Works of bhakti literature from this period included the anthology Four Thousand Sacred Hymns, revered today by the Vishnuites as much as the Vedas, and Twelve Sacred Collections, most of whose material was compiled by Nambiyandar Nambi approximately in the 11th century. The development of Shivaism and Vishnuism within Hinduism gave rise to an extensive bhakti literature beginning in the seventh and eighth centuries. An artificial, bombastic style of prose and poetry that combined Tamil and Sanskrit became prevalent. Ottakkuttan (12th century) and Puhajendi (13th and 14th centuries) developed the genre of court poetry. The narrative poem Ramayana by Kampan (10th and 11th centuries), as well as other adapted works depicting Tamil mythological figures, were no longer mere imitations but depicted traditional Tamil life. Buddhism and Jainism influenced Tamil narrative poems of the second half of the first millennium, including Cilappatikaram (The Jeweled Anklet), Manimekalai, Civakacintamani, Valayapadi, and Kundalakesi the last two works survived only in fragments. The Tirukkural and Nalatiyar, collections of aphoristic poetry, date from the middle of the first millennium A.D. The rules for ancient Tamil poetry, which was similar to folklore, were fixed in the Tolkappiyam, the earliest Tamil grammatical treatise written in verse. The earliest works of Tamil literature included love lyrics and the poetry collections Eight Anthologies and Ten Songs, which described the rural and urban life of the ancient Tamils, the wanderings of poets, and the valor of kings. During this period, Kambaramayanam and Periya Puranam were two Tamil literary classic writers.The literature of the Tamils, dating from the beginning of the Common Era. These epics throw light on the socio-economic life of Tamils from second century to sixth century AD.įrom the 6th to 12th century AD, the Tamil devotional poems written by Nayanmars (saints who sang in praise of Shaivism) and Alvars herald the great Bhakti movement which engulfed the entire Indian sub-continent. The second epic was written by a grain merchant of Madurai. The first is considered as the brightest gem of Tamil literature and deals with a love story. These two were composed around the sixth century AD. In addition, there is the twin epics of Silappadikaram and Manimekalai.
The first part deals with the epics, the second part with polity and government and the third part with love.īesides the Sangama texts, there is a text called Tolkkappiyam, which deals with grammar and poetry. Thiruvallurar’s work Kural is divided into three parts. There are two main groups - the Patinenkil Kanakku (the eighteen lower collections) and Pattupattu (the ten songs). There are about 30,000 lines of poetry, which are arranged in eight anthologies called Ettuttokoi. In the second Sangam about 2000 poems have been collected. The poems collected in the first sangam have been lost. The Sangama literature is a collection of long and short poems composed by various poets in praise of numerous heroes and heroines. The contributions of Tamil saints like Thiruvalluvar who wrote Kural which has been translated into many langauges are noteworthy.
Considerable Sangama literature was produced in the early four centuries of the Christian era, although it was finally compiled by 600 AD. Tamil as a written language was known since the beginning of the Christian era.