Keralolpatti, Kupam was the Malayalam speaking country lying between Kunnatri and Cape Comorin. Kollam (Quilon) and Kupam, which formerly constituted the modern State of Travancore, must have separated from the Kodum-Tamil Nadus, before the time of our commentator ; and yet, without knowing the geography of the West Coast, he has given Kuttam, Kudam, Ven and other Nadus which formed part of that province in the list of Kodum-Tamil Nadus, following the division of nadus or districts that existed in Tolkapyar's days. But his ignorance of geography is not so great as that of later Tamil scholars who have included in the list, countries like Arabia, Bengal, Burma, China, Java, Orissa, etc. as described in the following stanza :—
சிங்களஞ் சோனகஞ் சாவகஞ் சீனந் துளுக்குடகங்
கொங்கணங் கன்னடங் கொல்லத் தெலுங்கங் கலிங்கம் வங்கங்
கங்கமக தங் கடாரங் கவடங் கடுங்குசலக்
தங்கும் புகழ்த்தமிழ்சூழ் பதினேழ் புவி தா மிவையே.
Philology is mainly an historical science, because language which is its subject matter is the work of man, and it implies change and progress. It is the property of a society and not of an individual ; and its object is to trace the development of human thought as expressed in the speech of that society. It cannot therefore be the creation of any individual. It has life, growth and death, co-extensive with the state of the society or race that uses it. A living language like Tamil is in a condition of constant change, which cannot be arrested by a scholar, poet or gram-
