Page:Convocation Addresses of the Universities of Bombay and Madras.djvu/429

136 University of Madras, without loss, but with positive advantage. No guide but our own intelligence is better than a faithless guide. Something has already been done in the direction of the search for and de- cipherment of inscriptions by Europeans, though less systemati- cally in Madras than in Calcutta and Bombay, but much remains to be done and will always remain, till educated Natives enter upon this branch of study with the zeal with which so many people in Europe have devoted themselves to it. Natives possess various facilities for this study which are denied to Europeans living in India. They have no reason to fear the sun. They can generally stop in their journeys without inconvenience and examine a.ny antiquity they see ; and whilst Europeans must be content with examining only the inscriptions on the outer walls of temples, inscriptions in the interior also can be examined by Natives. They will also be allowed to examine inscriptions on copper plates in the possession of respectable Native families which would not readily be allowed to pass into the hands of Europeans. A humbler, but still very important branch of archaeological work lies open to every educated Hindu in the Tamil districts in this Presidency. Let him set himself, before it is too late, to search out and discover the vernacular works that are commonly supposed to be lost. The names only of many Tamil works of the earlier period survive and many works must have been composed at a still earlier period of which even the names have been forgotten. Tamil literature seems to have known no youth. Like Minerva, the goddess of learning amongst the Greeks, it seems to have sprung, full-grown and fully armed, from the head of Jupiter. The explanation of this is that every work pertaining to, or illustrative of, the youth of the language appears to have perished. Probably, however, a careful search made by educated Natives in houses and mathas would be rewarded by some valuable discoveries. What an extensive and interesting field India presents for the comparative study of languages, and nowhere will ampler scope be found for this study than in the districts, directly or indirectly, under the Madras Government. The Dravidian family, which has its chief home in this Presidency, includes, according to the most recent enumeration, 14 languages and 30 dialects ; in addition to which, Sanskrit, Hindustani, and English claim attention. The comparative study of the languages of India has remained up to this time in the hands of Europeans, but it is a branch of study to which educated Natives might be expected to apply themselves with special zeal, and in which, if they applied themselves to it, I feel sure that they would attain to special excellence. The people of India have surpassed all