The two-language policy in Tamil Nadu has been a subject of ongoing debate and discussion, with various perspectives on its effectiveness and potential impacts. Apart from them A question raised me? How much I know about Tamil culture & Literature? A voice echoed within, ‘How well do you know your own culture?’ A spark was lit within me! What if I try to traverse through all the Sangam literature, a collection of 18 literary works, comprising of more than 2000 poems? Seems a daunting task! For I’m no expert in Tamil literature. My vocabulary is limited to the few good books I have read in Tamil and to Tamil film songs, just like the average Tamil speaking person. And yet, I am not qualified to talk about the Sangam literature. But it is tempting to share some glimpses the flame of curiosity burned bright within me. So, I decided to take this long and unique journey through the literary works of the Sangam period. I go through various sites and online library got information from it.
Literature is not just a collection of poems as in Sangam literature, it is a living document of our cultural history and it’s known as Tamil Ilakiyam. The Sangam literature is one of the earliest works of Tamil literature. Sangam literature is the name given to the earliest available Tamil literature. The Sangam age roughly extends between 300 BC and 300 AD*, although most of the work is believed to have been composed between 100 CE and 250 CE. The word 'Sangam' literally means association. These Sangams were established by the Pandya kings.
The poems belonging to the Sangam literature were composed by the Dravidian Tamil poets. The poets of this period used the grammar composed by scholars like Agastya and Tolkappiyar.
Tolkappiyam -a work on phonetics and Tamil . The Tolkappiyam consist of three books, each with nine chapters with a cumulative total of 1612 sutras.
Tirukkural -A work on philosophy, written by Thiruvalluvar. It consists of 1330 couplets (kurals) organized into 133 chapters. Each chapter contains 10 couplets. The text has been translated into many other languages.
Silapadikaram and Manimekalai -two Tamil epics written by Adigal and Saathanar respectively. It has wealth of information about various art forms such as music and dance of that period. It also provides great details of the lifestyle of the people, landscape, religious practices, and myths.
First thing I felt most perfect one is the personification of the language as a mother and calling it as "TAMIL ANNAI", by not stopping there, they dedicated 5 great literature(Manimekalai, Seevagasinthaamani, Kundalakesi, Valayapati and Silapthigaaram) as the beautiful ornaments for her and decorated her with those ornaments made by words.
தமிழன்னை மேனியை தம்மணிச்சொற்களால்,
மணிமேகலையும்,அவள் ஆபரணங்களாய் சீவகச்சிந்தாமணியும் வடித்து,
அவள், நம் தேண்தமிழ் கேட்கும் செவிகளுக்கு, குண்டலகேசியும்,
அவள் பொற்கரங்களை வளையாபதியும்,
பொற்பாதங்களை சிலப்பதிகாரமும் அலங்கரிக்க,
செந்தமிழையே அலங்காரமாக்கிய தமிழர்கள்.This way of dedication and love towards a language is rarely found.
The language is considered as rich by its grammar and its literature, Tamil was gifted by these categories, the first known literature is the Tholkappiyam grammar work from Changam Literature.
Broadly, we can divide the Sangam literature in 2 parts viz. Patinenmēlkanakku and Patinenkīlkanakku. Out of them, the Patinenmēlkanakku refers to the oldest surviving Tamil Poetry of theangam Age, dating back to 200 BC to 100 BC while the Patinenkīlkanakku refers to the collection of 18 poetic works, which belongs to Post Sangam period, and date back to 100 AD to 500 AD.
The Sangam literature talks about various aspects of the life of a common man, as well as the Kings.
They are divided into ‘Agam’ and ‘Puram’. ‘Agam’ deals with love and ‘Puram’ deals with courage, bravery, benevolence, charity etc. "AGAM"(Inner Traits) and "PURAM"(Outer Traits) and write the guidelines to be followed by the people to lead a joyful and peace life. அகநானூறு(Aganaanooru), புறநானூறு(Puranaanooru)
We come to know several Kings of that era only through the songs written about them by poets. These Poets go from place to place and sing the glory of the King and others and get prizes for the same.
Several such Kings like Thalayalanganathu Cheru Vendra Pandiyan Nedunchezhian, Pandian Pal yagasalai Peruvazhuthi, Cheraman Irumborai, Cholan Nilankilli etc. are praised in Sangam literature.
We would not know anything about these Kings had the poets not sung about them.
One interesting thing about this Sangam literature is that the Tamil Sangam was formed by Pandiyas under the head of Nakkeeran. There were hundreds of poets in this Sangam.
Pandiyas though were the original patronisers of Tamil Sangam, never differentiated between other Tamil Kings like Cheras and Cholas. They had included songs that praised these Kings also.
The Changam literature, Defined the land forms perfectly. The five land forms explained in them are: Akam Theme and Its Characters
The theme of love dealt with Akam is not in relation to any particular man or woman. It is love that is universal in its sweep. The ancient poets took Love and lifestyle of the people were dependent on the nature of the landforms. The people lived very close with the nature. Hence the agam poems are also categorized into five landforms typically called as five 'thinai's. Those are named kurinji, mullai, marutham, neithal and paalai.
Pic Credits_ GoogleImage
Kurinji refers to the mountains and adjoining lands.
Mullai refers to the forests and adjoining lands.
Marutham refers to the plains and adjoining lands.
Neithal refers to the sea and adjoining lands.
Palai doesn't have a separate landform, whereas the Kurinji and Mullai lands dried by drought were referred to as Paalai. In fact these lands are mentioned as 'naduvunilai', meaning 'in between'. The term 'Palai' was coined later by the commentators.
Kurinji, mullai, marutham and neithal were called 'naanilam', meaning the four lands. The sangam poems bring forth the landscape, animals, birds, crops, life of people and weather typical of the particular landform or thinai. This convention was followed by all the sangam poets, irrespective of the place and time they lived in. This adds up to the beauty of the poems that those could be understood easily.
We understand that the ancient Tamils gave importance to both the love and bravery for the welfare of the home and the country. This is stated in Tholkappiyam as follows:
"இன்பமும் பொருளும் அறனும் என்றாங்கு
அன்பொடு புணர்ந்த ஐந்திணை மருங்கின்"
"Inbamum Porulum aranum endraangu
anbodu punarndha aindhinai marungin"
Meaning: Inbamum - joyful, porulum - wealth, aranum- charity, endraangu - thus, anbodu punarndha - lived with love, aindhinai marungin - with the five thinais
This says that the Tamils lived a joyful life of earning wealth, love and doing charity. The five thinais we discussed above are called "anbin ainthinai", meaning the five thinais of love.
The shorter poems were collected into anthologies. Anthology is a collection of poems written by different poets following the same literary form. Thus the poems were read, analyzed and grouped into eight anthologies. These are called 'Ettuththogai' which means 'Eight Anthologies'. (ettu - eight, thogai - anthology)
There is a beautiful poem even to remember the names of these anthologies. Look how sweet the poem is!
"நற்றிணை நல்ல குறுந்தொகை ஐங்குறுநூறு
ஒத்த பதிற்றுப்பத்து ஓங்கு பரிபாடல்
கற்றறிந்தார் ஏத்தும் கலியொடு அகம் புறம் என்று
இத்திறத்த எட்டுத் தொகை"
"Natrinai nalla Kurunthogai Ainkurunooru
Oththa Padhitruppaththu ongu Paripaadal
Katrarindhaar yeththum Kaliyodu Agam Puram endru
Iththiraththa Ettuth thogai"
Of the eight anthologies, Natrinai, Kurunthogai, Ainkurunooru, Kaliththogai and Aganaanooru are agam poems. Padhitruppaththu and Puranaanooru are puram poems.
Paripaadal is a combination of both agam and puram poems. apart from the shorter poems there are also ten long songs which are grouped and named as 'Paththuppaattu' meaning 'The Ten Songs".
ThiruMurugaatruppadai(Murugu),
Porunaraatruppadai(Porunaaru),
Sirupaanaatrappadai and Perumpaanaatruppadai (Paanirandu) and Malaippadukadaam(kaadaam) fall into a literary group called as 'Aatruppadai
Mullaippaattu (Mullai), Kurinjippaattu (Kurinji) and Pattinappaalai and agam poems.
Nedunalvaadai is still debated whether it falls under agam or puram. These eighteen books of poems, the Eight Anthologies(Ettuththogai) and Ten songs(Paththupaattu) are generally called sangam poems or sangam songs. The Eight Anthologies and the Ten Songs were referred to as 'Paattum Thogaiyum'. Only in 1940, Mr.Vaiyaapuri coined the word 'Sangam Literature' to refer to these
Since then the eight anthologies and the ten songs are referred to as the sangam literature.
The Sangam literature has several songs written in praise of the chieftain of a small hillock called Pari. He was ruling from the Parambu hills that are to be found today in Dharmapuri district.
He was famed for his support of the Tamil savants. One of the foremost Tamil poets, Kapila has written a lot of songs on this small hill chieftain. He is the most celebrated person in ‘Puranaanooru’ or the collection of four hundred songs.
He had also taught his daughters Angavai and Sangavai and these two girls have sung a song in Puranaanooru that talks about the pain of losing a dear one.
This song they had sung after their father Pari was killed by treachery by the three Tamil Kings Chera, Chola, and Pandiyas together.
The song goes like this
அற்றைத் திங்கள் அவ் வெண்ணிலவின்,
எந்தையும் உடையேம், எம் குன்றும் பிறர் கொளார்,
இற்றைத் திங்கள் இவ் வெண்ணிலவின்,
வென்று எறி முரசின் வேந்தர் எம்
குன்றும் கொண்டார், யாம் எந்தையும் இலமே.
‘Last month under this full-moon, we had our father and our hill was also not taken by others.’
‘But this month under the same full-moon, the Kings who beat war drums had taken our hills and also we have lost our father.’
This short and pithy song expresses the pangs of losing one’s father and they have successfully frozen their sorrow in poignant words for all ages to come.
We will see some of the songs from the Sangam era short understood that the poems were sung by ten generations of poets, from various historical analysis. Leaving that aside until later, let me introduce the sangam poems to you. As I said these were written by various poets in various times and this led to the poems to be lost or hidden. So some kings decided to collect and save the poems with the help of some poets. Thus the poems which were found were categorized and recorded.
This is just a small introduction to get you all started. I will write more about the conventions and also the different collection of poems in the forthcoming posts. Tamil literature is a very vast ocean and one would require his entire lifetime to just taste a drop out of it! So, never be in a hurry to 'drink' everything in a short period of time.
Ref- https://sangamtranslationsbyvaidehi.com/
https://sangamliteraturefacts.wordpress.com/
https://thethamizh.wordpress.com/2020/12/12/sangam-literature/
"To be Cont"
