Page:Pre-Aryan Tamil Culture.djvu/81

 were those of the kaḍainar, who turn cut conch shells into bangles, kuyinar, 'who drill holes in beautiful gems'.

The weaver's art was equally well developed. They were called kammiyar, śēṇiyar, kārugar. They hawked clothes about in the streets of towns. Young and old weavers assembled where four streets met, stood with their legs touching each other and spread clothes whose folds, short and long, resembled the waves of the sea.

Similes derived from the work of these workmen are found in literature. One such runs as follows:—'The legs of the crab are like the open jaws of the smith who works at the furnace where air is blown in by pressing bellows made of soft skin.' 'The leaves of the water-lily are caught in the thorny rasplike stem of the cane which grows on the edges of ponds and waves slowly in the unsteady north-wind and swells and swings like the bellows which drive air quickly into the furnace of the smith.' 'The male bear which has a wide mouth, seeking food, breaks an ant hill whose surface is covered by curved lines and its grunt frightens the snakes which reside in the ant-hill; then it sighs like the nose of the furnace where the smith heats iron.'

Here is a splendid simile derived from the work of the blacksmith:—

His chest was as hard as the anvil which stands before the furnace lighted in the smithy where the blacksmith with strong arms turns iron into implements that may be used against the enemy.'