A brief Introduction to Puranaanuuru Dr. R. Prabhakaran Tamil Civilization There is a general consensus among the historians that the Tamil Civilization is one of the oldest civilizations of the world. Although the archeological excavations, epigraphs and numismatic evidences found inside and outside of Tamil Nadu point to the antiquity of Tamil Civilization, historians find it difficult to reconstruct the early history of Tamil people with any degree of certainty. However, In the case of Tamil people, in addition to the artifacts, the Tamil literature provides valuable information to partially reconstruct their history of the past two millennia, if not earlier. Therefore, in addition to its elegance and beauty, the ancient Tamil literature is also an important source of information for Tamil history. Antiquity of Tamil language Like the Tamil civilization, the Tamil language is also considered as one of the oldest languages of the world. It is comparable in its antiquity to languages such as Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, Latin and Sanskrit. It has an independent literary tradition. It has a vast collection of rich and robust literature. In view of its antiquity, independent tradition and the vastness of its rich and robust literature, Tamil has been considered as one of the classical languages of the world. For example, Dr. George L. Hart, former Tamil Chair at the University of California, Berkeley, makes the following statement regarding the classical nature of Tamil:
“The quality of classical Tamil literature is such that it is fit to stand beside the great literatures of Sanskrit, Greek, Latin, Chinese, Persian and Arabic. The subtlety and profundity of its works, their varied scope, and their universality qualify Tamil to stand as one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world.�
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