Caldwell's Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian languages

With his Comparative Grammar, Robert Caldwell showed that the Dravidian languages make up a separate language family.

A missionary who reached Madras in 1838, Robert Caldwell spent decades at Idaiyangudi in Tirunelveli district. His A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian Family of Languages appeared in London in 1856. Developing ideas first put forward by Francis Whyte Ellis, the work made a systematic case that Tamil and its South Indian sister languages belong to a family separate from Sanskrit. It left a deep mark on Tamil pride in the language, and the Dravidian movement later made use of it. Some of its broader arguments are disputed today.

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1816

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Francis Whyte Ellis argued that the South Indian languages form a family separate from Sanskrit.

1855

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1868

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1877

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1901

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2008

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