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மறைமலையம் -18
Tamil at its very root, and secondly by acquainting the young mind not only with a knowledge of actual facts but also with practical moral maxims clothed, of course, in the attractive allegorical form called the fable.
To attain my first object the whole work is written in pure but simple Tamil, only here and there so interspersed with the words and phrases taken from the classical Tamil literature, as to make their meaning easily understood by their context and help the students in this way early to store in their memory a considerable number of fine and beautiful words and expressions they will frequently meet with in their later course of higher Tamil studies. Although I have in this prose work scrupulously avoided quoting any poetic, yet the synonyms given at the opening of each original essay and the classical terms and expression used here and there, will, I hope, greatly contribute to a sound knowledge of Tamil, of its structure and peculiarities, and aid the student to understand any poetical composition also to some extent. The manner of writing employed in this book, besides increasing the student's knowledge of Tamil, will also enrich his Tamil vocabulary and serve him in good stead to communicate easily to his countrymen the ideas he has imbibed from the various branches of English learning.
My second object is to strike out a new path in the treatment of subjects, keeping in view the wide and amazing extension of knowledge achieved by the European nation, whole still clinging to some extent to the ancient mode of classifying subjects as laid down in the great Tamil grammar and rhetoric the Tholkappiam. Almost all the Tamil texts now in use never deviate from the beaten track of repeating the mythical stories of the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, as if the incidents related in them had been actual historical occurrences and of omitting for the most part real daring adventures and soul-inspiring deeds of the heroes who actually existed in countries other than India. By this blind belief and persistent treatment of worn-out myths, by this wanton neglect doggedly maintained towards the actual greatness of the heroes of other countries, these Tamil texts, at the very time of its genial growth, blunt the historic sense of the pupils and breed in its stead an undesirable credulity which never leaves them even after years of their excellent culture in English. I have, therefore, completely
