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16 otherwise of a race, especially in a country like India, where there has been for ages past an intermingling of diverse races--autochthonous, Turanian, Semitic or Aryan.

(c) The evidence of pre-historic archæology consists of weapons, implements, and human bones which are found buried in the earth, and the megalithic monuments like the dolmen, cromlech and the kistvaens. Such remains abound in Tamil districts. But in India the science of archæology has not yet advanced, and no excavations on a large scale have till now been undertaken. The finds hitherto brought to light are therefore very limited and do not afford data for any reliable inference concerning ethnic problems.

(d) The fourth source from which we may derive some help for determining racial varieties consists of traditions and ancient customs described in early Tamil works. Some of them may have been distorted, exaggerated or even wrongly stated. The Ramayana and the Mahabharata in Sanskrit, the Tolkapyam, the Purananuru, the Pattuppattu, the Kalittogai and other works in Tamil furnish plenty of evidence. But all these will have to be sifted and considered in the light of other evidences. And this will be attempted in the next chapter.