The Sangam Age
ICSE Class 9 · History & Civics · Chapter 10
What this chapter covers
- The Sangam Age: meaning, place and period
- Sources of the Sangam Age
- Sources: the Tirukkural
- Sources: the Megaliths
- Sangam society
- Society: the position of women
- Economy: agriculture
- Economy: trade
Key points
- The Sangam Age is the period of early Tamil history, about the third century BCE to the third century CE, named after the assemblies of poets held, by tradition, at Madurai under the Pandyas.
- Tamilakam was ruled by three kingdoms: the Cheras (Vanji, bow), the Cholas (Uraiyur, tiger) and the Pandyas (Madurai, fish), along with many chieftains.
- Sangam literature includes the Tolkappiyam, the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Idylls; akam poems deal with love, puram poems with war and public life.
- The Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar has 1,330 couplets in 133 chapters, in three parts: Aram (virtue), Porul (wealth and public life) and Inbam (love).
- The Tirukkural shows the ideals of Tamil society and its ideas on kingship and government, but as a book of advice it gives no dates or events.
- Megaliths are large stone burial monuments: dolmens, cists, cairn circles, menhirs, urn burials and rock-cut caves.
- Megalithic burials contain iron weapons and tools, black-and-red pottery, beads and ornaments; they show the use of iron, belief in life after death, differences of wealth and long-distance trade.
- Adichanallur in Tamil Nadu is a major urn-burial site.
- The five tinai (Kurinji, Mullai, Marutham, Neythal, Palai) linked each landscape with its own occupations and people.
- Women were poets (Avvaiyar), worked in fields, markets and weaving, and could often choose their partners, but depended on men; widows lived a harsh life and sati was known, though rare.
- Agriculture was the chief occupation; paddy was the main crop, with millets, sugarcane, cotton and spices; tanks, wells, channels and the Kallanai supplied water; land revenue was the king's main income.
- Internal trade used barter and markets (the day and evening markets of Madurai); salt merchants carried salt inland in carts.
- Foreign trade with Rome exported pepper, pearls, cotton cloth, ivory and gems, and imported gold and silver coins, wine, glass and horses.
- The main ports were Muziris and Tondi (Cheras), Puhar (Cholas), Korkai (Pandyas) and the trading station at Arikamedu; Roman coin hoards confirm the trade.
Questions answered
What was Tamilakam? Name the three kingdoms of the Sangam Age and the capital of each.
Tamilakam was the land of the Tamil-speaking people in the far south of India, covering most of present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Its three kingdoms were the Cheras (capital Vanji), the Cholas (capital Uraiyur) and the Pandyas (capital Madurai).
What is a Sangam? Where were the Sangams held, according to tradition?
A Sangam is an assembly or academy of Tamil poets and scholars. According to tradition three Sangams were held under the patronage of the Pandya kings, the third and best known at Madurai.
Distinguish between akam and puram poetry.
Akam poems deal with the inner world of love and family life; puram poems deal with the outer world of kings, war, generosity, death and fame.
Who wrote the Tirukkural? How many couplets does it contain, and how are they arranged?
The Tirukkural was written by Tiruvalluvar. It contains 1,330 couplets (kurals) arranged in 133 chapters of ten couplets each, grouped into three parts: Aram, Porul and Inbam.
Give two reasons why the Tirukkural is valued as a source for the Sangam Age.
It shows the moral ideals of Tamil society, such as truthfulness, hospitality and gratitude; and its chapters on kingship, ministers, forts and the army show that the Tamil kingdoms had a developed system of government. It also confirms that agriculture was highly valued.
What is a dolmen? How is it different from a menhir?
A dolmen is a megalithic tomb in which a flat capstone rests on upright stones to form a chamber. A menhir is a single tall stone set upright in the ground as a memorial, with no chamber.
Name one important megalithic site in Tamil Nadu and state what has been found there.
Adichanallur on the Tamirabarani river in the Thoothukudi district, where urn burials containing human bones have been found along with iron weapons, bronze objects, gold ornaments and pottery.
Why are the megaliths linked with the spread of iron in south India?
Iron swords, spearheads, arrowheads, sickles, hoes and ploughshares are found in large numbers in megalithic burials, showing that the megalith builders used iron widely for both war and farming.
Past board exam questions
ICSE 2019 sample paper · 2 marks
What are Megaliths?
Show answer
Megaliths are large stone structures (from 'mega' = big, 'lith' = stone) erected over or around burial sites, mainly in South India. They are an important archaeological source of the Sangam Age, as the objects found in them (iron tools, weapons, pottery) tell us about the life of the people.