Page:Origin and spread of the Tamils.djvu/17



ORIGIN AND SPREAD OF THE TAMILS Mediterraneans and Armenoids is remarkably noticeable amongst the Tamils. The latest writer, Dr. Guha, associates the Telugu with pure Mediterranean stock and points out that the brachycephalic admixture extends to Tamil country and not to Andhrades'a. An air of plausibility would have hung round this theory and others akin to it, had not the recent finds in the Indus Valley been brought to light by the spade of indefatigable archaeologists. Sir John Marshall who has studied the finds with the care and attention they deserve, has opined that the civilization as connoted by the Indus finds bears marks of the Dravidian civilization. There are three schools of opinion as to the character of this culture. First is the school of Sir John Marshall who defines this culture as Dravidian. Secondly, there are scholars who look upon this as Aryan in character and extent. Thirdly, there is a school of opinion according to which this civilization was neither Dravidian nor Aryan, but could not definitely be attributed to a race or tribe at the present state of our knowledge. One is aware of the linguistic difficulty in establishing the thesis that the culture is probably post-Vedic or even Tamilian in character. Rev. Fr. Heras' efforts in this direction are noteworthy. The theory is gaining around that the territory now extending from the Punjab to the Persian Gulf was the original home of the ancient civilization which spread itself to the West, to Şameria, Babylonia and Egypt. The whole question is no doubt exceedingly complex and demands