Tamilkam and the Sangam Age

Tamil is the oldest among the spoken literary languages of South India. The development of Tamil was faster than Malayalam and it had therefore become a common language for intellectual expression. In Chera Kingdom, the prevalent language was Malayalam, which developed later.

Tamilkam, Tamilgam, Tamilham or Tamizhakam refers to the Tamil realm or the ancient Tamil Country. This refers to the territories under today’s Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Pondicherry, South Andhra Pradesh, parts of southern Karnataka and Maldives.

After the Vedic periods, this region saw emergence of clearly identifiable social formation. We know about these from the Asokan Inscriptions as well as Indika of Megasthenes. During the 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD, earliest extant ^{(existing today)} works of Tamil Literature was created and which is known as Sangam Literature. The period from the 3rd century BC to 3rd Century AD is named after the Tamil Sangams as Sangam period. Sangam refers to the assemblies or confluence.