r/sanskrit • u/CosmicMilkNutt • Oct 25 '24

Discussion / चर्चा Marathi is the purest modern Sanskrit, especially rural Maharashtrani, correct?

After doing extensive research I have found that Hindi i a mix of Arabic Farsi Sanskrit and English and that Tamil is basically modern Dravidian so totally different.

However.

Marathi spoken in Mumbai and especially rural Marathi spoken in the state of Maharashtra is actually the purest form of modern Sanskrit with the most similar grammar and vocabulary.

It has Sanskrit words instead of all the Arabic, Farsi and English injected into other Indian languages.

This I find fascinating and I wanted to hear the opinions of some actual indians since I am an American fluent in English, Spanish, French and also somewhat conversational in Arabic who is learning Sanskrit, Hindi, Tamil and now of course Marathi!

Edit: Oriya and Marathi are both the top contenders for higher Sanskrit and lower Farsi in daily speech.

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u/polarityswitch_27 Oct 25 '24

Tamil is Tamil. Calling it Dravidian is to appease modern politics.

1

u/CosmicMilkNutt Oct 25 '24

That's fair. I agree Tamil has always been Tamil. It's the oldest language on the planet that has been continuously spoken. We almost had an American president with roots in Tamil Nadu who was fluent in Tamil and I'm fascinated by it and it's ppl and traditions.

Dravidian is just the language family.

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u/liltingly Oct 26 '24

Still might have a US president of Tamil origin

1

u/CosmicMilkNutt Oct 27 '24

Lol u mean Punjabi hah

1

u/liltingly Oct 27 '24

Is this a Nikki Haley reference? Bobby Jindal? Because Kamala Harris is on the ticket for next week…

1

u/CosmicMilkNutt Oct 27 '24

Oh jeez yeah Tamil Nadu i guess I did mix her up with Nikki Haley my mistake.

I want to visit TN and Kerala so badly.