Sangham Age in Indian History:
- First five centuries of the Christian Era are commonly known as Sangham Age.
- Sangham was an Assembly of literature held at Madhurai.
- References to the Sangham Age can be found in the inscriptions of Ashoka, and Kharavela of Kalinga and in the Indica of Megastenese.
- The literature of the Sangham Age was written mostly in the form of Poetry.
- In the Sangham Age, the most common form of government was hereditary monarchy. The village was the fundamental unit of administration.
- Small village Assemblies during the Sangham Age were known as Arai.
- Tradition refers to three sangham lasting for 9,900 years.
- Language of the Sangham literature was Tamil
- People of the Sangham Age mainly worshiped ‘Murugan’.
- The greatest work of the Tamil literature of the Sangham Age is Tholkappium written by Tholkappiyar.
- Tholkappium is considered as the earliest surviving Tamil literary work. It is a book on Tamil grammar.
- The Capital of the Pandyas was at Madhurai.
- Uraiyur was the capital of Cholas, known for cotton trade.
- Vanchi was the capital of Cheras.
- Silappadigaram, Manimegalai and Jeevakachintamani are the three epics of Sangham literature.
- Korkai was the main seaport of the Pandyas.
- Megastanese described Pandya Kingdom as ‘Pearl’ as it was ruled by women.
- Kaveripumpatnam was the main sea port of the Cholas.
- Silappatigaram as written by Ilango Adikal. It describes the love story of Kovalan and Kannaki
- Nedujezhian is the Pandyan king mentioned in Silapadigaram.
- Satanar wrote ‘Manimekhalai’ which is also an epic and tells about the story of the daughter of Kannaki and Kovalan.
- Manimekhalai gives reference about Buddhism.
- II and XIII rock edicts of Ashoka mention about the South Indian kingdoms.
- Karikala most prominent among early Cholas is known as the master of seven notes of music.
- ‘Bharatam’ was a Tamil version of Mahabharata sung by Perundevanar
- ‘Manimekhalai’ is looked upon as the Tamil Odyssey.
- Thirukkural is known as Tamil Bible compiled by Thiruvalluvar. His statue is seen near Vivekanandappara in Kanyakumari.
- The greatest of the Chera rulers was Senguttuvanchera also known as ‘Red Chera’.He built a temple for Kannaki.
- The famous Chera port Muziris was a great centre of Indo-Roman Trade.
- The largest single tax collected during the Sangha period was the land tax called Karai.
- The founder of later Cholas was Rajaraja I The most important ruler of this dynasty was Rajendra Chola.
- Rajendra Chola is also known as ‘Gagaikonda Chola’ He later named his capital as ‘Gangaikonda Cholapuram’.
- RajaRaja I built ‘Brihadeswara temple’ at Tanjore.
- Cholas were well known for their naval supremacy and efficient village administration.
- The Utharameroor inscription tells about the local self government under the cholas
- Thirukkural of Thiruvalluvar is the Tamil work which is known also as the fifth Veda.
- Jivaka Chintamani the third epic of the Tamil was written by Tirukkadevar.
- Roman king built a temple of Augustus at Muziris.
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