Tamil

“ As the Tamil immigrants came into Southern India at distant intervals of time and in separate tribes, and were fewer in number than the aboriginal Nagas and Dravidians, they had to adopt the ancient Dravidian language, and in course of time, they modified and refined it into the language now known as Tamil. ”

“ In fact, in the ancient Tamil classical works, the terms relating to Music, Grammar, Astronomy and even abstract Philosophy are of pure Tamil origin; and they indicate most clearly that those sciences were cultivated by the Tamils long before the arrival of the Brahmins or other Aryan immigrants. The Tamils obtained a knowledge of these sciences most probably from China, through Bengal or Burma, with both of which countries they had direct and constant intercourse. ”

“ From a careful study of ancient Tamil poems, I am led to think that some of the earliest works were undoubtedly composed more than two thousand years ago, and that the Tamil people acquired wealth and civilisation at this early period by their commercial intercourse with foreign nations such as the Arabs, Greeks, Romans and Japanese. With the advance of their material prosperity, there was a sudden stimulus to their literary activity. The Augustan period of Tamil literature was, I should say, in the first century of the Christian era ”

“ Very few in the world outside of the Tamil country have heard the name of the poet whose work is presented here in a new English garb. And yet he is one of those seers whose message is intended not merely for their own age or country but for all time and for all mankind. ”

“ But, as compared with its literary sister languages, it has preserved its Dravidian character singularly free from foreign influence. Of Tamil words which have found a permanent home in English may be mentioned curry, (kaṛi) , mulligatawny (milagu, pepper, and taṇṇîr, cool water) , cheroot (suruttu) , pariah (paṛeiyan) .
The laws of euphony (avoiding of hiatus, softening of initial consonants, contact of final with initial consonants) are far more complicated in Tamil than in Sanskrit. ”

“ But Tamil Pandits, who love the marvellous, assert with a show of wisdom, that Auvvaiyar lived to the extraordinary age of six or seven hundred years, and that in her youth she was a contemporary of Ugra-Pandya, and in her old age of Kulothunga-Chola, whose reign commenced seven centuries later! ”

“ Accordingly we find that the Sanscrit literature of the first century of the Christian era is now a perfect blank. Curiously enough, a considerable portion of the Tamil literature of that very period has come down to us, almost intact, and reveals to us the condition of not only the Tamils, but also of other races who inhabited the rest of India in that remote age.
The vast field of ancient Tamil literature is like an unknown land into which no traveller hath yet set foot. Many of the ancient classical works in Tamil have but recently seen the light. ”

“ The men's langútis, on the other hand, are not the inadequate rags in use in the Tamil country, but broad and flowing affairs which often reach to their knees both before and behind, and the ends of which flap about so much that they are often tucked into the waist-string. The men are less particular about wearing a turban than in the south and the women follow the Tamil fashion of dispensing with the tight-fitting bodice. ”

“ This chapter defines the lexical corpus of various kinds in Tamil.
Four kinds of words The four kinds of words in Tamil-poetry are: [iyar’ccol] (=standard words) , [thirisol] (=synonyms and homonyms) , [thisaic-col] (=dialectal words) and [vada-sol] (=borrowed words from northern language) 1 Among these four the (primary kind of) standard words are the usage in Tamil land occurring with the semantic core unaffected. 2 The next kind of words is two kinds: synonyms and homonyms. 3 The third kind of words is dialects spoken in twelve regions surrounding Tamil land. ”

“ Others again are not wanting who would restrict the original home of Man to a particular corner of the Tamil country. Thus we find a large number of Southern writers who are harping on this theme, which, if not by the soundness of argument, at least by a process of repetition, may come to be accepted by the general historian who has not the leisure or the inclination to examine the validity of this contention. ”

“ All the religious and philosophical poetry of Sanskrit has become fused into Tamil, which language contains a larger number of popular treatises in Occultism, Alchemy, etc., than even Sanskrit; and it is now the only spoken language of India that abounds in occult treatises on various subjects.” Going on to speak of the Tamil Adepts, the author of this article says: “The popular belief is that there were eighteen brotherhoods of Adepts scattered here and there, in the mountains and forests of the Tamil country, and presided over by eighteen Sadhoos ”

“ The works of not less than fifty authors of this period have come down to us. These poets were of various castes, various religious persuasions and belonged to different parts of the Tamil country. Some were Nigranthas, some Buddhists, and some of the Brahminic faiths. ”

“ Dr Pope, however, believed Tamil to be a corruption of tenmoli, southern speech, in contradistinction to vaḍugu, the northern, i.e., Telugu language. As in the case of the Kafir, Turkish, Tagala and other typical languages, the term Tamulic or Tamulian has occasionally been employed as the designation of the whole class of Dravidian peoples and languages, of which it is only the most prominent member. The present article deals with Tamil in its restricted sense only. The Tamils proper are smaller and of weaker build than Europeans, though graceful in shape. ”

“ In the 8th century the Vaṭṭel̤uttu existed side by side and together with the Grantha, an ancient alphabet still used throughout the Tamil country in writing Sanskrit. During the four or five centuries after the conquest of Madura by the Cholas in the 11th it was gradually superseded in the Tamil country by the modern Tamil, while in Malabar it continued in general use down to the end of the 17th century. But the earliest works of Tamil literature, such as the Tolkâppiyam and the Kuṛaḷ, were still written in it. ”

“ I have mentioned before, that according to the Dravidian traditions, all the dominant tribes of S. India migrated from Northern provinces to Peninsular India. It is a distinct and a definite characteristic of essential nature, in the Tamil language, that an initial of a word can never be formed of double consonants, and compound letters formed of consonants different Varga can occur nowhere in a word. If we refer the changes under consideration to the essential peculiarities of the Tamil speech, our problem will be solved. ”

“ The word for eyes is Tamil, with a slight difference in the plural termination, as before noticed. The word for ear in Sanscrit is srava, in Telugu, sevata, in Tamil sevi, in the Todar dialect of the Neilgherries kevi, in the Khoond dialect, crìvu, in Tamil the word hearing is கெள்வி kelvi shewing that s is changeable into k, as is indeed the case with some other words. ”

“ Tamil is the language of southern India, and is used here by the Moormen as well as by the Tamils proper. There is a Portuguese patois still spoken by European descendants and half-breeds, while the Dutch language is quite unknown, though that people remained here nearly a century and a half after the Portuguese were driven out of the island. The English tongue is becoming more and more common in all populous centres like Colombo, Trincomalee, Kandy, and Point de Galle. The Singhalese are nearly always Buddhists, while the Tamils, as a people, are Hindus. ”

“ Though unfortunately my knowledge of Tamil was so slight that I could not follow his conversation and had to take advantage139 of the services of a friend as interpreter, still it was easy to see what a remarkable vigor and command of language the fellow had, what power of concentration on the subject in hand, and what a wealth of reference—especially citation from ancient authorities—wherewith to illustrate his discourse.
Everything in the East is different from the West, and so are the methods of teaching. Teaching in the East is entirely authoritative and traditional. ”

“ Tamil, Tamul.
Dravidian: dialect of the Carnatic, South India, and closely allied to Canarese, Malayalim, and Telugu or Telinga; it is also spoken in parts of Ceylon. It is agglutinative, is spoken in dialects called High and Low Tamil, and uses an alphabet said to be derived from the Devanagri. There is also an archaic dialect, now extinct. Grammar by Pope, Madras, 1859; Dictionary by Winslow, Madras, 1862.
Tamoiae, Tamoyo.
American: Tupi Indians of Brazil, near Rio de Janeiro. Also called Tummimioi (Tummimivi in Jülg’s “Vater.”) ”

“ It is a vast Grammar and Law book of the Tamil language and Social Life. Having three sections, the first two deal with language (linguistics) and the third about the subject matters referred to in Tamil literature, the behavior of the Tamils. ”

“ Long mayst thou live for many hundred thousand year!" Châthan the master of sweet Tamil, who was in the king’s company, charmed by the royal presence, related the story of the hapless maid to the king and queen. She was, he said, the wife of a merchant of Kavirippaddinam, who having lost all his wealth to a beautiful actress of that town, came to Madura accompanied only by his faithful wife; a pair of valuable anklets was all the property left in the hands of his wife. ”

“ One or two works have issued from the press in Europe in Tamil executed in the most beautiful style. All these facts conspire to persuade the inference that an era is opening for the development of the treasures bequeathed to the natives of Southern India by the talent and industry of former ages. ”

“ No ships of foreign nations call at their seaports for fine spun cloths, and other articles manufactured by Tamil workmen. Not only are the Tamils dead as a nation, but their industries and arts and even their old gods are dead For, Indra and Balarâma are no longer invoked by them ”

“ In the interior below the ghats, Venkadam or the modern Tirupaty was the northern limit of the Tamil land. It is most remarkable that after the lapse of eighteen centuries, during which many, a kingdom rose and fell, and the Tamils, Telugus, Mahrattas, Musalmans, French and English successively rose to political power, the language boundary has remained unaltered on the eastern coast. The same cannot be said of the boundary of the Tamil land on the western coast, for, it has advanced there from Badagara to Kasaragod, a distance of about sixty miles. ”

“ The Canarese, the Moguls, the Telugu Naiaks, the Mahrattas, and the Mahomedan adventurers of the Dekhan successively invaded the Tamil country within the last six centuries, and threatened to destroy every vestige of the Tamils; but at last a sterner and superior race of pale-faced men dropped, as it were, from the clouds, and saved the Tamils and all other races of India from anarchy and misrule. ”

“ They to my mind are more guilty than the poor Tamil youngsters who found no protection from those who should and could have done better, but who compromised shamefully and allowed these youngsters to be dragooned to their deaths. ”

“ Thy perfumed breast on which the bow ever rests, throbs before none but beautiful women. Thou wouldst not be false to thy promise even if the earth should change its position. Swift and terrible as the thunderbolt which shakes hillocks to their base, thou hast with thy valiant Tamil soldiers, routed the armies of thy two rival kings, and won thy laurels as a warrior: and now thou hast added to thy triumphs by conquering my poverty. ”

“ There is education, too, and a great respect for learning, and reverence for their classic literature and language, a language so ancient that we find certain Tamil words in the Hebrew Scriptures, and so rich, that while "nearly all the vernaculars of India have been greatly enriched from the Sanscrit, Sanscrit has borrowed from Tamil." Almost every Caste village has its own little school, and every town has many, where the boys are taught reading, writing, poetry, and mental arithmetic.
There is not much education among the Masses. ”

“ The name of a low caste of Hindus in Southern India, constituting one of the most numerous castes, if not the most numerous, in the Tamil country. The word in its present shape means properly 'a drummer.' Tamil parai is the large drum, beaten at certain festivals, and the hereditary beaters of it are called (sing.) paraiyan, (pl.) paraiyar. [Dr. Oppert's theory (Orig. Inhabitants, 32 seq.) that the word is a form of Pahaṛiyā, 'a mountaineer' is not probable.] ”

“ THE division of the Tamil people, over fifteen million strong, into Classes and Masses, though convenient and simple, is far too simple to be of value in giving an accurate idea of the matter as it is understood from within. As we said, it is only an outside view of things. A study of Caste from an Indian point of view is a study from which you rise bewildered. ”

“ When any awkward blunder occurs from a person acting under a mistaken notion, there is a common proverb in Tamil to the effect that the matter ended like the story of the three deaf men— (Muchcheviḍan kadaiyây muḍindadu) . The following is the story told to explain the allusion:—
In a remote village there lived a husband and wife. Both of them were quite deaf. They had made this household arrangement, namely, to cook cabbage with tamarind and soup without tamarind one day, and cabbage without tamarind and soup with tamarind on the other. ”