Tamilakam
Topic: Sangam Age and Early South India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 2 "Kings, Farmers and Towns"; Class 12, Ch 3 "Kinship, Caste and Class - Early Societies"
Meaning
Tamilakam was the name of the ancient Tamil country. It covered present-day Tamil Nadu and parts of present-day Andhra Pradesh and Kerala. Here, chiefdoms and the kingdoms of the Cholas, Cheras and Pandyas grew up around c. 300 BCE – 300 CE, and they proved to be stable and prosperous. Its early signs in archaeology are megaliths, which are large stone structures built over burials. They appear from the first millennium BCE and often contain iron tools and weapons. Ashoka's edicts name the Tamil kingdoms as lying outside his empire.
Example
The Sangam poems describe Tamilakam's chiefs, its three crowned kings and its busy ports, such as Puhar (Kaveripattinam). Ashoka's edicts name the Cholas, Pandyas, Keralaputras (Cheras) and Satiyaputras as kingdoms beyond Mauryan rule.
Don't confuse with
- Tamil Nadu: the modern state. Tamilakam was larger and also included parts of present-day Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.
Related concepts
- Sangam age
- Sangam literature
- Tamil Sangams
- Akam and puram
- Tinai
- Ettuthokai
- Akananuru
- Purananuru
- Pattuppattu
- Kapilar