CHENNAI: Scholars including professors and archaeologists contended that the Indus valley civilisation is not an Aryan civilisation and that the language of the people of the Indus Valley was not Sanskrit. They also quoted the research done from time to time to prove that the Indus Valley Civilisation was pre-Vedic civilisation.
They were speaking at a seminar organised by the Thamizhiyakkam and the Tamil Nadu Open University on Wednesday to celebrate the centenary of the discovery of Indus Valley Civilisation by British archaeologist Sir John Marshall.
G Viswanathan, founder-chancellor of the VIT University and the chairman of the Thamizhiyakkam, in his presidential address, said epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan has said the symbols obtained from Indus Valley have proved that they have connections with the Tamil words.
“The Dravidian movement is not confined to just two Dravidian political parties. There is a long legacy to the Dravidian ideology. In 470 BC, when Kalabras were ruling TN, in Madurai, a Jain sage Vajra Nandhi launched the Dravida Sangam which insisted that importance should be given to Tamil and casteless society,” Viswanathan added.
Renowned archaeologist Amarnath Ramakrishnan said people should ponder over certain questions at this moment: “Why does TN alone celebrate the centenary of the discovery of the Indus Valley civilisation? Why do we hail John Marshall who discovered the Indus Valley civilisation?”.
Ramakrishnan said there is an argument that from Sanskrit alone languages like Prakrutham, and Pali originated. This is contrary to the truth, because Sanskrit is a created language and not anyone’s mother tongue. Of the total number of inscriptions found across India, Tamil inscriptions constitute 60%.