Editing Tamil Nadu (section)

===Literature===
{{see|Tamil Literature}}
[[File:The Hindu Sage Agastya.jpg|thumb|upright|Sculpture of sage [[Agastya]]]]

Tamil Nadu has an independent [[Tamil literature|literary]] tradition dating back over 2500 years from the Sangam era.<ref name="Zvelebil"/> Early Tamil literature was composed in three successive poetic assemblies known as the [[Tamil Sangams]], the earliest of which, according to legend, were held on a now vanished [[Kumari Kandam|continent]] far to the south of India.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1353/asi.2003.0031|title=Chera, Chola, Pandya: Using Archaeological Evidence to Identify the Tamil Kingdoms of Early Historic South India|journal=Asian Perspectives|volume=42|issue=2|page=207|year=2003|last1=Abraham|first1=S. A.|s2cid=153420843|hdl=10125/17189|url=http://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/17189/1/AP-v42n2-207-223.pdf|access-date=6 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190903211259/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10125/17189/1/AP-v42n2-207-223.pdf|archive-date=3 September 2019|url-status=live|hdl-access=free}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Ramaswamy|first=Sumathi|title=The Lost Land of Lemuria: Fabulous Geographies, Catastrophic Histories|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=elYyJuYuAhwC&pg=PP1|year=2004|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-24032-2|pages=131, 156}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Jayakaran, S. C.|year=2004|url=http://www.indianfolklore.org/journals/index.php/ifrj/article/download/178/183|title=Lost Land and the Myth of Kumari Kandam|journal=Indian Folklore Research Journal|volume=1|issue=4|pages=94–109|access-date=3 June 2024|archive-date=27 June 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180627202742/http://www.indianfolklore.org/journals/index.php/ifrj/article/download/178/183|url-status=dead}}</ref> This includes the oldest grammatical treatise, ''[[Tolkāppiyam|Tolkappiyam]]'', and the epics ''Cilappatikaram'' and ''[[Manimekalai]]''.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Women and Farm Work in Tamil Folk Songs|year=1993|first=Vijaya|last=Ramaswamy|volume=21|issue=9/11|pages=113–129|doi= 10.2307/3520429|quote=As early as the Tolkappiyam (which has sections ranging from the 3rd century BCE to the 5th century CE) the eco-types in South India have been classified into|journal=Social Scientist|jstor=3520429}}</ref> The earliest [[Epigraphy|epigraphic]] records found on rock edicts and ''[[hero stone]]s'' date from around the 3rd century BCE.<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/2943246|jstor=2943246|title=The Beginnings of Civilization in South India|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=29|issue=3|pages=603–616|year=1970|last1=Maloney|first1=C.|s2cid=162291987}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.2307/2053325|jstor=2053325|title=Circulation and the Historical Geography of Tamil Country|journal=The Journal of Asian Studies|volume=37|issue=1|pages=7–26|year=1977|last1=Stein|first1=B.|s2cid=144599197}}</ref> The available literature from the Sangam period was categorised and compiled into two categories based roughly on chronology: the [[Eighteen Greater Texts|Patiṉeṇmēlkaṇakku]] consisting of [[Ettuthokai|Eṭṭuttokai]] and the [[Pattupattu]], and the [[Eighteen Lesser Texts|Patiṉeṇkīḻkaṇakku]]. The existent Tamil grammar is largely based on the 13th-century grammar book ''{{IAST|Naṉṉūl}}'' based on the ''Tolkāppiyam.'' Tamil grammar consists of five parts, namely ''{{IAST|eḻuttu}}'', ''sol'', ''{{IAST|poruḷ}}'', ''yāppu'', ''{{IAST|aṇi}}''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.southasia.upenn.edu/tamil/lit.html|title=Five fold grammar of Tamil|work=University of Pennsylvania|access-date=8 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070609115617/http://www.southasia.upenn.edu/tamil/lit.html|archive-date=9 June 2007|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Giovanni Ciotti|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352695179|title=Tamil Ilakkaṇam ('Grammar') and the Interplay between Syllabi, Corpora and Manuscripts|date=June 2021|doi=10.1515/9783110741124-016|pages=315–352|isbn=978-3-11-074112-4 |access-date=3 June 2024|archive-date=3 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240603082621/https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352695179_Tamil_Ilakkanam_'Grammar'_and_the_Interplay_between_Syllabi_Corpora_and_Manuscripts|url-status=live}}</ref> ''[[Tirukkural]]'', a book on ethics by [[Thiruvalluvar]], is amongst the most popular works of Tamil literature.<ref>{{cite book|first=M. S. Purnalingam|last=Pillai|title=Tamil literature|publisher=Asian Education Service|date=1994|location=New Delhi|isbn=978-8-120-60955-6|page=73}}</ref>

The Tamil literature that followed in the next 300 years after the Sangam period is generally called the "post-Sangam" literature which included the [[Five Great Epics]] and the [[Five Minor Epics]].<ref>{{cite book|first=Kamil|last=Zvelebil|title=Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature|year=1992|publisher=[[Brill Publishers]]|isbn=978-9-00409-365-2|pages=12–13|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qAPtq49DZfoC|access-date=15 July 2024|archive-date=16 July 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240716133218/https://www.google.co.in/books/edition/Companion_Studies_to_the_History_of_Tami/qAPtq49DZfoC|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=T.V. Mahalingam|title=Proceedings of the Second Annual Conference of the South Indian History Congress|year=1981|publisher=[[University of Michigan]]|pages=28–34}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient Tamil Country: Its Social and Economic Structure|author=S. Sundararajan|publisher=Navrang|year=1991|page=233}}</ref>
In the early medieval period, [[Vaishnava]] and [[Saiva|Shaiva]] literature became prominent following the [[Bhakti movement]] in the sixth century CE with hymns composed by the [[Alwars|Alvars]] and the [[Nayanmars|Nayanars]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Pillai|first=P. Govinda|title=The Bhakti Movement: Renaissance or Revivalism?|date=4 October 2022|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-000-78039-0|quote=Thirdly, the movement had blossomed first down south or the Tamil country|chapter=Chapter 11}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Padmaja|first=T.|title=Temples of Kr̥ṣṇa in South India: History, Art, and Traditions in Tamil nāḍu|date=2002|publisher=Abhinav Publications|isbn=978-8-170-17398-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Nair|first1=Rukmini Bhaya|title=Keywords for India: A Conceptual Lexicon for the 21st Century|last2=de Souza|first2=Peter Ronald|year=2020|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-350-03925-4|page=208}}</ref> In the following years, Tamil literature again flourished with notable works including [[Ramavataram]], written in the 12th century CE by [[Kambar (poet)|Kambar]].<ref>{{cite book|author=P S Sundaram|title=Kamba Ramayana|date=3 May 2002|publisher=Penguin Books Limited|isbn=978-9-351-18100-2|pages=18–}}</ref> After a lull in the intermediate years due to various invasions and instability, the Tamil literature recovered in the 14th century CE, with the notable work being ''[[Tiruppukal]]'' by [[Arunagirinathar]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bergunder|first1=Michael|title=Ritual, Caste, and Religion in Colonial South India|last2=Frese|first2=Heiko|last3=Schröder|first3=Ulrike|date=2011|publisher=Primus Books|isbn=978-9-380-60721-4|page=107}}</ref> In 1578, the Portuguese published a Tamil book in old Tamil script named ''Thambiraan Vanakkam'', thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and published.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/tamil-saw-its-first-book-in-1578/article476102.ece|title=Tamil saw its first book in 1578|author=Karthik Madhavan|newspaper=The Hindu|access-date=8 October 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101181012/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/tamil-saw-its-first-book-in-1578/article476102.ece|archive-date=1 January 2016|url-status=live|date=21 June 2010}}</ref> ''[[Tamil Lexicon]]'', published by the [[University of Madras]], is the first among the [[dictionary|dictionaries]] published in any Indian language.<ref>{{cite news|last=Kolappan|first=B.|title=Delay, howlers in Tamil Lexicon embarrass scholars|newspaper=The Hindu|location=Chennai|date=22 June 2014|url=http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/delay-howlers-in-tamil-lexicon-embarrass-scholars/article6138747.ece|access-date=25 December 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140704063848/http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/delay-howlers-in-tamil-lexicon-embarrass-scholars/article6138747.ece|archive-date=4 July 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> The 19th century gave rise to the [[Tamil Renaissance]] and writings and poems by authors such as [[Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai]], [[U.V.Swaminatha Iyer|U.V. Swaminatha Iyer]], [[Ramalinga Adigal|Ramalinga Swamigal]], [[Maraimalai Adigal]], and [[Bharathidasan]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The embodiment of bhakti|author=Karen Prechilis|pages=8|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-195-12813-0|year=1999}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Tamil Renaissance and the Dravidian Movement, 1905-1944|first=K. Nambi|last=Arooran|publisher=Koodal|year=1980}}</ref> During the [[Indian Independence Movement]], many Tamil poets and writers sought to provoke national spirit, social equity and secularist thoughts, notably [[Subramania Bharati]] and Bharathidasan.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://www.jlls.org/index.php/jlls/article/download/5312/1872|title=Bharathiyar Who Impressed Bharatidasan|journal=Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies|access-date=1 December 2023|issn=1305-578X|archive-date=24 December 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231224200602/https://www.jlls.org/index.php/jlls/article/download/5312/1872|url-status=live}}</ref>