Page:Tamil studies.djvu/441

414 tion of Ceylon according to the Census of 1891 was nearly three millions. Although there had been several invasions and occupations of the northern part of Ceylon alternately by the Cholas and Pandiyas, the annals of that island from the first century to the ninth do not speak a word about any irruption or civil war that could have led to the evacuation of the island by nearly two-thirds of its useful inhabitants. We read in the Mahawanso that a branch of the Pandiyans was ruling for a short period in Ceylon. Moreover, the relationship between the Singalese and Keralas was, in fact, so little that it is scarcely possible that such a large immigration directly from Ceylon to Malabar could have taken place during that remote period. In the copper plate grants of the Syrian Christians the names Izhuvan and Tiya-alvan, occur ; and it is evident that the Tiyans (not Dwipans or Tivans) were then (A. D. 1320) an organised guild with headmen or alvans, and that the Izhuvans were later immigrants from the Tamil country. The difference in the customs observed by the two toddy-drawing castes confirms the truth of the statement. The Izhuvans follow the Makkatayam rule of inheritance while the Tiyans of North Malabar follow the nepotic law of Bhutal Pandiya. Being later immigrants, the Izhuvans of Malabar are regarded by the Tiyans as of very inferior status, just as their Cherumas and Pulayas hold the Paraiyas of the Tamil country in low estimation. The name Izhuvan is derived by Dr. Caldwell from Simhalam, Sihalam, on the analogy of the Greek word Indoj from Sindhu. There can be no necessity for thus dragging a Sanskrit word through many stages, when there is already in the Tamil language the simple word Singalam.