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NOVEMBER, 1878.] ELLIS'S ESSAY ON THE MALAYALMA LANGUAGE.
Stanzas from the Ramayanam. Paramdimávám mama hridayarahasyam id Ŏrundlum mé bhaktihinamdr méo' iḍum Naranmáróḍu paraññ' arayikk' arud' edo Paramam upadésam ill' idin midé yönnum. "This is the secret of my heart, the supreme mind; at all times it is improper to converse or have communication with men who are united in friendship with the disparagers of my worship; behold the height of instruction, nothing is above this."
Sarvakáranam sarvavydpinam sarvátmánam Sarvajñam sarvéévaram sarvasdkshinam nityam Sarvadd sarvadharam sarvadévatamayam Nirvikárátmá Rámadévaněnn ayika ni.
"The cause of all; the omnipresent; the universal soul; the omniscient; the Lord of all; the eternal witness of all; the giver and supporter of all; inscrutable even by the gods, Ramadevan, the soul uninfluenced by passion, know thou to be."
In the first stanza the term diédydm is the seventh case of the Sanskrit noun diéd, and tatra and ittham are Sanskrit adverbs used as such without alteration or addition. In the first verse from the Rámáyanam, mama and mé are genitives of the pronoun of the first person, and in the second every term except the three last is the Sanskrit accusative governed by the Malayalma imperative arika. In each example the Sanskrit terms intermixed retain their primitive form, and, with one or two exceptions, reject the Malayalma termination; there is no instance in them of a conjugated verb, though this form is occasionally introduced.
This hybrid language is not exclusively confined to the Malayalma; it is in use in other parts of India, though it nowhere else constitutes the customary garb of poetry. It is an invention far beneath the ancient Tamil writers (Note E), and they have, therefore, left no specimens of it; but compositions in the Mani-praválam are now common throughout the countries where the Tamil and its dialects are spoken. The Bharatam was a few years ago translated into Tamil Mani-pravâlam, from which I shall give a single extract to compare with the Malayalma :
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with each other, each retaining its own form and idiom. In the present instance the verse, as in Malayalma, follows the rules of Tamil prosody, the first syllable of panktih, dstt, &c., though in Sanskrit invariably long, becoming short because preceded by an unconnected short syllable. Sanskrit metres of all kinds are, however, often composed in Mani-praválam.
The Malayalma has never been cultivated as an independent literary language, nor does the Tamil literature, notwithstanding the length of time the country was subject to the kings of Sêram, appear to have been extensively known here, or at least has not survived that dynasty. This is the more extraordinary as some of the earliest and best of the Tamil works were composed in Sêram. This remark, however, applies more to Kêralam proper than to Mashikam or Travankor; the residence of the Sêram Viceroys was in this province, and a knowledge of pure Tamil has always been more prevalent here than in the northern districts.
Parasuram a n, as it is fabled in the KeraLotpatti, of Mayara Varma, as stated by other, and probably better, authority, in endowing the Bråhmans with land, condemned them to perpetual inactivity, and indolence and luxury are now the proverbial characteristics of the N a mbaris. The following stanza contains a short satire on them, which at the present day they certainly deserve, and which probably is not inapplicable to their character as formed at an early period by the extraordinary institutions of the country:Indra-vajra Vrittam
Prath pay nằm part găngân Attalam abhyangam ath'onni yappam Muttalam anté vrishallshu bhogaḥ Namburinam janma sujanma manyé. "In the morning milk and rice, then rice gruel; after the table is removed (!?) and the body anointed, then the eating sweet cakes, and after dalliance (?) the enjoyment of Sadra women! The life of the Nambaris, methinks, is an excellent life."
I have introduced this stanza partly on account of the contrast it forms with those previously quoted; this verse is a species of Mani-praválam, the construction and metre of which are entirely Sanskrit, and so are all the terms except the few printed in Roman, which are of Tamil derivation, though here strictly subjected to the laws of Sanskrit grammar: thus onni yappam are both Tamil terms, the former being the gerund of unnal, 'to eat,' the initial vowel with the final of the preceding word being changed by the Sanskrit rules for Sandhi to 6, and governing the following substantive, appam, 'a cake,'-a mode of construc
Arumbuppôla tăvă dantăpănktih Kurumbeippôla kuchhamandaladvayam Karumbuppôla madhurd cha vání Irumbuppôla hridayam kim dsit? "Like young buds are the even rows of thy teeth, Like tender cocoanuts the two orbs of thy bosom, Like the sugarcane thy honeyed words, Like iron why then is thy heart?"
Here the first part of each line is pure Tamil, and the second pure Sanskrit; the terms of each language are, however, more usually intermixed *This verse enumerates the Gundshtakam or eight attributes of the Deity,
