Sanscrit and Tamil on quora

Q

How was it proved that Tamil is older than Sanskrit?
https://www.quora.com/How-was-it-proved-that-Tamil-is-older-than-Sanskrit/answer/Hans-Georg-Lundahl-1

Answer requested

by Sanchit Koul

Hans-Georg Lundahl

amateur linguist

Answered 1m ago

What is the meaning of asking me this question?

I have not said either is older than the other.

If Sanskrit is used as “any oldest written or earlier unwritten Hindic language up to and including Panini’s Sanscrit” it’s as old as Dravidic, though Dravidic is probably older in India.

However, if Sanscrit and Tamil involve certain epochs, like Sanscrit limited to only Vedic and Paninic Sanscrit and Tamil only to modern day Dravidic, Sanscrit is clearly the older language, though Tamil has ancestors reaching further back in India, since Aryan came by invaders from the North.

Proof of that claim? Well, there is secular proof, as in Dravidic being there in South India, cut off from other languages outside India, while Hindic languages are clearly related to languages outside India, in the North. Like Persian, for instance.

I think any religious Biblical proof of Dravidic rather than Sanscrit being the language of Kush’s son Rama who came to North India (Pakistan), would have to involve this secular knowledge.

One could add, if North India were the homeland of Indo-European family, which is not likely, both could be equally old in India, North and South, for all we know.

One could also add, if my hypothesis is correct that Indo-European community is a Sprachbund, or series of such, N India would have joined the Sprachbund later and therefore be less old in India.

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