Page:Tamil studies.djvu/179

152 or eighth century A. D., and when Sanskrit puranas and other Sanskrit religious literature were introduced, the views of Tamil scholars began to change. Most of them were acquainted with both Tamil and Sanskrit; yet they had greater love and reverence for the latter, as their Vedas and Puranas and Agamas were written in that language ; and this partiality or rather a sentiment verging on odium theologicum induced them to trace Tamil from Sanskrit just as the early European divines tried to trace the Western languages from the Hebrew. The authors of 'Neminadam' and 'Virasoliam' and the commentators of the Tolkapyam and the Kural countenanced the above view. Again, in the eighteenth century the authors of 'Ilakkanakkottu' and 'Prayoga Vivekam', both of whom were good Sanskritists, boldly asserted that Tamil was a dialect of Sanskrit with a grammar common to both. Swaminatha Desika writes.

அன்றியுந் தமிழ்நூற் களவிலை யவற்று ளொன்றே யாயினுந் தனித்தமி ழுண்டோ வன்றியு மைந்தெழுத் தாலொரு பாடையென் றறையவே நாணுவ ரறிவுடை யோரே; ஆகையால், யானு மதுவே யறிக வடமொழி தமிழ்மொழி யெனுமிரு மொழியினு மிலக்கண மொன்றே யென்றே யெண்ணுக.

He thinks that savants will be ashamed to say that a language can exist, whose distinguishing feature is the possession of only five letters, nainely, ஃ, ழ, ள, ற and ன, or எ, ஒ, ழ, ற and ன, and wants us therefore