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Sangam literature is made up of Tamil literature created between the years 200 BCE and 500 CE. In contrast to contemporary literary works in Sanskrit and Pali, Sangam literature is primarily secular, dealing with everyday themes in a South Indian context.
Sangam literature was composed in the early part of the current era by Tamil poets from various classes of society. These poems were then edited and had colophons added by other poets around 1000 CE. These poets named the works "Sangam literature", and added explanatory notes and authorship information to many of them. Sangam literature fell out of popular memory soon thereafter, till they were rediscovered in the 19th century by U.V. Swaminatha Iyer.
Sangam literature
Sangam literature deals with emotional and material topics such as love, war, governance, trade, and bereavement. Much of the Tamil literature believed to have been written in the Sangam period is lost to us, though detailed lists of works known to the 10th century compilers have survived.
Compilation of literature
The available literature from this period was categorized and compiled in the 10th century into two categories based roughly on chronology. The categories are: The Major Eighteen Anthology Series (பதினெண்மேல்கணக்கு) comprising The Eight Anthologies (எட்டுத்தொகை) and the Ten Idylls (பத்துப்பாட்டு) and The Minor Eighteen Anthology Series (பதினெண்கீழ்கணக்கு)
Classification
Sangam Poetry is falls into two categories: the subjective (Agam — அகம்), and the objective (Puram — புறம்) as described in the first Tamil grammar, the Tolkappiyam.
Subjective topics refer to personal or human aspects, such as love and sexual relationships, and are dealt with in a metaphorical and abstract manner. Objective topics discuss all other aspects of human experience such as heroism, ethics, benevolence, philanthropy, social life, and customs.
The division into akam 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 Tolkappiyam. The classification ties the emotions involved in agam poetry to a specific landscape. These landscapes are called thinai (திணை). These are: kurinji (குறிஞ்சி), mountainous regions; mullai (முல்லை), forests; marutham (மருதம்), agricultural land; neithal (நெய்தல்) coastal regions; paalai (பாலை) deserts. In addition to the landscape based thinais, kaikkiLai and perunthinai are used for unsolicited love and unsuited love respectively.
Similar thinais pertain to puram poems as well, though these categories are based on activity rather than landscape: vetchi, 'karanthai, vanchi, kanchi, umignai, nochchi, thumbai, 'vaagai, paataan, and pothuviyal.
Tamil Sangams
According to the compilers of the Sangam works (primarily Nakkeeran), the Tamil Sangams were legendary academies, where Tamil poets and authors are said to have gathered periodically to publish their work. The Pandya rulers of Madurai are said to have patronized all three Sangams. Two of them are believed to have been held in the lost landmass of Kumari Kandam. The word "Sangam" is probably of Indo-Aryan origin, coming from "Sangha", the Buddhist and Jain term for an assembly of monks.
While their claims of Sangams as well as sunken land masses are not accepted by mainstream scholars, "Sangam literature" is still the preferred term for referring to the collection of Tamil works from the period 200 BCE to 500CE.
Rediscovery
The works of Sangam literature were lost and forgotten for several centuries before they were brought to light by the Tamil Scholar U.V.Swaminatha Iyer. He painstakingly collected and catalogued numerous manuscripts in various stages of deterioration. He printed and published Manimekalai (1898), Cilappatikaram (1889), Pattupattu (1889), and Purananuru (1894), all with scholarly commentaries. Swaminatha Iyer published around 100 works in all, including minor poems.
References
- http://www.tamilnation.org/
- Minatchisuntharan, T.P. History of Tamil Literature. Annamalai University Publications in linguistics, 3. Annamalai University,1965)
- Krishnamurti , C.R., Thamizh Literature Through the Ages, Vancouver, B.C. Canada (http://www.tamilnation.org/literature/krishnamurti/02sangam.htm)
See also
"Sangam literature"