AUGUST, 1873.]

TUMULI IN THE SALEM DISTRICT.

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 Rāma, it is stat ed in the Rāmāyana, 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

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About this time, then, I am inclined to place the total disappearance of the ancient customs of

the pre-Aryan Dravidians, and, of course, the custom of 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 safely attributed.

The Tamil letters used in those

Christian era, Aryan influence had spread ex tensively in the south. The Pändya kingdom of Madurá, which was established on Aryan principles, was then well known even in Europe.

inscriptions are not of the oldest type, but the

It is reasonable, then, to suppose that before

now in use. Photographs of the whole inscrip tions, I hear, have been sent to Germany to

such influence the 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

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

aggressive for a time than Brahmanism, and

be deciphered, and I doubt not that when published and translated, it will be found that they cannot be much earlier than the fifteenth or sixteenth century A.D. To sum up, then, I conclude that the tumuli

which must have stimulated

were the burial-places of the

turies there were other influences at work more 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 Aśoka, 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 Pârjºlya kingdom, and the Brahmans firmly established their influence, which has continued down to

the present day. Under the influence of the rival reformers

Sankarāchārya and Râmanujya Acharya, the whole of the inhabitants of the south became

gradually absorbed in Saivaism and Vaishnavism.

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 Pándu-kuris. kuri' means a pit or grave, and ‘Pändu

• But the Buddhists buried the ashes and relics in tombs.-E.D.