Tamil Sangams

The Tamil Sangams or Cankams were assemblies of Tamil scholars and poets that, according to traditional Tamil accounts, occurred in the remote past. Scholars believe that these assemblies were originally known as kooṭam or "gathering," which was also a name for Madurai. Three assemblies are described. The legend has it that the first two were held in cities since "taken by the sea", and the third was held in the present-day city of Madurai. The word sangam is used in the context of an 'academy' in several Tamil literary works, such as Tevaram, Thiruvilayadal puranam, periyapuranam and Irayanar Ahaporul. Also legend has it that Nammazwar's Thiruvaimozhi was approved in an assembly of 300 poets.

The Sangam period extended from roughly 400 BC to 200 AD (early Chola period before the interregnum), when the earliest extant works of Tamil literature were written (also known as Sangam literature). However, the name Sangam and the associated legends probably derive from a much later period. Whilst the accounts of first two Sangams are generally rejected as ahistorical, some modern scholars, such as Kamil Zvelebil, find a kernel of truth in them, suggesting that they may be based on one or more actual historical assemblies. Others reject the entire notion as not factual. Nevertheless, legends of the Sangams played a significant role in inspiring political, social, and literary movements in Tamil Nadu in the early 20th century.

Early literature from the pre-Pallava dynasty period does not contain any mention of the Sangam academies, although some early poems imply a connection between the city of Madurai, which later legends associate with the third Sangam, and Tamil literature and the cultivation of the language. The earliest express references to the academies are found in the songs of Appar and Sampandar, Shaivite poets who lived in the 7th century. The first full account of the legend is found in a commentary to the Iraiyanar Akapporul by Nakkīrar (c. seventh/eighth century BCE). Nakkīrar describes three "Sangams" (caṅkam) spanning thousands of years. The first Sangam (mutaṟcaṅkam)mudharchangam is described as having been held at "the Madurai which was submerged by the sea", lasted a total of 4400 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. There were 89 Pandiya kings starting from Kaysina valudi to Kadungon were decedents and rulers of that period. The grammar followed in the first sangam was agattiyam. The poems composed were Paripaadal, mudunarai, mudukurugu, kalariyavirai. If credence is given to the commentary of Irayanar Ahapporul, the beginning of sangam should be placed somewhere in 9000 B.C.

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