. Look at this image that certifies to this fact.
· Tamil film industry has few Tamils and more of others.The Telegus produce,Malayalees act and its the Tamil fans that pay !Actress like Kajal who cannot speak one word of Tamil can act in so many films!P.Susheela,a Telugu, who sang 1000 Tamil movie songs perfectly can say boldly that she can’t speak proper Tamil,when it comes to answering in Tamil !
However,despite all these,the non-Tamils are not grateful to Tamils for all these privileges they enjoy .On the other hand they think that Tamils are ‘Yemalis’ ஏமாளி not smart enough to know them.They don’t respect Tamils.They do not recruit Tamil workers.They don’t respect Tamil language.They don’t chose Tamil names but christen their layouts with names like ’Kshpta’ which no Tamil can ever pronounce.They hardly mix with Tamils socially.They dominate over Tamils with their own culture like celebrating Holi here. To day,if you enter a restaurant in Coimbatore and ask for ‘Thannee’(water) don’t be surprised,if the server does not understand it,as he may be a north Indian migrant worker!This happened to me.Tamils are losing Tamil Nadu inch by inch,thanks to this policy of welcoming strangers.
Quality 2:No ruling/dominating instinct
There is a little island in Indian Ocean inhabited by around 1000 tribals.No one has dared to enter the island,as they dart out poisoned arrows even if they notice a helicopter flying over them.They know,losing territory means losing home.The dogs do not allow Non-Resident dogs to enter their territory!They bark them off !Tamils,unfortunately do not have this ‘dog’instinct and so they are losing their land to others slowly.They don’t dominate over outsiders but dominate over other Tamils based on caste status.The Caste System has an unwritten rule’If you don’t beat me.I will beat you!’ Beat or get beaten.Tamils don’t offend others,hence,others offend Tamils! The national media keeps offending Tamil,its culture etc.whenever possible.There is a Tamil saying’oorukku ilaichavan pillayar koil andi’ which means ‘The beggar staying in a temple is ill treated for no reason by every one’TN is treated like that’andi’ by every one.
Tamils allow all their symbols/identity to be destroyed systematically by non-Tamils.
· Tamil language,the oldest language surviving ,is the pride of Tamils.This has been diluted by people who entered Tamil Nadu and welcomed with open arms by the Tamils.They changed every Tamil name slowly to non-Tamil names.’Pothigai’ river became ‘Thamraparni’,’Mayiladuthurai’ became’Mayavaram’ etc.Tamils tolerated this change,without much protest.
· An average Tamil is dark in complexion.This colour is made fun of by non-Tamils through all possible ways.Rajini, in one of his films is shown as taking bath in ‘Fair & Lovely Cream’ as the heroine rejects him as he is ‘dark’ in colour.The worst part of it is, Tamils also ,sometimes joining others in making fun of their colour. In this movie,Solomon Pappiah ,well known Tamil speaker,joins the gang and makes fun of the Tamil colour.Mind it,Afro-Americans never make fun of their colour any where.They take pride in their colour.
· The non-Tamils occupy the media positions,reporters and VJs and slowly dilute Tamil with English words which makes it easy for them to speak.Kajal Agarwal,an movie actress, cannot speak a single sentence in Tamil but makes millions through Tamil cinema.The Tamil is diluted to as much as 30% with English words.Tamil language is being destroyed slowly by such people.
· Everything Tamil is called’South Indian’ or’Dravidian’ in the media but ‘Bengali food’ is not ‘north Indian ‘!Maharashtrian food is not called ‘north Indian food’ !There is a spirit of suppression acting when it comes to anything Tamil related.Over the years Tamil identity is either stolen or destroyed slowly.Iddli,Dosa,why ,even ‘Chettinadu cuisine is ‘South Indian’ only ,not Tamil food but Kerala ‘puttu’ is Kerala food only!
· Saree was the Tamil identity.Today ,north Indian dress is common.’The Hindu’ called this as ‘Fall of the saree!’with joy.
· Pavadai-Thavani,the beautiful Tamil dress is no more seen except in films.This dress is now cleverly called’South Indian’ to deny ‘Tamilian’ credit.
Tamils are ,by nature ,law-abiding .During Cauvery disputes TN Govt chose legal redress but Karnataka ,never obeyed SC orders.Even for Jallikattu,people were fighting for lifting the ban than doing Jallikattu illegally.A few aberrations that took place does not represent Tamil ethos. This quality of law abiding is not respected as much as violence is feared by the rulers. So, its easy to ignore Tamils than the violent others.
Quality 4:Not tricky/can’t understand tricks
If you speak truth,you are most likely to trust others believing them but if you are ‘tricky’ you will doubt every one!Tamils are quite innocent.They trust every one on the face of it.They believe every lie.If one leader who has amassed crores for her,comes and tells’I live for you like an ascetic’they believe it innocently.This quality is exploited by non-Tamils to rule over them through lies.
Quality 5:Media/Publicity/Marketing shy
These days even before a business is thought about,marketing starts.But Tamils never think of advertising their wares to the world.They never boast about their language or culture as much as others do.Had they done so,north Indians would have realised the greatness of Tamil,by this time.Taking advantage of this quality,others have slowly misappropriated Tamil stuff and patent it as their own.’Yoga’ is the best example of misappropriation done cleverly.’Yoga’ is marketed as an Indian stuff ,with the word ‘Tamil’ never appearing anywhere.’ Sage Patanjali’ the Yoga exponent is never mentioned as a Tamil.Yoga is a 27 billion dollar industry,with none knowing that its a Tamil art ! That means 1,89,000 crores of money is made using a Tamil art without giving even 10% royalty of 18000 crores to the owners Tamils !“In the past 4 years [2012-2015], the amount spent in the United States on yoga classes, equipment, clothing, and accessories has risen from $10 billion to $16 billion. The total economic impact of the US yoga industry is estimated to be $27 billion annually, according to reporting by the Huffington Post.”
Actual Tamil Yogi.They don’t make money out of Yoga
Yogi ,as shown in media.They may not know actual Yoga.
Fair in colour,speaks stylish English and flies abroad to teach Yoga!
Another misappropriated Tamil stuff which is sold in the market is Siddha System of medicine.Siddha Medicine & Natural Treatment Hospital is run by Malayalees in Kerala ,giving an impression that it is their art! Varma,Kalaripayitru practised in Kerala are of Tamil roots but claimed to be Kerala arts.Tamils allow every one to claim their stuff as theirs!Tamils never went for commercial exploitation of their valuable arts but others did !Tamils never see money in their arts,only social good.Infact,traditional Siddha doctors do not charge any amount as they believe that charging will rob their power!
Even in the recent Jallikattu protests coverage,national media was dominated by people who are not Tamils,that is ,they are not part of Tamil culture .They would have never seen a Jallikattu,not to talk of catching a bull by its ‘thimil’(hump).The ‘Jallikattu Peravai’Chief(Tamil) was not interviewed at all.
All media chiefs/Editors/Reporters of popular TVs are non-Tamils .National media like NDTV do not have any Tamil staff even to cover TN news.
Quality 6:Allows others to rule over
Many TN CMs are non-Tamils like MGR from Kerala and Jayalalitha from Mysore . But no Tamil can ever become even an MLA in Karnataka or Kerala.
Quality 7:Lack of ambition for territory expansion
When a Malayalee lands in Ooty for a job,he brings all his village men here slowly.Soon he settles down here.Tamils do not expand their territories while allowing others to do so in Tamil Nadu.
Quality 8:Tamil,a large MNC without Marketing Dept !
Celtic language family is a group of minor languages spoken by ,say,4 million people in Europe .But they have a Marketing Dept,yes,a Chair in the famous Harvard University! The 4mn speakers value their language so much as to install a Chair there whereas 80 mn global Tamil speakers have not established a Chair for the great Tamil language yet!The number of people who have declared Sanskrit as mother tongue is just 14135 (2001 census) but they are smart enough to have the most commanding media presence in the world.In addition ,Sanskrit has a Chair in Harvard as well.All text books talk about Sanskrit 100 times more than Tamil !While Tamil does not boast about what they have,some languages boast about what they don’t have !Tamil badly needs Press Meets to showcase its stuff to the world.
If you ask an young boy’Which do you prefer,Coca Cola or coconut water?’ The answer is obvious.Coca Cola scores over ‘coconut water’ easily because it has a marketing department which highlights the virtues of drinking Coca Cola.Though coconut water has better virtues,none knows as it does not propagate it abroad.Well,Tamil is a kind of coconut water ! Natural,nourishing but silent!No one knows its virtues nor does it shout!It has all advanced elements but it allows others to misappropriate them and patent them! If Amerigo Vespucci discovered America,it was Columbus who conducted a Press Meet to claim the award! Its time Tamil lets the world know its greatness.
Let the world know that:
· Tamil is the oldest surviving language and possibly the ‘Mother of ‘Mother-Tongues’
· All major language families in the world have unexplained connection with Tamil language.Greek,Latin,Hebrew,Korean,Chinese are a few of them.
· Tamil presence throughout the world from Australia to Africa is well documented.
· Tamil has the most advanced vocabulary in the world.Eg.Elephant has 60 names and Lion 24 names!
· Tamil has most advanced mathematics with names for ‘number raised to the power of 22’
Quality 9:We will invent but allow others to Patent!
Tamil has advanced literature and science.Its culture is the root of all the following:
· Yoga
· Vaasthu
· Ayurveda
· Sanskrit/Hindi
· Vedas
· Hinduism
But most of the above are never credited to the Tamils but claimed as Indian.Let us remember that there is nothing called Indian before 1947.
Quality 10:Not demanding recognition for greatness!
You have 16 Hindi Prachar Sabhas to spread Hindi in Tamil Nadu.The procedures for obtaining their Certificates are made very simple and people who cannot write their names in Hindi have also got Hindi certificates of qualification! But Tamils never try to spread Tamil or teach it to non-Tamils .So many north Indians do not know the greatness of Tamil language and culture,as we never tell them.The Indian text books do not highlight Tamil’s greatness in any way.
