Arts in Sangam Literature

சங்க இலக்கியத்தில் கலைகள்

Abstract

This study aims to document how Sangam literature addresses the arts of the Sangam period, including music, performing arts, sculpting, and agricultural practices. Sangam society was fundamentally agrarian. The foundation of this society rested on the cultivation and use of land for livelihood. Accordingly, the four types of landscapes—Kurinji (mountain), Mullai (forest), Marutham (agricultural land), and Neithal (coastal land)—are considered sources of sustenance and livelihood. Humans have the inherent ability to adapt to the characteristics of their environment and transform all available resources into means of survival. In the earliest periods, humans lived as forest-dwellers. Later, they developed hunting societies and eventually organized themselves into clan-based communities. Sangam society represents the stage following the forest-dwelling and hunting community, evolving into a more structured clan-based social organization.