Name: Sahas

Roll No: 34
Topic A34

Sources:
Books
Links
Spectrum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sources_of_ancient_Ta
Facets of Indian mil_history
Culture
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangam_literature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sangam_period#Literar
y_sources

Any other

Topic: Dravidian literature

Sangam Tolkappiyam and
Thirukural, Rashtrakutas, Tulu
language and Padannas, Karnataka
literature
Dravidian literature
- States, Kingdoms giving patronage
- Ancient, Medieval and Modern
- Important writings Their significance, Style

Sangam Literature (300 BC 300 AD)

Sangam Literature is the earliest known phase of Tamil literature. It is
generally dated between 300 BC and 300 AD. It is called as Sangam literature
because the major part of it was composed in the courts of Pandyan kings of
Madurai which contained a body of eminent poets, who were later called as
Sangam poets. These Sangam poets functioned as board of literary critics and
censors.

According to some compilers of the Sangam works, the Tamil Sangams were
academies, where Tamil poets and authors are said to have gathered
periodically ( in the city of Madurai in South India under the patronage of
the Pandya kings) to publish their works
It consists of 2,381 known poems, with a total of over 50,000 lines, written
by 473 poets
The Sangam poems fall in two categories Aham(Deals with inner human
emotionslike love), Puram(Deals with Outer experiences like culture,
society, heroics, valor, war etc)
It is primarily secular. It dealt mostly with daily themes in the kingdom. The
end of Sangam age saw the advent of devotional poetry, Shaiva and
Vaishnava.
The poems belonging to the Sangam literature were composed by Tamil
poets, both men and women, from various professions and classes of society.
These poems were later collected into various anthologies, edited by
anthologists and annotators around 1000 AD

The Sangam literature is an important source of ancient tamil history. The

poems contain vivid descriptions of different aspects of life and society in
Tamilakam(Name of ancient Tamil Kingdom). The ancient Sangam poems
mention numerous kings and princes, the existence of some of whom has
been confirmed through archaeological evidence. Sangam literature is still
the main source for the early Cholas, the Pandyas and the Cheras.
o The Maduraikkanci by Mankudi Maruthanaar contains a full-length
description of Madurai and the Pandyan country under the rule of
Nedunj Cheliyan III.
o The Netunalvatai by Nakkirar contains a description of the kings
palace.
o The Purananuru and Akanau collections contain poems sung in
praise of various kings and also poems that were composed by the
kings themselves.
o The Sangam age anthology Pathirruppaththu provides the genealogy
of two collateral lines for three or four generations of the Cheras, along
with describing the Chera country, in general.
o The poems in Ainkurnuru, written by numerous authors, were compiled
by Kudalur Kizhar at the instance of Chera King Yanaikkatcey Mantaran
Ceral Irumporai.
o The Pattinappaalai describes the Chola port city
of Kaveripumpattinam in great detail. It mentions Eelattu-unavu food
from Eelam arriving at the port.
Much of the Tamil literature belonging to the Sangam period is believed to be
lost.
It is also very difficult to find the chronology of the Kings and kingdoms
through these poems.

Critical Analysis:
- Historical significance of the Sangam writings has been analyzed by various
historians.
- Most of them felt that Sangam poems show no similarities with ancient
Puranic literature and medieval Tamil literature, both of which contain fanciful
myths and impossible legends. The Sangam literature is, for the most part, a
plain unvarnished tale of the happenings of a by-gone age
- Sangam literature to describe the government, culture and society of the
early Pandyan kingdom. Some of these descriptions are supported by
archaeological evidence.
Personalities:
- Some of the greatest Tamil scholars like, Thiruvalluvar who wrote on ethics,
and on the various issues of life like wealth, virtue and love belonged to this
period.
- The Tamil poet Mamulanar who mentioned historical incidents that happened
in India
Tolkappiyam:
It is the work on grammar of Tamil Language and one of the earliest known
texts of Tamil literature (According to dates of some experts). The grammar is

explained in the form of formulaic compositions (somewhat similar style of Paninis

Sanksrit Grammar composition - Ashtadhyayi). It is believed to be written in
Sangam period.
- Its author is Tholkappiyar, disciple of Agastya.
- It is written in the form of noorpa or short formulaic compositions.
- Tolkppiyam consists of three books each of which is divided into 9 chapters.
The books are called atikarams (Sanskrit:adhikara). The three books are
o Ezhuththathigaaram - Formation of words and combination of words
o Sollathigaaram - Syntax
o Porulathigaaram - Conveying thoughts.
- The Tolkppiyam classifies the Tamil language into sentamil and koduntamil.
The former refers to the classical Tamil used almost exclusively in literary
works and the latter refers to the dialectal Tamil, spoken by the people in the
various regions of ancient Tamilagam.
- Tolkappiyam categorises alphabet into consonants and vowels. It
grammatises the use of words and syntaxes and moves into higher modes of
language analysis
- The influence of Sanskrit on this piece is debatable. Some scholars feel that
there is a heavy influence of Sanskrit works like Arthashastra, Natyashastra
and Paninis works in Tolkappiyam. Other scholars feel that though there is
some influence of Sanskrit, it also shows many dissimilarities thus cannot
attribute Sanskrits influence completely.
Thirukkural: Author Thiruvalluvar Period Sangam age
- It is one of the most important works of Tamil language.
- It is also called by other names like Tamil marai(Tamil Vedas), Deiva
nool(Divine text)
- Its contents are drawn from Dharmashastra, Arthashastra and the Kamasutra
and is written in masterful style. The book deals with virtue, wealth and
pleasure.
- It is written in the form of couplets or Kurals.
- The chapters are grouped into three sections Righteousness, Wealth and
Love.