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342 much difference in the colloquial or rather the vulgar forms of the two languages, and they were justified in calling both as the 'Malabar' language.

The people of Kerala or Chera Desa in the third century called themselves Tamilar and even thought it proud to be known by that 'sweet' name as the following quotation will show :—

The work which we have reviewed in the tenth essay is probably the earliest literary record relating to the Chera kings and their subjects whose home-speech was Tamil. And it might conveniently be taken as containing the origins of the Malayalam language. Another Tamil work of about the same period is the Ainkurunuru or the 'Five short Hundreds'. It was written by five different poets of the Kerala country and compiled under the orders of the Chera king Yanaikkat-chey-Mandaram-Seral-Irum-porai. A third work of greater importance, but belonging almost to the same period is Silappadikaram. It was composed by Ilango-Adikal, a younger brother of the Chera king Senguttuvan, and forins one of the five Tamil major epics. All these teem with • Malabaricms' or usages peculiar to Malayalam, but which are considered as slang or provincialisms in pure Tamil. Words like ஒல்லா (must not), போத்து (he-buffalo), கைநிலம் or கைநிலை (camp), வட்டி (basket), &c., which occur in these Tamil works of the Kerala country, are still