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There are literary, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic sources of ancient Tamil history. The foremost among these sources is the Sangam literature, generally dated to the last centuries BCE to early centuries CE. The poems in Sangam literature contain vivid descriptions of the different aspects of life and society in Tamilakam during this age; scholars agree that, for the most part, these are reliable accounts. Greek and Roman literature, around the dawn of the Christian era, give details of the maritime trade between Tamilakam and the Roman empire, including the names and locations of many ports on both coasts of the Tamil country. Archaeological excavations of several sites in Tamil Nadu and Kerala have yielded remnants from the Sangam era, such as different kinds of pottery, pottery with inscriptions, imported ceramic ware, industrial objects, brick structures and spinning whorls. Techniques such as stratigraphy and paleography have helped establish the date of these items to the Sangam era. The excavated artifacts have provided evidence for existence of different economic activities mentioned in Sangam literature such as agriculture, weaving, smithy, gem cutting, building construction, pearl fishing and painting. Inscriptions found on caves and pottery are another source for studying the history of Tamilakam. Writings in Tamil-Brahmi script have been found in many locations in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and also in Egypt and Thailand. mostly recording grants made by the kings and chieftains. References are also made to other aspects of the Sangam society. Coins issued by the Tamil kings of this age have been recovered from river beds and urban centers of their kingdoms. Most of the coins carry the emblem of the corresponding dynasty on their reverse, such as the bow and arrow of the Cheras; some of them contain portraits and written legends helping numismatists assign them to a certain period. ==Literary sources in Tamil== By far, the most important source of ancient Tamil history is the corpus of Tamil poems, referred to as Sangam literature, generally dated from the last centuries of the pre-Christian era to the early centuries of the Christian era. It consists of 2,381 known poems, with a total of over 50,000 lines, written by 473 poets.〔Rajam, V. S. 1992. A reference grammar of classical Tamil poetry: 150 B.C.-pre-fifth/sixth century A.D. Memoirs of the American philosophical society, v. 199. Philadelphia, Pa: American Philosophical Society. p12〕〔Dr. M. Varadarajan, ''A History of Tamil Literature'', (Translated from Tamil by E.Sa. Viswanathan), Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi, 1988 p.40〕 Each poem belongs to one of two types: ''Akam'' (inside) and ''Puram'' (outside). The ''akam'' poems deal with inner human emotions such as love and the ''puram'' poems deal with outer experiences such as society, culture and warfare. They contain descriptions of various aspects of life in the ancient Tamil country. The ''Maduraikkanci'' by Mankudi Maruthanaar contains a full-length description of Madurai and the Pandyan country under the rule of Nedunj Cheliyan III. The ''Netunalvatai'' by Nakkirar contains a description of the king’s palace. The ''Purananuru'' and ''Akanaṉūṟu'' collections contain poems sung in praise of various kings and also poems that were composed by the kings themselves. The Sangam age anthology ''Pathirruppaththu'' provides the genealogy of two collateral lines for three or four generations of the Cheras, along with describing the Chera country, in general. The poems in ''Ainkurnuru'', written by numerous authors, were compiled by Kudalur Kizhar at the instance of Chera King ''Yanaikkatcey Mantaran Ceral Irumporai''.The Chera kings are also mentioned in other works such as ''Akanaṉūṟu'', ''Kuruntokai'', ''Natṟiṇai'' and ''Purananuru''. The ''Pattinappaalai'' describes the Chola port city of Kaveripumpattinam in great detail. It mentions ''Eelattu-unavu'' – food from Eelam – arriving at the port. One of the prominent Sangam Tamil poets is known as Eelattu Poothanthevanar meaning Poothan-thevan (proper name) hailing from ''Eelam'' mentioned in ''Akanaṉūṟu'': 88, 231, 307; ''Kurunthokai'': 189, 360, 343 and ''Naṟṟiṇai'': 88, 366. The historical value of the Sangam poems has been critically analysed by scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries. Sivaraja Pillay, a 20th-century historian, while constructing the genealogy of ancient Tamil kings from Sangam literature, insists that the Sangam poems show no similarities with ancient Puranic literature and medieval Tamil literature, both of which contain, according to him, fanciful myths and impossible legends. He feels that the Sangam literature is, for the most part, a plain unvarnished tale of the happenings of a by-gone age. Scholars like Dr. Venkata Subramanian, Dr. N. Subrahmanian, Dr. Sundararajan and J.K. Pillay concur with this view. Noted historian K.A.N. Sastri dates the presently available Sangam corpus to the early centuries of the Christian Era. He asserts that the picture drawn by the poets is in obedience to literary tradition and must have been based on solid foundation in the facts of contemporary life; he proceeds to use the Sangam literature to describe the government, culture and society of the early Pandyan kingdom. Kanakalatha Mukund, while describing the mercantile history of Tamilakam, points out that the heroic poetry in Sangam literature often described an ideal world rather than reality, but the basic facts are reliable and an important source of Tamil history. Her reasoning is that they have been supported by archaeological and numismatic evidence and the fact that similar vivid descriptions are found in works by different poets. Dr. Husaini relies on Sangam literature to describe the early Pandyan society and justifies his source by saying that some of the poetical works contain really trustworthy accounts of early Pandyan kings and present facts as they occurred, though they never throw much light about the chronology of their rule. Among the critics of using Sangam literature for historical studies is Herman Tieken, who maintains that the Sangam poems were composed in the 8th or 9th century and that they attempt to describe a period much earlier than when they were written.〔Tieken, Herman Joseph Hugo (2001) Kāvya in South India: old Tamil Caṅkam poetry. Groningen: Egbert Forsten. pp. 229–230〕 Tieken's methodology of dating Sangam works has been criticized by Hart,〔George Hart III. "Review of Tieken's ''Kavya in South India.''" ''Journal of the American Oriental Institute'' ''124'':1. pp. 180–184. 2004.〕 Ferro-Luzzi,〔G.E. Ferro-Luzzi. "Tieken, Herman, ''Kavya in South India'' (Book review). ''Asian Folklore Studies''. June 2001. pp. 3733–74〕 and Monius.〔Anne E. Monius, Book review, The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 61, No. 4 (November 2002), pp. 1404–1406〕 Robert Caldwell, a 19th-century liguist, dates the Sangam works to a period that he calls the Jaina cycle which was not earlier than the 8th century; he does not offer an opinion on the historical value of the poems.〔Caldwell, Robert. 1974. A comparative grammar of the Dravidian or South-Indian family of languages. New Delhi: Oriental Books Reprint Corp〕 Kamil Zvelebil, a Czech indologist, considers this date quite impossible and says that Caldwell's choice of works are whimsical.〔Zvelebil, p. 29〕 Champakalakshmi states that since the Sangam period is often stretched from 300 BCE to 300 CE and beyond, it would be hazardous to use the Sangam works as a single corpus of source for the entire period.〔Champakalakshmi, p. 77〕 According to Encyclopædia Britannica, the Sangam poems were created between 1st century and 4th century and many of them are free from literary conceits.〔''Cankam literature'', The new Encyclopædia Britannica (Vol. 2). Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2002. p. 802〕 The Macropaedia mentions that the historical authenticity of sections of Sangam literature has been confirmed by archaeological evidence.〔''India'', The new Encyclopædia Britannica (Macropædia Vol. 21). Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2002. p. 45〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Sources of ancient Tamil history」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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