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every human community should have originally passed through such troubles in greater or less degree according to the conditions of their habitation rendered them so; and yet as we come to study the life of the ancient Tamils from their most ancient literary work- I mean the Tholkappiyam, the age of which on the best internal evi- dence goes back to 1500 B.C., we see them already settled into highly civilized community for the most part peaceful, but for a few infrequent feuds between one Tamil king and another. It is to this continuity of a peaceful and highly civilized life enjoyed by the Tamils that we owe the existence of the Tamil language still in its pristine purity, vigour, and glory. To shape their life into a symmetrical from the English had to depend largely on the help of other nations and so they did not lag behind to take words from whichever language they could lay their hands on. But the Tamils never depended like- wise upon others. It is, therefore, absurd to draw a parallel be- tween the two languages: English and Tamil, and seek by which means to harm the later.
Even now when the borrwing of foreign words on the part of English has gone out of all proportion, there are not wanting freat English scholars who, inspired with a pure, fine literary sense, rec- ommend, may even against on the cultivation of a chaste Anglo- Saxon English style. Professor Freeman in introducing the new edition of his Essays says: "In almost every page I have found it easy to put some plain English word, about whose meaning there can be no doubt instead of those needless French and Latin words which are thought to add dignity to style, but which in truth only add vagueness. I am in no way ashamed to find that I can write purer and clearer English now than I did foruteen or fifteen years back: and I think it well to mention the fact for the encouragement of younger writers." When in this commendable patriotic spirit even great English scholars justly advise us to write chaste English, poor though the English language is, how absurd and unpatriotic it is to plead for introducing Sanscrit and other foreign words into Tamil which is in fact not only rich in words and in noble literature but is also the only ancient language that is still alive.
