Page:Origin and spread of the Tamils.djvu/52



SPREAD OF TAMIL CULTURE ABROAD occupations they inherited at home. The contribution to domestic service is by classes contributing to it in India. The traders are those who in India would probably also have traded. ... The Madrasi emigrant takes his own world with him and sets it down in his new surroundings" (p. 72). Many characteristics, peculiar to South Indian, are seen in the crafts and arts, in the religious and social systems, of the Indus Valley, Sumeria, Egypt and Crete, not to speak of other ancient countries. I can only refer to a few of these briefly tonight. Among the earliest known crafts in South India the fishing craft takes the first place. The catamarans were a typical craft for fishing purposes. It was of 2 or 3 logs of wood secured by coir ropes, split bamboos being used as paddles. There was boat catamaran and boat canoe. With growing interest in trade, boat building 16 was undertaken on a large scale. Boat designs have been many and they varied from place to place. We have the Malabar dug-out-canoe, snake-boats, kalla-tõņi of Kodikarai, and so on. These are all survivals of the old craft. The Silappadikaram mentions a number of boats of different sizes and shapes. The chief shapes mentioned are like those of horses, elephants and lions (Canto XIII, 11, 175-80). Of these, the kalla-tõņi variety is interesting. These have an eye carved on either bow with a figure of the patron goddess together with a propitiary sign of etor, paravi or horse. This is said to avert the evil eye. Curiously ancient Egyptians, Greeks and