Tamil

Recently, Tamil was named a "Classical" language. All Tamilians are happy about this "development". Good eh? So whatz this "classical" attribute fuss all about? Recently, I saw that the definition of Sahitya Academy of India of "Classical" language is "any language that has literature that dates back a thousand years and whose written forms are independent....". Well. All the so-called Dravidian languages (except Malayalam, which is soooo modern), I think, would fit the bill here. So, is there something that separates Tamil, given that it outdates the others by being in vogue for twice as much as the others are? (Now then, no Tam bias here. Am speaking facts!).