Tamil civilisation begins at least three centuries before the Common Era. As seafaring people, Tamil traders and sailors built commercial and cultural links across the seas. These contacts and internal developments led to urbanisation: towns and ports emerged, coins came into circulation, the Tamil-Brahmi script was adopted to write Tamil, and classical Tamil poems were composed. This period is the Sangam Age or Early Historic period.
1. Sources for the Study of Early Tamil Society
- Classical Tamil literature
- Epigraphy (inscriptions)
- Archaeological excavations and material culture
- Non-Tamil and foreign literature
Classical Sangam Literature
- The corpus consists of the Tholkappiyam, the Pathinen Melkanakku (18 major works), the Pathinen Kilkanakku (18 minor works) and the five epics.
- Tholkappiyam, attributed to Tholkappiyar, is the earliest written work on Tamil grammar; its third section describes poetic conventions that inform us about Tamil social life.
- Pathinen Melkanakku = Pathupaattu (ten Idylls) + Ettuthogai (eight anthologies) – the oldest classical Tamil texts. Pathinen Kilkanakku belongs to a later date.
- Ettuthogai: Nattrinai, Kurunthogai, Paripaadal, Pathittrupathu, Aingurunuru, Kalithogai, Akanaanuru, Puranaanuru.
- Pathupaattu includes Thirumurugatrupadai, Porunaratrupadai, Perumpanatruppadai, Sirupanatrupadai, Mullaipaattu, Nedunalvaadai, Maduraikanchi, Kurinjipaattu, Pattinappaalai and Malaipadukadam.
- Pathinen Kilkanakku – eighteen texts on ethics and morals; the pre-eminent one is the Thirukkural by Thiruvalluvar, in 1330 couplets, on morality, statecraft and love.
- The Five Epics (Kappiyams): Silappathikaaram, Manimekalai, Seevaka Chinthamani, Valaiyapathi, Kundalakesi.