Sangam Literature

Sangam Literature – சான்றோர் செய்யுள்

Sangam poetry laid down the foundation for the entire Thamizh poetic tradition that has flourished for over two thousand years.  It is the root of the massive Thamizh literary tree from which branches have spread in many different directions.  The predominantly secular Sangam poems influenced the later religious works of Jain, Buddhist, Saivite and Vaishnavite poets.  The universality of emotions, which are revealed through the natural elements of the five landscapes, has made the poetry timeless, and for all cultures.

There are 18 Sangam books – Ten long poems (Pāthuppāttu) and eight anthologies (Ettuthokai), for a total of 2362 poems written by 544 poets, and 82 poems written by anonymous authors.  There are over 26 thousand lines of poems.  The bulk of the literature was written between 3rd century B.C. and 3rd century A. D.  The poets, both men and women, came from all backgrounds – kings, noble men, learned men, doctors, businessmen, teachers, metal smiths, goldsmiths, cattle herders etc. etc.

Ancient commentators referred to Sangam literature as சான்றோர் செய்யுள் – ‘The poetry of the wise’.  The word Sangam is not Thamizh.  It is not used anywhere in Sangam literature.  It is derived from the Sanskrit word ‘sangha’, which means ‘academy or fraternity’.  It comes from the Buddhist and Jain sanghas that existed in Madurai in ancient times.  In A. K. Ramanujan’s words, “This spurious name Sangam (fraternity, community) for the poetry is justified not by history, but by poetic practice.”

The word is mentioned for the first time in Thamizh literature in the 8th century commentary of Iraiyanār Akapporul, by Nakkeerar, which describes scenarios of a first Sangam with 4,449 poets lasting for 4,450 years participated by the gods Sivan, Murukan, and Kuberan, and a second Sangam with 3,700 poets lasting for 3,700 years and the last Sangam where the eight anthologies were written. He also mentions that the third Sangam lasted for 1,850 years and produced the eight anthologies.  Despite the obvious exaggerations, there appears to have been organizations in Madurai in ancient times that nurtured Thamizh.

Evidence of a Thamizh Sangam in Madurai in the 9th century is seen in the Pāndiyan copper plates from Thalavāypuram (910 A.D.), which has the words, ‘the founding of Southern Madurai and nurturing Thamizh by establishing a fine Sangam there for precious Thamizh’, and the copper plates from Chinnamanūr (926 A.D.) which has the words, ‘founding the fertile city of Madurai  and fortifying it, and appearing great among scholars after having himself done faultless research in bright Thamizh and the Northern language, because of which his intellect broadened his mind, and having the Mahabharatha brought into Thamizh and establishing a Sangam in Madurai’.  There might have been a group of Thamizh scholars in Madurai as seen in the rock inscriptions of Erukkankudi (829 A.D.) with the words ‘the lord of the excellent Ālankudi praised in all the worlds, on the firm big bench of stone in Koodal with cool Thamizh great in words’.

Sangam Age and other Dravidian literature:   There are many proofs that the bulk of the literature was written from 150 B.C. to 300 A.D.  G. K. Sesha Iyer suggested 2nd century A.D. when the bulk of the literature was composed.  Nilakanda Sastri proved that the bulk of the literature was composed between 100 and 250 A.D.  There is not a single reference to the Pallavas who established their rule in Kānchi around 275 A.D; they must have been written before the Pallava arrival.  Also, we have detailed description of foreign trade, especially with Greece, found in these poems, with descriptions of their ships, their gold coins, wines etc.  The trade did not continue past the 3rd century A.D.  We have the accounts and observations of Greek and Roman writers like the author of Periplus (A.D. 70), Pliny (A.D. 78), and Ptolemy (A.D. 140), which have elaborate descriptions of many cities and ports in the Thamizh country.  The Sri Lankan king Gajabāhu I and Chēran Chenguttuvan of Pathitruppathu were contemporaries.  King Gajabāhu reigned from 173 to 195 A.D.  This Gajabāhu synchronism is accepted by most scholars today.  Iravatham Mahadevan has shown that the inscriptions at Pukalūr, which can be dated to 200 A.D. mentions the names of Chera kings who appear in Pathitruppathu.

Other Dravidian literature came much later.  The one that came after Thamizh is Kannada, and that did not happen for at least 1,200 years.  To quote Kamil Zvelebil, “the first narrative Kannada literature is Sivakōti’s Vaddārādhane in 900 A.D.  Telugu literature as we know it begins with Nannaya’s translation of Mahabharatha in the 11th century A.D.  In Malayalam, Unnunīli Sandēsam, an anonymous poem of the 14th century, is based on the models of Sandēsa or Dūta poems; its very language is true manipravālam, which is defined in the earliest Malayalam grammar (15th century Lilāthilakam) as the union of Malayalam and Sanskrit.”

Epigraphical evidence in Thamizhi (Thamizh Brahmi):  The Māngulam cave inscriptions were first noted in 1882, observed again in 1906 and determined in 1965 by Iravatham Mahadevan to have inscriptions from the 2nd century B.C.  The inscriptions record the gift of a monastery to Nantasiri Kuvan, a senior Jaina monk.  Two of the caves had inscriptions about King Nedunchezhiyan.

The Jambai cave inscription dated the 1st century A.D. was discovered in 1981 by the Archaeological Department.  It states that the hermitage was given by Athiyamān Nedumān Anji.  It records the grant of the cave on the north bank of the South Pennar River near Thirukoyilur in Vilupparam district by Athiyamān Nedumān Anji, who was one of the seven great vallal kings of ancient Thamizh land.

The discovery of cave inscriptions from the 2nd century A.D. was made at Pukalur (புகளூர்) in 1928. Pugalur is situated on the south bank of River Kaviri about 15 km. northwest of Karur, the ancient Chēra capital, which is in modern Karur district.  However, its historical significance was only recognized almost four decades later, in 1965.  Out of the 12 inscriptions, 2 refer to the Chēra royal family.  Both of these inscriptions record the construction of a rock shelter for Cenkāyapan, a senior Jaina monk when Ilankadunko, the son of king Perunkatunkō who was the son of King Āthan Selirumporai, became the heir apparent.  King Perunkatunkō was the poet Pālai Pādiya Perunkatunkō who wrote 68 poems, 67 in Pālai Thinai and one in Puranānuru.

Influence of Sanskrit:  There is another important difference between Thamizh and the other Dravidian literary languages:  the meta language of Thamizh has always been Thamizh, never Sanskrit.   As A.K. Ramanujan wrote in his book ‘Language and Modernization’, ‘In most Indian languages, the technical gobbledygook is Sanskrit; in Tamil, the gobbledygook is ultra–Tamil’.  Kamil Zvelebil explains that there are traces of Aryan influence in early Thamizh, just as the very beginnings of the Rig Vedic hymns show traces of Dravidian influence.  He wrote in his book, ‘The Smile of Murugan’, ‘Historically speaking, from the point of development of Indian literature as a single complex, Tamil literature possesses at least two unique features.  First, it is the only Indian literature which is, at least in its beginnings and in its first and most vigorous bloom, is almost entirely independent of Aryan and specifically Sanskrit influences.   Second, Tamil literature is the only Indian literature which is both classical and modern, while it shares antiquity with much of Sanskrit literature and is as classical, in the best sense of the word, as e.g. the ancient Greek poetry, it continues to be vigorously living modern writing of our days’.

Ancient Commentaries for the Sangam books:

Ainkurunūru:  There is an ancient 13th century A.D. anonymous commentary.  However, it is not a detailed one.
Kurunthokai:  Tradition says that Pērasiriyar and Nachinārkkiniyar wrote commentaries, neither of which have been found.
Natrinai:  No ancient commentary is available.
Akanānūru:  There is an ancient commentary of unknown authorship with brief notes for the first 90 poems, probably written in the 13th century A.D.
Pathitruppathu:  It has an old, brief commentary of unknown authorship, probably written in the 13th century A.D.
Puranānūru:  An old commentary of unknown authorship, probably from the 12th century A.D. is available for the first 266 poems.
Pathuppāttu:  Nachinārkkiniyar wrote full–fledged commentaries for the 10 long poems in the 13th century A.D. or earlier.
Paripādal:  Parimēlalakar wrote a full–fledged commentary in the 13th century A.D. or earlier
Kalithokai:  Nachinārkkiniyar wrote a full–fledged commentary in the 13th century A.D. or earlier.

Loss and Recovery:  We lost these manuscripts, which were etched on palm, for over 800 years.  We knew of their existence since there were references to them in the commentaries written many centuries after the Sangam age.  They were buried amidst the collections of Saivite monasteries and some families, without anyone knowing of their existence.  They were re–discovered by U.V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855 – 1942) and C. W. Thamotharam Pillai ((1832 – 1901) in the late 19th century.  U.V. Swamintha Iyer started the process in 1883 at the Thiruvāvaduthurai Saiva monastery, finding 17 out of the 18 Sangam books, and both these men, along with the help of a few other scholars completed the work of editing and bringing them to print, over the next few decades.  But for Swaminatha Iyer, this process of recovery would not have started then.  We owe immense gratitude to him, and to all the other scholars who helped him.  They went all over the Thamizh land and searched for ancient palm manuscripts.  They collected a lot of manuscripts.  They then edited and published the books during the last quarter of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century.

Nature Poetry:   Sangam poetry is nature poetry.  The elements of nature are intertwined with love, valor, agony, ecstasy, kindness, war, cruelty, honor, charity, friendship and many more facets of humanity.  They are used in similes, metaphors and suggestions to reveal human emotions and situations.  The Sangam poets never lost sight of the physical world around them.  Keenly observing nature, they brought to life the fauna and flora, and used them effectively in almost every poem, to reveal human emotions, thereby creating beautiful vignettes.  There are over one hundred trees described in the poems.  One can travel back in time and see many mammals, reptiles, insects, birds, bushes, vines, flowers, mountains, forests, ponds, waterfalls, rivers and streams in the Thamizh country.  The sky with the constellations, sun, moon, stars and planets are also used effectively.  The tiny red velvet bugs of the rainy season, to the mighty elephant in the jungle, are part of the drama.  A piece of foam dashing on the rocks in a flooding stream and losing itself little by little, is used to describe the heroine fading away in pain in Kurunthokai 290.

Secular Poetry:  Sangam literature is mostly secular, reflecting the early Thamizh culture.  However, even the earlier works Natrinai, Kurunthokai, Akanānūru, Ainkurunūru, Pathitruppathu and Puranānūru have a few references to Puranic stories with Sivan and Thirumāl.  The later works Paripādal and Thirumurukātruppadai are bakthi literature works, the former with about two thirds of bakthi material and the latter being totally a bakthi poem.  The anthology Kalithokai has many references to Puranic stories with Sivan and Thirumāl.  Perunthēvanār’s invocation poems were added to Puranānūru, Natrinai, Kurunthokai and Akanānūru, when the texts were compiled into anthologies, which is many centuries after the Sangam era.  However, only in Puranānūru, the bakthi poem has been inserted as poem 1, and is made to be part of the anthology.  We need to be aware that Sivan, Murukan and Mother goddess are all ancient Thamizh gods.  Puranic stories were created later, using them.  In Iravatham Mahadevan’s words, “All the gods in all the temples in India are pre–Aryan.  However, they have been Sanskitized”.

Akam and Puram – According to Nachinārkkiniyar in his Tholkāppiyam commentary (Porulathikāram 56), ‘Akam’ and ‘Puram’ are like the inner palm and outer side of the hands, respectively, when the palms are held together as in the Vanakkam symbol.   It could not have been explained any better.

Akam:  Akam poems concern the love between a man and a woman, in all phases – pre–marital, during marriage and during separation.  About 78% of Sangam poems are in the Akam Thinai.

Puram:  Puram poems deal with topics such as greatness of kings, heroism of warriors, charity of kings and rich men, friendships between kings and poets, battles, ethics, and the lives of wandering bards and poets.

The Eight Anthologies – Ettuthokai

“நற்றிணை நல்ல குறுந்தொகை, ஐங்குறுநூறு, ஒத்த பதிற்றுப்பத்து ஓங்கு பரிபாடல், கற்றறிந்தார் ஏத்தும் கலியோடு, அகம், புறம் என்று இத்திறத்த எட்டுத் தொகை”.

The eight anthologies consist of poems divided into two broad categories – Akam (interior) and Puram (exterior – king, heroism, battle, ethics and wandering bards and poets).   Puranānūru and Pathitruppathu are the only two that belong to the Puram category.

  1. Natrinai: This anthology has 400 poems written by 175 poets. Poem 234 is missing, and only parts of 395 have been recovered.  There are 59 references to historical incidents.
  2. Kurunthokai: This anthology has 400 poems written by 205 poets. U.V.Swamintha Iyer’s edition has 401. One poem must have been added later, possibly the invocatory poem.  There are 27 historical references in Kurunthokai.
  3. Ainkurunūru: This is an anthology with 500 short poems, as the title indicates. It is arranged in five sections, each of 100 verses, each dealing with once facet of Akam – Kurinji, Neythal, Marutham, Mullai and Pālai.  Within the main 5 divisions, the poems are sets of 10 with thematic headings like ‘Monkeys, boars, peacocks etc. etc.).  Each set of 10 poems are based on a single topic.  It has 17 historical references.

Kapilar wrote the Kurinji poems, Ōrampōkiyār wrote the Marutham poems, Ammoovanār wrote the Neythal poems, Pēyanār wrote the Mullai poems and Ōthalānthaiyār wrote the pālai poems.

  1. Pathitruppathu: This has 80 poems (out of an original 100) and they belong to the Puram category. The name means, ‘The ten tens’. It deals with the exploits and achievements of just one dynasty – The Chēras.  It is unique in that sense since it is exclusively devoted to the Chēra kings.

The kings described in this collection are Imayavarampan Nedunchēralāthan (11–20), Palyānai Selkelu Kuttuvan (21–30), Kalankāykanni Nārmudichēral (31–40), Kadal Pirakōttiya Chenguttuvan (41–50), Ādukotpāttu Chēralāthan (51–60), Selvakkadungo Valiyāthan (61–70), Perumchēral Imruporai (71–80), and Ilanchēral Irumporai (81–90).

Each set of ten has been appended with a ‘pathikam’ (epilog), which furnishes us with details of the author, the hero, his lineage etc.  These epilogs have been added much later, but it appears that the historical information they provide could have been drawn from earlier resources.

  1. Paripādal: This is unique among Sangam books, since it has both Akam and Puram poems. It is one of the later anthologies. It was written a few centuries after the earlier ones.  The collection has 22 poems.  The topics for the poems are Thirumāl, Murukan, and Vaikai River.
  2. Kalithokai: This anthology has 150 poems in the kali meter, of 12 to 80 lines by 5 poets, each of whom wrote in a different Akam theme.  S. V. Damodaram Pillai who found these original manuscripts and wrote the commentary for them, believed that the entire book was the work of one poet and that it was written a couple of centuries later than the other books.

Kamil Zvelebil is also of the view that the whole book was written by one person in the Pāndiyan kingdom.  K.N. Sivaraja Pillai, Rajamanickanār, Takanobu Takahashi and others hold the same view.  However, some scholars believe that this collection was written in earlier times like the other anthologies, but in a different style of writing and with many puranic stories.

What we see in the modern editions, are Kapilar for Kurinji, Pālai Pādiya Perunkadungō for Pālai, Nallanthuvanār for Neythal, Nalluthiran for Mullai and Maruthan Ilanākanār for Marutham.

  1. Akanānūru: This anthology has 400 poems written by 142 poets. This anthology has also been called ‘Nedunthokai Nānuru’ since the poems are long.   All the poems are in Akam thinai, as the name implies.  The poems are from 13 to 31 lines, and they have all reached us intact.  There are 288 historical allusions.
  2. Puranānūru: It has 400 poems and they deal with Puram (exterior). The poems were written by both male and female poets. The poems are 4 to 40 lines, and are composed by 156 poets.  There were 14 kings, and 15 women among these poets.  The female poet Avvaiyār wrote 33 poems.

Praising the Kings:  There are a total of 138 poems which praise the 43 kings belonging to the three great dynasties: Chēra, Chōzha and Pāndiya.  There are 141 poems in praise of 48 small–region kings – the main ones are Athiyamān Nedumān Anji, Vēl Pāri, Āy Andiran, Pēkan, Kumanan, Kāri, Nānjil Valluvan, Pittan Kotran and Elini.  There are 121 poems whose heroes are unknown due to missing words, defective colophons, fragmentary nature of the poems etc.

The Ten Long Poems – Pathuppāttu

“திருமுருகு பொருநாறு பாணிரண்டு முல்லை
பெருகு வளமதுரைக் காஞ்சி – மருவினிய
கோலநெடு நல் வாடை கோல் குறிஞ்சி பட்டினப்
பாலை கடாத்தொடும் பத்து”.

These are long poems which are of 103 to 782 lines, and they do not totally fit well into the Akam (interior) and Puram (exterior) categories, except for Kurunjippāttu which is considered to be Akam.

  1. Thirumurukātruppadai: This poem has 317 lines in the Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter, and was written by the poet Nakkeerar for Murukan.
  2. Porunarātruppadai: This poem has 250 lines in Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter.  It was written by Mudathāmakkaniyār.  The king here is Chōlan Karikālan.
  3. Sirupānātruppadai: This poem has 269 lines in Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter, and was written by Nathathanār. The King is Nalliyakōdan.
  4. Perumpānātruppadai: This poem has 500 lines in Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter.  It was written by Kadiyalūr Urithirankannanār.  The king is Thondaimān Ilanthiraiyan.
  5. Mullaippāttu: This poem has 103 lines in Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter, and was written by poet Nappoothanār. The king is Thalaiyālankānathu Cheruvendra Neduncheliyan.
  6. Mathuraikānchi: This poem has 583 lines in the Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter, and was written by poet Māngudi Maruthanār, for the Pāndiyan king Neduncheliyan.
  7. Nedunalvādai: This poem has 188 lines in Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter, and was written by poet Nakkeeranār (son of Madurai Kanakkāyanār), and the king is unknown.  Some scholars speculate that the king is Pāndiyan, since there is a description of neem leaves tied to spears.
  8. Kurinjippāttu: This poem has 261 lines in Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter and was written by Kapilar for the north Indian king Brahadatha.  This song describes the Thamizh mountain country, its fauna and flora, and its marriage customs.
  9. Pattinappālai: This poem has 301 lines.  There are 153 lines in Vanji meter and 138 lines in Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter.  It was written by Kadiyalūr Urithirankannanār.  The king was Chōlan Karikālan.
  10. Malaipadukadām: This poem has 583 lines in the Āsiriyappā/Akaval meter, and was written by Perunkousikanār for King Nannan Venmān.

Thinai:  There are seven thinai classifications in Puram, and five in Akam.  In addition, there are 2 more Akam thinais which are rarely used.  These are seen only in parts of a couple of Kalithokai poems and in a few Puranānuru poems.  They are Kaikkilai and Perunthinai.  Kaikkilai is one–sided love.  Perunthinai is unsuitable love.  The reason Kaikkilai and Perunthinai poems are found in Puranānuru is because the characters in these poems are historical persons.  These poems do not follow the Akam rule of not having the names of the characters in the poems.

Puram Thinais:  There are 9 Puram thinais and 2 Akam thinais in Purananuru.  The Puram thinais are Karanthai, Kānji, Thumpai, Nochi Pādān, Pothuviyal, Vanji, Vākai and Vetchi.  Other than Pothuviyal and Pādān, the thinais are named after flowers.  The Puram thinai poems are spoken by the poet himself, and frequently associated with real people, places and events in history. The Akam thinais are Kaikkilai and Perunthinai.

Akam Thinais:  Here are five thinais, and they are named after flowers and trees.  These are Kurinji, Mullai, Marutham, Neythal and Pālai.  In addition to the plant that gives it its name, each of these five Akam thinais is associated with a certain kind of land, flora and fauna found in that land, people who live there, a season, a time of day and a situation in the development or fulfillment of love between a man and a woman.  The poets have used Akam thinais to achieve poetic effect, and it is very important to know them, to appreciate Sangam poetry.  The metaphors and similes in the poems are based on the elements in the particular landscape.   Fauna, flora and the landscape have been used to express the physical traits and emotions of the characters in the poems.

Snapshot of life two thousand years ago:  The 2381 Sangam poems reveal many vivid images of the Tamil country from two thousand years ago.  We see the fauna and flora in all the five landscapes, food people ate, clothing that people in different geographical regions wore – mountain dwellers wore grass and flower garments and others wore woven cotton and silk clothes, jewelry made with gold and precious stones, the lives of bards, dancers and musicians who played instruments, cattle herders playing their flutes, the various musical instruments, battles and warriors, trading with the Greeks and Romans whose large ships arrived in ports,  just reigns of small-region kings, great friendships between poets and kings,  the three great kings who battled with each other constantly, the seven great donors and small region kings, trades people did in the different landscapes, war equipment,  forts with moats, existence of metal smith workshops, knowledge of the sky – the sun, moon, venus, mars, saturn, comets and many constellations, casting of bronze bells using the lost wax method,  building of a small curved dam,  the heat and wafting aroma from sugar mills, using scissors for cutting hair, lizard omens, bird omens, an occasional kindness of a hunter who lets the bird he trapped fly away,  and even kindness of a ruthless, wild killer animal letting its prey with young ones,  get away.

Some Interesting Conventions and Facts that might help new readers:
1. Snakes are attacked by thunder, which chops off their heads and kills them.
2. Snakes spit sparkling gems.
3. Pearls drop off the tusks of elephants.
4. A tiger will not eat a prey if it does not fall on its right side.
5. Women pining in love get yellow pallor spots on their bodies, and their eyes become pale and yellow.  Their shoulders and arms become thin.  Bangles fall off their wrists.
6. There is a mythical creature called asunam.  The University of Madras lexicon defines asunam as a creature believed to be so susceptible to harmony, that when it is fascinated by notes of music, a sudden loud beat of the drum causes its instantaneous death.
7. There is a mighty animal Āli (ஆளி), which kills elephants.  It could be a hyena or a lion.
8. The heroine’s friend (thozhi) refers to the hero as ‘our lover’, since both women are very close friends.
9. The heroine’s friend is sometimes the voice of the heroine and she tells the hero what the heroine wants to tell him.  It is because of an old convention which is in the Tholkāppiyam, that the heroine cannot utter her love feelings directly to the hero.
10. The utterances of the foster mother and real mother are not quite clear. The foster mother also refers to the heroine as ‘my daughter’. Also, we need to be aware that the colophons, which have information about the speaker and the listener, were written many centuries after the poems.
11. The speakers of Puram poems are the poets. The speakers of Akam poems are the hero, heroine, heroine’s friend, heroine’s mother, heroine’s foster mother, hero’s charioteer, hero’s concubine and passers–by, when the hero and heroine are in the wasteland.
12. The fathers and brothers of the heroine have never been speakers of any poem. However, they are referred to in the poems.
13. When the heroine refuses to respond to the hero, he climbs on a palmyra stem horse (madal ēruthal, meaning climbing on a palmyra stem or frond) and has it pulled through town for people to see and the heroine to feel embarrassed.  He does that as a last resort as a jilted lover.
14. When the heroine is lovesick and thin, her mother fears that she’s afflicted with a disease because of the wrath of Murukan, and brings a diviner to her house to appease Murukan, the mountain deity. The diviner (Velan) uses molucca beans and divines, offers a goat as sacrifice, ties a talisman on the heroine’s arms and does frenzied ritual dances on freshly laid sand in the front yard of the house that is decorated with flowers.
15.  A virali (விறலி) is a female artist who performs dances and also sings.  She belongs to the bard’s family.
16. A ghoul protects wounded warriors on the battlefield, when they have nobody to guard them.
17. Young women are described as having ‘bright forehead’, ‘sharp teeth’, ‘thick, dark hair’, ‘fragrant hair, ‘deer–like looks’, ‘bamboo–like arms’, ‘swaying walk’, ‘delicate shoulders’, ‘eyes with red lines’ etc. These phrases are repeated quite often in the poems.  Young women drew designs on their breasts and shoulders, and these were called thoyyil.
18. There are 9 references to Yavanas (Greek Ionians – but the word was probably used for Romans and others later) in the poems. They bought pepper from us, brought wine, served as bodyguards to our kings, brought us female figurine lamps with cupped hands as oil wells – பாவை விளக்கு in Nedunalvādai 101–103, and had goose lamps like our குத்து விளக்கு – Perumpānatruppadai 316–317.  There are references in a couple of poems of Thamizh kings repelling attacks of the Aryans, Aryans training wild elephants, Āryan acrobats performing on ropes etc. There are also references to Mauryan incursions into the Thamizh country.