SV: Classical languages of India

[Sudalaimuthu Palaniappan]

In a message dated 9/29/2000 7:13:10 AM Central Daylight Time,
lmfosse at ONLINE.NO writes:

> I have no competence in Tamil, and I simply
>  didn't know to what extent it was used outside Tamilnad. Whether Tamil fits
>  my definition or not is something I must leave to others to decide!

If so, it is hard to understand why he excluded Tamil as a classical language
earlier.

In a message dated 9/28/2000 1:15:30 PM Central Daylight Time,
lmfosse at ONLINE.NO writes:

> "A classical language is a language with an ancient literature of
>  outstanding quality that through a considerable period of time has played
>  an important part in the history, literature and culture of several peoples
>  that otherwise may use different mother tongues."
>
>  This definition would include languages such as Greek, Latin, Arabic,
>  Persian, and Sanskrit as well as Classical Chinese. It would exclude
Tamil...

Probably he did not consult the scope section of the Indology list. In any
case, his statement did serve a useful purpose. He  said:
>  Classical languages are
>  normally used across time and space by educated people and serve as link
>  languages and carriers of ideas with some claim to universality: e.g. Greek
>  and Latin for Christianity, Arabic for Islam, Sanskrit for Hinduism etc.

There seems to be a definitional creep here. Lars' first "definition" demands
only that a classical language "play a part" in the history, literature and
culture of peoples who use different mother tongues. But, later he expands
the list of constraints by saying that classical languages must be "used by
educated people and serve as link languages".

In "Slaves of the Lord", Vidya Dehejia translates a line of Padmapurana as
follows:
"And Bhakti spoke:
I was born in the Dravida country, matured in Karnataka, spent my youth
wandering in Maharashtra,  attained old age in Gujarat...
                                            Padma Purana, uttara khanda
                                                    chapter 189, line 54"

(to continue)