Tamil Social History- Set of Three Volumes (An Old and Rare Book)

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Preface Vol-I This volume, which is the first of three on Tamil Social History, covers the period from the beginning to c.A.D. 600; the second and the third are designed to cover the period’s c. A.D. 600 to c. A.D. 1800 and c. A.D. 1800 to the present day respectively. Tamil social history in its entire historical range from the beginning to now has so far not been attempted, though .a volume was written by Dr. K.K. Pillay which covers the period down to the early medieval period. Text books on the history of Tamilnadu deal with the subject as a subsidiary part of a large text. In view of the fact that the social life of the people, especially the Tamils, was far more significant and permanently fruitful than their political achievements, it is imperative that that history should be written as extensively as the source materials permit and without depending too much on ideology or fancy. It is well-known that our sources are so casual in their reference to facts which are of such importance to us, and so exasperatingly digressive on matters of little interest to the historian. But still what best can be done under the circumstances has to be done and that is what has been attempted here.

I may frankly state that I continue to hold my views on the homeland of the Dravidian speakers and the period which should be called the Cankam Age and on the controversial issue of 'the lost continent of Kumari; for the simple reason that all the arguments advanced to the contrary so far have failed to convince me of the need to change my views. But chronology is not of such absolute necessity when one deals with a community which in its social sphere has evolved with such palpable reluctance.

I hope this work will be acceptable to the scholarly world.

Introduction This work entitled the 'Tamil Social History" claims to narrate the story of he evolution of the social life of the Tamils in all its aspects, through all the centuries from proto-historical times to the present day. Though the period is long, the story is likely to be of absorbing interest to the social and economic historian as well as to the general reader. It is not exhaustive, for no account of such magnitude can lay claim to that; but care has been taken not to leave any major segment of social life, domestic or public, prescriptive or practical, out of its consideration. This is scheduled to be in three volumes, each one containing the history of one of the three periods, the first the ancient, the second the medieval and the third the modern. This volume is the first which covers the ancient period, i.e., from the proto-historical beginnings of Tamil social life to roughly the end of the sixth century after Christ. The second volume will be concerned with Tamil social history spanning the period of twelve centuries from the beginning of the 7th to the end of the 18th: quite a. long period but necessarily so in view of the "integral nature of the Tamil social history" of that period. This is to be followed by the third volume which is to deal with the two centuries from 1800 A.D. to the present day. The last period may seem ridiculously short compared to the two previous periods, but it must be remembered that these two centuries, not only in Tamilnadu but in the whole world, have seen more fundamental and drastic, changes in every sphere of human life than in all the previous centuries. These changes in different places were neither the same nor uniform; but that they far outweigh quantitatively and are far different qualitatively from all that has gone before is undeniable.

Preface Vol-II This, the second of the three-volume work on the social history of the Tamils, takes the story from c.A.D. 600 to c. A.D. 1800. It follows the same pattern as the first volume, but deals with vastly different material, for this period witnesses a more changed social condition. The point of interest in this periodisation is that, from the Carikam Age to the medieval period the entry point is one of great confusion and is very similar to the other transition at the end of the period, i.e. from the medieval to the modern through the 18th century which is another entry point of utter dislocation. The beginnings of both medieval and the modern periods betoken the arrival of new and unprecedented culture, the northern Brahmanical Sanskritic in the former case and the western Christian European in the latter; the latter also has ended but has been far more consequential and challenging than the former. Essential Tamil culture which the Cankam way of life embodied absorbed and survived the first; but seems to have succumbed to the latter giving up the substance and retaining the shadows. That story will be taken up in the third volume which is to follow.

I must not end this prefatory note without thanking the Institute of Asian Studies and its Director Dr. G. John Samuel in particular, but for whose warm encouragement this work would not have been as easy and pleasant as it has been. Then, I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude to Mr. Stalin, of the All India Radio, Coimbatore, whose help in securing reference books for this work has been as consistent as it has been timely.

I' hope this volume will receive the kind approval of specialists as well as of general readers.

Introduction This volume deals with the Tamil social history during the twelve centuries between the 7th century and the 18th century. The transition from the close of the Kalappira intervention to the beginning of the Simhavishnu line of Pallava rulers was fraught with enough social change to justify this period of 12 centuries being treated as a separate unit of that history. Similarly the transition from the 18th to the 19th century-the formation of the Madras Presidency being the dividing line-was characterised by such serious changes of an even more fundamental nature that this unit should naturally be deemed to close with the 18th century. Really from the close of the great Cankam Age around the end of the 3rd century A.D., one may consider the Tamils as being progressively subjected to foreign rule of one kind or another. For the Kalappira and the Pallavas were, when they came to Tamilnadu truly foreigners bringing a culture with them to which the Cankam Tamils were not in the least accustomed. What happened during the Kalappira interregnum (pretty dark period) was responsible for the great changes which the Pallavas brought in. The resurgence of Brahmanical Hinduism greatly helped by the Imperial Gupta ascendancy during the 5th and the 6th centuries was further promoted by the Pallavas.

Preface Vol-III This, the third and last of the series of volumes of Tamil Social History, deals with the last two centuries and brings the story to a close. This is the first most massive and fairly exhaustive treatment of the subject, which had needed and deserved such an exposition much earlier. It is not supposed that even the three volumes have exhausted the subject, as it is always possible that some aspects of the story have been missed by even the most diligent effort. The methodology and assumptions which have guided and underlain the writing of this history are explained in the introductory chapters of the volumes. The story has been brought down to 1956 when Tamilnadu regained its own ancient geographical contours; of course but for the fact that Kerala is now a separate political and cultural entity. Much water has flowed under many bridges since 1956, but the events of the past half a century are still politics of some sort or other and have not matured into history to be qualified to be taken up for historical treatment and assessment.

It remains now for me to again thank the Institute of Asian Studies and its Director Dr. John Samuel, for commissioning this work.

I thank once again Mr. Stalin of the AIR Coimbatore for his never failing help in securing the reference literature needed for this work.

I hope the world of scholarship will find this three-volume Tamil Social History acceptable and useful.

Introduction This, the third volume of the Tamil Social History picks up the story from where the second volume left and then completes the story, bringing it down to A.D. 1956. The terminal point is A.D. 1956 for the simple reason that Tamilnadu once again regained then its own old historical extent, as it normally was after shedding Kerala in the 10th century. The extent itself has never been constant during historical times, though grammar, twenty-three centuries ago mentioned a territory which included Kerala. The loss of Kerala has not been compensated by the addition of any territory from anywhere else. The small stretch from Tirupati to the present northern Tamil border had to be given up because in the course of centuries, that stretch came to be predominantly occupied by Telugu speakers. Otherwise Tamilnadu is very nearly its old self. Till a settlement was made in 1956 by the States Reorganization Commission, the territorinal extent was continuously changing due to the never ending wars which were a characteristic of the political history of all India till the beginning of the Pan Indian British rule.

After 1956 nearly half a century has passed; and it cannot be said that nothing happened during this period which is worth considering by us.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages