The early historic period of South India (roughly 300 BCE to 300 CE) named after the Sangam (academy) literature, dominated by three Tamil kingdoms and a flourishing maritime trade with Rome.
- Three crowned kings (muvendar): the Cheras (capital Vanji, emblem the bow), the Cholas (capital Uraiyur and later Puhar or Kaverippattinam, emblem the tiger) and the Pandyas (capital Madurai, emblem the fish).
- The Pandyas patronised the Sangam assemblies at Madurai; the Cheras controlled the Malabar coast and pepper trade; the Cholas held the fertile Kaveri delta.
- Society used the tinai concept, dividing land into five eco-zones (such as kurinji hills and marutam farmland), each with its own deity and way of life.
- Brisk Indo-Roman trade ran through ports like Muziris and Puhar; Roman gold coins and the text Periplus of the Erythraean Sea attest to it; pepper, pearls and muslin were exported.
- The classic Tamil epics Silappadikaram (by Ilango Adigal) and Manimekalai belong to the post-Sangam phase; the Tolkappiyam is the earliest Tamil grammar.
The three crowned kings with their capitals and emblems (Chera-bow, Chola-tiger, Pandya-fish), the Roman trade and ports, and the tinai eco-zones are standard South Indian history facts.
The three are the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas (not the later imperial Cholas of the medieval period); the Pandyas, not the Cholas, hosted the Sangam at Madurai; Silappadikaram is post-Sangam, not part of the core Sangam corpus.
Early Tamil age of three kings (Chera-bow, Chola-tiger, Pandya-fish), Roman trade through Muziris, and the tinai five eco-zones.