Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

EXPRESSIONS OF INDIA

TAMIL : Oldest of the Dravidian languages, and one of the earliest spoken languages in the world (500 B.C.), Tamil has an ongoing literary tradition. The "Tolkappiyam", meaning "Old Composi- tion", is a work from the Sangam period (1-4 A.D.) codifying Tamil grammar, including phonetics, syntax and morphology. A classical language, Tamil is less influenced by Sanskrit than other Dravid- ian languages. It is widely spoken in Sri Lanka, Fiji, Myanmar and Vietnam, and is one of the four official languages of Singapore. States Speakers Pondicherry 89.2% Tamil Nadu 85.4% A & N Is. 14.8% Karnataka 3.8% Kerala 2.4% Andhra Pradesh 1 . 2 % Delhi 0.9% Chandigarh 0 . 8 % States Maharashtra Lakshadweep Manipur Speakers 0.5% 0 . 1 % 0 . 1 % WORLD RANK: 17 NO.OF SPEAKERS: 67 m INDIA RANK: 5 SPEAKERS IN INDIA : 6.8% Dravidian family. Telugu boasts the largest numbers of speakers of all Dravidian languages. Telugu, which evolved around the 7th century, also shows the greatest Sanskrit influence among the Dravidian languages.lt became a literary language around the 11th century. A style was developed to bridge the rift between its literary form and its colloquial dialects. Concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, Telugu is also spoken along the bordering districts with Karnataka the Chanda district of Maharashtra, and by immigrants in the Coimbatore district of Tamil Nadu. States Speakers Chandigarh 0.2% Andhra Pradesh 85.1% West Bengal 0.2% A & N Is. 9.9% Tripura 0.1% Tamil Nadu 8.3% Arunachal Pradesh 0.1% Karnataka 8.1% Dadra & Nagar Haveli 0.1% Pondicherry 4.0% Madhya Pradesh 0.3% WORLD RANK: 16 Delhi 0.2% NO.OF SPEAKERS : 71 m Orissa 2.3% INDIA RANK: 2 Maharashtra 1.5% SPEAKERS IN INDIA- 8.2% URDU : Evolved around 1000A.D. by fusion of speech (Turkish, Af- ghan, Iranian) brought to India by Muslim conquerors. Indian dialects used in Eastern Punjab & Delhi. Main root was 'Khari Boli'. The name 'Urdu'-derived from "Zaban-e-Urdh-Muala" (language of the exalted court). Developed as a lingua franca in North India, under the Mughal rulers. Spread to the south as it was the communication medium for trade & administration. Written in the Perso-Arabic script. TELUGU :

PUNJABI : Indo-Aryan family derived from Vedic Prakrit, modi- fied into Vedic Apabhrahmsha. Actual beginnings of Punjabi (Gurmukhi) started with Guru Nanak, founder of Sikh religion, thus combining Sanskrit, Persian and local regional dialects. Written in the Gurmukhi, Devanagari and Persian scripts. Punjabi stretches across the Indo-Pakistan border to the west of Lahore. States Speakers States Speakers Punjab 84.9% Arunachal Pradesh 0.3% Chandigarh 41.2% Maharashtra 0.3% Delhi 13.2% Sikkim 0 . 2 % Haryana 9.2% Nagaland 0 . 2 % Himachal Pradesh 5.8% Bihar 0.1% J&K 2.7% West Bengal 0 . 1 % Rajasthan 2.1% Gujarat 0 . 1 % Andaman & Ni. Is 1.0% WORLD RANK: 14 Uttar Pradesh. 0.4% NO.OF SPEAKERS :89 m Madhya Pradesh 0.4% Meghalaya 0.3% INDIA RANK : 11 SPEAKERS IN INDIA : 2.8% SANSKRIT : The name of the classical language of the Brahmanas, Samskrita which means ‘purified’, ‘perfected’, ‘sacred’. “It is called ‘Hanscrit’, that is a pure language; and because they believe this to be the tongue in which God, by means of Brahma , gave them the four Vedas, which they esteem sacred books. They call it a Holy and Divine language ” Bernier, E.T. 107. Sanskrit belongs to the Indo-Aryan family. Uses Devanagari script. World's oldest known literature, the Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva vedas composed in Sanskrit* also epics Mahabharata and Ramayana. Mother of modern North Indian languages; also greatly influenced Kannada and Telugu. Sanskrit grammar was standar- dised by Panini in the 5th Century B.C. in " Ashtadhyaya ", which contains 4,000 sutras (rules). European discovery of this work in the 18th century led to the formulation of the science of philology. Today, although Sanskrit is sometimes used as a literary language, it has virtually ceased to be spoken by common people. An excep- tion: a Sanskrit-speaking village still exists in Mallur, 12 km from Shimoga in Karnataka. Sanskrit vocabulary has influenced the lan- guages in Indonesia, Thailand and several European languages, in- cluding English. Spoken by about 2,946 (1981) people in India, mostly in Bihar 1,174, Karnataka 509, Maharashtra 281, Tamil Nadu 244, Haryana 148, Uttar Pradesh 107 and scattered in various parts of the country. Important works of philosophy, astronomy, astrology, algebra, law and medicine are also in Sanskrit. SINDHI : Indo-Aryan family. Divided into six dialects: Siraki, Vicoli, Thareli, Lasi, Lari and Kacchi. Some scholars believe that the roots of Sindhi are in the ancient languages of the Indus Valley, pre- dating Sanskrit; others dispute this claim. Its ambiguous heritage has made Sindhi a multicultural language. For example, early Sindhi poetry combined both Hindu and Muslim beliefs. Today, Sindhi is spoken in India by Sindhis, who use the Devanagari script, and in post-partition Sind, Pakistan, where the Perso-Arabic script is used. States Speakers Gujarat Rajasthan Maharashtra Delhi Madhya Pradesh 2 . 2 % 0 . 8 % 0 . 8 % 0 . 6 % 0 . 6 % WORLD RANK: 41 NO.OF SPEAKERS : 17 m INDIA RANK: * SPEAKERS IN INDIA : *

States Bihar Uttar Pradesh Karnataka Arunachal Pr. Maharashtra Delhi Goa West Bengal Madhya Pradesh Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Gujarat Haryana

Orissa

1.4% 1.0% 0.7% 0.7% 0,4% 0.3% 0.2% 0.2% 0.1% 0.1 %

Speakers 10.0%

A & N Is.

Pondicherry Chandigarh

9.7% 9.5% 7.8% 6.9% 5.9% 2.7% 2 . 2% 2 . 2 % 2 . 1 % 1.8 % 1 . 8 % 1 . 8 %

Sikkim

Himachal Pradesh

Punjab

Meghalaya

D & N Haveli

Jammu & Kashmir

WORLD RANK: 13 NO.OF SPEAKERS : 96 m INDIA RANK: 6 SPEAKERS IN INDIA : 5.3%

Note : * denotes not available.