# The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago/Chapter 16

CHAPTER XVI.
Conclusion.
From the foregoing account of the Tamils eighteen hundred years ago, it will be seen that they were a civilised and prosperous nation settled in the extreme south of the peninsula of India. Their country was bounded on three sides by the sea and on the north by the territories of less civilised races, such as the Konkanas, Kalingas and Rattas. These races must be regarded as less civilised than the Tamils, as they had no literature of their own at this early period: and the Tamils proudly spoke of their language as “the Southern tongue” and of the Aryan as “the Northern tongue.” They were known as the Tamils most probably because they had emigrated from Tamilitti (Tâmralipti) the great seaport at the mouth of the Ganges. Their kings and chieftains still remembered the original Mongolian stock from which they had sprung, and called themselves Vânavar o “Celestials.” They had conquered the country from the ancient Nâgas, and driving them into barren and desert tracts, occupied all the fairest and most fertile portions of the sunny land. Being the conquerors of the land, and ruled by princes of their own race, they had a high opinion of themselves, and were proud of their nationality. They had grown wealthy by their agriculture, manufactures and commerce; and they enjoyed so much security of life and property in the fortified cities, that the higher classes were not afraid of displaying their wealth by their rich dress and costly jewelry. They were a gay and polite people, passionately fond of music and flowers and poetry. Their bards sang of the thrilling achievements, by field and flood, of their gallant ancestors who had won Tamilakam for them: and stimulated in them noble desire to be loyal to their kings, to labour for the good of the poor and the helpless, and above all to love truth and righteousness and to adore their gods.
​Sixty generations have passed since the period I describe and what mighty changes have occurred in this interval! The land has extended, rivers have changed their courses, the ancient cities have disappeared and new languages have been formed by sections of the Tamil people. The alluvial deposits which accumulated every year, during the monsoons, at the mouths of the large rivers gradually extended the land as may be seen from the map of India in which the coast line projects into the sea at the mouths of the rivers Godaveri, Kistna, Kaviri, Vaigai, and Tamraparni. In this manner, the backwater that extends from Quilon to Cochin on the Western Coast was formed subsequent to the period of which I treat, as already stated by me in my description of the Ancient Geography of Tamilakam. On the Eastern Coast the land has extended six miles east of the site of Korkai, which was formerly a flourishing seaport. Further north near Guntoor also, the sea coast has receded several miles, and there are traces of the old coast still visible to a length of about 30 miles.
Some of the rivers have changed their courses owing to natural or artificial causes. The Palar which formerly flowed through the bed of the modern Kodu-thalai-âru has quitted its old bed near Tiruvellum, now flows in the south-easterly direction and enters the sea at a place nearly sixty miles south of its former mouth. But the old bed of the river which joins the Kodu-thalaiâru is still known as Palaiya-pâlâru or Vriddha-Kshiranadhi. There is no trace of the river Kaviri, at the site of Kavirip-paddinam, where it was once a broad and navigable river. Many centuries ago, the river breached its banks, after the construction of a dam across it near Tiru-chirap-palli, and formed a new branch now known as Kollidam. The waters of the old Kaviri, east of the dam, are now drawn off by more than a hundred channels to paddy fields stretching over an area of several thousand square miles, and the noble river shrinks to the dimensions of a small channel spanned by a bridge of a single arch before it reaches Mâyâveram, ten miles west of Kavirippaddinam. On the Malabar Coast, the Kotta river which found its way to the sea through Agalap-pula, by the side of the port Thondi, now enters the sea, at a place about eight miles north of the site of Thondi, the channel near which has silted up.
​The ancient capitals of the Chera, Chola and Pandyan kingdoms are now in ruins, and their very sites are forgotten. Scattered remains of massive walls incrusted with moss and lichen still attest the solid fortifications of Karur or Vanji, the chief town of the Chera King: but only the shrill cries of eagles during the day, and the dismal howls of jackals at night disturb the profound silence that now reigns in the desolate region. The wealthy and populous city of Kavirip-paddinam, which was the capital of the Cholas, lies buried under vast mounds of sand, in the stagnant pools between which may be seen a solitary stork feeding on fish or frogs. Shepherds graze their flocks on the site of old Madura where the proud Pandya had sat on his high throne surrounded by a brilliant conclave of ministers, warriors and learned poets.
The Tamils who inhabited the Western Coast and the table-land of Mysore, which were separated from the rest of the country by high mountains, differed in their speech from the main body of the Tamils, so much in course of time, that their languages became distinct dialects of Tamil, and in this manner the modern Malayalam and Canarese languages have been formed. Consequently the limits of Tamilakam have become much narrower than they were formerly. The Tamil-land may now be defined as the low country east of the Ghasts between Tirupati and Cape Comorin. The Northern portion of the island of Ceylon, where the Tamils are settled for the last eight centuries, may also be now regarded as a part of the Tamil-land. Even within these narrow limits, the Tamils were many a time in danger of being overwhelmed by other races, but a merciful Providence appears to have arrested every invading force before it could completely overrun the country. 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 had sailed from a far-off land, over perilous seas, in search of new markets for their trade. ​As peaceful merchants, they first obtained a footing in the country, and by their unity, energy and intelligence soon founded an empire vaster in extent than that governed by any Mogul or Magadha sovereign. Under the aegis of England, the Tamils now enjoy profound peace and present the unique spectacle of a race of people who have retained their language and civilisation almost unchanged for the last two thousand years or more.
Socially and politically however the Tamils of this day present a mournful contrast to their warlike ancestors. They are now a subject race. Their ancient royal families became extinct centuries ago. No longer the five Great Assemblies of priests, astrologers; ministers, military officers and physicians meet to advise and guide the ruling power. No more the minstrel tunes his lute at feasts and rejoicings, to sing of the matrial deeds of their forefathers. 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; Rama and Krishna have taken the place of Vishnu; and in the temples of Siva, it is the linga or phallus, and not the image of Siva that is now worshipped. The Tamils still retain however many of their old characteristics. There are more temples and more rest houses still in their country than are to be found within the same area, in any other part of the world! temples reared with infinite patience and labour, and rest-houses built by private charity, where the poor and the rich may freely find shelter at all times and seasons. They are devoted to friends, respectful to women charitable to the poor, fervent in piety and tireless in industry. “Wherever money is to be made, wherever a more apathetic or a more aristocratic people is willing to be pushed aside, thither” says a European Missionary who long resided among them, “swarm the Tamils, the Greeks or Scotch of the east: the least superstitious and the most enterprising and persevering race of Hindus.” They are still the most literate people among the native races of India. An enlightened Government has covered the land with network of roads, railways and tele ​graphs: it has provided the best possible codes of law which are administered without distinction of caste or creed: it has opened schools and hospitals, and organised all sorts of Government Departments, some of which are unknown even in England. The Tamils should now awake from their apathy of ages, if they wish to reap the full benefit of these changes. They should realise the fact that they are now at the parting of the ways. Mistakes now made will be irretrievable, and will have far reaching effects. If, for instance, they fail to see the utter folly of retaining the caste system any longer; if they avoid all social intercourse with Europeans, being afraid of losing caste, they would surely incur the distrust and dislike of the ruling race. There can be no real sympathy then between the rulers and the ruled, and the gulf that now separates them will widen still further and lead to misunderstandings which may embarass the Government however strong, and in the end prove disastrous to the subject race.
They have too long followed the philosophy of inaction, which taught them to get rid of the sense of personality, with what deplorable results we can all see Will they now adopt the philosophy of action? Will they now strive to acquire the sense of individual life, and develop strong personalities, who will not flee to the jungle to save their souls, but will live in their midst and do their duty, to the glory of God, and the good of their fellow-creatures? If they still cherish their prejudices and superstitions, and be dreaming of a future state: if their wise men still attempt to stifle all desire, afraid of the transmigration of their souls: if they still believe that our faculties were intended not for our beneficial use, but to be repressed and rust in us unused, they would doubtless be left behind in the race of life, and eventually be only hewers of wood and drawers of water. But if they advance on the lines of western civilization, avoiding its vices: if they throw off the fetters of caste, which estrange the sympathy of one class from another and paralize the ​genius and industry of the people: if they educate their women and train them to be intelligent wives and mothers: if they open technical schools and encourage scientific research: if they introduce machinery for their manufactures, remembering the fact that workmen cannot possibly compete with machinery: and if they reform their religion, giving up idolatry and sectarian prejudices and make Hinduism the true worship of a living God, they would assuredly prosper, and as part of the great Hindu nation they may rank with the foremost nations of the world. Their men of light and leading need not wait till some one sets an example: but if they quietly and steadily instil these ideas into their families and circle of relations, and carry them out in practice, as far as it is possible, without causing any violent commotion, their names would be handed down to distant generations, as the saviours of their community.
* ↑ The modern Tamulk on the Rupanarain Branch of the Hoogly, 35 miles south-west of Calcutta. The Tamilittis or Tamraliptas are also mentioned as a separate nation inhabiting Lower Bengal in the Matsya, Vishnu, and other Puranas.
* ↑ Bishop Caldwell
* ↑ Bhagavad-gita II. Sankhya-yoga 71. He attains peace who giving up all desires, lives without attachment, without selfishness, without vanity. XII. Bhakti-yoga. 16. Dear unto Me is he who is pure, intelligent, unaffected, serene, giving up every undertaking and devoted to Me. XVII. Moksha-yoga. 66. Give up all action and come to Me alone for refuge. I will save thee from all evil. Do not despair!