Religion in ancient Tamil country

The Sangam period in Tamilakam (c. 200 BCE to 200 CE) was characterized by the coexistence of many religions: Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism alongside the ethnic religions of the Tamil people. The monarchs of the time practiced religious tolerance and openly encouraged religious discussions and invited teachers of every sect to the public halls to preach their doctrines.

Tamil religions denotes the religious traditions and practices of Tamil-speaking people. The Tamils are native to modern state of India known as Tamil Nadu and the northern and eastern part of Sri Lanka. Tamils lives also outside their native boundaries due to migration such as Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Australia, Great Britain, United States, Canada, Réunion and in other countries in Europe. Many emigrant Tamils retain elements of a cultural, linguistic, and religious tradition that predates the Christian era.

Aaseevaham is considered to be the earliest religious philosophies of Tamils before the advent of Jainism, Hinduism, Buddhism, early Christianity, Islam and modern Christianity. Neolithic cattle-herding culture existed in South India several millennia prior to the Christian era. By the first century, a relatively well-developed civilization had emerged. It is described in some detail in Tamil texts such as the Tholkappiyam (third BCE) and by the Sankam poets—an "academy" of poets who wrote in the first two centuries of the Common Era.

Ancient Tamil grammatical works Tholkappiyam, the ten anthologies Pathuppāṭṭu, the eight anthologies Eṭṭuttokai sheds light on early religion of ancient Tamil people. Murugan was glorified as, the red god seated on the blue peacock, who is ever young and resplendent, as the favored god of the Tamils.Shiva was also seen as the supreme God. Early iconography of Murugan and Shiva and their association with native flora and fauna goes back to Indus Valley Civilization. The Sangam landscape was classified into five categories, thinais, based on the mood, the season and the land. Tolkappiyam, mentions that each of these thinai had an associated deity such Murugan in Kurinji-the hills, Vishnu in Mullai-the forests, Durga in Pālai-the deserts, Indra in Marutham-the plains and Varuna in Neithal-the coasts and the seas. Other gods mentioned were Krishna and Balaram who were all assimilated into Hinduism over time. Dravidian influence on early Vedic religion is evident, many of these features are already present in the oldest known Indo-Aryan language, the language of the Rigveda (c. 1500 BCE), which also includes over a dozen words borrowed from Dravidian languages. This represents an early religious and cultural fusion or synthesis between ancient Tamils and Indo-Aryans, which became more evident over time with sacred iconography, flora and fauna that went on to influence Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism

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