History Of The Tamils From The Earliest Times To 600 A.D.

This book is the result of the author?s research work as Reader in Indian history, during the Academic years 192829. A part of the subject matter of the book was also delivered at the University of Lectures. If the history is meant the story of the rise and fall of the Royal dynasties consequent on the slaughter of an immense number of human beings on the field of battle in the name of heroism, the tale of the displacement on the map of the world of large masses of humility, eager to plunder the wealth accumulated by the patient toil of peaceful people, the narrative of rape of royal maidens and the shedding of innocent blood in revenge for the outrage, then Tamil India is the happy country which has had no history to recount up to 600 AD. On the other hand, the history means the account of the slow evolution, of the social and religious life of a people under the stimulus of the geographical conditions of the environment and the influence of contact with peoples who have developed different kinds of culture, the description of the slow change in the ways, in which they ate and drank, played and loved, sang and danced, paid court to kings and to gods, the relation of the story of the development of their internal trade and commerce with foreign countries far and near, the narration of the evolution of their literature from humble beginnings till a complicated things of literary convention was established, there are ample materials for the reconstruction of the history of the Tamils from the earliest times up to 600 AD. This story is attempted to be recounted in this book.