Component-I (A) – Personal details: Prof. P. Bhaskar Reddy Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati. Dr. Rita Chaudhuri Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta. Dr.K.Mavali Rajan Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. Dr. Rita Chaudhuri Dept. of AIHC, University of Calcutta. 1 Component-I (B) – Description of module: Subject Name Indian Culture Paper Name Social and Cultural History of India (From Earliest to 1707 A.D.) Module Name / Title Society and Culture in the Sangam Age Module Id IC / SCHI / 20 Pre requisites Understand the Early dynastic history of South India Objectives To know about the social practices and cultural value of the Sangam age based on the literary evidences of the Sangam and post-Sangam period. The literature provides information regarding the people and their occupations, their life style, status of women, religious practices and other cultural aspects. Keywords Sangam Age / Chera / Chola / Pandya E-text (Quadrant-I) : 1. Introduction The Sangam Age in Indian history witnessed the rapid development of literary works in the southern regions. The literature that was created during this time came to be known as Sangam literature. The great poets, writers, and other literary personality of this age have left behind invaluable accounts of political, social and cultural life of the people. Mostly literary sources help us to understand the society and culture of the Sangam age, which provides information regarding the classification of the people, caste system, various occupations, practice of slavery, dress and food habit, status of women, religious practices, education and other fine arts. During the Sangam Age, three empires viz. the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas were ruled in South of India. Though there were constant wars among the different kings for dominion of states and territory, they were all promoters of literature and other classical literary works. Under their rule, Indian art and culture flourished like anything. 2. Sources for the Study The literatures are the primary sources for understanding the socio-cultural life of the people of Sangam age. The literatures of the Sangam age consists of the earliest Tamil literary works such as Tolkappiyam, the Ettutogai (Eight Anthologies), the Pattuppattu (Ten Idylls), the Pandinenkilkanakku (Eight Minor works) and the Five Epics Silappathikaram, Manimegalai, Sivaga Sindamani, Valaiyapathy and Kundalakesi. Thirukkural is also important literary work to understand the social and cultural life people of the post-Sangam period. 2 Apart from the literatures the archaeological sources also help us to understand the historical past of the Sangam period. Archaeological excavations of the several sites in Tamil Nadu have yielded remnants from the Sangam era, such as different kinds of pottery, pottery with inscriptions, imported ceramic ware, industrial objects, brick structures, and spinning whorls. Techniques, such as paleography and carbon test have helped to establish the date of these items to the Sangam era. The excavated artifacts have provided evidence for existence of different socio-cultural activities mentioned in Sangam literatures. 3. Concept of Tinais The early Tamil texts conveys a vivid idea about five types of ecological cultural regions namely kurunchi, mullai, marudam, neytal and palai (which is referred to as Aintinai, the five tinais) and each with its own distinct occupational pattern and corresponding forms of worship, customs and manners, and even performance for moods and forms in literature. The five Tinais also reflect the geographical and social characteristics of the early Tamils. It denotes the distinctive modes of behaviours, social and moral of the people of each physiographical region. The following descriptions give us vivid pictures on the five Tinais. 3.1. Kurunji Among the five tinais, mentioned in the early Tamil literature, the Kurunji regions (mountainous and hilly tracts) were famous for slash and burn cultivation. The Kuravar and Kanavar are mentioned as the inhabitants of the hilly tracts and forests and hunting, shifting cultivation and collecting honey from the trees were referred to as their main occupations. The women folk of the Kuravar were referred to as Koratti and Kuramakal. They generally lived in and around the hills in small settlement. 3.2. Mullai The Mullai regions (forest pastoral tracts) were pastures, meadows, and scrublands, where shifting agriculture and animal husbandry were found. The pastoral groups referred to in literature as Ayar, Itaiyar and Kovalar. The Itaiyar of the Mullai regions in most cases, referred to the shepherd who had a flock of goats. From the literary texts of the early Tamilakam, we may surmise that these Mullai regions were peripheral to the Marutam lands. These tracts were regions of expanding agricultural activities and we find slow transition 3 from a pastoral to agrarian economy. Both Kurunji and Mullai regions had cultivable slopes, where shifting cultivation or slash and burn cultivations were found. 3.3. Marutam The fertile agricultural tracts Marutam region were the main rice producing areas and the early Tamil kingdoms of the Sangam age viz. the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas lay in these areas. The inhabitants of the tracts were called Ulavar and Toluvar. There is also a reference to the Kalamar, Arinar. The Ulavar and Toluvar were those who ploughed, sowed, transplanted, and harvested. The fertility of the land, agricultural process and irrigation facilities in Marutam region are vividly portrayed in the early Tamil literature. They cultivated variety of agricultural products like paddy, sugarcane, mango, plantain, jack and other fruit- trees. Those who raised the sugarcane were employed mechanical contrivances to extract the juice from the sugarcane. The people of the region used to drink the juice of the sugarcane. 3.4. Neytal The Neytal was the coastal region. Fishing was the natural occupation of the people of the region. The Paratavar / Valainar was inhabitants of the littoral tracts of Neytal. These Paratavar (fishermen) are portrayed in the poems as living in small settlements, which are said to be noisy and stinking of fish as the shores of the high areas. The other social groups of the Neytal tract were the Umanar who were manufacturers and traders of salt. The people of Neytal took pork and liquor. Toddy shops were located near the quarters of the Paratavar. It would appear that in the Neytal there was a greater measure of urbanization than the other regions. 3.5. Palai The Palai was a sandy and try region. Martial groups like Maravar, Malavar and Eyinar were the inhabitants of the region. The Maravar or Malavar performed diverse activities like robbing, fighting, and killing wayfarers, who passed through their tracts, fighting for chiefs and lifting cattle or recovering stolen cattle. Another martial group mentioned in the early texts is the Mallar. They are the warriors with immense strength who fight bravely. The inhabitants lived in huts covered with the leaves of the date palm. They used big ponds from which they and their pet animals could have water. The Aintinai is also divided into two broad division viz. kalavu, pre-marital love and karpu, which may be described as post- marital love of the married couple. The Kurunji was the region specially fitted for the raise of the kalavu pattern of love. The emergence of this relationship in Kurunji is described by many poets of Sangam age. The corresponding uripporul of Palai tinai is ‘pirital’ or separation. But it is remarkable that separation of lovers was a phenomenon which occurred not only in Palai, but in Neytal, Mullai and Marutam as well. The characteristic feature of the uripporul of Mullai is ‘iruttal’, which denotes the state of expectation of the partner’s arrival. ‘Irangal’, denoting the sorrowful state, is the uripporul of Neytal. The Marutam stands on a different footing in respect of uripporul. Here it is ‘udal’ or petty quarrel which appears in the midst of love. 4 3.6. Agam and Puram On the basis of the theme of the Sangam literary text the ancient Tamil poetry has been classified in to two; Agam and Puram, which deals with love and external affairs of the Sangam people. The war poems (Puram) were called Purattinai, which mostly deals about the exterior life style of the heroes. The love poems (Agam) were called Agattinai, mostly deals with the love and affection of the family and pre-marital life of the heroes. 4. Caste System In dealing with any society and culture, the study of social structure is of vital importance, for it enables us to know how the various units of the society, interacted with one another, particularly within the frame work of caste and religion. The social structure of India in general and of the Tamilnadu in particular was and still very much is, based on caste system, which had come down from very early times. 4.1. Four- Fold Division of Sangam Society The Varna based organization of society is not clearly discernible in the Tamil regions. The ancient text of Tamils the Tolkappiyam in a section refers to four-fold division of society. It was influenced by the northern Brahmanical ideas regarding the four-fold division and tried to apply the concept to Tamilakam though with the deference. The four-fold division referred to in Tolkappiyam seems to have been an occupational division or an attempt to fit into the four-fold Varna framework of the major occupational groups. In Tamilakam there is no one correspondence with Vedic-Brahmanic concept of Varna. However, the four-fold social classification had little application to ancient Tamil society. Radhika Rajamani argues that at this point it would be relevant to take into account two poems of Purananuru highlighting a four-fold division. One poem mentions four pals or orders but states that people from the lower orders could rise to the higher ones by the education suggestive of social mobility.