Tamil Sangams

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The Tamil Sangams are legendary assemblies of Tamil scholars and poets that, according to traditional Tamil accounts, existed in the remote past. The legends describe three assemblies, the first two of which were held in cities since "taken by the sea", and the third of which was held in Madurai and created the earliest extant works of Tamil literature.^[1] Later accounts associate the drowned cities with a vast land stretching south of modern Kanyakumari, often called Kumarikkandam or Kumarinadu, which was swept away by the ocean.^[2]

Whilst the legendary accounts are generally rejected as being ahistorical, some modern scholars such as Kamil Zvelebil^[3] accept the main framework of the traditional accounts, suggesting that they may be based on one or more actual historical assemblies, whilst others reject the entire notion as a fabrication.^[4]. The Sangam legends played a significant role in inspiring political, social and literary movements in Tamil Nadu in the early 20th century.

[edit] Sangam legends

Early references to the academies are found in the songs of Appar and Sampandar, Shaivite poets who lived in the 7th century.^[5] The first full account of the legend is found in a commentary to the Irayanaar Agapporul by Nakkirar (c. seventh/eighth century CE).^[6] Nakkirar describes three Sangams spanning thousands of years. The first Sangam (mutarcankam) is described as having been held at "the Madurai which was submerged by the sea", lasted a total of 4440 years, and had 549 members, which supposedly included some gods of the Hindu pantheon such as Siva, Kubera and Murugan. A total of 4449 poets are described as having composed songs for this Sangam.

The second Sangam (itaicankam) was convened in Kapatapuram. This Sangam lasted for 3700 years and had fifty-nine members, with 3700 poets participating. This city was also submerged in sea. The third Sangam was purportedly located in the current city of Madurai and lasted for 1850 years under 49 kings. The academy had 49 members, and 449 poets are described as having participated in the Sangam.^[7]. Both these First and Second Sangams were supposed to have been held in the believed to be now-submerged continent of Kumari Kandam, that supposedly lay South of present-day Kanyakumari District, believed according to legends associated with it, to have been lost to the ravaging seas, over tens of thousands of years.

Late legends say that the third Sangam was held on the banks of the sacred Pond of Golden Lotuses in Madurai

There are a number of other isolated references to the legend of academies at Madurai scattered through Shaivite and Vaishnavite devotional literature throughout later literature.^[8] The next substantive references to the legend of the academies, however, appear in two significantly later works, namely, the Thiruvilaiyadal Puranam of Perumparrapuliyur Nambi, and the better-known work of the same title by Paranjothi Munivar.^[9] These works describe a legend that is so substantially different from that set out in Nakkirar's commentary that some authors such as Zvelebil speculate that it may be based on a different, and somewhat independent, tradition.^[10] The legends contained here deal mostly with the third Sangam at Madurai, which Nakkirar himself is said to have headed, and in which capacity he is said to have debated Shiva. The Sangam is described as having been held on the banks of the Pond of Golden Lotuses in the Meenakshi-Sundaresvarar Temple in Madurai.

In contemporary versions of the legend, the cities where the first two Sangams were held are said to have been located on Kumarikkandam, a fabled lost homeland that is described as the cradle of Tamil culture, which was seized by the sea in a catastrophic flood.^[11]

[edit] Historicity

There has been no contemporary archaeological or scientific evidence found to substantiate whether these academies existed at all and if so, the dates, the participants or their works. From the very little available archaeological and epigraphic evidence, the earliest Tamil kingdoms may have been established only in the 4th century BCE, well after the earlier two Sangams were supposed to have been held. Between the 4th century BCE and 10th century CE the archaeological findings point to only a megalithic period, and going further back a Neolithic period starting from at least the eighth millennium BCE (See two External References). These two prehistoric periods do not show any sign of a complex culture, and no clear connection with the dawn of urban civilization in South India.

Some scholars, such as Kamil Zvelebil, take the view that assemblies may have been founded and patronised by the Pandian kings and functioning in three different capitals consecutively till the last sangam was set up in Madurai.^[4][12]

In 470 CE, a Dravida Sangha was established in Madurai by a Jain named Vajranandi.^[13] During that time the Tamil region was ruled by the Kalabhras dynasty. The Kalabhra rulers were followers of either Buddhism or Jainism. The Dravida Sangha took much interest in the Tamil language and literature.^[14] We can also find Jain names such as Uloccnaar and Maathirthan among the early poets. Jain cosmology and mythology are also found mentioned in the early Sangam poems.^[15]

[edit] Sangam literature

Main article: Sangam literature

The earliest extant works of Tamil literature date back to the period between 200 BCE and 200 CE and deals with love, war, governance, trade and bereavement.^[16] The literature of this period has been referred to as The Sangam literature and the period in which these works were composed is referred to as the Sangam period alluding to the legends.^[17][18] Although the term Sangam literature is applied to the corpus of the earliest known Tamil literature dating to c. 300 BCE – 300 CE, the name Sangam and the legend was probably from a much later period.^[19]

The early literature belonging to the pre-Pallava dynasty period (c. 400 – 600 CE) do not contain any mention of the Sangam academies, although some relationship between Madurai and literature may be found in some of the Sangam age literature.^[20] Further references to Sangam and its association with Madurai have been mentioned by poets such as Sekkilar, Andal, Auvaiyar and Kambar (all belonging to the tenth to the twelfth centuries CE). The actual poems of the Sangam literature themselves do not directly mention such academies. However the poem Mathuraikkanci (761-763), which belongs to the early collection of Pattupattu, describes Madurai as the 'place where authors met and interacted'.^[21]

An accurate chronological assessment of literary works has been rendered difficult due to lack of concrete scientific evidence to support conflicting claims. Undue reliance on the Sangam legends has thus culminated in controversial opinions or interpretations among scholars, confusion in the dates, names of authors, and doubts of even their existence in some cases. The earliest archealogical evidence connecting Madurai and the Sangams is the 10th century Cinnamanur inscription of the Pandyas.^[22]

[edit] See also

• Madurai Tamil Sangam

[edit] Notes

[edit] External References

http://www.hindu.com/2007/10/28/stories/2007102851830300.htm http://www.artkerala.com/historymonuments/engravings-rock-shelter-tovarimala

[edit] References

• Basham, A. L. (1981), The Wonder That Was India (3rd ed.), Calcutta: Rupa 
• Chopra, P.N.; Ravindran, T.K. & Subrahmanian, N. (2003), History Of South India - Ancient Medieval & Modern, New Delhi: Sultan Chand & Company, ISBN 8121901537 
• Krishnamurti, C.R (1998), Thamizh Literature Through the Ages: A socio-cultural perspective, Pondicherry: Radhika Publishers 
• Nilakanta Sastri, K. A. (1975), A History of South India: From Prehistoric Times to the Fall of Vijayanagar (4th ed.), New Delhi: Oxford University Press 
• Marr, John Ralston (1985), The Eight Anthologies, Madras: Institute of Asian Studies 
• Meenakshisundaran, T.P. (1965), History of Tamil Literature, Publications in linguistics - Annamalai University, Chidambaram: Annamalai University .
• Narasimhaiah, B. (1980), Neolithic and Megalithic Cultures in Tamil Nadu, Delhi: Sundeep Prakashan, ISBN 8175740485 
• Ramaswamy, Sumathi (1999), “Catastrophic Cartographies: Mapping the Lost Continent of Lemuria”, Representations (no. 67): 92-129 
• Ramaswamy, Sumathi (2004), The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0520244400 
• Zvelebil, Kamil (1973a), “The Earliest Account of the Tamil Academies”, Indo-Iranian Journal 15 (2): 109-135, DOI 10.1007/BF00157289 
• Zvelebil, Kamil (1973b), The Smile of Murugan: On Tamil Literature of South India, Leiden: Brill, ISBN 9004035915