South India and the Sangam Age

Flagship overview

The Sangam Age (roughly the third century BCE to the third century CE) is the earliest period of Tamil history, known from the Sangam literature, the oldest body of Tamil writing, said to have been composed at literary assemblies (sangams) of poets held at Madurai under the patronage of the Pandya kings. The Tamil land (Tamilakam) was ruled by three crowned kingdoms (the muvendar): the Cheras, the Cholas, and the Pandyas, along with numerous minor chieftains (velirs). After a long gap, the Pallavas and the Chalukyas dominated the peninsula in the seventh to eighth centuries, and from the ninth century the Imperial Cholas (c. 850 to 1279 CE) built a powerful, well-administered maritime state celebrated for its village self-government, its Dravidian temple architecture, and its bronzes. The sources are literary (Sangam corpus), epigraphic (the Uttaramerur inscriptions, copper-plate grants), foreign (the Greco-Roman Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, Pliny, Ptolemy), and archaeological (Roman coin hoards, the Arikamedu trading station).

For CAPF, the topic is medium-yield but high in clean matching facts. The examiner tests the three-kingdom capitals and emblems, Sangam works and their authors, the Chola kings and their conquests, and Chola local self-government (the sabha, the variyams, and selection by kudavolai).

Core narrative

The three early kingdoms (muvendar)

• The Cheras held present Kerala and the western Tamil country and grew rich on the pepper trade with Rome; Muziris was a famous emporium. The greatest Chera ruler of tradition was Senguttuvan ("the red/good Chera"), who is credited with founding the Pattini cult, the worship of Kannagi, the heroine of the Silappadikaram, as the ideal chaste wife.
• The Cholas of the early period are best known for Karikala, the victor of the Battle of Venni (over a confederacy of the Cheras, Pandyas, and minor chiefs) and the reputed builder of the embankment (kallanai dam) on the Kaveri to control floods and improve irrigation. The Chola port Puhar (Kaveripattinam) was a major trading town.
• The Pandyas of Madurai patronised the Tamil sangams. They are mentioned in Greco-Roman sources, and a Pandya king is recorded as having sent an embassy to the Roman emperor Augustus.

Sangam literature

The Sangam corpus is the earliest Tamil literature, largely secular and "this-worldly" in tone, composed by poets of all castes and both sexes (including women poets such as Avvaiyar). The chief works:

• Tolkappiyam: the oldest surviving Tamil grammar (by Tolkappiyar), also a work on poetics and society.
• The Ettutogai (Eight Anthologies) and the Pattuppattu (Ten Idylls): the bulk of Sangam poetry, classed by theme into akam (love, the inner life) and puram (war, valour, the public life).
• The Pathinenkilkanakku (Eighteen Minor Works), of which the Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar is the most celebrated, a work of ethics, polity, and love, often called the "Tamil Veda" (post-Sangam).
• The twin epics, composed slightly later (the "post-Sangam" age) and Buddhist or Jain in flavour: Silappadikaram (the "tale of the anklet", by Ilango Adigal, the story of Kovalan and Kannagi) and Manimekalai (by Sittalai Sattanar, a sequel of Buddhist colour).

Sangam society and economy

Tamil society recognised five ecological and economic zones (tinai), each with its own deity, occupation, and poetic mood:

Trade with the Roman (and West Asian) world was vigorous. The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (a Greek mariner's guide), Pliny's Natural History, and Ptolemy's Geography describe the exchange of Indian pepper, spices, pearls, beryl, cotton, and ivory for Roman gold, wine, and pottery. Pliny complained that Rome was being drained of gold by the trade with India. Large hoards of Roman coins and a Roman trading settlement at Arikamedu (near Pondicherry) confirm the contact. The local economy combined plough agriculture, weaving, pearl-fishing, and brisk maritime trade through ports such as Muziris, Puhar, and Korkai.

The Pallavas and Chalukyas (brief)

Between the Sangam age and the Imperial Cholas, the peninsula was dominated by:

• The Pallavas of Kanchipuram (c. 6th to 9th century): Mahendravarman I and Narasimhavarman I ("Mamalla", who defeated the Chalukya Pulakeshin II) pioneered rock-cut and structural Dravidian temples. The rathas (monolithic temples) and the Shore Temple at Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram) and the Kailasanatha temple at Kanchipuram are their monuments.
• The Chalukyas of Badami (Vatapi) (c. 6th to 8th century): Pulakeshin II checked Harshavardhana's advance to the Deccan (the Aihole inscription by Ravikirti records his reign). Their cave and temple art at Badami, Aihole ("the cradle of temple architecture"), and Pattadakal is famous. The Rashtrakutas, who built the rock-cut Kailasa temple at Ellora, followed them.

The Imperial Cholas (c. 850 to 1279 CE)

The Cholas revived as a great power under Vijayalaya, who captured Tanjore (Thanjavur) around 850 CE. The empire reached its peak under two great kings:

• Rajaraja I (985 to 1014 CE): the real founder of Chola greatness. He conquered the Pandyas, the Cheras, parts of Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, and built the magnificent Rajarajeshwara (Brihadeeswara) Temple at Tanjore, dedicated to Shiva, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the apex of Dravidian architecture.
• Rajendra I (1014 to 1044 CE): extended the empire to the Ganga (taking the title Gangaikonda Chola, "the Chola who conquered the Ganga", and building a new capital, Gangaikonda Cholapuram, with its own great temple). He sent a famous naval expedition across the Bay of Bengal against the Srivijaya empire (Sailendra dynasty) of Southeast Asia and made the Chola navy the strongest of its age, securing the sea routes to China.

Chola administration is celebrated for its local self-government. The realm was organised into mandalams (provinces), valanadus (divisions), nadus (districts), and villages. There were three broad types of village assembly:

• The ur, the assembly of an ordinary village of landholders.
• The sabha or mahasabha, the assembly of a brahmadeya village (a village granted to Brahmanas), the most developed body.
• The nagaram, the assembly of a town of merchants.

The Uttaramerur inscriptions (of the reign of Parantaka I, near Kanchipuram) record in remarkable detail how the sabha worked: the ward-wise division of the village, the qualifications and disqualifications for membership (a member had to own a stated amount of taxed land, live in a house on his own site, be aged between roughly 35 and 70, know the Vedas, and be honest; defaulters, the corrupt, and their kin were barred), the fixed annual term, the audit of officials, and the selection of members to the variyams (committees, for tanks, gardens, justice, gold, and so on) by the kudavolai system, the drawing of palm-leaf tickets ("ballots") from a pot. The Cholas are equally famous for Dravidian temple architecture (the towering gopuram gateway and the vimana over the sanctum) and for the Chola bronzes, cast by the lost-wax method, above all the Nataraja (Shiva as the cosmic dancer).

Religion and culture

The Sangam age was largely secular, with worship of Murugan (the Tamil war-god) and other local deities. The later south saw the great Tamil bhakti movement of the Nayanars (Shaiva saints) and the Alvars (Vaishnava saints), whose hymns were compiled in the Tevaram and the Nalayira Divya Prabandham. The Cholas were ardent Shaivas, and their temples were not only places of worship but also centres of education, banking, landholding, and administration.

Static facts to memorise

Rulers and achievements

Texts and authors

Peninsular dynasties before the Imperial Cholas

Security and governance angle

The Uttaramerur inscriptions are among the earliest documented examples anywhere in the world of an elected, committee-based local government: defined membership qualifications and disqualifications, fixed annual terms, the audit of officials, the recall of the corrupt, and selection by lot (kudavolai). They are frequently invoked as an ancient Indian precedent for the panchayati raj and local self-government enshrined later in the Constitution (the 73rd Amendment), a theme the examiner can pair with the polity note on local government. The Chola navy and its protection of the maritime trade routes to Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and China is also an early example of Indian sea-power and the security of trade.

How CAPF asks it

Formats: kingdom-to-capital-to-emblem matching; Sangam-work-to-author matching; single-correct on the Chola kings and their conquests; statement-based on the Uttaramerur inscriptions and Chola local government; Roman trade and coin hoards.

Authored practice (with answers):

Common confusion

• Emblems: Chera (bow and arrow), Chola (tiger), Pandya (fish). Capitals: Chera (Vanji), Chola (Uraiyur, later Puhar), Pandya (Madurai).
• Rajaraja I (Brihadeeswara Temple, conquered Sri Lanka) versus Rajendra I (Gangaikonda Chola, raided Srivijaya). Father and son; do not swap.
• Silappadikaram (Ilango Adigal, Kannagi) versus Manimekalai (Sattanar, Buddhist). Both are post-Sangam epics.
• Ur (ordinary village) versus sabha/mahasabha (brahmadeya village) versus nagaram (merchant town): three different Chola assemblies.
• Sangam literature is mostly secular; the Tamil bhakti hymns (Tevaram, Divya Prabandham) of the Nayanars and Alvars come later.
• Pallavas (Kanchipuram, Mamallapuram) versus Chalukyas of Badami (Aihole, Pattadakal): two distinct dynasties that fought each other.

Memory hook

• Three kingdoms and emblems: "Chera Bow, Chola Tiger, Pandya Fish" (CB, CT, PF).
• Capitals: "Chera Vanji, Chola Uraiyur, Pandya Madurai."
• "Rajaraja Builds (Tanjore temple), Rajendra Reaches (the Ganga and the sea)."
• Three Chola assemblies: "Ur ordinary, Sabha Brahmin, Nagaram merchant."

Night before

• The three Sangam kingdoms: Chera (bow, capital Vanji, port Muziris), Chola (tiger, capital Uraiyur/Puhar), Pandya (fish, capital Madurai).
• Sangam literature was composed in assemblies at Madurai under Pandya patronage; Tolkappiyam is the oldest Tamil grammar.
• Twin epics: Silappadikaram (Ilango Adigal) and Manimekalai (Sattanar); Tirukkural by Tiruvalluvar.
• Five tinai zones: kurinji (hills), mullai (forest), marudam (plains), neidal (coast), palai (arid).
• Karikala (Chola) won the Battle of Venni and built the Kaveri embankment; Senguttuvan (Chera) founded the Kannagi cult.
• Brisk Roman trade; Roman gold coin hoards and the Arikamedu trading station; Periplus and Pliny describe it.
• Imperial Cholas founded by Vijayalaya (Tanjore, c. 850 CE).
• Rajaraja I built the Brihadeeswara Temple at Tanjore (a UNESCO site) and conquered Sri Lanka.
• Rajendra I took the title Gangaikonda Chola and raided the Srivijaya empire by sea.
• Chola local government: ur, sabha/mahasabha, and nagaram assemblies; selection by kudavolai (lots), detailed in the Uttaramerur inscriptions.
• Chola Nataraja bronzes and the gopuram-and-vimana Dravidian temple style.

Glossary

• Muvendar: the three crowned kings of the Tamil land (Chera, Chola, Pandya).
• Tinai: one of the five ecological-poetic zones of Tamil society.
• Akam and puram: the love (inner) and war (public) themes of Sangam poetry.
• Pattini cult: the worship of Kannagi, the chaste wife of the Silappadikaram.
• Brahmadeya: a village granted tax-free to Brahmanas, governed by a sabha.
• Ur, sabha, nagaram: the assemblies of an ordinary village, a brahmadeya, and a merchant town.
• Variyam: a committee of the Chola village sabha (for tanks, gardens, justice, and so on).
• Kudavolai: the Chola system of selecting members by drawing palm-leaf tickets from a pot.
• Mandalam, valanadu, nadu: the province, division, and district of Chola administration.
• Gopuram: the towering, ornate gateway of a Dravidian temple.
• Vimana: the pyramidal tower over the sanctum of a Dravidian temple.
• Nataraja: Shiva as the cosmic dancer, the masterpiece of Chola bronze art.
• Periplus of the Erythraean Sea: a Greek mariner's guide describing Indo-Roman trade.
• Arikamedu: a Roman trading station near Pondicherry.

Related notes

• post mauryan and gupta age
• delhi sultanate
• mauryan empire
• local government
• Index
• syllabus index