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Tamil: Old Tamil
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Tamil is one of the ancient languages of the world with a 2200 year history. The origins of Tamil are not transparent, but it developed and flourished in India as an independent language with a rich literature. More than 55% of the epigraphical inscriptions, about 55,000, found by the Archaeological Survey of India in India are in Tamil language Unlike the neighbouring Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh where early inscriptions were written in Sanskrit, the early inscriptions in Tamil Nadu used Tamil exclusively. Tamil has the oldest extant literature amongst the Dravidian languages, but dating the language and the literature precisely is difficult. Literary works in India were preserved either in palm leaf manuscripts (implying repeated copying and recopying) or through oral transmission, making direct dating impossible. External chronological records and internal linguistic evidence... indicate that the oldest extant works were probably compiled sometime between the 2nd century BC and the 10th century AD.
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Tamil people are a Dravidian language speaking people from the Indian subcontinent with a recorded history going back more than two millennia.[6] The oldest Tamil communities are those of southern India and then north-eastern Sri Lanka. There are ... a number of Tamil emigrant communities scattered around the world, especially in central Sri Lanka, Malaysia, South Africa, Singapore, Pakistan and Mauritius with more recent emigrants found in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, and Europe. There are an estimated 77 million Tamils around the world.
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Tamil has the greatest geographical spread and the richest and most ancient literature, paralleled only by that of Sanskrit, of all Dravidian languages. It has an unbroken literary tradition of over two thousand years during which time the written language has undergone relatively little change. As a result, the classical literature is a part of everyday Tamil along with modern literature. Tamil children still use a thousand-year old alphabet rhyme. The rich and varied Tamil literature includes an indigenous grammar that was created independently from that of Sanskrit. The earliest text that describes the language of the classical period dates back to 200 BC.
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Tamil has a literary tradition of over two thousand years. The earliest epigraphic records found date to around 300 BC and the Tolkāppiyam (தொல்காப்பியம்), oldest known treatise in Tamil, has been dated variously between second century BC and tenth century AD. Tamil was declared a classical language of India by the Government of India in 2004 and was the first Indian language to have been accorded the status.
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Tamil inscriptions in Indonesia go back some two thousand years. The oldest Sanskrit inscriptions belonging to the third century in Indo China bear testimony to Tamil influence and until recent times Tamil texts were used by priests in Thailand and Cambodia. The scattered elements of ruined temples of the time of Marco Polo's visit to China in the 13th century give evidence of purely Tamil structure and include Tamil inscriptions.
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A plantation Tamil youth employed as a three wheel driver in Moneragala town in the south has been reported missing since 13 February. 24 year-old Maruthan Dineshkumar was last seen driving his three-wheeler to Okkampitya, and has not returned to his residence with his vehicle, according to complaints lodged with the Moneragala police. Fullstory>>
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