Page:Tamil studies.djvu/176

Rh ordinary course, one day or other, reach the inflectional stage and claim sisterhood with Sanskrit. Their expectation will, indeed, prove a baseless dream ; and similarly, the attempt of some Malayalam scholars to elevate their Dravidian home-speech to the dignity of the classic infectional Sanskrit, by purging it of its native element in order to import therein en bloc the grammar and vocabulary of that sacred language, may remind one of the ‘Jackal miracle' of saint Manikka Vachakar.

Relying on the traditions narrated in the Tamil puranas, the non-Brahman Saiva pandits of the orthodox school hold that Sanskrit and Tamil were created by god Siva as his twin children, and in proof of their divine origin they cite the Vedas and the Devara hymns. The ‘Kanchipurana' and the 'Tiruvilayadalpurana' assert that Siva taught the Tami grammar to Agastya, as he had in former days taught the Sanskrit grammar to Panini. வடமொழியைப் பாணினிக்கு வகுத்தருளி யதற்கிணையாத் தொடர்புடைய தென்மொழியை யுலகமெலாந் தொழுதேத்தக் குடமுனிக்கு வற்புறுத்தார் கொல்லேற்றுப்பாகர்.

According to a third tradition Subrahmanya was the teacher of Tamil to that sage. Sivagnanasvami, a conceited Saiva monk and scholar of the eighteenth century, writes in his 'Tolkapya-sutra-vritti’ that the Tamil grammar of Agastya was the only Tamil work that had come into existence on the day of the creation of the Tamil language.—செந்தமிழ் நிலத்து மொழிதோன்றுங் காலத்து உடன் றோன்றிய நூல்