found to be absolutely faultless and acceptable to all. It is invariably the fate of opinions, relating to the elements of what may be called constructive history, to undergo more or less rapid modifications as more and more materials become available for examination and subsequent structural utilisation and employment. Moreover, in dealing with problems of constructive history, there arise very often peculiar temptations to base conclusions on insufficient or inaccurate data as well as to adjust the scantily available evidence to preconceived conclusions. My reading of the essays, comprised in this volume of Tamil Studies, has led me to feel that their author has earnestly endeavoured to avoid, as far as possible, all such pitfalls, and has calmly and courageously exercised his judgment in the free and clear light of unbiassed reason. That he has had adequate equipment for dealing with the various problems, which he has handled in his essays, comes out well enough from the essays themselves, seeing that they are so well calculated to stimulate thought and bring into existence that curiosity which is the necessary precursor of all true love of scholarly investigation, enquiry and research. The way, in which he has sought and gathered his varied materials and endeavoured to put them together in the spirit of the architect and the interpreter, is assuredly worthy of imitation by many more students of the history of the Tamil people and their culture and civilisation.
