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Since theIron Age of India, the nativelanguages of the Indian subcontinent have been divided into variouslanguage families, of whichIndo-Aryan andDravidian are the most widely spoken. There are also many languages belonging to unrelatedlanguage families, such asMunda (from theAustroasiatic family) andTibeto-Burman (from theTrans-Himalayan family), spoken by smaller groups.
Proto-Indo-Aryan is aproto-language hypothesized to have been the directancestor of all Indo-Aryan languages.[1] It would have had similarities toProto-Indo-Iranian, but would ultimately have usedSanskritizedphonemes andmorphemes.
Vedic Sanskrit is thelanguage of theVedas, a largecollection ofhymns,incantations, and religio-philosophical discussions which form the earliest religious texts in India and the basis for much of theHindu religion. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of theRigveda to be the earliest. The hymns preserved in the Rigveda were preserved byoral tradition alone over several centuries before the introduction of writing, the oldest Aryan language among them predating the introduction of Brahmi by as much as a millennium.[citation needed]
The end of the Vedic period is marked by the composition of theUpanishads, which form the concluding part of the Vedic corpus in the traditional compilations, dated to roughly 500 BCE. It is around this time thatSanskrit began the transition from a first language to a second language of religion and learning, marking the beginning ofClassical India.[citation needed]
Sanskrit grammar isPanini'sAṣṭādhyāyī ("Eight-Chapter Grammar") dating to c. the 5th century BCE. It is essentially a prescriptivegrammar, i.e., anauthority that defines (rather than describes) correct Sanskrit, although it contains descriptive parts, mostly to account for Vedic forms that had already passed out of use in Pāṇini's time.
Knowledge ofSanskrit was a marker of social class and educational attainment.[citation needed]
Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or "Paninian" Sanskrit, while broadly similar, are separate[2] varieties, which differ in a number of points ofphonology,vocabulary, and grammar.
Prakrit (Sanskritprākṛta प्राकृत, the past participle of प्राकृ, meaning "original, natural, artless, normal, ordinary, usual", i.e. "vernacular", in contrast tosamskrta "excellently made",[citation needed] both adjectives elliptically referring tovak "speech") is the broad family ofIndo-Aryan languages anddialects spoken in ancient India. Some modern scholars include all Middle Indo-Aryan languages under therubric of "Prakrits", while others emphasise the independent development of these languages, often separated from the history of Sanskrit by wide divisions ofcaste, religion, andgeography.[citation needed]
The Prakrits became literary languages, generally patronized by kings identified with thekshatriya caste. The earliest inscriptions in Prakrit are those ofAshoka, emperor of theMaurya Empire, and while the various Prakrit languages are associated with different patron dynasties, with different religions and different literary traditions.
InSanskrit drama, kings speak inPrakrit when addressing women or servants, in contrast to the Sanskrit used in reciting more formal poetic monologues.[citation needed]
The threeDramatic Prakrits –Sauraseni,Magadhi,Maharashtri, as well asJain Prakrit each represent a distinct tradition ofliterature within the history of India. Other Prakrits are reported in historical sources, but have no extant corpus (e.g.,Paisaci).
Pali is the Middle Indo-Aryan language in which theTheravada Buddhist scriptures and commentaries are preserved. Pali is believed by the Theravada tradition to be the same language as Magadhi, but modern scholars believe this to be unlikely.[citation needed] Pali shows signs of development from several underlying Prakrits as well as some Sanskritisation.
The Prakrit of the North-western area of India known asGāndhāra has come to be calledGāndhārī. A few documents are written in theKharoṣṭhi script survive including a version of theDhammapada.
ThePrakrits (which includesPali) were gradually transformed intoApabhraṃśas (अपभ्रंश) which were used until about the 13th century CE. The termapabhraṃśa, meaning "fallen away", refers to the dialects ofNorthern India before the rise of modern Northern Indian languages, and implies a corrupt or non-standard language. A significant amount of apabhraṃśa literature has been found inJain libraries. WhileAmir Khusro andKabir were writing in a language quite similar to modernHindi-Urdu, many poets, especially in regions that were still ruled byHindu kings, continued to write in Apabhraṃśa. Apabhraṃśa authors includeSarahapad ofKamarupa,Devasena ofDhar (9th century CE),Pushpadanta ofManikhet (9th century CE),Dhanapal,Muni Ramsimha,Hemachandra ofPatan,Raighu ofGwalior (15th century CE). An early example of the use of Apabhraṃśa is inVikramōrvaśīyam ofKalidasa, whenPururava asks the animals in the forest about his beloved who had disappeared.[citation needed]
Hindustani is right now the most spoken language in the Indian subcontinent and the fourth most spoken language in the world. The development of Hindustani revolves around the various Hindi dialects originating mainly fromSauraseniApabhramsha. A Jain text Shravakachar written in 933AD is considered the first Hindi book.[3] Modern Hindi is based on the prestigious Khariboli dialect which started to take Persian and Arabic words too with the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate; however, the Arabic-Persian influence was profound mainly on Urdu and to a lesser extent on Hindi. Khadiboli also started to spread across North India as a vernacular form previously commonly known asHindustani. Amir Khusrow wrote poems in Khariboli and Brajbhasha and referred that language as Hindavi. During the Bhakti era, many poems were composed in Khariboli, Brajbhasa, and Awadhi. One such classic is Ramcharitmanas, written by Tulsidas in Awadhi. In 1623 Jatmal wrote a book in Khariboli with the name 'Gora Badal ki Katha'.
The establishment of British rule in the subcontinent saw the clear division of Hindi and Urdu registers. This period also saw the rise of modern Hindi literature starting withBharatendu Harishchandra. This period also shows further Sanskritization of the Hindi language in literature. Hindi is right now the official language in nine states of India—Uttar Pradesh,Bihar,Rajasthan,Jharkhand,Madhya Pradesh,Chhattisgarh,Uttarakhand,Haryana andHimachal Pradesh—and the National Capital Territory ofDelhi. Post-independence Hindi became the official language of the Central Government of India along with English. Urdu has been the national and official language of Pakistan as well as thelingua franca of the country.
Outside the India, Hindustani is widely understood in other parts of the Indian subcontinent and also used as a lingua franca, and is the main language ofBollywood.
Marathi is one of several languages that further descend fromMaharashtri Prakrit. Further change led to theApabhraṃśa languages like Old Marathi, however, this is challenged by linguistJules Bloch, who stated that Apabhraṃśa was formed after Marathi had already separated from the Middle Indian dialect.[4] The earliest example of Maharashtri as a separate language dates to approximately 3rd century BCE: a stone inscription found in a cave atNaneghat,Junnar inPune district had been written in Maharashtri usingBrahmi script. A committee appointed by the Maharashtra State Government to get theClassical status for Marathi has claimed that Marathi existed at least 2300 years ago alongside Sanskrit as asister language.[5] Marathi, a derivative of Maharashtri, is probably first attested in a 739 CEcopper-plate inscription found inSatara After 1187 CE, the use of Marathi grew substantially in the inscriptions of theSeuna (Yadava) kings, who earlier used Kannada and Sanskrit in their inscriptions.[6] Marathi became the dominant language of epigraphy during the last half century of the dynasty's rule (14th century), and may have been a result of the Yadava attempts to connect with their Marathi-speaking subjects and to distinguish themselves from the Kannada-speakingHoysalas.[7][8]
Marathi gained prominence with the rise of theMaratha Empire beginning with the reign ofShivaji (1630–1680). Under him, the language used in administrative documents became less persianised. Whereas in 1630, 80% of the vocabulary was Persian, it dropped to 37% by 1677[9] TheBritish colonial period starting in early 1800s saw standardisation of Marathi grammar through the efforts of the Christian missionaryWilliam Carey. Carey's dictionary had fewer entries and Marathi words were inDevanagari. Translations of the Bible were first books to be printed in Marathi. These translations by William Carey, theAmerican Marathi mission and the Scottish missionaries led to the development of a peculiar pidginized Marathi called "Missionary Marathi" in the early 1800s.[10]
AfterIndian independence, Marathi was accorded the status of ascheduled language on the national level. In 1956, the then Bombay state was reorganized which brought most Marathi and Gujarati speaking areas under one state. Further re-organization of the Bombay state on 1 May 1960, created the Marathi speaking Maharashtra and Gujarati speaking Gujarat state respectively. With state and cultural protection, Marathi made great strides by the 1990s.
| Proto-Dravidian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Proto-South-Dravidian | Proto-South-Central Dravidian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Proto-Tamil-Kannada | Proto-Telugu | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Proto-Tamil-Toda | Proto-Kannada | Proto-Telugu | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Proto-Tamil-Kodagu | Kannada | Telugu | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| Proto-Tamil-Malayalam | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Proto-Tamil | Malayalam | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Tamil | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
TheDravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages[11] that are mainly spoken insouthern India and northeasternSri Lanka, as well as certain areas inPakistan,Nepal,Bangladesh, and eastern and centralIndia, as well as in parts of southernAfghanistan, and overseas in other countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada,Malaysia, and Singapore.
The origins of the Dravidian languages, as well as their subsequent development and the period of their differentiation, are unclear, and the situation is not helped by the lack ofcomparative linguistic research into the Dravidian languages.Many linguists, however, tend to favor the theory that speakers of Dravidian languages spread southwards and eastwards through theIndian subcontinent, based on the fact that the southern Dravidian languages show some signs of contact with linguistic groups which the northern Dravidian languages do not.Proto-Dravidian is thought to have differentiated into Proto-North Dravidian, Proto-Central Dravidian and Proto-South Dravidian around 1500 BCE,[citation needed]although some linguists have argued that the degree of differentiation between the sub-families points to an earlier split.
It was not until 1856 thatRobert Caldwell published hisComparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages, which considerably expanded the Dravidian umbrella and established it as one of the major language groups of the world. Caldwell coined the term "Dravidian" from theSanskritdrāvida, related to the word 'Tamil' or 'Tamilan', which is seen in such forms as into 'Dramila', 'Drami˜a', 'Dramida' and 'Dravida' which was used in a 7th-century text to refer to the languages of the southern India. TheDravidian Etymological Dictionary was published byT. Burrow andM. B. Emeneau.
Linguistic reconstruction suggests that Proto-Dravidian was spoken around the 6th millennium BCE. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were the culture associated with theNeolithic complexes ofSouth India.[12] The next phase in the reconstructed proto-history of Tamil is Proto-South Dravidian. The linguistic evidence suggests that Proto-South Dravidian was spoken around the middle of the 2nd millennium BCE and Old Tamil emerged around the 6th century BCE.[citation needed] The earliestepigraphic attestations of Tamil are generally taken to have been written shortly thereafter.[13] Among Indian languages, Tamil has one of the ancient Indian literature besides others.[14]
Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods, Old Tamil (400 BCE – 700 CE), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present).[15]
The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions from around the 6th century BCE in caves and on pottery. These inscriptions are written in a variant of theBrahmi script calledTamil Brahmi.[16] The earliest long text in Old Tamil is theTolkāppiyam, an early work on Tamil grammar and poetics, whose oldest layers could be as old as the 2nd century BCE.[15] A large number of literary works in Old Tamil have also survived. These include a corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known asSangam literature. These poems are usually dated to between the 1st and 5th centuries CE,[17] which makes them the oldest extant body of secular literature in India.[18] Other literary works in Old Tamil include two long epics,Cilappatikaram andManimekalai, and a number of ethical and didactic texts, written between the 5th and 8th centuries.[19]
Old Tamil preserved some features of Proto-Dravidian, including the inventory of consonants,[20] the syllable structure,[21] and various grammatical features.[22] Amongst these was the absence of a distinct present tense – like Proto-Dravidian, Old Tamil only had two tenses, the past and the "non-past". Old Tamil verbs also had a distinct negative conjugation (e.g.kāṇēṉ (காணேன்) "I do not see",kāṇōm (காணோம்) "we do not see").[23] Nouns could take pronominal suffixes like verbs to express ideas: e.g.peṇṭirēm (பெண்டிரேம்) "we are women" formed frompeṇṭir (பெண்டிர்) "women" +-ēm (ஏம்) and the first person plural marker.[24]
Despite the significant amount of grammatical and syntactical change between Old, Middle and Modern Tamil, Tamil demonstrates grammatical continuity across these stages: many characteristics of the later stages of the language have their roots in features of Old Tamil.[15]
The evolution of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil, which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century,[15] was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes. In phonological terms, the most important shifts were the virtual disappearance of the aytam (ஃ), an old phoneme,[25] the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals,[26] and the transformation of the alveolarplosive into arhotic.[27] In grammar, the most important change was the emergence of the present tense. The present tense evolved out of the verbkil (கில்), meaning "to be possible" or "to befall". In Old Tamil, this verb was used as anaspect marker to indicate that an action was micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such asṉ (ன்). In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker –kiṉṟ (கின்ற) – which combined the old aspect and time markers.[28]
Middle Tamil also saw a significant increase in the Sanskritisation of Tamil. From the period of thePallava dynasty onwards, a number ofSanskrit loan-words entered Tamil, particularly in relation to political, religious and philosophical concepts.[29] Sanskrit also influenced Tamil grammar, in the increased use of cases and in declined nouns becoming adjuncts of verbs,[30] and phonology.[31] The Tamil script also changed in the period of Middle Tamil. Tamil Brahmi andVaṭṭeḻuttu, into which it evolved, were the main scripts used in Old Tamil inscriptions. From the 8th century onwards, however, the Pallavas began using a new script, derived from thePallava Grantha script which was used to write Sanskrit, which eventually replaced Vaṭṭeḻuttu.[32]
Middle Tamil is attested in a large number of inscriptions, and in a significant body of secular and religious literature.[33] These include the religious poems and songs of theBhakthi poets, such as theTēvāram verses onSaivism andNālāyira Tivya Pirapantam onVaishnavism,[34] and adaptations of religious legends such as the 12th-centuryTamil Ramayana composed byKamban and the story of 63shaivite devotees known as Periyapurāṇam.[35]Iraiyaṉār Akapporuḷ, an early treatise on love poetics, andNaṉṉūl, a 12th-century grammar that became the standard grammar of literary Tamil, are also from the Middle Tamil period.[36]
TheNannul remains the standard normative grammar for modern literary Tamil, which therefore continues to be based on Middle Tamil of the 13th century rather than on Modern Tamil.[37] In contrast, colloquial spoken Tamil has undergone several changes.[38] For example, the traditional method of conjugating verbs to express negation has largely fallen out of use. Instead, speakers now often use different words or phrases to indicate negation, which may involve changing the structure of the sentence rather than altering the verb forms. This shift means that negation is no longer marked by specific verb conjugations as it was in earlier forms of Tamil.[39] Modern spoken Tamil also shows a number of sound changes, in particular, a tendency to lower high vowels in initial and medial positions,[40] and the disappearance of vowels between plosives and between a plosive and rhotic.[41]
Contact with European languages also affected both written and spoken Tamil. Changes in written Tamil include the use of European-style punctuation and the use of consonant clusters that were not permitted in Middle Tamil. The syntax of written Tamil has also changed, with the introduction of new aspectual auxiliaries and more complex sentence structures, and with the emergence of a more rigid word order that resembles thesyntactic argument structure of English.[42] Simultaneously, a strong strain oflinguistic purism emerged in the early 20th century, culminating in thePure Tamil Movement which called for removal of all Sanskritic and other foreign elements from Tamil.[43] It received some support fromDravidian parties andnationalists who supportedTamil independence.[44] This led to the replacement of a significant number of Sanskrit loanwords by Tamil equivalents, though many others remain.[45]
Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly fromTamil people fromTamil Nadu,Sri Lankan Tamils fromSri Lanka, and fromTamil diaspora. Also, there have been notable contributions from European authors. The history of Tamil literature follows thehistory of Tamil Nadu, closely following the social and political trends of various periods. The secular nature of the earlySangam poetry gave way to works of religious and didactic nature during the Middle Ages.Jain andBuddhist authors during the medieval period andMuslim and European authors later, contributed to the growth of Tamil literature.
A revival of Tamil literature took place from the late 19th century when works of religious and philosophical nature were written in a style that made it easier for the common people to enjoy. Nationalist poets began to utilize the power of poetry in influencing the masses. With the growth of literacy, Tamil prose began to blossom and mature. Short stories and novels began to appear. The popularity ofTamil Cinema has also provided opportunities for modern Tamil poets to emerge.
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Kannada is one of oldest languages in South India.[46][47][48][49] The spoken language is said to have separated from its proto-language source earlier than Tamil and about the same time asTulu.[50] However, archaeological evidence would indicate a written tradition for this language of around 1600–1650 years. The initial development of the Kannada language is similar to that of other south Indian languages.[51][52]
By the time Halmidi shasana (stone inscription) Kannada had become an official language. Some of the linguistics suggest that Tamil & HaLegannada are very similar or might have same roots. Ex: For milk in both languages it is 'Haalu', the postfix to the names of elders to show respect is 'avar / avargaL'.
During this era, language underwent a lot of changes as seen from the literary works of great poets of the era viz Pampa, Ranna, Ponna.
Vijayanagar Empire which is called the Golden era in the history of medieval India saw a lot of development in all literary form of both Kannada and Telugu. During the ruling of the King Krishnadevaraya many wonderful works. Poet Kumaravyasa wrote Mahabharata in Kannada in a unique style called "shatpadi" (six lines is a stanza of the poem). This era also saw the origin of Dasa Sahitya, the Carnatic music. Purandaradasa and Kanakadasa wrote several songs praising Lord Krishna. This gave a new dimension to Kannada literature.
The first written record in the Kannada language is traced to EmperorAshoka'sBrahmagiri edict dated 200 BCE.[53][54] The first example of a full-length Kannada language stone inscription (shilashaasana) containing Brahmi characters with characteristics attributed to those of protokannada inHale Kannada (Old Kannada) script can be found in theHalmidi inscription, dated c. 450, indicating that Kannada had become an administrative language by this time.[55][56][57] Over 30,000 inscriptions written in the Kannada language have been discovered so far.[58] The Chikkamagaluru inscription of 500 CE is another example.[59][60] Prior to the Halmidi inscription, there is an abundance of inscriptions containing Kannada words, phrases and sentences, proving its antiquity. Badami cliffshilashaasana ofPulakeshin I is an example of a Sanskrit inscription inHale Kannada script.[61][62]
Examples of early Sanskrit-Kannada bilingualcopper plate inscriptions (tamarashaasana) are the Tumbula inscriptions of theWestern Ganga Dynasty dated 444 AD[63][64] The earliest full-length Kannadatamarashaasana inOld Kannada script (early 8th century) belongs toAlupa King Aluvarasa II from Belmannu, South Kanara district and displays the double crested fish, his royal emblem.[65] The oldest well-preserved palm leaf manuscript is inOld Kannada and is that ofDhavala, dated to around the 9th century, preserved in the Jain Bhandar, Mudbidri,Dakshina Kannada district.[66] The manuscript contains 1478 leaves written in ink.[66]
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Telugu is hypothesised to have originated from a reconstructedProto-Dravidian language. It is a highly Sanskritised language; as Telugu scholarC.P Brown states in page 266 of his bookA Grammar of the Telugu language: "if we ever make any real progress in the language the student will require the aid of the Sanskrit Dictionary".[67] Prakrit Inscriptions containing Telugu words dated around 400–100 BCE[dubious –discuss] were discovered inBhattiprolu in District ofGuntur. English translation of one inscription as reads: "Gift of the slab by venerable Midikilayakha".[68][unreliable source?]
From 575 CE, we begin to find traces of Telugu in inscriptions and literature, it is possible to broadly define four stages in thelinguistic history of the Telugu language:
The first inscription that is entirely in Telugu corresponds to the second phase of Telugu history. This inscription, dated 575, was found in the districts ofKadapa andKurnool and is attributed to theRenati Cholas, who broke with the prevailing practice of using Prakrit and began writing royal proclamations in the local language. During the next fifty years, Telugu inscriptions appeared inAnantapuram and other neighboring regions. The earliest dated Telugu inscription from coastalAndhra Pradesh comes from about 633 .
Around the same time, theChalukya kings ofTelangana also began using Telugu for inscriptions.[citation needed] Telugu was more influenced by Sanskrit than Prakrit during this period, which corresponded to the advent of Telugu literature. One of the oldest Telugu stone inscriptions containing literature was the 11-line inscription dated between 946 and 968 found on a hillock known as Bommalagutta in Kurikyala village ofKarimnagar district, Telangana. The sing-song Telugu rhyme was the work of Jinavallabha, the younger brother ofPampa who was the court poet ofVemulavada Chalukya kingArikesari III.[69] This literature was initially found in inscriptions and poetry in the courts of the rulers, and later in written works such asNannayya'sMahabharatam (1022 ). During the time of Nannayya, the literary language diverged from the popular language. This was also a period of phonetic changes in the spoken language.
The third phase is marked by further stylization and sophistication of the literary language.Ketana (13th century CE) in fact prohibited the use of the vernacular in poetic works. During this period the divergence of theTelugu script from the commonTelugu-Kannada script took place.[70]Tikkana wrote his works in this script.[citation needed]
Telugu underwent a great deal of change (as did other Indian languages), progressing from medieval to modern. The language of theTelangana region started to split into a distinctdialect due to Muslim influence:Sultanate rule under theTughlaq dynasty had been established earlier in the northernDeccan during the 14th century CE. South of theKrishna River (in theRayalaseema region), however, theVijayanagara Empire gained dominance from 1336 CE until the late 17th century, reaching its peak during the rule ofKrishnadevaraya in the 16th century, when Telugu literature experienced what is considered to be itsgolden age.[71]Padakavithapithamaha,Annamayya, contributed manyatcha (pristine) TeluguPadaalu to this great language. In the latter half of the 17th century, Muslim rule extended further south, culminating in the establishment of the princely state ofHyderabad by theAsaf Jah dynasty in 1724 CE. This heralded an era ofPersian/Arabic influence on the Telugu language, especially on that spoken by the inhabitants ofHyderabad. The effect is also felt in the prose of the early 19th century, as in theKaifiyats.[71]
The period of the late 19th and early 20th centuries saw the influence of the English language and modern communication/printing press as an effect of theBritish rule, especially in the areas that were part of theMadras Presidency. Literature from this time had a mix of classical and modern traditions and included works by scholars like Kandukuri Viresalingam, Gurazada Apparao, and Panuganti Lakshminarasimha Rao.[71]
Since the 1930s, what was considered an elite literary form of the Telugu language has now spread to the common people with the introduction of mass media like movies, television, radio and newspapers. This form of the language is also taught in schools as a standard. In the current decade the Telugu language, like other Indian languages, has undergoneglobalization due to the increasing settlement of Telugu-speaking people abroad. Modern Telugu movies, although still retaining their dramatic quality, are linguistically separate from post-Independence films.
At present, a committee of scholars have approved aclassical language tag for Telugu based on its antiquity. The Indian government has also officially designated it as a classical language.[72]
ThoughCarnatic music, one of two main subgenres ofIndian classical music that evolved from ancientHindu traditions, has a profound cultural influence on all of theSouth Indian states and their respective languages, most songs (Kirtanas) are in Kannada and Telugu.Purandara Dasa, said to have composed at least a quarter million songs and known as the "father" of Carnatic music composed in Kannada.
The region to the east of Tamil Nadu stretching from Tanjore in the south to Andhra Pradesh in the north was known as the Carnatic region during 17th and 18th centuries. The Carnatic war in which Robert Clive annexed Trichirapali is relevant. The music that prevailed in this region during the 18th century onwards was known as Carnatic music. This is because the existing tradition is to a great extent an outgrowth of the musical life of the principality ofThanjavur in theKaveri delta. Thanjavur was the heart of theChola dynasty (from the 9th century to the 13th), but in the second quarter of the 16th century aTeluguNayak viceroy (Raghunatha Nayaka) was appointed by the emperor ofVijayanagara, thus establishing a court whose language was Telugu. The Nayaks acted as governors of what is present-dayTamil Nadu with their headquarters at Thanjavur (1530–1674 CE) andMadurai(1530–1781 CE). After the collapse ofVijayanagar, Thanjavur andMadurai Nayaks became independent and ruled for the next 150 years until they were replaced byMarathas. This was the period when several Telugu families migrated fromAndhra and settled down in Thanjavur andMadurai. Most great composers of Carnatic music belonged to these Telugu families.
Telugu words end in vowels which many consider a mellifluous quality and thus suitable for musical expression. Of the trinity of Carnatic music composers,Tyagaraja's andSyama Sastri's compositions were largely in Telugu, whileMuttuswami Dikshitar is noted for his Sanskrit texts. Tyagaraja is remembered both for his devotion and the bhava of his krithi, a song form consisting ofpallavi, (the first section of a song) anupallavi (a rhyming section that follows the pallavi) andcharanam (a sungstanza which serves as a refrain for several passages in the composition). The texts of his kritis are almost all in Sanskrit, in Telugu (the contemporary language of the court). This use of a living language, as opposed to Sanskrit, the language of ritual, is in keeping with the bhakti ideal of the immediacy of devotion.Sri Syama Sastri, the oldest of the trinity, was taught Telugu and Sanskrit by his father, who was thepujari (Hindu priest) at theMeenakshi temple in Madurai. Syama Sastri's texts were largely composed in Telugu, widening their popular appeal. Some of his most famous compositions include the nine krithis,Navaratnamaalikā, in praise of the goddess Meenakshi atMadurai, and his eighteen krithi in praise of Kamakshi. As well as composing krithi, he is credited with turning thesvarajati, originally used for dance, into a purely musical form.
Malayalam diverged from early middle Tamil approximately in the 10th century CE in the region of modernKerala. The development of Malayalam as a separate language was characterized by the geographical Influence ofWestern Ghats, TheSanskrit Language have Influenced Malayalam both in lexicon and grammar, which culminated in theAadhyaathma Ramayanam, a version of the Ramayana byThunchaththu Ezhuthachan which marked the beginning of modern Malayalam. Ezhuthachan's works also cemented the use of theMalayalam script, an alphabet blending theVatteluttu alphabet with elements of theGrantha script resulting in a large number of letters capable of representing both Indo-Aryan and Dravidian sounds.[73][74] Today, it is considered one of the 22scheduled languages of India and was declared aclassical language by the Government of India in 2013.[75]
Sino-Tibetan languages are spoken in the western Himalayas (Himachal Pradesh) and in the highlands ofNortheast India. The Sino-Tibetan family includes such languages asMeitei (officially known asManipuri),Tripuri,Bodo,Garo and various groups ofNaga languages. Some of the languages traditionally included in Sino-Tibetan may actually be language isolates or part of small independent language families.[citation needed]
Meitei language (officially known asManipuri language) was the ancient court language ofManipur Kingdom (Meitei:Meeteileipak), which was used with honour before and during the kingdom'sDurbar (court) sessions, untilManipur was merged into theRepublic of India on 21 September 1949.[76][77]Besides being the native tongue of theMeiteis, Meitei language was and is the lingua franca of all the ethnic groups living inManipur.[78][79]The ancestor of the present dayMeitei language is theAncient Meitei (also calledOld Manipuri).Classical Meitei (also calledClassical Manipuri) is the standardised form of Meitei and is also the liturgical language ofSanamahism (traditional Meitei religion), serving as the medium of thoughts on thePuya (Meitei texts).
Padma Vibhushan awardee IndianBengali scholarSuniti Kumar Chatterji wrote about Meitei language:
"The beginning of this oldManipuri literature (as in the case ofNewari) may go back to 1500 years, or even 2000 years, from now."[76][80]
Meitei language has its own script, theMeitei script (Meitei:Meitei Mayek), often but not officially referred to as theManipuri script. The earliest known coin, having the script engraved on it, dated back to the 6th century CE. Renowned Indian scholarKalidas Nag, after observing the Meitei writings on the handmade papers andagar pieces, opined that theManipuri script belongs to the pre-Ashokan period. Ancient and medievalMeitei literature are written in this script.[81]
According to the "Report on the Archaeological Studies in Manipur, Bulletin No-1", aMeitei language copper plate inscription was found to be dated back to the 8th century CE. It is one of the preserved earliest known written records of Meitei language.[82]
In the 18th century CE, the usage ofMeitei script was officially replaced by theBengali script for any forms of writings inMeitei language right from the era of Meitei KingGharib Niwaj (Meitei:Pamheiba) (1690–1751), the Maharaja ofManipur kingdom. It was during his timeKangleipak, the Meitei name of the kingdom, was renamed with the Sanskrit nameManipur, thereby creating the mythical connecting legends with that of theManipur (Mahabharata), which is clarified by the modern Indian Hindu scholars as a coastal region inOdisha, though eponymous with the Meitei kingdom.
In modern era, the"Manipur State Constitution Act 1947" of the once independentManipur Kingdom accordsMeitei language as the court language of the kingdom (before merging into theIndian Republic).[83][84][85][86][87]
In the year 1972, Meitei language was given the recognition by the NationalSahitya Akademi, the highest Indian body of language and literature, as one of the major Indian languages.[88][89]
On 20 August 1992,Meitei language was included in theEighth Schedule to the Constitution of India and made one of thelanguages with official status in India. The event was commemorated every year as theMeitei Language Day (officially calledManipuri Language Day).[90][91][92][93][94]
Starting from the year 2021,Meitei script (officially known asMeetei Mayek[a]) was officially used, along with theBengali script, to write theMeitei language, as per "The Manipur Official Language (Amendment) Act, 2021". It was declared by theGovernment of Manipur on 10 March 2021.[95]
In September 2021, theCentral Government of India released₹18 crore (US$2.1 million) as the first instalment for the development and the promotion of theMeitei language and theMeitei script in Manipur.[96][97][98]
The Austroasiatic family spoken in East and North-east India. Austroasiatic languages include theSantal andMunda languages of eastern India, Nepal, and Bangladesh, and theMon–Khmer languages spoken by theKhasi andNicobarese in India and inBurma,Thailand,Laos,Cambodia,Vietnam, and southern China. The Austroasiatic languages arrived in east India around 4000-3500 ago from Southeast Asia.[99]
SeveralShanic languages belonging to theSouthwestern Tai branch of the Kra–Dai family are spoken in the state ofAssam, includingKhamti,Khamyang,Tai Aiton,Tai Phake, and the dormant[100]Ahom language, the latter of which used to be a prestigious regional language before its extinction, but is currently undergoing a modern revival.[101]
On theAndaman Islands, language from at least two families have spoken: theGreat Andamanese languages and theOngan languages. The Sentinelese language is spoken on North Sentinel Island, but contact has not been made with the Sentinelis; thus, its language affiliation is unknown. WhileJoseph Greenberg considered the Great Andamanese languages to be part of a largerIndo-Pacific family, it was not established through thecomparative method but considered spurious by historical linguists. Stephen Wurm suggests similarities withTrans-New Guinea languages and others are caused by alinguistic substrate.[102]
Juliette Blevins has suggested that the Ongan languages are the sister branch to theAustronesian languages in an Austronesian-Ongan family because of sound correspondences between protolanguages.[103]
TheNihali language is a language isolate spoken inMadhya Pradesh andMaharashtra. Affiliations have been suggested to theMunda languages but they have yet to be demonstrated.
TheIndus script is the short strings of symbols associated with theHarappan civilization ofancient India (most of the Indus sites are distributed in present-dayPakistan and northwest India) used between 2600 and 1900 BCE, which evolved from an early Indus script attested from around 3500–3300 BCE. Found in at least a dozen types of context, the symbols are most commonly associated with flat, rectangular stone tablets called seals. The first publication of a Harappan seal was a drawing byAlexander Cunningham in 1875. Since then, well over 4000 symbol-bearing objects have been discovered, some as far afield as Mesopotamia. After 1500 BCE, coinciding with the final stage of Harappan civilization, use of the symbols ends. There are over 400 distinct signs, but many are thought to be slight modifications or combinations of perhaps 200 'basic' signs. The symbols remain undeciphered (in spite of numerous attempts that did not find favour with the academic community), and some scholars classify them asproto-writing rather than writing proper.
The best-known inscriptions in Brāhmī are the rock-cutEdicts of Ashoka, dating to the 3rd century BCE. These were long considered the earliest examples of Brāhmī writing, but recent archaeological evidence inSri Lanka andTamil Nadu suggest the dates for the earliest use of Tamil Brāhmī to be around the 6th century BCE, dated usingradiocarbon andthermoluminescence dating methods.
This script is ancestral to theBrahmic family of scripts, most of which are used inSouth and Southeast Asia, but which have wider historical use elsewhere, even as far asMongolia and perhaps evenKorea, according to one theory of the origin ofHangul. TheBrāhmī numeral system is the ancestor of theHindu–Arabic numerals, which are now used worldwide.
Brāhmī is generally believed to be derived from aSemitic script such as theImperial Aramaic alphabet, as was clearly the case for the contemporaryKharosthi alphabet that arose in a part of northwest Indian under the control of theAchaemenid Empire.Rhys Davids suggests that writing may have been introduced to India from the Middle East by traders. Another possibility is with the Achaemenid conquest in the late 6th century BCE. It was often assumed that it was a planned invention under Ashoka as a prerequisite for his edicts. Compare the much better-documented parallel of theHangul script.
Older examples of the Brahmi script appear to be on fragments of pottery from the trading town ofAnuradhapura in Sri Lanka, which have been dated to the early 400 BCE. Even earlier evidence of theTamil -Brahmi script has been discovered on pieces of pottery inAdichanallur, Tamil Nadu. Radio-carbon dating has established that they belonged to the 6th-century BCE.[104]
The origin of the script is still much debated, with most scholars stating that Brahmi was derived from or at least influenced by one or more contemporarySemitic scripts, while others favor the idea of an indigenous origin or connection to the much older and as yet undecipheredIndus script of theIndus Valley civilisation.[105][106]
TheKharoṣṭhī script, also known as theGāndhārī script, is an ancientabugida (a kind ofalphabetic script) used by theGandhara culture of ancient northwest India to write theGāndhārī andSanskrit languages. It was in use from the 4th century BCE until it died out in its homeland around the 3rd century CE. It was also in use along theSilk Road where there is some evidence it may have survived until the 7th century CE in the remote way stations ofKhotan andNiya.
Scholars are not in agreement as to whether the Kharoṣṭhī script evolved gradually, or was the work of a mindful inventor. An analysis of the script forms shows a clear dependency on theAramaic alphabet but with extensive modifications to support the sounds found in Indian languages. One model is that the Aramaic script arrived with theAchaemenid conquest of the region in 500 BCE and evolved over the next 200+ years to reach its final form by the 3rd century BCE. However, no Aramaic documents of any kind have survived from this period. Also intermediate forms have yet been found to confirm this evolutionary model, and rock andcoinsinscriptions from the 3rd century BCE onward show a unified and mature form.
The study of the Kharoṣṭhī script was recently invigorated by the discovery of theGandhāran Buddhist texts, a set ofbirch-bark manuscripts written in Kharoṣṭhī, discovered near the Afghan city ofHaḍḍā (comparePanjabi HAḌḌ ਹੱਡ s. m. "A bone, especially a big bone of dead cattle" referring to the famous mortuary grounds if the area): just west of theKhyber Pass. The manuscripts were donated to theBritish Library in 1994. The entire set of manuscripts are dated to the 1st century CE making them the oldest Buddhist manuscripts in existence.
TheGupta script was used for writing Sanskrit and is associated with theGupta Empire of India which was a period of material prosperity and great religious andscientific developments. The Gupta script was descended fromBrahmi and gave rise to theSiddham script and thenBengali–Assamese script.
Siddhaṃ (Sanskrit, accomplished or perfected), descended from the Brahmi script via the Gupta script, which also gave rise to theDevanagari script as well as a number of other Asian scripts such asTibetan script.
Siddhaṃ is anabugida or alphasyllabary rather than analphabet because each character indicates a syllable. If no other mark occurs then the short 'a' is assumed. Diacritic marks indicate the other vowels, the pure nasal (anusvara), and the aspirated vowel (visarga). A special mark (virama), can be used to indicate that the letter stands alone with no vowel which sometimes happens at the end of Sanskrit words. See links below for examples.
The writing ofmantras and copying ofSutras using the Siddhaṃ script is still practiced inShingon Buddhism in Japan but has died out in other places. It wasKūkai who introduced the Siddham script to Japan when he returned from China in 806, where he studied Sanskrit withNalanda trained monks including one known as Prajñā. Sutras that were taken to China from India were written in a variety of scripts, but Siddham was one of the most important. By the time Kūkai learned this script the trading and pilgrimage routes overland to India, part of theSilk Road, were closed by the expandingIslamic empire of theAbbasids. Then in the middle of the 9th century, there were a series of purges of "foreign religions" in China. This meant that Japan was cut off from the sources of Siddham texts. In time other scripts, particularly Devanagari replaced it in India, and so Japan was left as the only place where Siddham was preserved, although it was, and is only used for writing mantras and copying sutras.
Siddhaṃ was influential in the development of theKana writing system, which is also associated with Kūkai – while the Kana shapes derive from Chinese characters, the principle of a syllable-based script and their systematic ordering was taken over from Siddham.
Descended from theSiddham script around the 11th century.
In 1972 the Sahitya Akademi, the highest body of language and literature of India recognized Manipuri (Manipuri Sahitya Parisad. 1986:82)
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