NCERT Class 12 - Themes in Indian History Part I, Chapter 2

The Sangam Age and Tamil Kingdoms

The Sangam age, roughly the first three centuries CE with earlier roots, is the earliest period of Tamil history. It is known from a body of poetry composed in assemblies of poets, and from three kingdoms - Chera, Chola and Pandya - whose ports traded directly with Rome.

Sangam literature

• Tradition speaks of three Sangams, assemblies of poets held under Pandya patronage at Madurai; the works of the third survive.
• Tolkappiyam is a work on Tamil grammar and poetics and is the oldest surviving Tamil text.
• The main collections are the Ettuthogai (Eight Anthologies) and Pattuppattu (Ten Idylls).
• Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar, a work on ethics and polity in short couplets, belongs to the group of eighteen minor works.
• Silappadikaram by Ilango Adigal and Manimekalai by Sattanar are the twin epics, generally dated after the Sangam collections.
• The poems are divided into akam, on love, and puram, on war and public life.

The three kingdoms

• Karikala is the best-known Chola ruler; he is credited with building an embankment on the Kaveri and with the battle of Venni.
• Cheran Senguttuvan of the Cheras is linked to the Pattini cult, the worship of Kannagi, the heroine of the Silappadikaram.
• The Pandya country was famous for pearls from the Gulf of Mannar, mentioned by Greek and Roman writers.
• Kings were praised by bards; hero stones (nadukal) were raised for warriors who died in cattle raids and battle.

The five tinais

• Sangam poetry classifies the land into five tinais, each with its own landscape, people and way of life.
• Kurinji - hills, hunting and gathering; Mullai - pastoral tracts, herding.
• Marudam - fertile plains along rivers, settled agriculture; this is where the kingdoms were based.
• Neital - the coast, fishing and salt making; Palai - dry and barren land, cattle raiding.
• The scheme is literary but reflects a real ecological division of the Tamil country.

Trade with Rome

• The Greek text Periplus of the Erythraean Sea describes the ports and goods of the western coast.
• Exports were pepper, pearls, ivory, muslin, spices and beryl; the main import was Roman gold coin, found in hoards in the south.
• Arikamedu near Puducherry has yielded Roman pottery and glass, showing a trading settlement.
• The Roman writer Pliny complained that this trade drained gold out of the empire.