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/
