of a sigh,3 and insisted that Western scholarship ought not neglect it, but even so, all the interest that has been created has only resulted in some stray compliment paid in legendary language, “In the South of India there is an ancient language with an ancient literature.” Tamil has not had its Max Müllers, Macdonells, Keiths and Winternitzes and even these have unwittingly prolonged Western neglect of Tamil because by identifying Indian literature with Sanskrit literature, they have created the belief that Sanskrit literature is both exclusively and exhaustively representative of Ancient Indian Culture. Max Müller wrote about what India can teach the West. By India he meant the Indo-Gangetic plain. The Kaaveeri delta has interesting lessons too. While it is given to the student of comparative literature to trace the origins of Sanskrit literature in the hymns of the Vedas, and the early attempts of the Grecian bards in the Homeric poems, of the origins of Tamil literature, he can find little trace or historical account. The earliest book extant is Tolkaappiyam, and that book argues the existence of numberless grammarians, a large literature, and years of anterior literary culture.4 Even by the most rigid canons, the date of its ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3 Beschi, Ellis, Bower, Caldwell, Pope. Dr. Winslow writes in the preface to his Tamil-English Dictionary (Madras, 1862): “It is not perhaps extravagant to say that in its poetic form the Tamil is more polished and exact than the Greek and in both dialects, with its borrowed treasures, more copious than the Latin”. Dr. Schimid: “The mode of collocating its words follows the logical or intellectual order more so than even the Latin or Greek”. “Although the very ancient, copious and refined Tamil language is inferior to none, it is regarded by most people as the (probably barbarous) vernacular of a people living somewhere in a remote district. Neither does our Indian Government nor do our Universities (British) fully recognize the value of Tamil literature; and so those who spend their lives in seeking for pearls under water”. Dr. G. U.Pope in Tamilian Antiquary, No. 6, p. 3, Madras, 1910. Scholars as those mentioned above, well versed in European classical literatures, would have been impressed far more if the Cankam literature available to the present generation had been available to them. Max Müller in Prefatory note to Hindu Manners and Customs, “Tamil Literature hitherto has been far too much neglected by students of Indian literature, philosophy and religion.” 4 This is fairly clear from the nature of Tolkaappiyam which codified already existing literature and grammar. |