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Rh social and religious, the natural tendency has been to derive the Tamil words from Sanskrit.

The arguments advanced by the upholders of the 'Simhala' or 'Dwipa' theory are,—

(1) 'The Keralolpatti says that at one-time five artificers having provoked the Perumal's wrath emigrated. and found refuge in Ceylon, from whence they were brought back by the intercession of foreigners, and in their train came the caste of cocoanut tree cultivators'. (2) The cocoanut tree is not indigenous to India but was introduced by the southern islanders of Ceylon. It is suggested by some that the connecting link belwcen the words Tiyan and Dvipan survives in 'Divar' of Canara. One writer goes even to the length of tracing the Kadamba chiefs of Humcha to the children of the islanders, 'Divara Makkalu'. (3) Mr. Logan points out that since cocoanut is not mentioned in the list of exports from Malabar given in the Periplus in the first century A.D., it is probable that the palm was introduced by theTiyans (Dvipans) and Izhuvans (Simhalese) from Ceylon before the sixth century A.D.

As to the first argument it may be remarked that the South Indian Inscriptions inform us that the toddy-drawing classes of the country from Cape Comorin to Tirupati were called Izhuvans. In none of the ancient works Sanror or Shanan is used to denote the modern caste of Tamil toddy-drawers. Granting then, that all the Shanans of the Tamil country and the Tiyans and Izhuvans of Malabar and Travancore are the descendants of the original immigrants from Ceylon, we have at present nearly two millions of this guild following the same trade and occupation in both the countries. The popula-