SANGAM LITERATURE
The Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், caṅka ilakkiyam) is the ancient Tamil literature of the period in the history of south India (known as the Thamizhagam or the Tamilagam) spanning from c. 300 BCE to 300 CE (Akananuru (1, 15, 31, 55, 61, 65, 91, 97, 101, 115, 127, 187, 197, 201, 211, 233, 251, 265, 281, 311, 325, 331, 347, 349, 359, 393, 281, 295), Kurunthogai (11), Natrinai (14, 75) are dated[by whom?] before 300 BCE).[1][2][3][4][5] This collection contains 2381 poems in Tamil composed by 473 poets, some 102 of whom remain anonymous.[6] Most of the available Sangam literature is from the Third Sangam,[7] this period is known as the Sangam period, which refers to the prevalent Sangam legends claiming literary academies lasting thousands of years, giving the name to the corpus of literature.[8][9][10] The only religious poems among the shorter poems occur in paripaatal. The rest of the corpus of Sangam literature deals with human relationship and emotions.[11]
The poems belonging to 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, and with colophons added by anthologists and annotators around 1000 AD. Sangam literature fell out of popular memory soon thereafter, until they were rediscovered in the 19th century by scholars such as Arumuga Navalar, C. W. Thamotharampillai and U. V. Swaminatha Iyer.
Compilation of literature
The available literature from this period was categorised and compiled in the 10th century into two categories based roughly on chronology. The categories are the patiṉeṇmēlkaṇakku ("the eighteen greater text series") comprising ettuthogai ("eight anthologies") and the pattuppāṭṭu ("ten idylls") and the patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku ("the eighteen lesser text series").
Classification
Sangam poems fall into two categories: the "inner field" (akam – அகம்), and the "outer field" (puṟam – புறம்) as described even in the first available Tamil grammar, the Tolkāppiyam.
The "inner field" topics refer to personal or human aspects, such as love and intimate relationships, and are dealt with metaphorically and abstractly. The "outer field" topics discuss all other aspects of human experience such as heroism, courage, ethics, benevolence, philanthropy, social life, and customs.
The division into agam and puram is not rigid, but depends upon the interpretation used in a specific context.
Environmental classifications
Sangam literature illustrates the thematic classification scheme first described in the Tolkāppiyam. The classification ties the emotions involved in akam poetry to a specific landscape. These landscapes are called tiṇai (திணை). These are: kuṟiñci (குறிஞ்சி), mountainous regions; mullai (முல்லை), forests; marutam (மருதம்), agricultural land; neytal (நெய்தல்) coastal regions; pālai (பாலை) deserts. In addition to the landscape based tiṇais, kaikkiLai and perunthinai are used for unsolicited love and unsuited love, respectively.
Similar tiṇais pertain to puram poems as well, though these categories are based on activity rather than landscape: vetchi, karanthai, vanchi, kanchi, uzhignai, nochchi, thumbai, vaagai, paataan, and pothuviyal.
Tamil Sangams
According to the compilers of the Sangam works such as Nakkeeran, the Tamil Sangams were academies, where Tamil poets and authors are said to have gathered periodically to publish their works. It is claimed that Thenmadurai (South Madurai), Kapatapuram, and Madurai, the three great cities of the Pandyan Dyansty patronized the three Sangams.
While these claims of the Sangams and the description of sunken land masses Kumari Kandam have been dismissed as frivolous by historiographers, "Sangam literature" is still the preferred term for referring to the collection of Tamil works from the period 200 BC to 200 AD. Noted historians like Kamil Zvelebil have stressed that the use of 'Sangam literature' to describe this corpus of literature is a misnomer and Classical literature should be used instead.[
| Sangam | Time span | Place of Organisation | Chairman | No. of Poets | Kingdom | Books |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| First | 4440 years | Thenmadurai | Agastya | 549 | Pandiya | No books survived |
| Second | 3700 years | Kapatapuram | Tolkāppiyar | 1700 | Pandiya | Tolkāppiyam (author - Tolkāppiyar) |
| Third | 1850 years | Madurai | Nakkeerar | Pandiya | covers entire corpus of Sangam Literature |
Rediscovery
The works of Sangam literature were lost and forgotten for several centuries before they were brought to light by several Tamil scholars, such as Arumuka Navalar, C. W. Thamotharampillai and U. V. Swaminatha Iyer. They painstakingly collected and catalogued numerous manuscripts in various stages of deterioration. Navalar and Pillai hailed from Jaffna. Navalar brought the first Sangam text into print; this was the Thirumurukaattuppadai (one of the Ten Idylls), in 1851. Pillai brought out the first of the Eight Anthologies (Ettuththokai) of the Sangam classics, the Kaliththokai, in 1887. Swaminathaiyar published his first print of the Ten Idylls in 1889. Together, these scholars printed and published Tholkappiyam, Nachinarkiniyar Urai (1895), Tholkappiyam Senavariyar urai, (1868), Manimekalai (1898), Silappatikaram (1889), Pattuppāṭṭu (1889), and Purananuru (1894), all with scholarly commentaries. They published more than 100 works in all, including minor poems. J. V. Chellaiah of Jaffna College did the entire translation of the Ten Idylls in English in 1945.
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