HINDU PERIOD
commodities that sprang up under the Ptolemies, and as usual this commercial intercourse has left some marks on their language. Thus the Greek names for rice (oryza), ginger (zingiber), and cinnamon (karpion) have a close correspondence with their Tamil equivalents, viz. arisi, inchiver, and karava respectively; and this identity of Greek with Tamil words clearly indicates that it was Greek merchants who conveyed these articles and their names to Europe from the Tamil land. Again, the name Yavana, the name by which these Western merchants were known, which in old Sanskrit poetry is invariably used to denote the Greeks,[1] is derived from the Greek word Iaones, the name of the Greeks in their own language. The same word also occurs in ancient Tamil poems, and is exclusively applied to the Greeks and Romans. On this point the remarks of the late Mr. Pillay, our authority on Tamil literature, require to be quoted. He says: "The poet Nakkirar addresses the Pandyan prince Nan-Maran in the following words: 'O Mara, whose sword is ever victorious, spend thou thy days in peace and joy, drinking daily out of golden cups, presented by thy handmaids, the cool and fragrant wine brought by the Yavanas in their good ships.'" The Yavanas alluded to by these poets were undoubtedly the Egyptian Greeks, because, as stated
- ↑ Weber's Indian Literature, p. 220.
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