NO. 46.— 1895.] ANCIENT TAMIL LITERATURE. 



17 



GLEANINGS FROM ANCIENT TAMIL LITERATURE. 



By the Hon. P. Coomaraswamy. 



I.— PURANANURU. 



As a contribution to the history of the ancient Tamils and 

 their literature, I have prepared (I.) a list of the poets whose 

 odes are contained in the Purandnurii, and (II.) a list of 

 the persons to whom the odes were addressed. 



The Purandnuru is a very interesting collection of four 

 hundred short poems or odes by celebrated Tamil poets of 

 ancient times. This anthology,* tradition says, was made 

 by the Sangam of Madura. 



The Sangam was a college or academy of literary men of 

 eminence established by the Pandiya kings. Mr. Casie 

 Chitty observes in the Tamil Plutarch : " these kings had 

 three different Sangams established in their capital at three 



different periods, for the promotion of literature and 



they made it a rule that every literary production should 

 be submitted to their senatus academicus before it was 

 allowed to circulate in the country." It is now difficult to 

 say when the Sangam was first established, or to give the 

 -exact time it ceased to exist. In the commentary written by 

 Nakkirar (a member of the Sangam in its last days), forming 

 the greater part of the now existing commentary on Iraiya- 

 nar's " Akapporul," an account of the three Sangams is 

 given. Nakkirar was a contemporary! of the Chola king 

 Karikala, who lived prior to the second century of the 

 Christian era.J According to the ancient authorities there 



* See preface, p. 16, " Viracholiyam," Mr. Tamotarampillai's edition; 

 also p. 16 of his edition of " Kalittokai." 



f Dr. Caldwell's introduction to his " Grammar of the Dra vidian 

 Languages," second edition, p. 131. 



% Cf. my Paper, "A Half -hour with two Ancient Tamil Poets," in the 

 Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, Ceylon Branch, vol XIII., pp. 1 90-193. 



15—95 c 



