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மறைமலையம் 29
classified the hymns into four books and called them 'Vedas'. That the word 'Veda' is a pure Tamil one, is etymologically proved in the body of this work, by grouping a number of pure Tamil words all having a single root ‘Ve' and cognate in meaning, After a century of laborious research in linguistic matters, oriental scholars in Eu- rope and America are just now coming to recognise that not only was the Taqmilian civilization prior to the Aryan but it was also much superior to it and was the great formative force that mod- elled it after its own.
(see prof. Rapson's Ancient India).
In spite of the repeated efforts which the Taqmil kings made, as is manifest from the Chandogya, Kaushi taki and other upansihads, to divert the attention of the Aryan priests from costly rituals supposed to bring only transient benefits, to a contgemplation of eternal verities and problems of philosophy, the priests were persisting in the performance of bloddy sacrifices so much so that as time went on their conduct became more and more revolting to the delicate feelings of the humanitarian Velals.
So long as the Tamil kings and rich trading communities yielded to the wishes and devices of the Aryan priests and lavished their wealth on rituals, the latter pretended to treat them with ut- most respect by designating them the Kshatriyas and Vaisyas, while in fact they were positing themselves openly at the zenith in the scale of castes and casting down others secretly much below. But from the moment the kings and nobles and others began to suspect the motives of the Aryan priests, these supercilious parasites gave up their bloody sacrifices but devised other effective means to such the wealth of the Tamilians. At first they brought all the Tamils under the three denomination of Kshatriya, Vaisya and Sudra, for- mulated rigid rules exclusively for each and ordained numerous ceremonies toeach, doing all these, byu means of a dead language Sanscrit, as if in the interest of the people's welfare both here and hereafter, but in fact to establish their supremacy among them and make their priestly help seem indispensable to the people for consultin them on such rules and conducting the ceremonies pre-
