I have often encountered a strange discussion about whether Samskrita is older than Tamil as a language. I too, have been dragged into this frivolous discussion first initiated by Robert Caldwell as a measure of fractionating well-integrated Hindu society despite my profound reluctance to join such a futile exercise. Finally, as a measure of an educational exercise, I decided to expound my viewpoint once and for all.

We all creatures are ‘Beings’ ‘enveloped’ within an ‘envelope’. This ‘envelope’ is the gross body, ‘enveloped’ is the subtle body and ‘Beings’ are nothing but our innermost Self, Atma. The gross body is constituted of five Bhuta-s i.e. Prthvi (Earth), Jala (Water), Vayu (Wind), Agni (Fire) and finally Aakasa (Space). These are five elements that are fundamental/elemental in nature, constituting the entire gross creation known to humanity.

The subtle body is a blueprint of the Being, its past, present and future. It includes all its Karmas too and the roadmap to the ultimate salvation. The subtle body is constituted of seven Cakras and seventy-two thousand Nadis. These Chakras are regional centres of Prana and the complex labyrinthine of Nadis, passageways to facilitate the flow of Prana throughout the gross body. An uninterrupted flow of Prana throughout the gross body through Nadis ensures the Being remains a Being and not a dead object.

The seven Chakras are Sahasrara (on top of head), Ajna (between eye-brows), Visuddha (centre of the throat), Anahata (centre of chest), Manipuraka (just above the navel), Svadhisthana (just below the navel) and lastly, Muladhara (just below the tail-bone). All features and components of the blueprint mentioned earlier, are neatly distributed among these seven Chakras with an amazing degree of finesse that is simply impossible to accomplish without indulgence of divine intelligence.

Dhvani (sound) of the entire Varnamala i.e. alphabets of Samskrita is distinctly and individually embedded deep within these seven Chakras. Sound of this i.e. Samskrita Varnamala has been distinctly perceived/heard by innumerable realised, Brahmachari saints who inhabited this divine land known as Bharatvarsha all these years since time immemorial.

The entire Dhvani of Samskrit Varnamala can be perceived distinctly by anyone by pursuing eight organs of Astanga Yoga of Maharishi Patanjali. That ‘anyone’ may be any individual, Secular-Ayatollahs and -Benedicts included!! All other sounds in the world, of all languages and their alphabets, are merely derivatives/syntheses of one or more, of the Samskrita Varnamala i.e. its Dhvani. There is no Dhvani i.e. sound that ever existed in the cosmos since its creation, which is not included in Dhvanis of Samskrita Varnamala.

Vyakarana i.e. Grammer of Samskrita language was enunciated by Maharishi Panini, an inhabitant of Gandhar, now in Afghanistan, in an intensive state of trance attained through profound Dhyana when he was in direct communion with the Supreme Existence. Vyakarana, beyond the domain of human intellect, is so rich and intense that it mesmerises scholars of linguistics everywhere in the world.

So, the means of communication that Samskrita has been since infinity including its Vyakarana, has always been in the form of Sruti. Entire knowledge, and entire wisdom used to be stored in the form of Sruti and transmitted through Sruti from generation to generation, Yuga to Yuga. So we all creatures are made up of Samskrita !! Samskrita is within us i.e. entire mankind and we all are in Samskrita as well. We are born with Samskrita, we live in Samskrita and we die with Samskrita always in our subtle existence. As soon as Atma/Jivatma came into being, Sruti of Samskrita came into being concurrently. No language, no means of communication anywhere in the cosmos has ever pre-dated the origin of Samskrita. It is just impossible for any language to have come into existence before the advent of Samskrita or without being a derivative of Samskrita Varnamala and its Vyakarana. The practice of writing came into existence much later. There have been controversial claims that the script of Tamil was the first one to come into existence. However, Samskrita remains the most sacrosanct, most ancient means of communication throughout the history of its entire existence.

The enormity of primacy of Samskrita is so thunderous, so conspicuous that anyone claiming to be the first in script or anything else, is simply obscured into insignificance. That Samskrita is Deva–Bhasa is an incontrovertible fact. For Tamil to have been older than even Samskrita immediately leads to the conclusion that Tamilians came into existence even before all Devas, Devis i.e. all deities!! That amounts to stretching it to the limits of ludicrousness.

The oldest text is Rg Veda, approximately 5000 years ancient while the earliest Sangam Tamil literature is 1000 years ancient. These are conclusions drawn on the basis of scientific probing by Western Indologists. That’s another affirmation that Samskrita is more ancient than any other language.

In Kamba Ramayana, Kamban addresses Maharishi Valmiki as ‘Adikavi’ and none else. Hence, that Samskrita is older than Tamil is a straight confession of a celebrated Tamil poet himself.

I hope this article will succeed in eradicating the cobweb of controversies in everyone's mind forever.

Image source: eSamskriti