Old Tamil Caṅkam literature and the so-called Caṅkam period

Abstract

The reconstruction of the early history of Tamilnadu has been based mainly on the so-called Caṅkam poetry. This poetry is generally taken to provide descriptions of Tamilnadu by contemporary poets during the period before the rise of the Pallavas and the introduction of Sanskrit culture in the South. However, the argument is basically circular, that is to say, Caṅkam poetry is dated before the Pallavas because it does not mention the Pallavas and describes a purely indigenous culture which is hardly touched by Sanskrit culture. In the present article it will be argued that Caṅkam poetry does not describe a contemporary society or the poets' own culture, but a society from the past, or life in small, primitive villages which are far removed from the poets' own cosmopolitan milieu. This means that Caṅkam poetry is to be dated after the period it describes. On closer consideration, we appear to be dealing with certain literary genres borrowed from the North Indian Kâvya tradition, more in particular with compositions which are typically not written in Sanskrit but in Prâkrit or Apabhraṁśa. In Caṅkam literature, the regional Tamil language has been assigned the role of a Prâkrit. This use of Tamil we otherwise meet in the inscriptions of the Pântiyas of the eighth or ninth century and only in the inscriptions of that dynasty. This suggests that Caṅkam poetry was composed by the same poets who were responsible for the Velvikudi and Dalavaypuram inscriptions of the Pâṅtiyas. As such, it is no longer possible to use this poetry for the reconstruction of the early history of Tamilnadu. On the other hand, Caṅkam poetry does supply interesting material for the study of the cultural politics of a newly arisen regional dynasty in eighth-century South India.