Sri Aurobindo's study of Tamil

Sri Aurobindo, the great light that blazed across India during the first half of the twentieth century, debunked this theory of the North-South racial divide. He was a historian, philosopher, poet, mystic and yogi. Sri Aurobindo has written commentaries on the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita and Indian society. Therefore, when Sri Aurobindo speaks, we listen.

Sri Aurobindo did not subscribe to the theory that the languages of North and South India are unrelated. Sri Aurobindo's study of Tamil led him to discover that the original connection between the Sanskrit and Tamil languages was “far closer and more extensive than is usually supposed.” These languages are “two divergent families derived from one lost primitive tongue.” And, “My first study of Tamil words had brought me to what seemed a clue to the very origins and structure of the ancient Sanskrit tongue.” (See The Secret of the Veda, V 10, Centenary Edition, p 36, 46). Sri Aurobindo also noted that a large part of the vocabulary of the South Indian languages (Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam) is common with Sanskrit.

For anyone who seriously wishes to pursue the topic of north-south division in India in the light of Sri Aurobindo, I recommend K. D. Sethna's The Problem of Aryan Origins, New Delhi: Aditya Prakashan, 1980 and 1992. Dr. Madan Lal Goel: Published on July 16, 2005