The Tamil works on the study of Tamil Words written by Pandit Jna. Devaneyan , B.O.L. on the lines of general philological principles meet a longfelt want in Tamil. In my early days when I was engaging myself in the study of such English works as Arch Bishop Trench's Study of Words, Prof. Max Muller's Science of Language, Prof. Sayce's Comparative Philology etc., my attention turned to making a similar study of Tamil words. Dr. Caldwell's Comparative Study of Dravidian Languages opened up before me a vast and wonderful tract of Tamil knowledge then lay hidden even to great Tamil scholars. Still Caldwell's works as an incipient attempt in an unknown region could not be expected to treat exhaustively of all Tamil words. And this impelled me to write a Tamil Philology myself and publish even one or two essays of it in the first volume of my magazine Jnanasagaram. But I could not continue it, since my activities in other fields as religion, philosophy and literary history absorbed my whole attention. Still I was looking about whether any competent scholar would take up the subject; and I was gratified to a certain extent when Father Jnanaprakasar of Jaffna sent me his interesting work on Tamil Philology. The field being vast and extensive, I was looking forward to some more work on a comprehensive scale founded on ancient classical Tamil and am glad to say that Mr. Devaneyan has met my expectation almost wholly. Tamil scholars may safely rely on his careful treatment of the subject and I dare say they will be greatly benefited by a diligent perusal of his works. It is my humble opinion that in the Study of Tamil words Mr. Devaneyan stands pre-eminent and has few rivals.

Further Mr. Devaneyan is an impressive teacher and an interesting lecturer as I had seen on several occasions when I had presided over the annual deliberations of Tamil Sangams to hear him speak to large audiences and engage their attention by flavouring his speech with wit and humour. As a painstaking research scholar I am confident he will bring name and fame to any institution that will engage his services.