Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/230

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It will be seen from the above list that more than 25,000 lines of verse written by poets who flourished between the years A. D. 50 and 150 are still extant, and furnish ample material for studying the history and civilization of the ancient Tamils. Embalmed in this literature we find a faithful picture of their habits and manners and of their social and political condition, in a form which is far more enduring than if it had been engraved on brass or stone. There are several allusions in this literature to ancient Aryan works which throw considerable light on the history and religion of the Aryan races which inhabited Northern India. The four Vedas were generally known as the “Nan Marai” or the four Secret Books, which brings out clearly the fact that the Brahmins jealously concealed all knowledge of the Vedas from the Tamils. The Brahmins were described as ”the owners of the four Secret Books” and as “the learned in the six sciences” that is the six Angas : viz., Kalpa, Nirukta, Chhandas, Jyotish, Siksha and Vyakarana. The ancient grammar Indra