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the
use of Sanskrit derivatives and characters, and restricted itself to pure
Ancient Dravidian sounds, forms and roots. So completely has this jealousy
of Sanskrit pervaded the minds of the educated classes amongst the Tamilians,
that a Tamil poetical composition is regarded as in accordance with good
taste and worthy of being called classical, not in proportion to the amount
of Sanskrit it contains, as would be the case in some other dialects,
but in proportion of its freedom from Sanskrit! The speech of the very
lowest classes of the people in the retired country districts accords
to a considerable extent with the classical dialect in dispensing with
Sanskrit derivatives. In every country it is in the poetry and in the
speech of the peasantry that the ancient condition of the language is
best studied. ... ... ... Even in prose compositions on religious subjects,
in which a larger amount of Sanskrit is employed than in any other department
of literature, the proportion of Sanskrit which has found its way into
Tamil is not greater than the amount of Latin contained in corresponding
compositions in English......................”1
“Though the proportion of Sanskrit which we find to be contained
in Tamil version of the Ten Commandments happens to correspond so exactly
to the proportion of Latin contained in the English version, it would
be an error to conclude that the Tamil language is as deeply indebted
to Sanskrit as English is to Latin. Tamil can readily dispense with the
greater part or the whole of its Sanskrit, and by dispensing with it rises
to a purer and more refined style; whereas English cannot abandon its
Latin without abandoning perspicuity. Anglo-Saxon has no synonyms of its
own for many of the words it has borrowed from Latin; so that if it were
obliged to dispense with them, it would, in most cases, be under the necessity
of using a very awkward periphrasis instead of a single word. Tamil, on
the other hand, is peculiarly rich in synonyms; and generally it is not
through any real necessity, but from choice and the fashion of the age,
that it makes use of Sanskrit... ...... Through the predominant influence
of the religion
1.D.C.G
Introduction pp45-6
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