names quite familiar among the Kallan and the Vedan or Vettuvar tribes of the Tamil districts. Nilan was the name of the Vaishnava saint Tirumangai Alvar, a Kalla by caste, and of the donor of the fine cloth to Ay a hill king;
நீல நாகன் நல்கிய கலிங்கம். -S.P.P.
(The fine cloth presented by Nilan of the Naga tribe.) Nagan was the name of a Veda chieftain and the father of the famous Saiva saint Kannappa Nayanar. From these it will be seen that the Nagas were not so highly civilised as is represented by Mr. Kanakasabhai ; but doubtless they were a martial tribe of hunters from whom, as we have shown elsewhere, the Pandyas, the Cholas and the Pallavas recruited their armies. It seems, therefore, that ‘Naga' was the name given by the Aryans to any aboriginal tribe in Southern India and Ceylon, and it might be remarked that the Nagas of the south were distinct from the Nagas of Northern India who are described by Capt. Forbes in the above extract. The South Indian Nagas were probably the aborigines, while their North Indian namesake were Turanian or Scythian immigrants from Central Asia belonging probably to the Mongolian race.
As regards the origin of the Nagari alphabet the conclusions of Dr. G. Buhler and other eminent authorities on Indian Paleography are certainly opposed to the bold assertion of Mr. Kanakasabhai that the Aryans learnt it from the Nagas. The word Nagari’ is derived from nagar, a city, but not from
