Some general comments on Indian culture

These posts address the misunderstanding of some people who think there is a fundamental difference between North Indian (NI) and South Indian (SI) culture.

First, let us see some of the cultural wealth NI has bequeathed to SI. In enumerating any such list one must first begin with the sanskrit language which originated in north-west India in the form of the Rig Veda and which went on permeate the psyche of all intellectuals in the Indian sub-continent. Being well versed in sanskrit was considered the mark of the scholar and indeed for a long time sanskrit remained the only link language in the Indian sub-continent through which intellectuals could communicate with each other verbally and through their writings.

It is sometimes held that the most commonly spoken south indian languages (tamil, telugu, kannadiga, malayalam) belong to a distinct family of languages and are to be distinguished from the indo-aryan family of languages to which the vast majority of north indian languages belong. But this does not take into account the fact that all these south indian languages have become heavily sanskritised. In classical telugu, kannada, and malayalam upto 60% of the words are of sanskrit origin; and in tamil upto 40% of words are of sanskrit origin. The standard traditional grammars of the telugu and kannada languages have been written not in telugu or kannada but in sanskrit. The first book on Tamil grammar is in Tamil but there are, it has been argued, references to and in some instances direct dependency on pre-panini sanskrit grammars. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aindra_school_of_grammar

(to be continued)

Rashmun wrote:...It is sometimes held that the most commonly spoken south indian languages (tamil, telugu, kannadiga, malayalam) belong to a distinct family of languages...

rashmun, there is no such language as "kannadiga."

WillyNilly wrote:

Rashmun wrote:...It is sometimes held that the most commonly spoken south indian languages (tamil, telugu, kannadiga, malayalam) belong to a distinct family of languages...

rashmun, there is no such language as "kannadiga."

sorry. should have been kannada. thanks for the correction.