Page:Origin and spread of the Tamils.djvu/56



SPREAD OF TAMIL CULTURE ABROAD 45 (3) Carnelian beads at Kish decorated with white lines on a red ground, a technique common only in India. These were found at Crete also. (4) Use of the coracle, the Indian boat. (5) An early Sumerian glazed steatite seal from Kish, alike in respect of the Indus script and bull. (6) Conch in Susa and the chank ornaments in Tello-the site of ancient Lagash. Incidentally I may say that the use of chank bangles and conch for rituals connected with temple worship, funerary rites and in war was from primitive times in India. The technique of chank should have led to the use of iron saw and iron ore early in South India. (7) Fragments of teak and Indian cedar in the ruins of Birs Nimrod and Ur. Proceeding to examine the South Indian contribution to the religious and social systems of the ancient world, we find first the worship of mother goddess, 91 practically universal. The very term 'Amma' as signifying the goddess is significant. We have the temple of 'Ammon' in Egypt. The terra cotta figurines of the mother goddess in Crete are similar to those in Mohenjo Daro. 'Aiyyayi'?? was the tribal goddess of ancient primitive South Indian tribes. She is now the Kali or Bhadrakāli or Bhagavatī of Kerala. Associated with early temple worship was dedicating girls to shrines. These are called Devaradiyal in our country. Strangely enough the Sangam works make no mention of this institution though Parattaiyar or dancing girls are referred to. This practice of dedicating girls has