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TH E LIBRARY OF TH E UNIV ERSITY OF C ALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES A CLASSIFIED COLLECTION T A M I L P R O V E R B S BY TH E R EV . H ERMAN JENSEN , / Danish Mis s ionar . Madras . y AN OUNC E OF MOTH ER wrr I S WORTH A POUND OF LE ARNI NG. MADR AS TH E METH ODIST EPISC OPAL PUBL IS H ING H OUS E . LONDON TRHHNER AND OO . 1 8 . 9 7 All Ri hts Re s erved g PR INTED AT TH E M. E . PUBLI SH I NG H OUSE MOUNT ROAD MADRAS. , , TH E LUZ 19th A ril 1897. , ; p ' ’ TH E H ON BLE S . SUBRAMANIA A IYAR B .L . , , ' Dewcm Baharlm . DEAR SI R , 0 I have no doubt t hat our fort h c omin c ollec t ion of y g Tamil roverbs will rove h i hl useful and inte re st in . p p g y g The c ollec t ion of sa in s in t h e West b t h e side of th ese y g y roverbs would enable man eo le t o see h ow muc h p y p p similarit in ideas exist s between t he Eas t and t he West . y As re ards t h e t ranslat ion int o En lish t h e ideas under g g l in those roverbs have been well brou h t out . I wish y g p g ever suc c e ss t o our laudable undert akin . y y g Yours sinc erel , y S. SUBR-AMANIEM. FROM 0. W. TAMOTH ARAM PILLAY , E SQ B .A. , B .L . The edit ion of roverbs brou h t out b t h e Rev. Mr. p g y Jensen is dec idedl an im rovement u on it s redec essors . y p p p I t s c lassific ation under a ro riate heads ives it a su erior pp p g p as ec t fac ilit atin one t o la his hand on what h e wants , p g y wh ic h h e c annot do in a collec tion sim l al habet ic all p y p y arran ed t he advanta e of whic h is also c ombined in t h e , g g edition b t he index of t h e initial words . y Not with s tandin t hat th ere are sli h t errors of ram g g g mar and s ellin whic h a Euro ean c om iler c annot but , p g p p fall int o t h e book I believe will be of reat use t o both , , , g t h e Tamilians and forei ners . g Si ned C . W TAMOTH ARAM PILLAY. ( g ) 3 MADRAS 22ml A ril 1897. , p , P R E F A C E . ’ A BOUT tw ent e ars a o wh en I ot Perc iva l s c olle c tion of y y g , g Tamil roverbs into m hands I had o nl been a short time i n p y , y India and had as e t ot no insi h t into Indian thou h t and lite r , y g g g ature . I h ad read onl a c ou le of small Tamil s tor books but y p y , ' wh en readin th e se I h ad alread e rc e ive d that t h e I ndians c ould g y p hardl tell a s tor with out introduc in some roverbs into it . y y g p M attention was thus at an earl eriod of m life in India drawn y y p y ’ to roverbs and I be an to s tud Perc ival s c olle c tion . I ot p , g y g , h owever ver little out of m stud as Perc ival had onl iven a , y y y, y g translation of t h e Tamil roverbs and had iven no hints as t o , p g th eir meanin . So in t h ose da s I ot no insi ht whatever into g y g g th e real h ouseh old roverbs but h ad almost t o res t satisfie d wi th , p t h e man a h orisms or what we in Tamil c all fi wn of wh ic h y p , m fi , we find lar e numbers in all our Tamil roverb c olle c tions . Ye t g p , ’ from wh at I had se en in t he s tor books and in Perc ival s c olle c y tion I h ad ot an intere s t in th e se te rse blunt and oe tic sa in s g , p y g and ear after ear on e ttin dee er into th e thou ht and life y y g g p g of India and at t h e same time be c omin ac uainte d with more and , g q more of t he roverbs m interest in them steadil inc rease d . p , y y And wh eneve r I me t w ith a new roverb e ither wh en talkin with p g t he people or reading Tamil books, I always looke d for it in Perc i ’ val s c olle c tion , and if h e h ad not got it , I took a note of it and at times I trie d t o have some of th em ex lained b t h e c ommon p y eo le . p p While I was thus le isurel rose c utin t h e s tud of Tamil y p g y roverbs , t h e R ev. J. Lazarus, B .A., began t o prepare a Dic tionary p of Tamil Proverbs . I looked forward to t h e ublic ation of this p book with ve r y great inte re st, but when it appeared, I was some what disa ointe d with it , partly be c ause Mr. Lazarus had not pp iven a translation of the roverbs and artl be c ause h is ex la g p p y p nation of t h e roverbs se emed t o me , from th e insi ght I had got p into t h e proverbs th rough years of s tudy, not always t o be t he righ t