August, 1873.] TUMULI IN THE SALEM DISTRICT. 227 But the Aryans never conquered the south by force: hence they neither denationalized the people nor changed their languages. They conquered the south, however, by the influ¬ ence of higher civilization and superior know¬ ledge. Aryan civilization was probably intro¬ duced into the Dakhan about the sixth or seventh century B.c. In the time of Rama, it is stat¬ ed in tho Rdmdyana, that during his expedition to the south he met holy Rishis here and there among the savages, by -which it is supposed that he met Aryan Missionaries from the north, dwelling among the aboriginal inhabitants of the south. About the commencement of the Christian era, Aryan influence had spread ex¬ tensively in the south. The Pandya kingdom of Madura, which was established on Aryan principles, was then well known even in Europe. It is reasonable, then, to suppose that before such influence tho religion and primitive cus¬ toms of the aboriginal inhabitants would sooner or later disappear. Then it must be remem¬ bered that during the following thirteen cen¬ turies there were other influences at work more aggressive for a time than Brahmanism, and which must have stimulated the Brahmans greatly, not only to maintain, but to extend their own influence. Buddhism became the national religion of the north by public edicts in the time of Asoka, about 250 B.c. Buddhist Missionaries came to the south probably before that time, and it seems pretty evident that up to the seventh century a.d. Buddhism gained considerable influence in the south. The Bud¬ dhists burnt their dead, like the Brahmans.* Then from the sixth or seventh to the twelfth century a.d. Jainism made wonderful progress, and seems to have been the predominant religion at one time. The Jains also practised crema¬ tion, like the Brahmans and Buddhists. In the twelfth century there was a reaction against Jainism and in favour of Brahmanism. The Jains were finally expelled from the Pandya kingdom, and the Brahmans firmly established their influence, which has continued down to the present day. Under.the influence of the rival reformers Sankaracharya and Ramanujya Acharya, the whole of the inhabitants of the south became gradually absorbed in Saivaism and Vaishnavism. About this time, then, I am inclined to place tho total- disappearance of the ancient customs of the pre-Aryan Dravidians, and, of course, the customjof burying in cairns and cromlechs. In remote and isolated places where Brahmanical influence did not freely penetrate, the ancient custom of burying in tumuli probably continued till a very late period. In the tumuli found on the Nilgiri Hills there are rude sculptures and inscriptions both in Tamil and Kanarese. According to Dr. Caldwell, the eighth or ninth century a.d. is the earliest date to which any extant Tamil composition can be 6afely attributed. The Tamil letters used in those inscriptions are not of the oldest type, but the more modern. Judging from a specimen I saw in the corner of a photograph, I should conclude that they differ but little from the characters now in use. Photographs of the -whole inscrip¬ tions, I hear, have been sent to Germany to be deciphered, and I doubt not that when published and translated, it will bo found that they cannot be much earlier than the fifteenth or sixteenth centuiy a.d. To sum up, then, I conclude that the tumuli were the burial-places of the non-Aryan aboriginal inhabitants of the south, who are now represented by the Dravidians, and who, like the pre-Aryan inhabitants of the north, are proved by their language to have belonged to the same branch of the human family as the Turanians; that their ancient customs and religion disappeared before the combined in¬ fluence of Brahmanism, Buddhism, and Jainism, precisely in the same way as the ancient customs of the Teutons, Celts, Latins, and Slavs disap¬ peared in Europe before the influence of Chris¬ tianity, or the ancient customs of the Skythians of Central Asia disappeared before the influence of Muhammadanism. If this theory be correct, I do not think that any tumuli in the plains of India are later than the thirteenth century a. d., and on the Nilgiri Hills probably none are later than the fifteenth or sixteenth century a.d. The natives know nothing about the tumuli, and according to Dr. Caldwell there is no tradition respecting them either in Sanskrit literature or in that of the Dravidian languages. “ The Tamil people call them Rdndu-kuris. means a pit or grave, and * Panda kuri’
- But the Buddhists buried the ashes and relics in tombs.—Ed.
