What is Ramayana?
The Ramayana is a Sanskrit epic that was written over the course of about a thousand years.
According to academics, the text's earliest stages were likely completed between the eighth
and fourth centuries BCE while its latest phases reached the third century CE. One of the two
major Hindu epics, the other being the Mahabharata, is the Ramayana.
One of the biggest ancient epics ever written is the Ramayana. It is made up of seven Khanda
(parts), with the first and seventh being later additions. It has almost 24,000 verses, the
majority of which are placed in the Shloka/Anustubh metre. It is an example of the Itihasa
genre, which consists of historical narratives (purvtta) mixed with lessons about the meaning
of life.
What is Mahabharata?
One of the two main Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism—the other being the Rmyaa
—is the Mahbhrata. It describes the conflict between two cousin groups at the Battle of
Kurukshetra as well as the destiny of the Kaurava and Pava princes and their heirs.
The Mahbhrata, the world's longest known epic poem, has been referred to as "the longest
poem ever penned." The longest form contains lengthy prose passages and more than 100,000
lines of verse (each shloka is a couplet), or more than 200,000 individual verse lines. The
Mahbhrata is almost ten times longer than the Iliad and Odyssey put together, or about four
times longer than the Rmyaa, with a total word count of nearly 1.8 million. W. J. Johnson has
compared the significance of the Mahbhrata to that of the Bible, the Quran, the writings of
Homer, Greek play, or the works of William Shakespeare in the context of world culture. It is
referred to as the fifth Veda in various Indian traditions.
What is Cilapattikaram?
The first Tamil epic is called Cilappatikram. 5,730 lines long and almost all in akaval
(aciriyam) metre The epic tells the tragic love story of Kannaki and Kovalan, a typical
married couple. Since Kannaki and other characters from the story are addressed or alluded to
in Sangam literature like the Naiai and subsequent works like the Kovalam Katai, the
Silappathikaram has deeper roots in the Tamil bardic tradition. It is believed to have been
written in the fifth or sixth centuries CE and is attributed to a prince-turned-monk named Iak
Aika. A prosperous port
city of the early Chola kingdom serves as the setting for The Silappatikaram. A married pair
in love and enjoying married bliss is Kannaki and Kovalan. Kovalan eventually encounters
courtesan Matavi (Madhavi). He develops feelings for her, leaves Kannaki, and moved to
Matavi. He generously spends money on her. Despite her husband's adultery, Kannaki waits
as the chaste woman despite her heartbreak. A singing contest is held during the festival
honoring the rain god Indra. A poem about a woman who injured her lover is sung by
Kovalan. The next song Matavi performs is about a man who dumped his lover. Everybody
sees the song as a letter to the other. Kovalan departs Matavi because he thinks she is being
unfaithful to him. Kannaki remains waiting for him and she takes him back.
What is Manimekalai?
The Manimekalai is an anti-love story that starts off with supernatural elements. The
Silappadikaram builds on human emotional themes and includes some sections praising Jains,
while the Manimekalai is Buddhist propaganda that "attacks and ridicules Jainism",
according to Kamil Zvelebil.
Contrast between Sanskrit text and tamil text
A lot of the grammatical rules in Sanskrit have derived from the Tamil language. This is
because the earliest form of the language was a spoken language. It is quite evident that the
grammatical tradition was centuries older than Pāṇini as he uses grammatical terms used by
Vedic grammarians before him, and it is clear from hundreds of comments that Sanskrit was
the mother tongue of all those grammarians (and of almost all Indo-Aryan speakers in the
society of his time).
Sanskrit was the language used for rituals and documentation. A lot of the words in Sanskrit
have been derived from the Tamil language. And Sanskrit has been used to translate many of
the Tamil texts. That’s not to say that Tamil is the older language. Sanskrit has been a very
important language that has been passed down through the years. But as they are sister
languages, they are very similar and easy to understand.
The Sanskrit and Tamil languages have existed for thousands of years. Both being ancient
languages from India, they have had continuous usage over time. Both languages have
proven to be so similar that they are often referred to as sister languages. They also share
many of the same origins. There are still many myths surrounding the origins of both
languages. However, it is believed that they developed from the Proto-Southern-Dravidian
language. It is believed that the earliest form of the Tamil language was a spoken language.
While Sanskrit was the academic language. While there are many similarities between
Sanskrit and Tamil, it is important to note that Tamil appears to be older.
A stone inscription in Modi script (used to write the Marathi language), that was unearthed in
Thanjavur reveals that the age of the Tamil language could date back to more than 10,000
years. Such archaeological evidence provides ample proof to establish the antiquity of Tamil
as an ancient language. Discoveries also point out that the first ‘Tamil Sangam’ existed in the
8th century BC. Ancient Tamil words are still in use. After elaborate research on western
languages, late professor and author Devaneya Pavanar established that Tamil is the mother
of all languages.
As a conclusion of his research in Greek, Latin, and English, he says words from Tamil have
gone on to influence Latin and English languages. Word such as ‘coin’, ‘coffee’, and ‘navy’
are a few examples that have their roots in the Tamil language. These two languages remain
examples of India’s rich and diverse linguistic history.
