"South India
was probably the cradle of the human race. Investigations in relation to
race show it to be possible that Southern India
was once the passage
ground by which the ancient progenitors of Northern and Mediterranean races
proceeded to the part of the globe which they inhabit".
SIR JOHN EVANS
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"The Tamilians have a great
culture, as well as a brilliant past.Their literature has not been much
touched by external influence and is a true representative of the genius
of the people, for whom it speaks and by whom it is made. The Tamilians
tend to accept singl leadership. The unity which we fmd in the Tamil literature
is carried in the field of politics also.But the Tamilians zeal for fighting
the Nation's battle has also been matchless, their devotion for Mahatma
Gandhi and his principles and programme has been unquestioned.
GOVIND SAHAl |
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"Indus Valley people lived
for a considerable time in India. Not only do their exceptionally well
built cities bear witness to this fact,
but fresh corrobotion is
also to be found in various aspects of their religion, which included tree
and animal-worship and the use of phallic symbols, features, which do not
appear in the contemporary civilization to the west".
DR. MACKAY
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I should like to stress the
point once again that the culture represented must have had a long antecedent
history on the soil of In-
dia, taking us back to an
age that at present can only dimly surmised".
SIR JOHN MARSHALL |
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The Dravidian race did not
come to India from the North but entered India from the South. It probably
occupied in the island
continent of which Ceylon
formed a small part. Ancient Ceylon was frequently described in the Epics
and Puranas as the stronghold
of the great Dravidian tribes
who' were terror to the "three worlds".The Dravidian spread out all over
India and went even as far as Baluchistan where a Dravidian dialect (Brahui)
is still spoken.Dravidian dialects are still spoken in many parts of Northern
India
by small tribes. Probably
both by sea and by land the Dravidian migrated to Babylonia, Assyria and
Elam in Western Asia.... If the Dravidian races migrated from the Southern
Island continent to India, the civilization of Ceylon may be even older.
It is probable that at least settlements of Dravidians went over from the
island continent to India and thus strengthened the Dravidian element whichwas
there even before the deluge.
(LATE) HON. K.BALASINGHAM
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The earliest stone age culture
of India is represented by the handaxe technique of Madras, and the old
stone age people may have migrated from South India into Central India
where in the Narbada Valley have been found middle paleothichic tools and
fauna gradually extended through the ganges and Jamuna valleys to North-Western
India right up to Himalayan hills.
INDIA ANDTHEPACIFIC
WORLD
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In India these new elements
of culture took deep root and developed into the luxurious growth of so-called
Dravidian civilization which played a great part in shaping the customs
and practices of the later Brahmanical and Buddhisht cult. From India a
series of emigrants carried the megalithic customs and beliefs, and their
dis-
tinctively Indian development
further East to Burma, Indonesia,China, and Japan, and with many additions
from these countries bands of them easily moved westward and eastward with
no river or pass to cross as the Indus, the Ganges and the Irawadi had
then been in the womb of the Himalayas. The hands that marched westward
found their homes in Mesopotamia, Palastine, Egypt and in European countries
and went straight up to the Arctic regions and along the Arctic shores
to Scandinavia through Russia.
M.S.PURANALINGHAMPILLAI. |
We have a continuity of culture
from paleolithic to neolithic, from neolithic
to iron age in South India.
My firm conviction is that the ancient Tamils were inheritors of lithic
culture of south India.
P.T.S.IYENGAR. |
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SEKOLAH
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EVOLUTION
OF CULTURE
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Moreover the artefacts and
other relies of ancient times discovered so far in Southern India from
an unbroken series, showing that there has been in this country a regular
evolution of culture which was never rendered discontinuous by any catastrophe,
from the lowest palaeolithic stage to the latest age of metals. The Tamil
language existed in South India during the course of this evolution.The
words necessary for the linguistic expression of every stage of this culture
are found in the earliest strata of Tamil, and the customs of these early
ages continued sufficiently long to be enshrined in the earliest specimen
of Tamil literature. It may therefore be taken so fairly certain that the
Tamils were indigenous to South India.
P.T.S.IYENGAR. |
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CRADLE
OF HUMAN RACE
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Sir John Evans in his presidential
address to the British Association says "Southern India was probably the
cradle of human race". Investigation to relation of race shows it to be
possible that Southern India was once the passage ground by which the ancient
pregenitors of Northern and Mediterranean races proceeded to the parts
of the globe which they inhabit.
THE CULTURAL HERITAGE
OF INDIA
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