Origins of Tamils?[Where are Tamil people from?]PART :78

As Dravidians are considered to have come from the North-West of India and not to be original inhabitants of South India,it is also recognized that the Negroes of Africa are not the original inhabitants of their regions though they have evolved in that region for a considerable period of time in the history of the continent.It is generally recognized that the Pygmies and Bushmen of the equatorial forests and the Kalahari desert are the survivals of the races which were spread over the whole of Africa before the arrival of Mediterranean peoples.It is now generally accepted that in the Neolithic and early metal ages about 8th to 3rd millennia BC,the vast region of Western Asia with its extensions up to Niles and Indus,was occupied by what may be called a blackish race with its local variations like Proto-Mediterranean,Mediterranean and Hamite.This race is characterized by blackish brown complexion,long head,long straight and narrow face etc.

It is perhaps due to the pressure of the Semitic stock that the

Tamil women Sri Lanka c.1909 by Skeen & Co 

earlier inhabitants speaking agglutinative languages were dispersed from this area and went in eastern directions towards India and in Western directions towards Africa.The speakers of the Dravidian languages and the Negro-African languages represent these branches and hence continue to retain many of their original linguistic features in these remote areas.Other peoples of the same stock,who remained in their own regions were either completely assimilated to the conquering race or partially assimilated (like Hamites) and thus lost their linguistic heritage,or took refuge in distant mountain regions of the Caucasus,Pyrenees etc,preserving their languages like Caucasian,Basque and other languages which are now termed Asiatic languages.

The ancient matriarchal system of this civilization is found even today among the Dravidians,especially in Kerala and South Kanara,the Basques of Pyrenees,the Berbers of Sahara and many communities of Negro-Africa,where inheritance is transmitted through women. Another example is the traditional law "Thesawalamai" of the Sri Lankan Tamil inhabitants Jaffna peninsula,codified by the Dutch during their colonial rule in 1707.Thesawalamai, in Tamil, literally mean the customs of the land.It is ancient in its origin and has prevailed in the North srilanka for several hundred years.It is based on Marumakattayam Law,which was administered to the members of a matrilineal system of society in Malabar,coast of southwestern India from where the first wave of the Tamil immigrants came to Jaffna.However due to the influence of brahmins or Hindu Law,we find in Thesawalamai a blend of both principles governing patriarchal as well as matriarchal systems of society.   

The Cult of Serpent is another prominent feature of Dravidian

[Tamil woman. Albumen print, c. 1880s]

India,Pre-Hellenistic Mediterranean world and Negro-Africa.Almost every village in Dravidian India,especially the wets coast belt,has what is known as sarpa-kavu or naga bana,a bush or a piece of land surrounded by the thick growth of trees and bushes wherein the stone-idols of serpents are worshipped.

Worship of the Mother Goddess is an important religious rite commonly noticed among the followers of this culture and we find this custom practiced throughout this region.The later Indo-European ancestors of the Greeks and Aryans brought with them the worship of the gods who lived in the sky and who were just anthropomorphized forces of nature,In contrast with these heavenly gods the Dravidians other folks of these regions worshipped primarily the great Mother Goddess residing on the earth.This goddess has a male counterpart who is a passive figure.The concept of Shakti and Shiva in India grew out of this Dravidian belief.It is worth noting here that she is considered as Black Goddess (kali) in India as well as in Srilanka.She is the source of all life and also the goddess of death.Some of the Sumerian rituals relating to the marriage of the Mother Goddess with the Moon god find their parallels in the temple rituals of South India especially in the marriage of the Mother Goddess with Shiva.The concept of Goddess Creator, Mother of all people, is common throughout Africa, though Her names vary.In Ghana the Ashanti revere the Goddess 'Nyame',and the Goddess 'Ngame' is sacred to the Akan.

 

Murugan,the god of mountains,the son of the mother goddess is a prominent and typical deity of the Dravidian India.It is interesting to note that at least twenty-five tribes in East Africa worship Mulungu,also spelled Murungu,as supreme god,and like the Dravidian god Murugan,the African Murungu resides in the sacred mountains.

The word amma used to refer this village goddess as well as the disease of small-pox etc caused or cured by her will have its parallel in the same word amma used by the Dogons of the French Sudan.As in Dravidian India,altars are built in those parts of African also for sacrifice and communal worship for the deity amma.The celebration is once a year and consists of offering boiled millet on the conical altar of Amma, colouring it white

The Gonds.of Central India,a Dravidian tribe, even now erect the houses similar to those erected by the Gallas[The Gallas are a Hamitic people of East Africa] of Somali land.

Relationship between Somalia and Tamil languages are given below:

பரஸ் - பரி (குதிரை)

ப(B)ரிஸ் - அரிசி

ஆப்பா - அப்பா

யரான் - சிறுவன்

ஹிந்டிஸ் - சிந்துதல்

அலோல் - அல்குல் (பெண்குறி)

குன் - உண்   

It will be of interest to postulate that even after the original stock of Sumerian people was dispersed in different directions towards India and Africa the member communities maintained contacts with one another through sea-route.After the Indus Valley Civilization of Dravidians was destroyed by the incoming Aryans–or the natural calamities as believed by some–the Dravidian Speakers must have come towards the south along the western coast.The maritime front of the Indus Civilization is well known.The great Dravidian Kings of South India had maritime relations with Mesopotamia,Arabia,Egypt and East Africa.They had excellent trade relations with the countries across the Arabian sea.Egyptian merchants were in the habit of trading on the Indian Ocean.The archaeological excavations conducted on the Arabian Coast,the Persian Gulf and other regions go to prove this fact.

PART:79 WILL FOLLOW