Page:Tamil studies.djvu/75

50 coast enjoyed the benefits of active commerce with both the West and East. The Chola fleets did not confine themselves to coasting voyages, but boldly crossed the Bay of Bengal to the mouths of the Ganges and the Irrawaddy, and the Indian Ocean to the islands of the Malay Archipelago'. Dr. Caldwell thinks that the ancient Tamils 'had no foreign commerce, no acquaintance with any people beyond the sea except Ceylon, and no word expressive of geographical idea of island or continent'. We might say that Dr. Caldwell was not altogether just in his estimate of the ancient Tamil civilisation. But he might be correct with regard to the Tamils before they had come in contact with the Aryans either in Upper India or in the extreme South.

In this connection it may be observed that most of the capitals of the ancient Tamil kingdoms were inland towns, a fact which militates against the theory of their having been of a daring sea-faring stock.

Again if we believe in the theory that the Tamils migrated to Southern India by the sea and not by the land, how are we to account for the location of the Brahuis-a tribe allied to the Dravidian Tamils-in Baluchistan? And how are we to explain the Aryan elements in the early Tamil language? History and traditions are against it, philology is against it, and in fact everything is against it.

Some glimpses of the Aryan conquest and