Page:Tamil studies.djvu/289

262 the magic influence of the peace-loving Brahmans of South India, the native bellicose spirit of the ancient Tamils makes its appearance at times among the present day Maravar, Kallar and Shanar tribes of the southern districts, though they have lost the grace and dignity of the real warrior. The war-like Nayars of the west coast are also the descendants of ancient Tamil clans.

The Tamil dictionary is very copious and the number of pure Tamil words in it exceeds that of any other Indian vernaculars. Synonyms are plentiful. Even slang terms acquired classical merit and were made use of in literature. We may illustrate this usage by a concrete example. Kamban, the prince of Tamil poets, coined the word tumi (துமி) in his Ramayana to rhyme with timi (திமி). While reciting his work at the royal court, Ottaikuttar, another poet of almost equal ability and younger contemporary, took objection to its use and demanded his authority for its currency. Kamban replied that it was a cow.herd's slang; and Ottaikuthar required him to prove it. Thereupon, Kamban invoked Sarasvati, the goddess of learning, who in the disguise of an Idaiya woman uttered the word tumi in the sense of a 'drop' or 'spray' from an apartment in a shepherd's house, so loudly as to be heard by the two poets when passing along the street. This story clearly shows that the coining of new words was never tolerated, though the use of slang and obsolete terms was freely allowed.

So far as the Tamil language was concerned, the