About Tamil Language

“It has become increasingly apparent over the last century, that Tamil is indeed one of the world’s great languages and that in it is expressed one of the world’s great ancient literatures. Such mystic outpourings as the poems of Thirumular, such philosophical penetration as that of Sankara and Ramanuja, such scientific brains as that of the other Ramanuja, the mathematician, or that of the late Nobel Prize winner Sir S.V.Raman do not arise in barren soil. Nor do the exquisite arts od Carnatic music and Bharatha Natyam. Imagination of this category springs from a richly inticate and articulate linguistic symbolism..”

- Albert B. Frankin, The Tamil Language in the Modern World – Journal of Tamil Studies, September 1972.

The Tamil Sangams

Tamil is one of the two classical traditions of India, the other being Sanskrit. Tamil is the oldest living language in India.

Madurai, the capital of Pandyas, is usually associated with fostering and developing the language, more than any other, due to the traditions of the Tamil Sangams (an academic gathering for the poets and the writers) that was hosted in Madurai.

Although there is this tradition of three Tamil Sangams having existed in different time eras, there has been no works that has come to us from the First Tamil Sangam.

The only work, if any, to have come to us from the Second Tamil Sangam, which is placed just before the Christian era, is the Tamil Grammar “Tolkappiyam”. There is another school of thought, which dates “Tolkappian” around 5th to 6th century CE.

The Third Tamil Sangam works, which is placed around 1st to 3rd century CE, is the one that is traditionally refered as Sangam Literature. This is a rich compilation of poems from multitude of poets, giving us a glimpse of daily life and thoughts, as it was about 2000 years ago.