Ancient Indian History
Sangam literature
Historic period of Tamil literature
Overview
The Sangam literature, historically known as the Poetry of the Noble Ones, connotes the early classical Tamil literature and is the earliest known literature of South India. The Tamil tradition and legends link it to three legendary literary gatherings around Madurai and Kapāṭapuram: the first lasted over 4,440 years, the second over 3,700 years, and the third over 1,850 years. Scholars consider this Tamil tradition-based chronology as ahistorical and mythical. Most scholars suggest the historical Sangam literature era, also called the Sangam period, spanned from c. 300 BCE to 300 CE, while others variously place this early classical Tamil literature period a bit later and more narrowly but all before 300 CE. According to Kamil Zvelebil, a Tamil literature and history scholar, the most acceptable range for the Sangam literature is 100 BCE to 250 CE, based on the linguistic, prosodic and quasi-historic allusions within the texts and the colophons.
Source: Wikipedia — Sangam literature (CC BY-SA)
Key concepts
How Sangam literature connects to the ideas, people and events around it.
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia where they are concentrated in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry in India and the Northern and Eastern Provinces in Sri Lanka.
Tamil literature includes a collection of literary works that have come from a tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution.
South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry, occupying 19.
The Tamil Sangams were three legendary gatherings of Tamil scholars and poets that, according to traditional Tamil accounts, occurred in the remote past.
Madurai is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai district, which is governed by the Madurai Municipal Corporation established on 1 November 1866.
Kuadam was the capital of the ancient Pandian kingdom of the Meen'Koodal epoch. The grand old poet and sage Nakkeerar and the Iraiyanaar porul'urai mentions that Kuadam was the capital from c.5400 BCE to c.1750 BCE.
Kamil Václav Zvelebil was a Czech scholar in Indian literature and linguistics, notably Tamil, Sanskrit, Dravidian linguistics and literature and philology.
In linguistics, prosody is the study of those elements of speech, including intonation, stress, rhythm and loudness, that occur simultaneously with individual sound segments: vowels and consonants.
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Questions about Sangam literature
What is Sangam literature?
The Sangam literature, historically known as the Poetry of the Noble Ones, connotes the early classical Tamil literature and is the earliest known literature of South India. The Tamil tradition and legends link it to three legendary literary gatherings around Madurai and Kapāṭapuram: the first lasted over 4,440 years, the second over 3,700 years, and the third over 1,850 years.
What are the key concepts related to Sangam literature?
The main concepts connected to Sangam literature include Tamil language, Tamil literature, South India, Legendary Tamil Sangams, Madurai, Kuadam, Kamil Zvelebil, Prosody (linguistics). Each is linked on the map above with its own summary.
Which exams cover Sangam literature?
Sangam literature is part of Ancient Indian History, which appears in the syllabus of UPSC CSE, UPSC CAPF, NDA, CDS, AFCAT, SSC CGL and 48 more exams.