INSIGHT GEN. STUDIES &CSAT Under the Personal Guidance of S. BALIYAN SOUTH INDIAN HISTORY TOPIC - XVIII THE SANGAM AGE SANGAM AGE - LITERATURE ••• Sangam age is rightly regarded as constituting the Augustan age of Tamil literature. ••• It deals with secular matters relating to public and social activity like Government, war, charity, renunciation, worship, trade, and agriculture, physical manifestations of nature like mountains and rivers and private thoughts and activity like conjugal love and domestic life of the inner circle of the members of the family. ••• They are called Puram and Aham (Agam). Puram literature deals with matters capable of externalization or objectification. Aham literature deals with matters strictly limited to one aspect of subjective experience viz. love. The division of Aham and Puram is essentially Tamilian. ••• The Tamils were not strangers to other forms of classifying literary themes viz., Aram. Porul, Inbam and Vidu. These were four goals of life and the literature which deals with them falls under the corresponding sections. This classification is not much different from the Aham – Puram classification because Aram, Porul and Vidu come under Puram and Inbam under Aham. ••• Tolkappiyar, Valluvar, Iliango Adigal, Sittalai Sattanar, Nakkirar, Kapilar, Paranar, Auvaiyar, Mangudi Marudanar and a few others were outstanding the poets and thinkers of the Sangam age. ••• The Pattuppattu is a collection of ten long poems. Of these Mulaippattu, Kurinjipattu and Pattinappalai belong to Aham and the rest are Puram. ••• Some of the anthologies belong to Aham group and the others to Puram group. ••• The same is the case with the eighteen Killkkanakku works. ••• Nearly 75 small edicts have been found from caves near Madurai. These edicts are written in Tamil-Brahmi script. ••• The Sangam Epics (a) Manimegallai Written by poet Sattai Sattanar of Madurai. Contents: Manimegallai’s (the daughter of Kovalan & Madhavi) efforts to preserve her chastity and her conversion to a Buddhist nun. Reference of development of fine arts in Sangam age. (b) Silapaddigaram Oldest and greatest of Sangam epics. Literal meaning: the jewelled Anklet. Written by Illango Avadigal (grandson of the Chola king Karikala through his daughter). North Delhi : B-18, 3 rd Floor, Satija House, Main Rd., Dr Mukherjee Nagar 1 Central Delhi : 102-103, Above UCO Bank, Old Rajinder Nagar Ph. 011-45090051, 09818333201, 09871216382 INSIGHT GEN. STUDIES &CSAT Under the Personal Guidance of S. BALIYAN Date: 200 AD. Contents: story of Kovalan (a merchant) of Puhar, who falles in love with a dancer Mahdavi and ignores his wife Kannagi. Kannagi avenges the death of Kovalan at the hands of the Pandayan king and becomes a goddess. With her begins Kannagi / Patni cult. It is a love story. The references of Adimandi, the daughter of the Chola king Karikala and Attan Atti, the chera Prince are found in Silappadikaram. Silappadikaram says that Gajabahu, king of Ceylon, attended the worship of Kannagi- the Goddess of chastity – instituted by the Chera king Senguttuvan. Gajabahu ruled from 173 to 191 A.D. So Silappadikaram written by Senguttuvan’s brother Ilango belonged to the second century A.D. Manimekalai also belonged to that period. It is rightly said that Gajabahu – Senguttuvan synchronism is the sheet – anchor of the chronology of Tamil history. ••• Other works (a) Sivaga Sindamani/ Jivak Chintamani Written by Liruttakkadevar (a Jaina by religion) – Vaisya from Madura. Contents: Story of Sivaga / Jivaka who possesses supernatural powers and wins a new bride for his harem. At the end of his life he becomes a Jaina monk. Exhibits the influence of Sanskrit style. It is known as a marriage book. (b) Tolkappiyam Written by Tokapiyar, one of the 12 desciples of saint Agastya. Work on Tamil grammar. Divided into three sections each having nine sub-chapters (Ilayas). Total number of sutras is 1612. This book is based on the Sanskrit grammar of Aindra School. (c) Agattiyam Written by Saint Agattiyar Work on grammar of letters & life Practically extinct SANGAM AGE – SOCIAL LIFE • The Sangam literature speaks or many tribes and also refers to the traditional castes. This means that the caste divisions and the tribal arrangement stood side by side. • The Marakkudi were a separate section of society and they had their own traditions and beliefs. They worshipped the Goddess of victory and offer sacrifices to her. • The Sangam society was not priest – dominated although the priests were slowly trying to assume powers of advice and supervision. North Delhi : B-18, 3 rd Floor, Satija House, Main Rd., Dr Mukherjee Nagar 2 Central Delhi : 102-103, Above UCO Bank, Old Rajinder Nagar Ph. 011-45090051, 09818333201, 09871216382 INSIGHT GEN. STUDIES &CSAT Under the Personal Guidance of S. BALIYAN • Tolkappiyam written by Tolkappiyar mentions four fold division of Sangam society. He refers to Andanar (Parppar), Arasar, Vaisiyar and Velalar. • The Andanar were held in high esteem. The duties or privileges of the Andanar were learning, teaching, performing sacrifices, helping others to perform sacrifices, giving presents and receiving presents. The Andanar were recruited for service in the royal court as Purohits and probably as astrologers also. Some of them served as judicial advisers and were employed as ambassadors. • The Tamil Brahmins of the Sangam age were a respectable and learned community who lived apart in their streets. They were strictly vegetarians in their food habits. • Some Brahmins did not take up the traditional occupation of the priestly class. Some of them were known as dealers in bangles. Some of them became musicians. Adherence to traditional and prescribed ways of life was considered to be the first social virtue. This gave extraordinary stability to society. • The Brahmin community had been taking roots in the social structure of Tamilaham. The Brahmins were attached to the land and were proud of their country and their mother tongue. They considered Sanskrit the language of their religion. Sanskrit was not referred to as the Deva Bhasha. It was just the language of the North. The Tamil Brahmanas was resented by the poets of the Sangam and other learned men of the land. • The view of the Tamils was that “while character is above learning, learning is above caste.” Caste by birth began to assert itself. The idea that the individual’s lack of merits can be made up by the high caste to which he belongs, or vice versa, was perhaps becoming more and pronounced. • The Brahmin enjoyed considerable respect at the court. Most of the kings treated them with great courtesy. • It seems that trade was common to Vaisyas and Velalas. It appears that learning, performing sacrifice, making gifts, agriculture, protection of cows and trade were the prescribed duties of a Vaisya. Learning, other than the Vedas, making gifts, agriculture, protection of cows, trade and worship were the prescribed functions of a Vellala. Considerable confusion existed between the Vaisyas and Velalas. • We have no positive evidence to show that slavery as an institution existed in the Tamilaham of the Sangam age. We have no references to the sale and purchase of human – beings. However, that does not mean that there were no low servants or labourers whose condition of life left much to be desired. • Though in a general way, the entire caste system revolves around the Brahman axis, it was also so in Tamilaham. The most distinctive feature of the Tamil caste system was the Brahmin. The king, the merchants and the peasants did not correspond to the Kshatriyas, the Vaisyas and the Sudras of the Aryan caste system. The Velalas of South India were not the Sudras of North India. • Untouchability was practised. • Level of material culture was high. • The status of women in Sangam society was not equal to that of men either in theory or in practice. The Sangam society consisted of many kinds of women. There were married women who had settled down as dutiful housewives looking after their husbands and children and managing their household. It is these women who either committed Sati or led a very hard life as widows. There were female ascetics of Buddhist or Jain sects like Kaundi Adigal and Manimekalai. There were also a large number North Delhi : B-18, 3 rd Floor, Satija House, Main Rd., Dr Mukherjee Nagar 3 Central Delhi : 102-103, Above UCO Bank, Old Rajinder Nagar Ph. 011-45090051, 09818333201, 09871216382 INSIGHT GEN. STUDIES &CSAT Under the Personal Guidance of S. BALIYAN of courtesans. They acted as bodyguards. Women were not recruited as soldiers, ministers, ambassadors or other advisers of the king. They did not own property. • There were different kinds of marriages. There were idealistic ways of marriage which involved no rituals. They were performed by the consent of the man and the woman only without the knowledge of the parents or relations. Another type of marriage involved the performance of many rituals. The third type of marriage was in which the rituals for the Brahmins, the kings and the Vaisyas differed from the Velalar. There was also the custom of Sati in Sangam society. The wife perished with her husband on the funeral pyre. • As every woman did not commit Sati after the death of her husband, she had to lead a very hard life as a widow. Her life was one of penance. It was a degraded life. • Intoxicants were freely used. There is a reference to opium also. • There were many forms and qualities of dress worn by the various classes of people. The kind of dress varied from class to class and individual to individual. The labouring classes were on the verge of nudity. They did not mind near nudity. Shepherds and cowherds wore only loin cloth and dispensed with the upper cloth. Stitched garments were also in vogue but not largely.