A Primer of Tamil Literature
This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com A PRIMER OF TAMIL LITERATURE BY iA. S. PURNALINGAM PILLAI, b.a., Professor of English, St. Michael's College, Coimbatore. PRINTED AT THE ANANDA PRESS. 1904. Price One Rupee or Two Shillings. (RECAP) .OS FOREWORD. The major portion of this Primer was written at Kttaiyapuram in 1892, and the whole has lain till now in manuscript needing my revision and retouching. Owing to pressure of work in Madras, I could spare no time for it, and the first four years of my service at Coim- batore were so fully taken up with my college work that I had hardly breathing time for any literary pursuit. The untimely death of Mr. V. G. Suryanarayana Sastriar, B.A., — my dear friend and fellow-editor of J nana Bodhini — warned me against further delay, and the Primer in its present form is the result of it. The Age of the Sangams was mainly rewritten, while the other Ages were merely touched up. In the absence of historical dates — for which we must wait, how long we do not know — I have tried my best with the help of the researches already made to divide, though roughly, twenty centuries of Tamil Literature into Six Ages, each Age being distinguished by some great movement, literary or religious. However .defective it may be in point of chronology, the Primer will justify its existence if it gives foreigners and our young men in the College classes whose mother-tongue is Tamil, an idea of the world of Tamil books we have despite the ravages of time and white-ants, flood and fire, foreign malignity and native lethargy.
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