Testimonies for Tamil's antiquity

There is a school of thought who believe Tamil is the first and earliest language of the world,since Tamil was the language of the submerged continent Lemuria.But it has been admitted world over that Tamil is one among the 6 most ancient languages of the world.Most importantly Tamil along with Greek and Chinese are the oldest surviving languages of the world.It is surprising to note that some words of the current world languages are very close to their Tamil equivalents.

Appa-அப்பா in Tamil means father - In Finnish it is Appe/Appi and in Hungarian it is eppa. Annai-அன்னை in Tamil means mother - In Finnish it is Anya.Akka-அக்கா in Tamil means elder sister- In Ukrainian it is Yakkan.It is interesting to note in many village dialects of Tamil akka is pronounced as yakka even today.This is very close to the Ukrainian yakkan.Kollu-கொல்லு or koll-கொல் in Tamil means kill in English and Kolyu in Russian .

Chinese(Mandarin) and Tamil are considered to be two of the oldest surviving languages of the world. It is interesting to note in almost all the world languages Tea is either known as tee/tea (From Tamil Te neer-தே நீர் ,Te ilai-தே இலை ) or as Cha/Chai of the Chinese origin. It is the Tamil word Te as such or variations of the Tamil word Te as Thee Teo Tee Teh Tey and Tea  in the following languages Afrikaans Armenian Danish Dutch English German Spanish,Sinhalese Finnish Hebrew Hungarian Irish Italian Icelandic Indonesian Malay Norwegian Swedish Taiwanese Welsh  and Yiddish.

In the following languages tea is known as cha/chai of the Chinese origin or a variation of this. Albanian Arabic Bengali Bulgarian Croatian Czec Hindi Korean Persian Portuguese Russian Serbian Tibetan Turkish Urdu and Vietnamese

It must be remembered earliest Tamil epigraph records of 1st and 2nd BCE were found in Egypt, Sri Lanka and Thailand.Earliest Tamil inscriptions were found in Sumatra and China also.Ancient pottery with Tamil inscriptions dating back to 1st BC were found in Egypt.It is believed a Pandya king ruled Vietnam .The King's name was Sri Maran.Historians believe it is the Tamil King Thiru maran.Chinese historians have also confirmed that the Hindu empire existed in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and the king was Sri Maran."Chinese historians named Thiru Maran as Kiu Lien and said that he captured Champa following a revolt. Champa is part of modern Vietnam. It is believed the king donated all his property to the people who were close to him and ordered that it should be honoured by the future kings.The French scholars who excavated most of the South East Asian sites have identified Kiu Lien as Sri Maran. All the kings’ names who followed Sri Maran were in Chinese style and beyond recognition."(ref swamy indology).

A broken bronze bell with Tamil inscriptions were found near Whangarei in the Northland Region of New Zealand."The inscription running around the rim of the bell has been identified as old Tamil. Translated, it says "Muhayideen Baksh’s ship’s bell"(Reference wikipedia).It is an establised fact that Pandyan kings had trade relations with Rome and Egypt.

It is reported over 55 % of the inscriptions and rock edicts found by Archaeological Survey of India from India are in Tamil.The earliest inscriptions found in India are from 1st century BCE .These inscriptions are in Tamil.They were found in megalithic urn-burial fields in the Upper Vaigai valley. It is believed alphabetic writing was started in the Early iron Age of man .These language evidences were attested by experts.It must be remembered this is about written manuscripts and not about epigraph evidences.Even by that standards the earliest attested script found in the world was on 5th century BC and that was Tamil (Reference Wikipedia ).As mentioned earlier, epigraph Tamil records of 1BCE and 2 BCE were found in Egypt, Sri Lanka and Thailand.

The maritime capabilities of ancient Tamil kings were phenomenal.The Pandyan dynasty stood out in trade and literature much before the christian era..The great historian Strabo has mentioned Emperor Augustus of Rome had diplomatic relationship with Pandyan dynasty of Madurai.Periplus is the ancient sailor's guide book or manual.It is a documented manuscript giving details about ports,coastal landmarks, distance between ports,and what could be expected along the shore.There is a reference about Pandyan Mediterranea in periplus. The chola navy was a forerunner of the Indian navy.The earliest recorded evidence for Chola navy is from 1CE.A settlement of Tamil speaking merchants were found in Rome in 100 CE.It is reported Rajaraja cholan used the services of Arabs and Chinese for ship building programs.A Tamil inscription from Sumatra says Chola's even had a merchant guild.It is surprising to note the Chola navy had a rank structure similar to the present day Indian Navy .There were positions similar to Admiral,Vice Admiral ,Rear Admiral ,captain and Maritime Engineer.(ref Wikipedia)Another interesting fact is that Chola's had Customs and Excise duty wing,Inspection and enforcement wing,intelligence wing and coastal guards.There were comprehensive classification of vessels and utility .The first ever naval expedition by an Indian King was done by the Chola dynasty.The Chola's first naval expedition was in to the Malay pennisula.The Chola navy was also capable of non combat missions too.They did peace time patrolling,controlling pirates,escorting trade convoys and friendly vessels.(Ref wikipedia )

UNESCO's Memory of the World Program is an international initiative launched in 1992 to safeguard the documentary heritage of humanity.It preserves archaeological evidences collected from all over the world..The program is administered by a body known as the International Advisory Committee(IAC). The 14 members of IAC are appointed by the UNESCO Director-General.The two earliest manuscripts from India, registered by UNESCO Memory of the World register were in Tamil.The manuscripts submitted to UNESCO memory of world register by India in 1997 was about Tamil medicinal manuscripts .It was all about the ancient medicine practiced by Tamil yogis and sidhars.Agathiyar was one of the great Tamil sages.He is one of the saptharishi's ( seven sages) of India.It was believed Agathiyar was an expert in language,alchemy, medicine and spirituality.The first Tamil grammar book called Agathiyam is credited to Agathiyar.There is a mention about Agastya in the great Indian epic Ramayana. In 2005 India submitted to UNESCO a collection of  11000 Tamil manuscripts related to religion and worship of the Hindu God Siva,This is a largest collection of texts of the Saiva Sidhanta.It was a largest collection of shiva worship songs in Tamil by great Tamil saints.This religious tradition, a major tradition of Hinduism,spread across the Indian subcontinent and as far as Cambodia in the East.There are Shiva and nandi (sacred bull ) temples in Cambodia even today.

The rich heritage of the language has to be preserved by digitizing documents and enabling online access.The Tamil heritage foundation (THF) is doing a commendable job on this.In collaboration with the British Library they collect documents from around the world and digitize them .Their project activities are mainly centered around India, United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland and South Korea.THF is to make available to Tamils world over the ancient wisdom of Tamils in manifold fields like astronomy, mathematics, medicine, chemistry, engineering, arts, music and literature.