South India Enters History: Sangam Age, Early Kingdoms, and Tamil Culture

The Dawn of History in the Deep South

The historical period in the deep south — the Indian peninsula south of the Krishna river — begins around the first century AD, constructed from written records supplemented by Greek and Roman accounts and archaeology. Before this, the region was inhabited by megalith builders who formed the prehistoric background to southern civilization.

The transition from the megalithic phase to early state formation was driven by contact with the north — brought by traders, conquerors, and Jaina and Buddhist missionaries — who introduced wet paddy cultivation, coins, burnt bricks, and ringwells, enabling the rise of villages, towns, and eventually social classes and state systems.

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What are Megaliths?

Megaliths are graves encircled by big pieces of stone. They contain not only skeletons but also pottery and iron objects. The people are known from their graves, not their actual settlements (which are rare). The practice of burying goods with the dead was based on the belief that the dead would need them in the next world.

Distribution and Chronology

• Found in all upland areas of the peninsula; concentration in eastern Andhra and Tamil Nadu
• Beginnings traced to circa 1000 BCE
• In many places, the megalithic phase lasted from about the 5th to the 1st century BCE; in a few places persisted even into the early centuries of the Christian era
• The Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras mentioned in Asokan inscriptions were probably in the megalithic phase of material culture

Material Culture of Megaliths

• Various pottery types, but black-and-red ware seems most popular
• Iron objects: arrowheads, hoes, sickles (agricultural tools) and also weapons — spearheads, daggers, tridents (later associated with Siva)
• Weapons outnumber agricultural tools in graves — suggesting the megalithic people did not practice advanced agriculture
• Produced paddy and ragi; cultivable land was very limited; did not settle on plains or low lands
• The southern districts of Tamil Nadu had a peculiar burial practice: skeletons buried in urns of red pottery in pits (urn-burial), often without stone circles — different from the cist-burial or pit-burial surrounded by stone circles prevalent in the Krishna-Godavari valley

Transition to Historical Period

By the beginning of the Christian era (or a little earlier), megalithic people moved from uplands into fertile river basins and reclaimed marshy deltaic areas. Under the stimulus of northern material culture brought by traders, conquerors, and Jaina and Buddhist missionaries, they began wet paddy cultivation, founded villages and towns, and developed social classes — creating conditions for the rise of state systems in the deep south.

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The southern end of the Indian peninsula south of the Krishna river was divided into three kingdoms — Chola, Pandya, and Chera (Kerala). All three are mentioned in the inscriptions of Asoka in the third century BCE, but their territories lay outside the Maurya empire in modern Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

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• Territory: southernmost and south-eastern portion of the Indian peninsula — modern districts of Tinnevelly, Ramnad, and Madurai in Tamil Nadu
• Capital: Madurai (the Tamil word for Mathura)
• First mentioned by Megasthenes, who says the kingdom was celebrated for pearls; he also speaks of it being ruled by a woman and mentions seven-year-old mothers — suggesting the Pandya society was matriarchal (though this seems exaggerated)
• The Pandya kings profited from trade with the Roman empire and sent embassies to Roman emperor Augustus
• Brahmanas enjoyed considerable influence; Pandya kings performed Vedic sacrifices in the early centuries of the Christian era
• The literature compiled in Tamil academies in the early Christian era — called Sangam literature — refers to the Pandya rulers

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• Kingdom called Cholamandalam or Coromandal — situated to the north-east of Pandya territory, between the Pennar and Velur rivers
• Chief centre of political power at Uraiyur — a place famous for cotton trade
• In the middle of the second century BCE, a Chola king named Elara conquered Sri Lanka and ruled it for nearly 50 years
• Firmer history begins in the second century AD with their famous king Karikala (flourished around AD 100)
  • Founded Puhar (= Kaveripattanam) — the Chola capital; a great centre of trade and commerce with a large dock
  • Constructed 160 km of embankment along the Kaveri river with the labour of 12,000 slaves brought as captives from Sri Lanka
  • Maintained an efficient navy that sailed to the mouths of the Ganga and Iravadi, later reaching the Malaya archipelago
  • Chief source of wealth was trade in cotton cloth
• Under Karikala's successors, Chola power rapidly declined: capital Kaveripattanam was overwhelmed and destroyed; the Cheras and Pandyas expanded at their cost
• From the 4th to the 9th century AD, the Cholas played only a marginal part in south Indian history, almost wiped out by Pallava attacks from the north

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• Territory: west and north of the Pandyas — the narrow strip of land between the sea and the mountains, covering much of modern Kerala State
• In the early centuries of the Christian era, the Chera country was as important as the Chola and Pandya kingdoms
• Importance owed largely to trade with the Romans:
  • Romans set up two regiments at Muziris (identical with Cranganore in the Chera country) to protect their interests
  • Romans also built a temple of Augustus there
• Most important political event: their fight against the Cholas around AD 150
  • Cheras killed the father of Chola king Karikala
  • The Chera king also lost his life
  • The two kingdoms later concluded a matrimonial alliance
  • The Chera king then allied with the Pandya rulers against the Cholas; the Cholas defeated the allies — the wounded Chera king committed suicide out of shame
• Greatest Chera king: Senguttuvan, the Red Chera — routed rivals and established his cousin securely on the throne; said to have invaded the north and crossed the Ganga (though considered exaggerated)
• After the second century AD, Chera power declined; nothing known of its history till the eighth century AD

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Sources of Royal Revenue

• Trade (foreign and internal) — very important source
• Custom officials functioned at Puhar; transit duties were collected from merchants moving goods between places
• Soldiers maintained constant vigil on roads to protect merchants and prevent smuggling
• Spoils of war added to royal income
• Agriculture — the real foundation of revenue; the tip of the peninsula and adjacent regions were extremely fertile, producing paddy, ragi, sugarcane, grains, fruits, pepper, turmeric
• The Kaveri delta — space enough for an elephant to lie down could feed seven persons
• Agricultural share of produce claimed by the king; quantum not specified in sources
• The state maintained a regular army: chariots drawn by oxen, elephants, cavalry, and infantry
• Elephants played an important part in war; horses were imported by sea into the Pandyan kingdom
• Nobles and princes rode on elephants; commanders on chariots; foot soldiers and horsemen wore leather sandals

Trade and Foreign Commerce

• These kingdoms were immensely rich from natural resources and foreign trade
• Key exports: pepper (great demand in the western world), ivory (from elephants), pearls and precious stones (from the sea), muslin, silk, cotton cloth
• Tamil words for rice, ginger, cinnamon and other articles were derived into Greek language — indicating how deep the trade contacts went
• When Egypt became a Roman province and monsoons were discovered (beginning of 1st century AD), trade received great impetus
• For the first two and a half centuries AD, the southern kingdoms carried on lucrative trade with Rome
• The words for rice (oryza), ginger, cinnamon derived from Tamil into Greek attest the depth of commercial contact
• Tamils traded with the Hellenistic kingdom of Egypt, Arabia, the Malaya archipelago, and China
• Decline of Roman trade → decay of these kingdoms

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Hierarchy and Structure

Taxes enabled the king to maintain a professional army and pay the poets and priests (mainly brahmanas). The brahmanas first appear in the Tamil land in the Sangam age. An ideal king was one who never hurt the brahmanas. Many brahmanas functioned as poets — Karikala is said to have given one poet 1,600,000 gold pieces, besides cash, land, chariots, horses, and elephants.

Varna System in the South

• Tamil brahmanas ate meat and wine
• Kshatriyas and vaisyas do NOT appear as regular varnas in Sangam texts
• The class of warriors was not absent — captains of the army were invested with the title of enadi at a formal ceremony
• Civil and military offices held by both the Cholas and Pandyas by vallalas (rich peasants)
• The ruling caste was called arasar — had marriage relations with the vallalas who constituted the fourth caste and held the bulk of land
• The vallalas (rich peasants) were divided into rich and poor; the rich did NOT plough the land but employed labourers

Lower Classes

• Agricultural operations carried on by women of the lowest class — kadaisiyar — whose status differed little from that of slaves
• Low class artisans included the pulaiyans who made rope (charpaiys) and used animal skins as mats
• Several outcaste and forest tribes suffered from extreme poverty
• Sharp social inequalities noticed in the Sangam age: rich lived in brick-and-mortar houses; poor in huts; rich merchants lived in upper storeys of their houses
• Brahmanas and ruling caste dominated — but acute caste distinctions of later times are lacking in the early Sangam age

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The state and society of the Tamil land in early centuries of the Christian era developed under the impact of brahmanism, but it was confined to a small part of Tamil territory and only to the upper levels of Tamil society. The kings performed Vedic sacrifices; brahmanas (followers of the Vedas) carried on disputations, possibly with Jainas and Buddhists.

The chief local god worshipped by the people was Murugan (also called Subramaniya). Vishnu worship is also mentioned, though possibly a later practice. The megalithic practice of providing for the dead continued; people offered paddy to the dead. Cremation was introduced, but inhumation following the megalithic phase was not abandoned.

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What is Sangam?

A sangam was a college or assembly of Tamil poets held under royal patronage. We do not know the exact number of sangams or the period for which they were held. A Tamil commentary of the middle of the 8th century AD states that three sangams lasted for 9,990 years, were attended by 8,598 poets, and had 197 Pandya kings as patrons — widely considered wild exaggeration. All that can be confirmed is that a sangam was held under royal patronage in Madurai.

The Literature

• Available Sangam literature was compiled in circa AD 300–600
• Early, middle, and last strata not yet clearly identified
• Descriptions tally with Greek and Roman accounts and archaeology — making it a reliable historical source
• The art of writing was known to Tamils before the beginning of the Christian era
• More than 75 short inscriptions in Brahmi script found in natural caves, mainly in the Madurai region — provide the earliest form of Tamil mixed with Prakrit words, belonging to the 2nd–1st centuries BCE (when Jaina and Buddhist missionaries appeared)
• Inscribed potsherds from recent excavations provide examples of Tamil in the beginning of the Christian era
• Considerable Sangam literature was produced in the early centuries of the Christian era, finally compiled by AD 600

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• GS Paper I — Ancient History: The deep south illustrates how tribal megalithic communities transformed into state systems through trade contacts and brahmanization — a model of state formation distinct from the northern Gangetic pattern.
• Art and Culture: Sangam literature is the earliest authenticated body of Tamil literature, foundational to understanding Dravidian cultural heritage.
• Trade and Economy: The Roman trade connection (1st–2nd centuries AD) explains the prosperity of the Chola, Pandya, and Chera kingdoms — and their decline mirrors the decline of Roman commerce.
• Social History: The absence of kshatriya and vaisya varnas as regular categories in Sangam texts, and the presence of arasar (ruling caste) and vallalas (peasant-landowners), shows that the varna system was applied differently in the south.
• Continuity vs. Change: The megalithic practice of inhumation persisted alongside new brahmanical cremation practices — illustrating cultural layering in ancient India.
• Interlinks: Megalithic Culture ↔ Early Tamil Kingdoms ↔ Roman Trade ↔ Sangam Literature ↔ Brahmanization of South India ↔ Satavahanas (Deccan context)

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1. Cholas in Asokan inscriptions ≠ historical Cholas: The Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras mentioned in Asoka's inscriptions (3rd century BCE) were in the megalithic phase — not the historically documented kingdoms with firm records, which begin from the 1st–2nd century AD.
2. Pandya society matriarchal — Megasthenes: Megasthenes' claim about the Pandyas being ruled by a woman and having seven-year-old mothers is described in the text as exaggerated — do not treat it as a firm fact about Pandya society.
3. Karikala ≠ Elara: Elara was a Chola king who conquered Sri Lanka in the 2nd century BCE; Karikala was the famous Chola king who flourished around AD 100. These are two different Chola rulers separated by over 200 years.
4. Puhar = Kaveripattanam: Puhar, founded by Karikala and the Chola capital, is identical with Kaveripattanam. Do not treat these as different cities.
5. Sangam = literature, not a political body: The sangam was an assembly of poets under royal patronage in Madurai — not a political institution or court. The claim of three sangams lasting 9,990 years is explicitly described as exaggeration.
6. Sangam literature compiled c. AD 300–600, though describing earlier times: The literature describes life from the 1st century AD onward but was finally compiled by AD 600 — do not assign it entirely to one fixed century.
7. Kshatriyas and vaisyas absent as regular varnas in Sangam Tamil society: This is a key social distinction between the north and south in this period. The ruling caste was arasar and the landowning peasants were vallalas — these do not map neatly onto the northern varna scheme.
8. Chera trade = Roman, NOT Silk Route: The Chera kingdom's wealth came from trade with Rome via Muziris (Cranganore in Kerala) — not from the Silk Route, which was primarily a Kushan/Central Asian phenomenon.
9. Black-and-red ware was popular with the megalithic people of the south; NBP ware is associated with the Mahajanapada/Maurya period in north India — do not conflate.

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• Megaliths: graves with big stone circles; contain skeletons, pottery, iron objects; black-and-red ware most popular
• Megalithic phase: c. 1000 BCE to 1st century BCE (some places early Christian era)
• Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras mentioned in Asoka's inscriptions (3rd century BCE) = megalithic phase
• Three kingdoms: Chola (Coromandal/Cholamandalam), Pandya (Madurai capital), Chera (Kerala)
• Pandyas: first mentioned by Megasthenes; capital Madurai; trade with Rome; sent embassies to Augustus
• Chola: Uraiyur = cotton trade centre; Elara conquered Sri Lanka (2nd century BCE); Karikala (c. AD 100) founded Puhar/Kaveripattanam; 160 km Kaveri embankment with 12,000 Sri Lankan captives
• Chera: west of Pandyas; trade with Rome; Muziris (Cranganore) = Roman garrison; greatest king = Senguttuvan (Red Chera)
• Roman trade: first 2.5 centuries AD = peak; decline of Roman trade → decay of kingdoms
• Key exports: pepper, ivory, pearls, muslin, silk, cotton cloth
• Kshatriyas and vaisyas NOT regular varnas in Sangam texts
• Ruling caste = arasar; landowning peasants = vallalas; enadi = warrior title; kadaisiyar = lowest agricultural class
• Chief local god = Murugan (Subramaniya)
• Sangam = assembly of poets under royal patronage at Madurai
• Sangam literature compiled c. AD 300–600; finally by AD 600
• 75+ Brahmi inscriptions in Tamil mixed with Prakrit from 2nd–1st century BCE caves near Madurai
• Karikala rewarded one poet 1,600,000 gold pieces