World Classical Tamil Conference – Kovai 27.6.2010

Greek and Latin were the only languages initially considered to be classical languages. In the 19^th Century scholars like William Jones  and Max Mueller  published their translations of ancient Sanskrit literature and, with that, Sanskrit was elevated to the status of a classical language too. In 1816, noted scholar Ellis  published his report and established that the Dravidian languages were different and distinct from Sanskrit and proved their separate antiquity and status. Government of India recognised Tamil as a classical language formally in 2004.