THOUGH my knowledge of the Tamil Language is so scanty that at first I held myself absolutely disqualified from complying with Mr. Suryanarayana Sastri's request that I would write an introduction to this book, yet on his pressing it I could not deny myself the pleasure of complying with his desire and showing my interest in the excellent work which he has here done for his native tongue. It has been a privilege to talk with him over his book and to see how he has assimilated the methods of Western philologists and has applied them to the study of the Dravidian languages. While however he has found his models in the west, no one can fail to see that his inspiration comes from his love of Tamil and that he has put himself into the book, with the result that it is fresh and original.
That the book meets a need is certain. As a study of the growth of language in general from the Dravidian point of view it is a contribution to Philology of notable value; while as a history of the Tamil Language in particular it stands alone. And Tamil is a language which well deserves such study. It belongs to a group which has a strongly marked family type, and which, while it has features that seems to connect it, on this side and on that, with widely differing groups, is also distinguished from all other groups by features all its own. Its origin still remains to be discovered — a secret to reward some scholar patiently treading in the path along which this book points the way. Its grammar is full of interest and its literature is one of which any nation might be proud. It still has a vigorous life as a spoken tongue, and when its emancipation from the tyranny of the conventions of a dead past is complete it will regain its literary productiveness. For a long time at any rate it will be the medium in which the movements and the emotions of the Tamilians will find their real and natural expression. It must continue the language of the genuine literature of the people. In English their thought and feeling will move as it were in shackles; in Tamil they will have the spontaneity and ease and vigour of free movement.
I am not competent to pronounce upon all the details of Mr. Suryanarayana Sastriar's work, but I am convinced that the main lines on
