HPAS/Allied Mains 2022 Answer Writing Challenge Day 270: Model Answer

Question: Write a note on the significance of Sangam literature. (4 marks/60 words)

Answer:

The  term ‘Sangam’ literally means ‘confluence’. However, in the context of early  South Indian history this term can be rendered into English as an assembly, a college  or an academy of learned people, held under the patronage of the Pandyan kings,  who were  great  lovers  of literature  and  the  fine  arts. The Sangam was a voluntary of organization of poets.

• The  Sangam  works  contain  mines  of  information  for  the  study  of  early  history  of Tamilakam. They  reflect  the  matter  of  great  historical  importance.
• Tolkappiyam, a treatise on Tamil grammar  and  poetics, composed  probably  during  the  second  Sangam,  is  the  oldest  extant  literary  work  in Tamil.
• Modern  scholarship  use  the  term  ‘Sangam  Literature’ for  only  those  works  in  verse  (prose  is  of  much  later  origin),  which  are  comprised  in  the  Ettutogai  (Eight collections),  Pattupattu  (Ten  songs)  and  Patinenkilkanakku  (The  Eighteen  Minor  Works),  which  are  judged to  have  been  produced  in  that  order  during  the  period  A.D  150-250.

• The  so  called  ‘Five  Epics’  (‘the  five great  poems’)  include  Jivakachintamani,  Silappadikaram,  Manimekalai,  Valayapathi  andKundalakesi. These are  assigned  much  later  dates.
• Silappadikaram  and Manimekalai  are  called  the  ‘twin  epics’  because  they  form  a  continuous  story narrating  the  story  of  a  single  family  –  Kovalan  (the  rich  merchant  prince  of  Puhar),  Kannagi  (Kovalan’s chaste  wife),  Madhavi  (the  dancer)  with  whom  Kovalan  lived  in  wedlock  and  Manimekalai,  the  child  of  this wedlock.
• Ilango  Adigal  was  the  author  of  Silappadikaram. In the epic, Ilango  is  mentioned  as  the  brother  of the  reigning  Chera  king  Senguttuvan.
• Manimekalai  was  written  by  Sathanar  mainly  to  propound  the Buddhist  doctrine  among  Tamils.
• Nonetheless,  these  poetical  works  describe  about  the  social,  religious, economic  and  political  conditions  of  Tamilakam
• Sangam literature attached due importance to women in domestic environment. Every family gained due regard only through women, according to Sangam period works. About 3,000 versus are found in the Sangam literature on human life, a rare feature.
•  Sangam literature is dotted with a large number of references codifying self discipline and way of life to be adopted during post-marital period in everyone’s life.
• Sangam literature indicates that women enjoyed more status and due honour at their in-laws more than what they enjoyed during the pre-marital period.