Early Tamil Society and Culture

Early Tamil Society and Culture

Introduction

Tamil civilization, as we have seen, begins atleast three centuries before the Common Era (CE). As seafaring people, Tamil traders and sailors established commercial and cultural links across the seas and merchants from foreign territories also visited the Tamil region. The resulting cultural and mercantile activities and internal developments led to urbanization in this region. Towns and ports emerged. Coins and currency came into circulation. Written documents were produced. The Tamil-Brahmi script was adopted to write the Tamil language. Classical Tamil poems were composed.

In the unit one, we studied the cultural developments in the Tamil region from the prehistoric period to the beginning of the Iron Age. In this lesson, we will learn about the development of Tamil culture in the Early Historic Period also known as the Sangam Age.