✓The earliest literature of South India is represented by group of texts in old Tamil, often collectively referred to as Sangam literature.
✓A tradition recorded in post-7th century texts speaks of three Sangams or literary gatherings in ancient times.
✓The first is supposed to held in Madurai for 4,440 years, the second at Kapatapuram for 3,700 years, and the third in Madurai for 1,850 years.
✓The Sangam corpus includes six of the eight anthologies of poems included in the Ettutokai (The Eight Collections), and nine of the ten pattus (songs) of the Pattuppattu (The Ten Songs).
✓The style and certain historical references in the poems suggest that they were composed between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century CE. They were compiled into anthologies in about the mid-8th century.
✓These anthologies were collected into the super-anthologies (i.e., anthologies of anthologies) called the Ettutokai and the Pattuppattu.
