# Tamil literature from the Sangam age to the present: Sangam works, Dravidian languages, Bhakti literature, the Tamil renaissance

> These study notes explain Tamil literature from the Sangam age to the present for the Group 4 / VAO (Combined Civil Services Examination-IV) exam in plain language: the same reviewed notes the TNPSC Guide app shows, published by our editors with their source. Read the key points first, then practise the unit's questions. For exam facts such as dates and vacancies, always check tnpsc.gov.in.

Last updated: 2026-11-02 · By TNPSC Guide editorial team
URL: https://www.tnpscguide.com/exams/group-4/notes/gs-tn-literature-history

## Why the exam asks this

The syllabus asks Tamil literature from the Sangam age to the present. The 2024 paper asked the year Tamil was declared India's first classical language (Q114). Lists of works, compilers, editors and years suit questions on this topic; learn the lists in full.

## Tholkappiyam and the Sangam works

Tholkappiyar's Tholkappiyam is the oldest Tamil grammar; its first two parts give the grammar of language, the third the grammar of social life. Paththuppaattu and Ettuththogai are the melkanakku works, older than the keezhkanakku; the eighteen keezhkanakku works give ethics for life, Thirukkural the foremost. Sangam poems divide into akam (love, family) and puram (war, valour) and are arranged by thinai. The Class 9 Tamil book's table dates Sangam literature 5th century BCE to 2nd century CE and Tholkappiyam to about the 3rd century BCE; the history book gives another range, so compare the options carefully.

**Sangam works and epics: the lists**

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Ettuththogai (eight) | Natrinai, Kurunthogai, Paripaadal, Pathitruppaththu, Ainkurunooru, Kaliththogai, Agananooru, Puranaanooru |
| Paththuppaattu (ten) | Thirumurugaatruppadai, Porunaraatruppadai, Perumpaanaatruppadai, Sirupaanaatruppadai, Mullaippaattu, Nedunalvaadai, Madhuraikkaanchi, Kurinjippaattu, Pattinappaalai, Malaipadukadaam |
| Five great epics | Silappathikaram, Manimekalai, Seevaka Chinthamani, Valaiyaapathi, Kundalakesi |

## The Dravidian language family

India's more than 1300 languages fall into four families: Indo-Aryan, Dravidian, Austro-Asiatic and Sino-Tibetan. S. Agathiyalingam called India a museum of languages. Kumarila Bhatta first used the word Dravida; Father Heras traced Tamil to Dravida through Thamizhaa, Thamilaa, Dramilaa, Dhramilaa, Thraavidaa and Dravidaa. Francis Ellis first held that Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam form a separate family and named them South Indian languages; Caldwell's Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian Languages (1856) established that they differ from the Aryan family. The family has South (Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam...), Central (Telugu...) and North (Brahui...) branches; Erukala, Thanga, Kurumba and Sozhiga are also said to be Dravidian.

## Tamil among the Dravidian languages

Dravidian verbs show class, gender, number and person; only Malayalam lacks gender suffixes. Tamil has the least influence from other languages, and most of India's oldest inscriptions are in Tamil. Kannada's oldest work is Kavirajamarga (9th century CE), Telugu's Bharatam (11th century), Malayalam's Ramacharitam (12th century). Tamil appears on currency notes of Mauritius, Sri Lanka and other countries.

## Sanskrit literature in the Pallava age

The Pallava king Mahendravarman I wrote Mattavilasa Prahasana in Sanskrit. Bharavi's Kiratarjuniya and Dandin's Dasakumaracharita set the standards of South Indian Sanskrit; Dandin, author of the poetics work Kavyadarsa, was at the Pallava court.

## The Bhakti movement and its literature

The Tamil Bhakti movement was strong from the 6th to the 9th century CE, built on the songs of the Nayanmars and Alvars. The twelve Alvars and sixty-three Nayanmars came from many social groups; Andal was an Alvar; Karaikkal Ammaiyar and Mangaiyarkkarasiyar were women Nayanmars. The Thevaram, Naalaayira Divya Prabandham, Thiruththondar Thogai, Manikkavasagar's Thiruvasagam and Periya Puranam are key sources. Nathamuni, priest of the Srirangam temple, compiled the Alvars' four thousand songs at the end of the 9th century. Periyalvar lived at Srivilliputhur in the 9th century; Nammalvar of Kurugur (Alvarthirunagari), the greatest Alvar, wrote four works including Thiruvaaymozhi. Nambiyandar Nambi compiled the Nayanmar songs as the Thirumurai at the end of the 10th century.

**The twelve Thirumurai**

| | |
| --- | --- |
| 1, 2, 3 (Thevaram) | Sambandar |
| 4, 5, 6 (Thevaram) | Appar |
| 7 (Thevaram) | Sundarar |
| 8 | Manikkavasagar |
| 12 | Sekkizhar's Periya Puranam (Chola age; lives of the sixty-three Nayanmars) |

## Print and editing

Tamil was the first non-European language in print: Thambiran Vanakkam, Goa, 1578. Ziegenbalg set up a full press at Tharangambadi in 1709; the Kural was printed in 1812. F.W. Ellis (1777-1819) founded the College of Fort St George in 1816. C.W. Damodaram (1832-1901) edited Tholkappiyam, Veerasozhiyam, Iraiyanar Agapporul, Ilakkana Vilakkam, Kaliththogai and Soolamani from palm leaves. U.V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855-1942), pupil of Meenakshi Sundaranar, edited Seevaka Chinthamani (1887), Paththuppaattu (1889), Silappathikaram (1892), Puranaanooru (1894) and Manimekalai (1898).

## The Tamil renaissance

The invocation to Tamil in P. Sundaranar's (1855-1897) play Manonmaniyam shows renaissance thought. Parithimar Kalaignar (V.G. Suryanarayana Sastri, 1870-1903) first argued that Tamil is a classical language, not a regional one, and brought the 14-line sonnet into Tamil. Maraimalai Adigal (1876-1950), born Vedachalam, founded the pure Tamil movement and is called the father of Tamil linguistic purism; his Gnanasagaram became Arivukkadal and his Samarasa Sanmarga Sangam became Pothunilaik Kazhagam; his daughter Neelambigai compiled a dictionary of Tamil equivalents for Sanskrit words. Thiru.Vi. Kalyanasundaram, Parithimar Kalaignar, Maraimalai Adigal, Subramania Bharathi (1882-1921), S. Vaiyapuri and Bharathidasan (1891-1964) shaped the renaissance.

## The Tamil music movement

Abraham Pandithar (1859-1919) wrote on Tamil music history and founded the Sangeetha Vidya Mahajana Sangam at Thanjavur in 1912, the seed of the Tamil Isai movement; the first Tamil Isai conference met in 1943.

## Classical languages and the Eighth Schedule

In 2004 the Government of India created the category of classical language: Tamil (2004), Sanskrit (2005), Telugu (2008), Kannada (2008), Malayalam (2013), Odia (2014). The Eighth Schedule had 14 languages at the start; the textbook says 22 are now recognised.

**Key years**

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Caldwell's Comparative Grammar | 1856 (class 9 Tamil, page 3) |
| Thambiran Vanakkam, Goa | 1578 (class 10, page 125) |
| Ziegenbalg's press; the Kural in print | 1709; 1812 (class 10, page 125) |
| College of Fort St George (Ellis) | 1816 (class 10, page 125) |
| U.V. Swaminatha Iyer's editions | 1887, 1889, 1892, 1894, 1898 (class 10, page 125) |
| Sangeetha Vidya Mahajana Sangam; first Tamil Isai conference | 1912; 1943 (class 10, page 131) |
| Tamil a classical language | 2004 (class 10, page 259) |
| Eighth Schedule languages | 14 at first, 22 now (class 10, page 259) |
| Indian languages and families | more than 1300; four families (class 9 Tamil, page 2) |

> **Exam tip:** Memory hooks
Eight and ten are on top: Ettuththogai and Paththuppaattu are melkanakku. Thirumurai 3 - 3 - 1 - 1: Sambandar three, Appar three, Sundarar one (the seven are Thevaram), Manikkavasagar the eighth. Compilers: Nathamuni for the Alvars, Nambiyandar Nambi for the Nayanmars (both start with na). The textbook's list of classical languages runs from Tamil 2004 to Odia 2014.

**Easy to confuse**

| | |
| --- | --- |
| Melkanakku / keezhkanakku | Paththuppaattu, Ettuththogai (older); the ethical works including the Kural |
| Ellis / Caldwell | proposed the separate family, college of 1816; proved it in 1856 |
| Kumarila Bhatta / Father Heras | first used the word Dravida; traced Tamil to Dravida |
| Nathamuni / Nambiyandar Nambi | Divya Prabandham (end of 9th century); Thirumurai (end of 10th century) |
| C.W. Damodaram / U.V. Swaminatha Iyer | Tholkappiyam, Kaliththogai; Chinthamani, Silappathikaram, Puranaanooru, Manimekalai |
| Thambiran Vanakkam / Ziegenbalg's press | 1578 Goa; 1709 Tharangambadi |
| Parithimar Kalaignar / Maraimalai Adigal | first argued for classical status, sonnet; pure Tamil movement |

> **Exam tip:** Quick check
1. Who called India a museum of languages? Answer: S. Agathiyalingam.
2. Who compiled the Naalaayira Divya Prabandham? Answer: Nathamuni.
3. In which year was Tamil declared a classical language? Answer: 2004.
4. Who founded the pure Tamil movement? Answer: Maraimalai Adigal.
5. Which Dravidian language has no gender suffixes? Answer: Malayalam.

Source: சமூக அறிவியல், ஒன்பதாம் வகுப்பு, தமிழ் வழி (Social Science, Standard IX, Tamil medium; Samacheer Kalvi) (9ஆம் வகுப்புச் சமூக அறிவியல், வரலாறு அலகு 3, பக்கம் 35-36, 40; 9ஆம் வகுப்புத் தமிழ், இயல் 1 (திராவிட மொழிக்குடும்பம்), பக்கம் 2-6; 11ஆம் வகுப்பு வரலாறு, அலகு 9 (தென்னிந்தியாவில் பண்பாட்டு வளர்ச்சி), பக்கம் 140, 144-145; 10ஆம் வகுப்புச் சமூக அறிவியல், வரலாறு அலகு 10, பக்கம் 125-126, 131, குடிமையியல் அலகு 1, பக்கம் 259)

## Sources

- [Official syllabus page](https://www.tnpsc.gov.in/english/syllabus.html)
- [Notifications](https://www.tnpsc.gov.in/English/Notification.aspx)