Empires of India II

 

Blog#17

The Sangam Age

 

 

Abstracts:

            The Sangam age is considered to be the beginning of historic period in the South India, because the period before it is said to be Mesolithic period, which is a prehistoric duration. ‘South India’ is the name that has been given to the area south to the river Krishna and its tributary, river Tungabhadra, in India. The Sangam age is considered to be the period of time from third century BCE to third century AD.

 

 

Introduction:

            The word ‘Sangam’ has been used to give name to the period due to the assemblies held there. The word ‘sangam’ in Tamil stands for the Sanskrit term ‘sangha’ meaning a group of people or an association. There gatherings of poets held under the patronage of Pandya Kings of Madurai. Many important poets of south India assembled in this sangam age, who worked to compile the literature in the forms of anthology.  Those literature works are considered to be the specimen of the Dravidian language.

 

 

 

The Sangams:

            There were three sangams organized under the Pandyan patronage. The first and the third sangams were in Madurai, whereas the third sangam was held in Kapadapuram.

The first sangam was held in Madurai. It is believed that the first Sangma was attended by Gods and legendary Sages. But, there is no such literary work for the first sangam.

The second sangam was organized in Kapadapuram. Some important members who attended the second sangam were the poets such as Akattiyanar and Tolkappiyar. The literary work Tolkaappiyam written by Tolppiyar, which has survived so far, is the only literary source of the second sangam at Kapadapuram.

The third sangam was also held in Madurai. More than two thousand poems were written by about four hundred and seventy poets, who were attributed as literary sources of the third sangam, but only some few of them survived to serve us as a useful source for the third sangam.

 

The Sangam Literature:

            The Sangam Literature was compiled around 300 to 600 AD, which could be divided in two groups: The Narrative texts (which are also called as the Melkannaku or the eighteen major works) as well as the Didactic texts (which are also called Kilkanakku or the eighteen minor works).

In brief, it could be said that the sangam literature consists of Tolkappiyam, Ettutogai, Pattupattu, and Pathinenkilkanakku and two epics of the Sangam period, the Silappathikaram and the Manimegalai. The Tolkappiyam, written by Tolkappiyar is one of the earliest known works for the Tamil Grammar. The Ettutogai or the eight Anthologies consists of ten long poems. Both the Ettutogai and the Pattupattu are divided in two main forms, the akam and puram. Akam deals with love and its related aspects whereas the puram deals with valour and worship of heroes.

The Pathinenkilkanakku are the eighteen minor works in which the poems are shorter than any other works of literature. The most important work among these is the Tirukurral, written by Tiruvalluvar. It consists of 1330 rhyming Tamil Kurals or couplets which have been organized into 133 chapters. Each chapter of this literary work has a specific subject to deal with. These subjects range from ‘ploughing a piece of land’ to ‘ruling a country’. The Tirukurral has been organized in three parts by Tiruvalluvar. These three sections are aram (the virtue), porul (the realities of life), and inbam (the pleasure experienced by a man and a woman in their relationship). This work of Tiruvalluvar has a great valve everywhere due to its universal simple content. It is also considered as a sacred book by the Tamil people.

 

The South Kingdoms

            Hereditary monarchy was the prevalent form of government. The king was called as Ventan. He was the head of the society and government. He took the lead in events of social importance, such as the festival of Indra. The king was given titles at the time of coronation. The Tamils considered the drum, the sceptre and the white umbrella as the three great insignias (an emblem) of the king’s office. According to the Sangam Classics, kingship was hereditary. The king was responsible for maintaining law and order in the state and looked after the welfare of his subjects.

The three dynasties which ruled during the Sangam Age were the Cholas, the Cheras and the Pandyas.

 

Chera kingdom:

            The Chera kingdom was one of the kingdoms in the south India, during the Sangam Age. It occupied the present day region of Kerela and western part of today’s Tamil Nadu.  There are some predictions that the capital of the Chera kingdom was Vanjji, but other claims say that the present day Kanur was its capital. One of the earliest and better known rulers was Udiyangeral, but the greatest king among the Chera rulers was Sunguttavan. Illango Adigal, brother of Sunguttavan was the composer of Silappadikaram. Bow and arrow was their emblem. The Cheras were at a constant conflict with the Cholas as well as the Pandyas. Literary works such as Padirruppattu and Ahananuru give us a lot of information about the Chera kingdom as well as Sunguttavan.

 

Pandya kingdom:

            The kings of the Pandya kingdom are mentioned in the literary works, from the third century BCE onwards.  It is assumed that a Roman king, Julian, received an embassy from one of the Pandya kings during 361 BCE. Madurai was the capital of the Pandya Kingdom. The regions of the Pandyas were the present day districts of Tirunelvelli, Ramand as well as Madurai from Tamil Nadu. The earliest known Pandyan ruler was Mudukumudi Paruvalidhi, whereas the greatest ruler was Nedunjeliyan, as he set a trade route with the Romans and sent his ambassador to king Augustus. The emblem of this kingdom was fish. Fishing and pearl cultivation were their main business. They patronized the Sangam literature as well as Megasthenes also mentioned about the Pandyas in his works.

 

Chola kingdom:

            The Chola kingdom, also known as Cholamandalam, was situated north-east to the Pandya Kingdom. This kingdom occupied present day districts of Thanjavur and Tanjore of Tamil Nadu. The earliest known ruler of the Chola kingdom was Elara, who conquered Sri Lanka and also ruled there for about fifty years in the second century BCE. The greatest ruler among the Pandyan kings was Karikala, who built a 160 kilometers long embankment along the Kaveri river. He also defeated the Chera and Pandyan rulera at Venni. The capital of Chola kingdom was Uraiyur. Tiger was the emblem of this kingdom. Kaveripoonpattinam was the main port of Chola kingdom. At its best period, it was a very powerful dynasty who ruled not in the Indian subcontinent but also the countries in the eastern part of India like today’s Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Srilanka and various islands. This empire had an advance and elite navy. Some scholars compare their navy capacity with today’s British navy which was equipped with three king of technical groups. The great chola kings were Rajendra Chola and Rajraja Chola.

 

The Society during the Sangam Period

The castes

            The earliest phase of Sangam society, as described in the Tolkappiyam, was based on the five-fold classification of the land- the hills, pastoral, agricultural, deserts and coastal. These ecological variations determined their occupations such as hunting, cultivation, pastoralism, fishing, diving and sailing. The occupation further determined their social position.

 In the beginning of the Sangam Age, the Tamil society was not classified on the basis of the Vedic caste system. The four Vedic varnas were distinctly of a later period. The varna system was brought up by the immigrating Brahmins. The earliest of the Sangam Literature, Tolkappiyam, refers to the four divisions prevalent in the Sangam society. They were the Brahmins, kings, traders and farmers. The classification roughly corresponds to the Vedic social division but they ignored many others and they remained unclassified. Only the Brahmins were the dvijas (twice born) who classified for the sacred thread. There are references to slaves who were known as adimai (one who lived at the feet of another). The prisoners of war were reduced to slavery. Slave markets were also there.

 

The Economy during the Sangam Period

In the Sangam Period, agriculture and trade were the main sources of economic development. The Tamil landform was divided into five tinais. The word tinai means land. The different types of lands were:

§     Kurinji (mountainous region)

§     Mullai (forest)

§     Palai (parched wasteland)

§     Neythal (seashore), and

§     Marutham (agricultural lands)

People’s occupation depended upon the landform they inhabited.

 

Agriculture

The Chola country was watered by the River Kaveri. The tanks made by Karikala for irrigation and his embankment along Kaveri proved to be very useful for agriculture.

Paddy and sugarcane were the two important crops cultivated in large quantities. Other varieties of cropsand fruits included gram, beans, sweet potato, jack fruit, mango, coconut, saffron, pepper and turmeric.

The Sangam poems also mentioned milk and milk products, such as curd, butter, ghee and butter milk. The importance of cattle is attested by the cattle raids on enemy countries mentioned in the literary sources. Hence, one of the primary duties of the kings was to protect the cattle of the kingdom. Cattle enhanced the wealth of the farmers.

 

Trade

            Trade was a very important source of the royal revenue. The Sangam literature refers to trade and commercial activities, both internal and external. Internal trades flourished in the region with local networks of trade connecting different urban centres. Silappadikaram refers to the market streets of Puhar while the Maduraikkanji describes the markets of Madurai, the capital of Pandya kingdom. The prominent urban centers were Madurai, Karur, Perur, Kodumanal, Uraiyur, Kanchipuram and other such places. Caravans of merchants carried their merchandise to different places with their carts. Barter system was prevalent among the people. There were markets in bigger towns called as Angadi.

Archaeological excavations have confirmed the trading relations between the Tamil regions and countries such as Greece, Rome, Egypt, China, southeast Asia and Sri Lanka. Accounts of foreigners such as Pliny and Ptolemy mentionvarious ports and articles traded during the period. There were three types of vessels in use in South India- small coasting vessels, large coasting vessels and ocean going ships.

The commodities which were exported to Rome fetched high profits. The chief animal products of export included ivory and pearl. Plant products like pepper, ginger, cardamom, cloves, nutmegs, coconut, jiggery, teakwood, sandalwood, cotton cloth of special variety called argaru were exported. The main articles of import from Rome were coins, coral, wine, lead, tin and jewellery.

 

Industry

The Sangam Age also witnessed industrial activities. The occupations were generally hereditary.  Some of them are discussed below.

§     Many poems refer to various kinds of smiths like goldsmiths, blacksmiths and coppersmiths.

§     The art of building reached a high standard during this period. Special references have been made about carpenters who made boats with face of horses, elephants and lions.

§     Painters were also in demand. The walls and roofs of houses, dresses, bedsheets, curtains and many other articles of daily use were painted.

§     Weaving was popular not only among the Tamils but also among the foreigners. Garments woven with floral designs have been frequently mentioned in the Sangam literature. Dresses were made from cotton, silk and wool. Indian Silk was in great demand among the Roman merchants. Weaving industry was a domestic industry in which all the members of the family, especially women took part.

§     The leather workers, potters and other craftsmen also contributed to the industrial development of the country.

 

Conclusion:

The Sangam age was inhabited by the three most magnanimous kingdoms of Indian History, the Cheras, the Pandyas and the Cholas. The period of the Sangam age went on from the third century BCE to the third century AD in the south India which lies to the south of the river Krishna and its tributary Tungabhadra. In the Sangams, poets and great scholars came from different areas, to compile the literature and succeeded in composing many literary works with two Epics.

 

 

 

Total Words: 2000+

Sources of Data:

ICSE AGES AND EVENTS IX- PEARSON

‘RAJVANSH’ SERIES from EPIC CHANNEL, India

OTHER COARSE MATERIALS