Ancient Political thought of Tamil Nadu

 The history of Tamilnadu goes well before the Christian era, which could be traced through the archeological evidences and ancient Tamil literatures. The ancient Tamil region was segregated into five geographical regions like Mullai, Kurunchi, Marutham, Neythal and Paalai. According to the ancient Tamil literatures, the total Tamil land was ruled by more than 300 chieftains and small kings. But three famous kingdoms namely, Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas, are mentioned all over the body of ancient Tamil literatures. An inscription of Emperor Ashoka, along with the above three kings also mention Satyaputras, identified as the celebrated sangam age king Adiyaman neduman anji.

The ancient Tamil literatures like Sangam literature, Tirukural, silapathikaram, manimegalai etc threw light, not only on the geography, society, economy of the ancient Tamil people, but also on the politics of the land. The ‘ancient Tamil political thought’ was idealistic in many respects as it searched for a good and ideal way of polity. But at the same time the political thought also depicted the exact political situation of the Tamil land. Sangam literature is a body of Tamil poems written during 5^th BC to 2^nd AD and which was compiled by the third Sangam (date of which is unknown). These sangam literatures are considered as the oldest Tamil thought which depicts the ancient Tamil life. Thirukural are short poems written by Thiruvalluvar, approximately dated close to the start of Christian era. Thiruvaluvar was an idealist and he wrote extensible on the attributes of the state and king. He detailed the elements of the state and also preached the best way of governance. The impact of Thirukural in the ancient Tamil life could be very evident, as the literatures written after Thirukural like silapathigaram, Manimegali, seevagasinthamani reiterated the values of the social and political life preached by Thiruvalluvar. The political thought mentioned in these above body of literatures is compiled as the ancient Tamil political thought.

Sangam Political Thought

            The sangam age was characterised by small kings and chieftains fighting among themselves for supremacy. War was an essential part of the life of a typical sangam age man. But at the same time, the feeling of ‘brotherhood’ and ‘oneness’ was also present among the Tamil people during those times. One of the oldest Tamil grammer books ‘Tholkapium’ mentions ‘vada venkatam then kumari aayidai Tamil koorum Nal uzhagathu’, that is, ‘the region between vengata mountain in the north and kanyakumari in south is Tamil speaking land’[1]. It clearly shows that even though the kings and chieftains in the ancient Tamil land were fighting among themselves, they had a feeling of the ‘Tamil nation’. This literary finding is also substantiated by a stone inscription of Kalinga King Kharavela (BC 165), who claims to have destroyed a ‘Tamil federation’ which existed for 113 years[2]. Similarly such a Tamil federation of kings to fight foreign invasion is also mentioned in ‘Agananooru’, a sangam literature. Hence, today’s Tamil nationalism is not a new one or a product of colonialism, but has its roots in a typical ‘Tamil psyche’ which could be traced even in the sangam age.

            The concept of state was not developed during the Sangam age, in fact the state was in its formation during the sangam age. The sangam literatures however throw some light on how small chiefdoms were captured by kings like Pandyas, Cholas, Cheras, Adiyas (according to Aganananooru, Adiya kingdom was much bigger than Pandya kingdom during Mouryan times) and was made as a big kingdom and how statehood formed. Earlier Sangam poems did not mention about taxation as a source of income for small kings and chiefs. But, the chronologically later sangam poems (Pattinappaalai) speak about different types of taxations like customs duty, income tax, toll tax etc as a specific source of income to the King. It is pertinent here to note that, the ruler of the state – ‘king’ is not separate from the concept of state in sangam political thought as monarchy is the only form of government which finds its mention in sangam literatures.

            The whole body of sangam literature preaches some ideal political principles worthy to be followed kings. They are summed up as follows

1. A kingdom should have a good fort to protect its people from invasions (puranaanooru even speaks about forests as forts on all four sides).

2. A good king is the one who fights and conquers his enemies[3]

3. Justice is an essential element in a king’s rule. A good king should never forgo justice and should always do good deeds, which will bring him everlasting fame[4].

4. The major work of the king is to secure food to all the poor in his country and remove their hunger[5].

5. A king is a king only as long as he enjoys people’s support and he loses legitimacy if he loses their support.

The sangam political thought gives lot of importance to war and its nature, as war is considered as an essential element of Ancient Tamil life. Hence in sangam political thought, a king should be a person who fights his enemies with courage and never escapes a battlefield. Even if a warrior dies in battle field with a wound in his back, is considered derogatory in ‘Sangam’ thought[6]. Lots of good practises of war find its mention in sangam literatures. Purananooru, a sangam literature, hails a Pandyan king who announces all the women, children, sick people, cattles, childless people to go to safety zone before invading a country. Similarly the institution of ‘spy’ is considered a necessary institution in sangam thought, for maintaining peace in the state. Hence many poets preach the kings to keep good spies to be efficient.

            Slavery was an accepted institution in Sangam times. The king is measured with the number of efficient slaves he has. Kings are known to have built their country with the help of the captured slaves during invasions. But the institution of slave trade is absent in Sangam times and slaves are transferred only by gifts.

            The sangam age also throws some light on the status of sangam women. Women are highly respected in the sangam society and they had their rights to choose their partners. In sangam literature we find contributions of 26 female poets, the most famous one being ‘Avvaiyar’. Avvaiyar was an idealist philosopher who wrote many ethical doctrines and was respected by all three major sangam powers, namely, Chera, Chola and Pandya. She even functioned as a diplomat during the war times between these three kingdoms. This shows not just that women’s words were respected in the sangam society but also how the institution of  ‘diplomacy’ played a major role in maintaining regional peace.

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[1] http://www.geotamil.com/pathivukalnew/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1678:2013-08-24-03-32-41&catid=56:2013-09-02-02-58-06&Itemid=73 accessed on 04-09-2019

[2] Padmaja, R, Purushothaman, V.P (2000). Sanga Kaala Mannargalin Kaala Nilai. Volume 1. International institute of Tamil Studies: Chennai. Pg 43

[3] 400^th  verse of puranannoru….. See ‘Purananooru, moolamum thelivum, manimegalai presuram, pg 228

[4] 367^th verse of puranannoru….. See ‘Purananooru, moolamum thelivum, manimegalai presuram, pg 172

[5] 400^th  verse of puranannoru….. See ‘Purananooru, moolamum thelivum, manimegalai presuram, pg 228

[6] 278^th verse of puranannoru….. See ‘Purananooru, moolamum thelivum, manimegalai presuram, pg 82

Process of Caste formation in Tamil land

 A conscious study of sangam literature will enlighten us about the existence of slaves and different classes in ancient Tamil land. Sangam literatures mention the names of ‘Paanan, Parayan, Thudiyan and Kadamban’[1] as ‘Kudi’ (settled ethnic groups) in Tamil land. But there is no mention of them constituting as a caste in Sangam literature[2].  In ‘Marutham’ land, where people lived by doing agriculture, the presence of slave system was heavy. Sangam literature mention names of class of people like Ooran, Magizhnan, Kizhavan, Manaivi, Kizhathi who were upper class and were slave owners. Similarly, classes like Uzhavar, Uzhathiyar, Kadayar, Kadaisiyar, Kalamar, Thozhuvar,[3] were slaves or lower class people. Slaves were employed everywhere in sangam age from agriculture to war field. Women slaves were employed to help the queens and wives of landlords. The life of the slaves was pathetic in sangam age. Their settlement was little away from the main settlements and was called as “pura-chaerry” in sangam texts. It is pertinent here to note that all the people’s settlements were called as ‘chaerry’, but the prefix ‘pura’ was associated with settlements of slaves[4].

The sangam literature also mentions about class of people like kammiyar, kuyavar, thachhar, kollar[5], kanavar, idiyar, valaiyar[6] who do a specific job for their livelihood. But, there is no evidence of the presence of any endogamy[7] between these job groups during the sangam age. Guild system was present during the Sangam period. Many archeological evidences suggest the presence of guilds like Thisa, bharatha[8], Thithan operating in the ancient Tamil land. All the above evidences clearly educate us about the class system in ancient tamil land. As Rajan Gurukal notes[9], the Brahmins were present in the Sangam age, but were very less in number to exert domination on the Tamil mass. But we assume that the process of aryanisation starts in the later stage of the sangam period with the development of material forces.

The development of caste in Tamilnadu starts with the Brahminisation of Tamil culture and traditions. Ancient Tamil kings start to do ‘yajna’ in Brahminic style. The institution of Brahmin ministers start to emerge in Tamil land which was absent in earlier sangam period. As M.N.Srinivas notes, the process of sanskritisation[10] of the Tamil masses happen silently in the earlier ages of Christian era. This could have crystallised the class into caste in Tamil land.

But the caste formation gets completed only during the imperial Chola period between 10^th to 13^th century AD. The sangam period is followed by the period of Kalabhras who were Buddhists[11]. Later, the kalabhras were again replaced by Pandyas in south and Pallavas in north. This period correlated with the period of revival of Saiva-sithaantha tradition in Tamil Land in 8^th century AD, where again Brahminism becomes the dominant discourse replacing Buddhism and Jainism. One of saints of Saiva-sithaantha tradition Thirugnana Sambanthar, a Brahmin was responsible for the mass killings of Jains and Buddhists in the Pandya kingdom during that period. Similarly many nayanmars openly sang about the need for killing the Jains and Buddhists in Tamil land[12].  The other Buddhists who escaped the mass killings were captured and were made slaves. Many Dalit scholars[13] claim citing this historical evidence that, dalits of Tamilnadu are Tamil-buddhists of the Kalabhra period[14]. All these things culminates with the start of the era of Imperial Cholas who were strong saivaites and followed Brahminic traditions completely. They created ‘brahmadeya’[15] villages for Brahmins and donated lots of land for their livelihood. The process of Brahminism gets completed and Tamil society becomes a pure Caste bound Brahminic society during this Chola period.

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[1] Sittrambalam, C.K. (1999) Pandaya Thamizhagam. Kumaran Publishers: Chennai. Pg 231

[2] Gurukkal, R. (1994). The formation of caste society in Kerala: Historical antecedents. In K. L. Sharma (Ed.), Caste and Class in India (pp. 393 - 404). Jaipur: Rawat Publications. Pg 394.

[3] Perumalsaami, V. (2007) Sanga Kaala Thamizhagathin Samooga Nilai. Bharathi Poothakalayam: Chennai. Pg 73

[4] Ibid, Pg 74

[5] Op.cit., Sittrambalam, pg. 230

[6] Op.cit., Gurukkal, Pg. 394

[7] According to Dr.B.R.Ambedkar presence of endogamy is the real institution which sustains and continues caste system. Hence he suggests inter caste marriages as a solution for annihilation of caste.

[8] Rajan, K. (2004).  Tholiyal Noakkil Sanga Kaalam. International institute of Tamil studies: Chennai. Pg 98

[9] Op.cit., Gurukkal, Pg. 395

[10] Singh, Y. (1986) Modernisation of Indian Tradition. Rawat: New Delhi

[11] Padvamathy, A. (2003) Chozhar aatchiyil Arasum Madhamum. Kumaran Publications: Chennai. Pg 27

[12] Thirumavalavan, Thol. (2004) Thamizhargal Hindukala. Thaimann: Chennai. Pg.16

[13] Ibid., pg 10

[14] This concept made Pandit Iyothee Thass, a Dalit – anti brahminic scholar to embrace Buddhism in final stages of his during 19^th century. https://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-ravikumar280905.htm accessed on 03-09-2018

[15] Appadorai, A. (1990). Economic conditions in South India (1000 – 1500 AD). University of Madras: Chennai. Pg 112 - 113