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Rh early Tamil. comprising the period between the sixth century before and after Christ ; (2) the mediæval Tamil, occupying the interval between the sixth century and the twelfth century; and (3) the modern Tamil, estending from the twelfth down to the present day. It is not proposed here to deal with it as completely as the importance of the subject demands. We shall however, briefly indicate the characteristics of each period to justify the rationale of the above classification,


 * During the first half of this period the prevailing religion was animism or the worship of the spirit of departed herves and ancestors. It was afterwards supplemented by Buddhism and lastly by Jainism. Brahmanism, though it had already been transplanted into the Tamil country, was very weak. The conflict of these religions for supremacy had not vet commenced. All the four religions existed side by side and were tolerated.

Early Tamil was the language used by the writers of the academic and the classic periods. And the peculiarities of this Tamil may be observed in the literature of those times, the important of which being the Agaranuru, the Purananuru, the Pattuppattu, the Padirruppattu, the Silappadikaram and the Manime. kalai. The standard grammars of the epoch were the Tolkapyam, Pannirupadalam, Usimuri, &c. In our review of Padirrupattu, the special characteristics of the early Tamil will be described at some length. We shall, however, sav a few words here concerning