The South Indian historians as a rule, acquit
themselves admirably well in writing the post-Christian history of Tamil
Nadu; but become entirely inactive and uninterested with regard to the
pre-Christian history of the same, and suddenly turn to the North and
base everything on the Vedas. They are even prone to grossly misre present
facts, as they know for certain that a true representation of ancient
Tami Nadu will only reveal the glory of Tamil, and rebound to the credit
of ancient Tamils. Their guiding principle is always to uphold Sanskrit
and the Vedic system of culture. The two exceptions in this regard were
the late Mr.P.T. Srinivasa Iyengar and Prof.V.R.Ramachandra Dikshitar,
both of whom adorned the University of Madras as Head of the Department
of History during different periods. If there was any other, it was T.R.
Sesha Iyengar. All the others are of one mould and flagrantly betray their
bias towards Sanskrit. They make a mountain of a molehill if it be in
favour of the Aryans, and a molehill of a mountain if it be in favour
of the Tamilians.
Under
these circumstances, to expect a true and faithful history of pre-Aryan
Tamil Nadu to be written by any of the pro-Sanskrit historians of today,
is “to set the fox to keep the geese.”
3.
The Sources of Cultural History of Ancient Tamils
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Tamil
being the earliest cultivated language of the world dating from time immemorial
and Lemuria, the original home of the Tamilians, having been submerged
long ago, it is vain to look for archaeological evidences in support of
the antiquity of Tamil civilization and culture. It must be definitely
understood, that oceanography and geology have taken the place of archaeology
in the case of Tamil Nadu.
Under
this situation, the Tamil language and literature alone consitute the
sources of material for reconstruction of pre-Christian and pre-Aryan
history of Tamil Culture.
4.
Signification of the Term 'Tamil'
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‘Tamil’
is one of those words whose origin and root-meaning are wrapped up in
mystery. All that we can say at present without
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