Page:The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago.djvu/257

Rh The ancient capitals of the Chera, Chola and Pandyan kingdoms are now in ruins, and their very sites are forgotten. Scattered remains of massive walls incrusted with moss and lichen still attest the solid fortifications of Karur or Vanji, the chief town of the Chera King: but only the shrill cries of eagles during the day, and the dismal howls of jackals at night disturb the profound silence that now reigns in the desolate region. The wealthy and populous city of Kavirip-paddinam, which was the capital of the Cholas, lies buried under vast mounds of sand, in the stagnant pools between which may be seen a solitary stork feeding on fish or frogs. Shepherds graze their flocks on the site of old Madura where the proud Pandya had sat on his high throne surrounded by a brilliant conclave of ministers, warriors and learned poets.

The Tamils who inhabited the Western Coast and the table-land of Mysore, which were separated from the rest of the country by high mountains, differed in their speech from the main body of the Tamils, so much in course of time, that their languages became distinct dialects of Tamil, and in this manner the modern Malayalam and Canarese languages have been formed. Consequently the limits of Tamilakam have become much narrower than they were formerly. The Tamil-land may now be defined as the low country east of the Ghasts between Tirupati and Cape Comorin. The Northern portion of the island of Ceylon, where the Tamils are settled for the last eight centuries, may also be now regarded as a part of the Tamil-land. Even within these narrow limits, the Tamils were many a time in danger of being overwhelmed by other races, but a merciful Providence appears to have arrested every invading force before it could completely overrun the country. The Canarese, the Moguls, the Telugu Naiaks, the Mahrattas, and the Mahomedan adventurers of the Dekhan successively invaded the Tamil country within the last six centuries, and threatened to destroy every vestige of the Tamils; but at last a sterner and superior race of pale-faced men dropped, as it were, from the clouds, and saved the Tamils and all other races of India from anarchy and misrule. They had sailed from a far-off land, over perilous seas, in search of new markets for their trade.