to renters, who oppressed and tortured the ryots. Many had to sell their lands for nominal prices to escape persecution. In this way the people had suffered till the country passed into the hands of the British, whose advent was a god-send to the poverty-stricken and down-trodden Tainils. I cannot better express the happiness and prosperity of the Tamils which resulted from this change of sovereignty than in the words of Pugazhendi,
கார்பெற்ற தோகையோ கண்பெற்ற வாண்முகமோ
நீர்பெற் றுயர்ந்த நிறைபுலமோ-பார்பெற்று
மாதோடு மன்னன் வரக்கண்டமாநகர்க்கு
ஏதோ வுரைப்ப னெதிர்.
(The king regaining his dominions enters the city with his consort. With what shall I compare the universal joy of the people? Is it like the joy of the peacock at the sight of the gathering clouds, or of the face that has got back its eyes, or of the withering crop that quickens into life when the rain falls ?)
Till about the end of the seventeenth century the Tamil countries were ruled by Hindu governors, Brahmanical influence was in the ascendent. The learning of Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu was encouraged. Several original works in all these languages were written, besides innumerable commentaries in Tamil as well as in Sanskrit on ancient works, especially on the Nalayira Prabhandam,—all tending to harden and aggravate the sectarian and the tribal animosities, until a reaction set in during the succeeding period of Musalman despotism. Then for
