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மறைமலையம் 22
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My first attention to the subject war awakened in this wise: Twenty seven years ago when Dr. GU. Pope's excellent and scholarly English translation of Thiruvachakam made its appearance, the learned translator's opinion as regards the date of St. Manickavachakar,1 gave a strong impulse to an investigation of the views held on the subject by Tamil Pandits and by same English scholar who possessed also a knowledge of Tamil. Between the first and the ninth century A.D.did the opinions of these two distinct classes of learned people oscillate for the age of our Saint. At that time I was running the first volume of my Tamil periodical ‘Jnanasagaram', and the question of our Saint's age, being then discussed everywhere in educated circles, drew my attention to it and kindled my interest so much that I Immediately made a careful study of it and published the results in an article contrubuted to that organ. This article was also translated into English by my student Mr.F.T.Peters, B.A. (then in the madras christian college, now Deputy Postmaster General) and was published in 'The Christian College, Magazine' for 1904. A Little later the epigraphist Mr.Gopinatah Rao, M.A. contersted my arguments and published his views on the same subject in the same magazine. And a rejoinder to it was writtern by me in my Jnanasagaram for 1908 and with that the controversy about the age of St. Manickavachakar was set at rest. But after a long time it was raked up by Mr.Srinivasa Pillai in his 'History of Tamil Literature'. Ofcourse for the deification of Tamil students, the same subject may be brought up for discussion any number of times, I am far from objecting to it but every time that it is thus brought up, it must be made to gain ever so much greater light and show the way to a true historcal knowledge based on a sound co-ordinaion of literary and epigraphical evidence. On no account must the writer of a historcial treatise allow himself to be carried away by conjectures and fancied theories about literal facts so as to live in a sphere unreal but agreeable to his own favourite purposes but must restrain himself in order that the facts themselves may make room for the emergence of truth and help it live there. But
