HISTORY OF ANCIENT TAMIL CIVILIZATION

The salient features of the ancient Tamil civilization are widely known among the scholars. The geologists, the zoologists and the botanists have stated with evidences and clarity about the existence of the land mass, called Lemuria Continent, beyond the present day Kanyakumari and that Lemuria Continent had submerged under the sea.

The Tamil and Sanskrit literature also attest to the fact of the existence of the land mass beyond Kanyakumari in the ancient times. But some historians refuse to accept the Lemurian theory and simply dismiss it as a mere myth, raising three objections.

According to some scholars, Atlantic Ocean has also submerged a land mass, called Lemuria Continent. It means that two land masses were submerged by the sea, and both the land masses were called Lemuria Continent. It would be incredible to call two submerged continents by a single name-Lemuria Continent.

To avoid this confusion, it would be better to reject the name Lemuria Continent to the land mass sunken by the Indian Ocean and call that land mass by another appropriate name. Since the Kumari hills and Kumari river were there on the sunken land beyond kanyakumari, according to the Tamil literature, that land could be called Kumari Land.

The second objection of the historians is the unbelievable nature of the sea engulfing the whole continent. But, on 26 December 2004, we were the witness to the huge seismic waves, triggered by a massive under-sea earthquake off Sumatra in Indonesia, hitting the coastal areas of half a dozen littoral countries of the Indian Ocean, washing away a number of villages and towns, killing more than three lakhs of people and causing destruction of properties worth several thousand crores of rupees. The titanic tsunami as it was called, was described as the fifth largest earthquake under the sea since the beginning of the 20th century and the biggest in 40 years.

Likewise, as described in Tamil and Sanskrit literature, several tsunami hit the Kumari Land and devoured it completely. According to the commentary on Iraiyanavar Agapporul, three tsunamis hit and submerged Kumari Land. The first tsunami hit Thenmadurai, the first capital of Pandyas and devoured a part of the Kumari Land; the second tsunami hit Kapatapuram, the second capital of Pandyas and submerged some more parts of the Kumari Land; and the third tsunami hit Manalur and submerged the remaining parts of the Kumari land.

The Third objection of the historians is about the vastness of the land mass engulfed by the sea. The theory that the Kumari Continent extended from the present day Kanyakumari to the eastern shores of Africa before millions of years may be rejected as there are doubts about the existence of human beings at that time. Further, our period of study starts only from the historic period, at which time the Kumari Land was not as big as a continent, but a compact land mass extending from the present day Kanyakumari.

This is also confirmed by SM. Ramasamy in his article Satellite Sensed Landmass – South of Cape Comorin (Kanyakumari). The studies so far carried out by the geosciences of different parts of the world have brought a hierarchy of information that the sea bed is not a plain or a trough, but rather has folded mountains, submarine volcanoes, mid-oceanic ridges, submarine canyons, etc. The studies by the earlier researchers also have brought out many such topographic features below the sea in between Kanyakumari in the north and the Antartica in the south.

SM. Ramasamy informs that the satellite pictures taken over the Indian Ocean had shown mountains lying at a depth of about 4000 meters below the present mean sea level. Hence, there is no possibility to consider these folded and cliffed mountains of Kumari Continent, as these are not suitable for human settlements and for human civilization.

But a plain sea floor extending to about 20,000 Sq.Km. between Kanyakumari and the cliffed mountains is found. This widespread land could be the Kumari Land described in Tamil and Sanskrit literature. Successive tsunamis hit the first two ancient capitals of Pandyas – Thenmadurai and Kapatapuram were situated.

Synchronizing the information of SM. Ramasamy with the table of deluges provided by S. Gurumurthy and the statement of the commentator of Irayanar Agapporul, it may be assumed that Thenmadurai was engulfed by the sea around 3000 B.C. and Kapatapuram around 1500 B.C. and Manalur at a later date. Therefore, any unbiased historian would accept the rational opinion of the scholars about the then possible existence of Kumari land beyond the present day Kanyakumari and its submersion by the sea.

According to SM. Ramasamy, the cliffed mountains in the Kumari Land were not suitable for human settlements. Hence, those Kumari mountains could be considered as the southern boundary of the Kumari Land and thereby the Tamil land. Third conclusion also coincides with Tolkappiyam which demarcates the boundaries of Tamil Lands as Venkata hills in the north and Kumari hills in the south. It was in that Tamil Land, including the Kumari Land and the modern Kerala state, the ancient Tamil civilization flourished.

DATE

Next, we have to fix the date of the ancient Tamil civilization Thenmadurai, the first Pandya capital submerged under the sea around 3000 B.C. Adding atleast 500 years more to that for the development of civilization in Thenmadurai, it may be stated that civilization had began there around 3500 B.C. According to K. Nedunchezhian, around 500 B.C., a new religion Ajvika (a cult of Iyanar worship) began to spread in Tamil Land. So, 500 B.C. may be fixed as the closing date of the ancient Tamil civilization flourished in Tamil Land approximately between 3500 B.C. and 500 B.C.

PEOPLE

The ancient Tamil land was wholly peopled by the Tamils only. They were Tamils by the language they had spoken and Dravidians by race. On this, there is a general agreement among scholars. But, on the question of the original home of the Dravidians, differences of opinion persist among scholars. Some scholars consider the megalithic culture of South India as posterior to the megalithic cultures of Europe and Central Asia and so the Dravidians hailed either from Europe or from Central Asia.

But, the recent scientific dating of the Adittanallur megalithic culture puts it around 2000 B.C., which is approximately the same period of the megalithic cultures of Europe and Central Asia. So, we surmise that the megalithic cultures of Europe, Central Asia and South India evolved independently and more or less at the same time. Therefore, the theory that the Dravidians carried the megalithic culture from Europe to South India via Central Asia is not valid any more.

Another view was the Dravidians entered India through the north west, developed Indus valley civilization and settled in North India. Later, the Dravidians were driven to South India by the invading Aryans. But the scholars failed to note that at the time of invasion of the Aryans around 1500 B.C., the Adittanallur culture was in full blossom. At that time the Dravidians were already in South India as a highly civilized society. So, the theory that the Aryans drove away the Dravidians to South India is not correct.

Certain similarities between the place-names, social customs, religious beliefs and spoken words are also cited as evidences for the foreign origin of the Dravidians. But it could be the other way also. These similarities may be due to the movement of the Dravidians from the south to the north and may also be due to the commercial interactions and movement of the people from one place to another, either way.

The ancient Tamil Land was equally a fertile land like that of the Mediterranean region and Central Asia for the emergence and development of human civilization. Therefore, ancient Tamil civilization evolved independently and nearly around the same time of the Sumerian, Babylonian, Egyptian and Indus valley civilizations. So, the recent evidences and interpretations are strongly in favour of the theory that the ancient Tamil Land was the original home land of the Dravidians.

EXCAVATIONS

Dr. Jagor of Berlin was the first to visit and excavate the ancient urn burial site at Adittanallur in Tuttukudi district in 1876. He has taken all the articles found at Adittanallur to the Berlin Museum. Next, M. Louis Lapicque of France conducted excavations at Adittanallur during 1903-1904, and also took some more articles unearthed from explorations at many sites situated along the course of the Tamaraparani river from Palayamkottai to the sea at intervals from 1899-1904. As thousands of urns were buried on the slope of a hillock, it may also be called as Mound of Dead, like that of Mohenjodaro, which means a Mount of Dead. Therefore, Adittanallur may be described as the Mohenjodaro of South India.

It was reported that about 9000 objectives were discovered during the excavations. The objects, yielded from the burial sites, are finely made pottery of various kinds in great number, many iron implements and weapons; vessels and personal ornaments in bronze; a few gold ornaments; a few stone beads; pieces of clothes; bones; ivory; sandalwood; and some household stone implements used for grinding.

During 2004-2005, a team of archaeologists led by T. Satyamurthy conducted excavations at Adittanallur. They discovered more than 160 urns within an area of 600 sq.meters. They also discovered a habitation site near that place. Various samples of potteries, found at the burial sites in Adittanallur, were sent to the Manipur University’s dating laboratory to scientifically fix their date.

Accordingly, 2000 B.C. has been fixed as the date of Kapatapuram, the second capital of the ancient Pandyas. Therefore, we may conclude that the Adittanallur culture flourished along with the Kumari Land culture and even after the submersion of the latter by the sea.

About twenty Copper antennae swords of 4000 years old were found at Shavinipatti village in Sivagangai district in 1980; Appukkal village in Vellore district in 2000; and Kuppuchipudur village in Coimbatore district in 2001.

The ancient site at Korkai was first excavated in 1827 by R. Caldwell, who found a few urns of giant size. Next, during 1968-69 a team of archaeologists led by R. Nagasamy conducted excavations at Korkai. They discovered a number of inscribed potsherd with Tamil scripts, various objects of copper and iron, perforated terracotta tiles, beads of crystal, conch sheels, and pearl-oysters. The charred pieces found at korkai gave C14 determinant of 2755+- 95 i.e. 785 B.C.

In 2009-2010 a team of archaeologists led by k. Rajan conducted excavations at Porunthal near Pazhani town in Dindigul district. They discovered a red polished ware ring-stand with Tamil script, carnelian beads, a furnace for glass bead making, terracotta figurines, ivory objects, 2 kg of paddy grains, iron swords, arrow heads, pots, basins, vases, plates and ring-stands. The paddy grains were sent for radiometric dating and it has been dated to 2400+-30 i.e. 490 B.C. by Beta Analytic Laboratory, U.S.A. This date coincides with the end-date of the ancient Tamil Civilization.

TOLKAPPIYAM

Tolkappiyam was written prior to Rig Veda, which was composed in fourteenth century B.C. Several seals discovered in the Indus valley indicate certain religious traditions mentioned in Tolkappiyam, which prove that Tolkappiyam belonged to the age of the last phase of the Indus valley civilization i.e. 1500 B.C. Almost all Tamil scholars agree that Tolkappiyam belonged to the last phase of the Second Tamil Sangam held at Kapatapuram, which was engulfed by the sea around 1500 B.C.

Therefore, we may safely conclude that Tolkappiyam was written in 1500 B.C. So, we may attempt to construct the social and cultural history of the Tamils in the ancient Tamil Land on the basis of the vivid picture on the social and cultural life of the Tamils portrayed in Tolkappiyam and also on the basis of the artifacts and other materials discovered from the megalithic sites in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

GOVERNMENT

The king was the head of the government. There were three famous dynasties of rulers in ancient Tamil Land. They were Chera, Chola and Pandya dynasties. The duties and responsibilities of the head kings regulated by tradition and customs. Therefore, the king was neither a tribal chieftain nor a despot. He was guided by the assembly of scholars and poets.

The kings maintained large armies, which had three divisions- infantry, elephantry and cavalry. The soldiers carried swords, spears, daggers, bows and arrows to the battlefield. At first, they used copper swords. Later, after the discovery of iron, they began to use iron swords and did not use the copper swords. The Tamil soldiers were renowned for their bravery and chivalry. There was a custom to erect hero-stones in honour of the dead soldiers.

SOCIETY

The ancient Tamils divided the Tamil Land into four divisions viz, Kurinji (the hilly region), Mullai (the forest land), Mardam (the cultivable land) and Neidal (the sea-shore). The people of Kurinji, Mullai, Marudam and Neidal were called Vettuvar, Ayar, Uzhavar and Paravathavar respectively. The Vettuvar or hunters, Aayar-shepherds, Uzhavar-farmers, and Parathavar-fishermen. There were also potters, balck-smiths, gold-smiths, weavers, carpenters and merchants. There was no caste system in ancient Tamil Land.

The people wore cotton and muslin clothes. They adorned their neck and predominant parts of their body with ornaments made of beads, copper and bronze. They were accustomed to the use of sandal paste and perfumes. They knew the use of metal mirrors. Ladies used to colour their eyelashes with the black dye and were fond of wearing jewels such as necklaces and bangles. Their household utensils included pottery of various kinds, and vessels made of bronze.

The life of the ancient Tamils was generally divided into two namely, Aham and Puram. Aham dealt with love-life and Puram with profession and worldly life; war and peace; charity and doings of royalty with reference to the interests and problems of society. The ancient Tamils knew the meteorological science. They keenly observed climatic changes and divided a year of twelve months into six seasons of each having two months on the
basis of climatic change. Even full day was divided by them into six equal parts.

CITIES

The ancient Tamil Land was dotted with many villages as well as big fortified capital cities such as Thenmadurai, Kapatapuram, Madurai, Uraiyur and Vanji. There were also port cities like Korkai, Tondi and Musiri and industrial city-Adittanallur. The burnt bricks were used for the construction of houses. Besides king’s palaces, there were mansions for the nobles and big merchants. The ordinary people lived in round-shaped or rectangular huts. The rich decorated their houses with saucer lamps of different types and vase stands.

INDUSTRY

Along with agriculture, which was the main occupation of the people, industries and crafts also thrived. The smithy was an important industry, were agricultural implements and weapons of war were forged and repaired. The other smiths made artistic ornaments in gold, bronze and copper. Adittanallur was a famous mining and industrial centre. The carpenters designed doors, windows and other wooden articles. Spinning and weaving were the widely practiced crafts. Pearl-diving was another activity, which led to the collection of valuable gems. Salt was manufactured along the coastal belt.

TRADE

Trade, both inland and foreign, was brisk in ancient Tamil Land. Trade was carried out by barter system. Merchants moved from place to place in groups and carried their goods on bullock carts. Tamil merchants sailed from the famous ports Tondi, Musiri and Korkai to the Indus Valley, Central Asia, Arab countries, Malaysia and China. Rice, pepper, ginger, ahil, sandalwood, cardamom, cinnamon, turmeric, ivory, pearls, beryl, coriandum, muslin cloths, monkeys, deers, peacocks, etc. were some of the items exported to foreign countries.

DISPOSAL OF THE DEAD

The cremation of dead bodies was unknown to the ancient Tamils. They buried the dead bodies at the burial ground which was in a separate place away from the city or from the dwelling places. The dead bodies were kept in specially made conffins of black and red ware called Emathazhi (urn). The things used and dear to to dead person such as clothes, weapons, utensils, ornaments, food etc were placed inside and outside the urn. If the dead were persons of rank of importance, a practice of Pattayam Kattaradu i.e., tying a strip of gold diadems, an inch or two in length, on the forehead of the dead was in vogue among the Tamils. On the burial place of a soldier, who had valiantly fought and died on the battlefield, a hero stone was erected to honour him.

LANGUAGE

The language spoken by the people of ancient Tamil Land was Tamil. Most of the scholars consider that the early script of the Tamil language was Tamil Brahmi which was derived from Asokan Brahmi. But the recent researches proved that Tamili was the script of the Tamil language, which was independent of Asokan Brahmi and in fact pre-Asokan Brahmi by several centuries. This has been attested to by the potsherds with Tamil scripts discovered at Adittanallur and other megalithic burial sites. Regarding education, it was open to all sections of the people, including women and in all the regions of Tamil Land, both in urban and rural areas.

TAMIL ACADEMIES

The commentator on Iraiyanar Agapporul was the first to describe the three Tamil Sangams (Academies) which existed in ancient Tamil Land. After him, we find many references in Tamil literature about Tamil Sangams. But doubts are raised over the existence of the Sangams, pointing to the legend that Gods were members of the Sangam and the long regnal years given to the kings. We shall neglect those two and try to deduce the truth from the literature about the Sangams.

The Pandyan kings patronized the poets and extended all help to the growth of Tamil language and literature. The Tamil poets and scholars quite often assembled at the king’s court and held literary discussions there. Such a meeting of poets presided over by the king was poetically described as Sangam. Unfortunately the Pandayan capitals, Thenmadurai and Kapatapuram, were violently hit by successive tsunamis and engulfed by the sea.

Therefore, the Pandyas have to shift their capitals first from the Thenmadurai to Kapatapuram and then from Kapatapuram to the present- day Madurai. As a result of this shifting, the Pandyas had three capital cities-Thenmadurai, Kapatapuram and modern Madurai and consequently by the assembly of poets also met in the Pandayan courts in these three places, which lent to the title three Sangams. If the Pandyas had only one capital, then there would be only one Sangam. However, it is a historical fact that the first Tamil Sangam functioned at Thenmadurai; the second at Kapatapuram and the third and the last at the modern Madurai.

LITERATURE

Though many literary works were said to have been produced during the first Tamil Sangam period, none of them are available today, except their names. During the second Tamil Sangam period, Tolkappiyam was written by Tolkappiyar. No other literary works are available in that period also. But during the third Tamil Sangam period, abundant literature were produced. Since our scope of study extends only upto sixth century B.C., it would not be possible to cull out and list the literature chronologically that belongs to our period of study.

LINK WITH INDUS VALLEY CIVILIZATION

There are many things common between the Indus valley civilization and the ancient Tamil civilization to prove the links that existed between the two great civilizations. The authors of both the civilizations were Dravidians. The black and red ware tradition, the handmade earthenware vessels like food plates, incense burners, lotas, flat based bowels, multiple pots were common to both the civilizations. The excavations at Adittanallur, Korkai and Sanur have yielded tangible evidences to connect these two civilizations.

There are representations of Mother Goddess, tress, animals etc. on the seals of the Indus valley, which can also be found on artefacts discovered at Adittanallur, Korkai and other urn burial sites. Tolkappiyam gives a detailed account of the religion of the ancient Tamils, most of which correspond to the religious life of the people of the Indus valley.

B.B. Lal points out the similarities between the graffiti of ancient Tamil Land and Harappan script. Iravatham Mahadevan concludes that the inscription of the Neolithic axe found at Sembiyan kaniddyur was closely a related to the Indus script. Poornachandra Jeeva opines that the Tamili script was a descendant of the Indus script.

The Indus valley civilization is known as city civilization. Though the ancient Tamil Land was dotted with many villages, it also had fortified great cities like Thenmadurai, Kapatapuram, Madurai, Vanji and Uraiyur.

All these point to the fact that the ancient Tamil Civilization was contemporary to the Indus valley civilization. But the Indus Valley civilization collapsed and disappeared around 1500 B.C, whereas the ancient Tamil civilization continues to grow and flourish without any break till date. Only a few ancient civilizations of the world continue to flourish even today. Tamil civilizations is one among them. It continues to zealously safeguard its uniqueness and contribute its share to the human civilization of the world in modem times.