Indian history
Indian history
Indian history
SANGAM AGE
The history of Tamil literature starts with the Sangams. The Sangam was a college or Assembly of Tamil poets held probably under the patronage of the Pandyan Kings of the far south. We do not have any definite knowledge about the number of the Sangams or the period for which they were held. In a Tamil commentaary of the middle of the eighth century A.D. written by Iraniyavar Agaooiryk, it is stated that in all three Sangams were held, which lasted for 9990 years. These are stated to have been attended by 8,598 poets and had 197 Pandyan Kings as their patrons. All this is obviously an exaggeration. However, one thing is certain that there was great literary activity in the Pandyan country in the first three centuries of the Christian era and that a Sangam was held at Madurai under the patronage of the Pandyan kings of that region.
The available Sangam literature, which was produced by these Assemblies, was compiled in circa A.D. 300-600. The early, middle and the last strata of the texts are yet to be cleary identified. But they contain descriptions which tally with the information made available to us by the Greek and Roman accounts, and the archaeological remains o far discovered. It is fully established that the art of writing was known to the Tamils before the beginning of the Christian era. More than 75 short inscriptions in the Brahmi script have been found in natural caves, mainly in the Madurai region. They provide the specimens of the earliest form of Tamil mixed with Prakrit words. They belong to the second-first centuries B.C., when the Jaina and Buddhist missionaries appeared in this area. Inscribed potshreds have been found during recent excavations at several places. They provide examples of Tamil in the beginning of the Christian era, although it was finally compiled around A.D. 600. The extant Sangam literature, which is now available in nine anthologies is only a small part of the vast literary treasure that might have been created by those literary giants of the dawn of civilsation in the South.
The Tolkappiyam, a comprehensive work on Tamil grammar, also belongs to the Sangam age. Some of the names of the kings and poets such as kadangon and Ugraperuvaludi are found in inscriptions and other authentic records of this age.
Although this literature throws only a limited light on the political system of that age, it tells us a great deal about the social, economic and political life of the people of that age. In fact Sangam literature is our main source for the reconstruction of the history of that age. Accordingly, the period, which is covered by the Sangam literature, has come to be known as the Sangam Age. It appears that the word Sangam was used by the Buddhists and Jains as a euphoneous substitute for the earlier Tamil word Kudal.
The Far South.
In ancient times, the southern-most tip of India from the Tirupati Hill (Vengadam) to Cape Comorin (Kanya Kumari), bounded by the sea on either side was known as Tamilagam or Tamilham (the Tamil realm).Towards fourth century B.C., it had become subject to strong Aryan influences, though the pre-Aryan (Tamil) culture and language also continued to flourish there more vigorously than anywhere else. However our knowledge of the history of the country before the christian era is rather vague and indirect. A scholium of Katyayana on Panini and the references to the Pandya country in the works of Megasthenese and Kautilya are among the earliest data accessible to us.
Later inscriptions and legends throw light on the rule of the Nandas in the Deccan, and the migration of Chandragupta Mautrya with the Jaina patriarch Bhadrabahu to Sravanabelagola in Mysore. But, perhaps, the oldest and the most tangible evidence of the contact between the North and the South leading to a certain uniformity of culture throughout India is to be found in the punch-marked coins of copper and silver, rectangular to start with, but later round also, "Which long served as the common currency of most of the states of ancient India, and were wonderfully uniform in weight and general style from the Himalayasto Cape Comorin". In the South these coins were used 'from the most remote time' down to about A.D. 300'.
The second and thirteenth Rock Edicts of Ashoka contain a mention of the southern kingdoms and Sri Lanka. The list in the second edict, which is longer, comprises by name the Cholas, Pandyas, Sattiyaputras and Keralaputras, besides Tambraparni. These kingdoms were outside the empire of Ashoka, but they were so friendly to the emperor that he could arrange for the medical treatment of his men and animals in all these lands, and for the importation and planting of useful medicinal herbs and roots whenever they were needed. The Tamils, in fact, believe, that the three monarchies of the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas were of immemorial antiquity, 'dating fromthe time of creation'.
Out of the these three kingdoms, the Pandya country occupied the extreme South. It included the modern districts of Tirunelveli, Madurai and Ramnad, besides South Travancore, often called Nanjiland or ploughland. The capital of Pandya kingdom was Madurai city, situated on the Vaigai river.
Korkai on the east coast at the mouth of the Tambraparni river was its main sea port. In the north there was another port called Saliyur. Perhaps yet another port was there in the vicinity of modern Trivandrum.
The Chola country comprised the lower Kaveri valley, the coastal plain between two rivers both bearing the name vellar. The north Vellar entered the sea near Porto Novo, and the smaller southern stream passed through Pudukkotai territory. The Chola kingdom thus roughly covered modern Tanjore and Tiruchirapally districts. The inland capital of the Cholas was Uraiyur. Puhar or Kaveripattinam (the Khaberis of Ptolemy) at the mouth of the Kaveri kingdom comprised the western coastal strip above the northern limit of the Pandyan Kingdom. Tondi and Musiri or Musiris were its best known ports. The capital of the Chera kingdom was called Vanji.
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