Which is the oldest Indian language?
454766
Sanskrit if u consider the general case, but Tamil is the oldest linguistic language which is still being used today.
797166
Tamil (தமிழ்) is a classical language and one of the major languages of the Dravidian language family. Spoken predominantly by Tamils in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and Singapore, it has smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. As of 1996, it was the eighteenth most spoken language, with over 74 million speakers worldwide. It is one of the official languages of India, Singapore and Sri Lanka.\n\nTamil is one of the few living classical languages and has an unbroken literary tradition of over two millennia. The high level of diglossia exhibited by Tamil, and the prestige accorded to classical Tamil, have resulted in much of the vocabulary and forms of classical Tamil being preserved in modern literary Tamil, such that the higher registers of literary Tamil tend towards the classical language. The classical language also forms an important part of Tamil-medium education: verses from the Tirukkural, a classical work, are, for example, taught in primary school. The ordinary form of the modern language used in speech and writing, in contrast, has undergone significant changes, to the extent that a person who has not learnt the higher literary form will have difficulty understanding it.\n\nThe name 'Tamil' is an anglicised form of the native name தமிழ். The final letter of the name, usually transcribed as the lowercase l or zh, is a retroflex r. In phonetic transcriptions, it is usually represented by the retroflex approximant.\n\nThe origins of Tamil, like the other Dravidian languages are unknown, but unlike most of the other established literary languages of India, are independent of Sanskrit. Tamil has the oldest literature amongst the Dravidian languages (Hart, 1975), but dating the language and the literature precisely is difficult. Literary works in India or Sri Lanka were preserved either in palm leaf manuscripts (implying repeated copying and recopying) or through oral transmission, making direct dating impossible. External chronological records and internal linguistic evidence, however, indicate that the oldest extant works were probably composed sometime in the 2nd century CE.\n\nThe earliest extant text in Tamil is the Tolkāppiyam, a work on poetics and grammar which describes the language of the classical period, the oldest portions of this book may date back to around 200 BCE (Hart, 1975). Apart from these, the earliest examples of Tamil writing we have today are rock inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE, which are written in Tamil-Brahmi, an adapted form of the Brahmi script (Mahadevan, 2003). Linguists categorise Tamil literature and language into three periods: ancient (500 BCE to 700 CE), medieval (700 CE to 1500 CE) and modern (1500 CE to the present). During the medieval period, a number of Sanskrit loan words were absorbed by Tamil, which many 20th century purists, notably Parithimaar Kalaignar and Maraimalai Adigal, later sought to remove. This movement was called thanith thamizh iyakkam (meaning pure Tamil movement). As a result of this, Tamil in formal documents, public speeches and scientific discourses is largely free of Sanskrit loan words.\n\nTamil is the first language of the majority in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and in northern, eastern and northeastern Sri Lanka. The language is also spoken by small groups of minorities in other parts of these two countries, most notably in the Indian states of Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra, and in Colombo and the hill country in Sri Lanka.\n\nThere are currently sizeable Tamil-speaking populations descended from them in Singapore, Malaysia, South Africa, and Mauritius. Many people in Guyana, Fiji, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago have Tamil origins, but the language is spoken only by a small number there-.
241799
Well, ancient India developed writing (Sanskrit) before almost everyone (with the exception of the Cuniform found in Mesopotamia).  Additionally, in India they developed cities, a complex caste system (where people were divided into different socioeconomic classes) and a strong written and oral tradition (see the Vedas, the Baghavadgita, etc).  Additionally, there are many who believe that India had the first real civilization as much as 14000 years ago, but that their initial advancement was set back by a rise in the sealevel due to glacial runoff (the thawing of the most recent ice age, actually).  There are even speculations that they possessed advance techology.  For example, there is an account in the Gita about a weapon that sounds a lot like a nuclear weapon.  Additionally, Alexander the Great (not a guy known for exageration) swore up and down that when he invaded that area he was attacked by "flying machines".  Very interesting story.
233068
Kannada or Canarese, the official language of the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Kannada is a Dravidian language spoken by about 44 million people in the Indian states of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and MaharashtraKannada alphabet   \nOrigin\nThe Kannada alphabet developed from the Kadamba and Cālukya scripts, descendents of Brahmi which were used between the 5th and 7th centuries AD. These scripts developed into the Old Kannada script, which by about 1500 had morphed into the Kannada and Telugu scripts. Under the influence of Christian missionary organizations, Kannada and Telugu scripts were standardized at the beginning of the 19th century. Kannada is a alphasyllabary in which all consonants have an inherent vowel. Other vowels are indicated with diacritics, which can appear above, below, before or after the consonants. \nWhen they appear the the beginning of a syllable, vowels are written as independent letters. \nWhen consonants appear together without intervening vowels, the second consonant is written as a special conjunt symbol, usually below the first.
699869
The earliest human language was in Africa about 100,000 years ago.  We have, of course, no records of that language since writing was not invented for another 95,000 years.\n\nAnd to correct errors in previous answers:  Latin and Greek are NOT the ancestors of the world's languages.  Latin is the ancestor of about 20 modern languages of Europe and Greek is just the ancestor of Modern Greek.  Old Chinese is the ancestor of the half dozen Chinese languages.  There are about 200 Indo-European languages and about 6000 languages in the world, so most of the world's languages are NOT Indo-European.
263235
no but i do know that its the state language of karnataka. i went to a wedding in madikeri a few years ago. india is beautiful.
264215
It is Hindi...\nEnglish is the official language.\nThere are 15 recognised languages spoken all over the country.
1094689
There are various ways to answer this question.  \n\nThe oldest Scripture is the Rig Veda, followed by 3 other Vedas (Sama, Yajur, and Atharva).  These express the timeless truth as heard by ancient rishis or seers.  There are so many Hindu Scriptures besides these however, although they all come from the Veda in one way or another.  The Upanishads are deep philosophical treatises that record the truths as found by sages who would go into the forest and meditate and learn with a guru.  They are very contemplative and I think this points to the fact that the "Word of God" in Hinduism is within the very soul of the person.  It is when one effectively lays aside his own selfish ego and opens his heart to the eternal truth of God that one "hears" the "word of God."  This was accomplished in the Vedas, and Upanishads, as well as other Scriptures.\n\nThe Bhagavad Gita is one of the most important Scriptures, because it records the conversation that the warrior and devotee of Lord Krishna had with Krishna Himself.  Krishna tells him (and thereby tells us too) the path to God realization.  This is probably the most-loved of Hindu Scriptures.\n\nAside from these I've mentioned are the Mahabharata - the largest epic in the world about the Great Indian War and it contains the mythology of India as well as the Bhagavad Gita itself.\nThere is the Ramayana, which tells of the life of Rama, who is an incarnation of Lord Vishnu as a righteous King in India.\nThere are numerous Puranas, which are devotional literatures which tells of the stories of various gods and goddesses.  The most popular may be the Srimad Bhagavata Purana, which tells of Krishna's incarnation.  But remember, as pointed out above by others, even though in Hinduism, we can speak of numerous gods and goddesses, in truth, we acknowledge that there is only one God with many names and forms.\n\nHere is a website that explains the many various sacred writings of Hinduism:\nhttp://www.hinduism.co.za/vedas-.htm
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Indian Languages:-\nKannada:- Naanu ninna preethisuthene!\nTelgu:- Nenu ninnu premistunnanu!\nHindi:- Mein tumse pyarkarthahu!\n\nEnglish:- I love you!\n\nGerman:- Ich liebe dich!\n\nFrench:- Je t'aime !\n\nDutch:- Ik houd van u!\n\nJapanese:- 私は愛する!\n\nKorean:- 사랑해요!\n\nChinese:- 我爱你!\n\nRussian:- Я тебя люблю!\n\nSpanish:- ¡Te amo!\n\nItalian:- Ti amo!\n\nArabic:- أنا أحبّ أنت!\n\nSwedish:- Jag älskar dig!\n\nPortugese:- Eu te amo!
599358
Sanskrit was considered as the language of the gods by the people of India.It is also capable of improving your vocal chords.
811185
By far the main spoken language is Bengali. \n\nOther languages with over 100,000 speakers include Arakanese, Burmese, Chakma, Chittagonian, Hindi, Sadri, Sylheti and Urdu. \n\nA full breakdown of languages and the number of speakers is given on the link below.
247131
According to wikipedia there are 2 official languages used by central administration: Hindi and English.\nFurthermore there are 22 recognized national languages.\nFor a complete list see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Official_languages_of_India
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Basque - Pyrenee mountains\n\nAboriginal languages - Australia\n\nTamil - Southern India\n\nArabic - Middle East\n\nMalayalam - Southern India.\n\nI'm not sure of the others. But Basque i think is one of the five oldest languages.
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India is said to have about a thousand languages and/or dialects.\nIt has 23 official languages.\n\nIndia is home to two major linguistic families: Indo-Aryan (spoken by about 74% of the population) and Dravidian (spoken by about 24%). Other languages spoken in India come from the Austro-Asiatic and Tibeto-Burman linguistic families. The Indian constitution recognises 23 official languages.[14] Hindi and English are used by the Union Government of India for official purposes, wherein Hindi has a de jure priority. Sanskrit and Tamil enjoy classical language status in India.[15] The number of dialects in India is as high as 1,652.[16] - wikipedia
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There are 28 states and 4 union territory in India. There are 346 languages spoken in India.
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i'm from India and i'm proud of my country because India has the oldest culture in the world, over 7000 years old, the most deep rooted values and  is the bed of spirituality. We were  the richest country in the world until the british made us a colony for several years, thus impoverishing the country, which through mahatma gandhi fought for it's indepence through NON VIOLENCE and is today trying  to shine again.
75573
Sourashtra (alternate names and spellings: Palkar, Sowrashtra, Saurashtra, Saurashtri, Patnuli) is an Indo-Aryan language spoken in parts of the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu. The Ethnologue puts the number of speakers at 310,000 (1997 IMA), although the actual number could be double this figure or even more.\n\n\nClassification\nSourashtra is a Indo-Aryan language belonging to the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family.\n\n\nGeographical Distribution\nThe speakers of the Sourashtra language, known as Sourashtrians, maintain a predominant presence in Madurai, a city in the southern part of Tamil Nadu. Though official figures are hard to come by, it is believed that the Sourashtra population makes up for about one-third of the city's total population. They are present in significant numbers in the cities of Dindigul, Paramakudi, Erode, Palani, Rajapalayam, Nilakottai, Salem, Thanjavur, Trichy, Kumbakonam,Thiruvarur and Kottar (Nagercoil). A sizable number is also found in Chennai, Bangalore and other parts of India, but this presence is largely due to small-scale migrations in the last few decades from one of the aforesaid traditional Sourashtrian settlements.\n\nIt is also believed that Sourashtra speakers exist, albeit in small numbers, in other southern states such as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. However, in the absence of any reliable facts to substantiate this claim, this remains a speculation at best.\n\n\nHistory\nThough there is little historical evidence available to support the argument that the Sourashtrians lived in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat in Western India, folklore, and recent linguistic and genetic researches have been able to establish that this region was indeed once the habitat of the Sourashtrians. However, their language has more similarities with Marathi and Konkani, both Indo-Aryan languages of Western India, than it does with Modern Gujarati, the language of present-day Gujarat. Linguists have been able to explain why it is so: Both Sourashtra and Gujarati branched off from a common parent, and have since taken completely different paths to modernity. Gujarati came under the influence of Persian, Arabic, many tribal languages and Hindi, whereas Sourashtra, taking off from Gujarat before it had made any Muslim contact, was influenced by Marathi, Konkani, Kannada, Telugu, and finally, Tamil. It has been acknowledged that Persian and Arabic have had only limited influence on Marathi and Konkani, and this is why they still retain a good amount of vocabulary and grammar derived from Sanskrit, as compared to other daughter languages of Sanskrit. It is possible that the vocabulary and grammar shared between Modern Sourashtra and Marathi is what was originally derived from Sanskrit.\n\nThe southward flight of the Sourashtrians seems to have been triggered by the frequent Muslim invasions of their homeland and the instability caused by it. No details are available as to whether it was a mass-migration and when it took place. They found the safe haven they were looking for in the Vijayanagar Kingdom, with its capital at Hampi in present-day Karnataka, which was then expanding southwards. They, whose traditional occupation was weaving, were able to impress upon the Emperor with their weaving skills, and soon were elevated to the position of Royal Weavers. Telugu and Kannada were the court languages, though other languages such as Sanskrit and Tamil were also in use. It was during this period that Sourashtra started absorbing Telugu and Kannada words into its lexicon.\n\nVijayanagar rulers had the practice of appointing Governors, known as Nayaks, to manage far-flung regions of the empire. When Madurai and Thanjavur were annexed to the empire, Governors were appointed to administer the new territories. It is believed that a part of the Sourashtra community moved to Madurai and Thanjavur to serve the Governors.\n\n\n\n\n****\nHey why di they suspend you from yahoo\n*****