Tamil was the oldest literary language of south India. The first period of Tamil literature is associated with the Sangam Era.
Tamil tradition refers to three literary academic meetings called by the Pandyan kings, where poets and scholars assembled, along with kings and princes. These assemblies were called Sangams and they met at Madurai between 500 BC and AD 500. The first was believed to be attended by legendary sages, but its entire works have perished. Of the second Sangam, only one work survives-Tolkappiyam. It is a work on Tamil grammar, literature, tradition and sociology. The poets of the third Sangam wrote Ettutogai or eight anthologies. These anthologies contain well over 2,000 poems ascribed to more than 200 authors. The Sangams are of great importance to us not only for their literary value, but because they are one of the main sources used for documenting the early history of the ancient Tamil country.
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