Tamilakam

R. Champakalakshmi – Trade, Ideology and Urbanization: South India 300 BC to AD 1300

One of the major categories of sources for the study of early historic Tamil society and
economy is the corpus of Tamil literature known as the ‘Sangam’ literature. It is a collection
of remarkable poems containing evidence of early South Indian trade with the West Asian
and Mediterranean regions and the Southeast Asian countries. ‘Sangam’ literature was not the
product of a particular social or religious group, nor was it sponsored as a court literature by
ruling elite. Composed at various points of time over a long span of about six hundred years,
and authored by people of various levels –princes, chieftains, peasants, merchants, potters,
smiths, carpenters and brahmanas, Jains and Buddhists, the poems deal with disparate social
groups. Yet, they admittedly provide useful insights into the society and economy of the early
Tamils. The text was supposedly composed within six hundred years, 300 BC – 300 AD, for
which it serves as a source material. Tamilakam in the early historical period offers an
interesting regional version of the second urbanization in the subcontinent. The early
urbanism of Tamilakam was not induced by forces of an inner growth but was a secondary
development due to inter-regional trade, mainly coastal, between Ganges valley, Andhra and
Tamil regions and also presumably between the Gujarat and Kerala coasts. More
significantly, it was stimulated by maritime commerce between South India and
Mediterranean west and subsequently between South India and the Southeast Asia along with
Sri Lanka.

Among foreign literary source we have Natural history by Pliny (AD 77), Periplus of the
Erythraen-sea (AD 80-96), Ptolemy’s Geography (AD 80) based on the work of Marinus (AD
130) are useful and provide corroborative evidences. Pliny, the elder, and the anonymous
author of the Periplus give the first tangible account of the Tamil-states, their rulers, polity
and culture.

Archaeological and inscriptional evidences- the excavations conducted at Kilayur around

Kaverippattinam have brought to light interesting data regarding the ancient port-town of the
early Cholas. Intensive explorations conducted in the district of Thanjavur indicate that
Tamilakam flourished as a great centre of religious and cultural activities and had both
commercial and cultural contacts with the then existing Roman Empire. Excavations at
Tirukkampuliyur in the Tiruchirappali district of Tamilnadu provided interesting findings
throwing light on the material culture of the Kaveri basin. The excavations conducted at
Uraiyur also brought to light the cultural and commercial contacts with the Roman Empire.
The Cenkassappan inscription at Pukalur in Tiruchirappali district confirms the basic
appraisal of the historical value of the Sangam Literature in the writings of the contemporary
Roman writers.

The society in early Tamilakam was organized on the basis of kinship ties with clear
perceptions of man=environment relationship, as reflected in the distinctive pattern of
economic activities in different eco-zones called the tinai, a dominant theme in Sangam
poetry. Five such tinais are described in the Sangam texts. Interspersed with one another, the
five eco-situations were marked by different forms of production ranging from primitive
subsistence level hunting and gathering in kurinchi tinai=hilly backwoods,
pastoralism/animal husbandry and shifting cultivation in mullai tinai=pastoral tract forest,
fishing in neital tinai=coastal/littoral, to agriculture in marutam tinai=riverine wetland/plains,
while plundering and cattle lifting as an occupation characterized the transitory zone of palai
tinai=parched/arid zone. Blending of tinais also occurred with mixed forms of subsistence. In
effect four major forms of production can be identified, viz. animal husbandry, shifting
agriculture, petty commodity production and plough agriculture.

Forces of change have been recognized only in the marutam, where plough agriculture
appeared in the later phases and new agrarian units emerged such as brahmana
households/settlements and warrior settlements. In the neital apart from fishing, salt
manufacturing and eventually trade also became important economic activities. The tinais,
though uneven in their socio-economic milieu, were basically tribal in organization. Kinship
was the basis of production relations in all the tinais, with no social division of labour even in
the marutam, where the households organized and controlled production. Social
differentiation which is the nub of the problem of urbanization, did not develop even in
marutam and neital zones, beyond a broad division into two levels the melor (the higher ones)
and the kilor (the lower ones) despite the presence of brahmana households there is no
evidence of the impact of the varna ideology. In the brahmana households of marutam, the
cultivating groups in the service of the brahmanas created new relations of production outside
the kinship framework, on which all contemporary production activities were based. Such
service groups may point to the beginnings of a new stratification by gradually crystallising
into castes later.
 Urban societies are characterized by a complex network of production, distribution and
consumption patterns. The emergence of re-distributive institutions seems to be connected
with the growth of external trade. A gift (kodai) was the main means of redistribution, which
itself was based on kinship, e.g. the pulavar or poets receiving gifts from the chief or patron.
Redistribution through gifts was of two kinds, the one of subsistence level goods and the
other of prestigious goods. Three levels of redistribution may be identified. Redistribution of
subsistence goods occurred at all the three levels, vendar, velir and kilar in a descending
order. The vendar provided subsistence goods on various occasions, at the time of war for
their fighters and also to the lowly bards (panar) who sang their praise for their munificence.
At a higher level the vendar also made gifts to the pulavar, such gifts included prestigious
items like gold coins and (gold) lotuses, gems and muslin and even horses and elephants.
Plundered resources got redistributed while luxury items of trade entered the gift exchange.

In a society, wherein reciprocity and redistribution were determined by kinship and

inter-personal relations, it would be hard to find evidence of a market system, which was
linked directly to land, labour and the production base. Regular local exchange in such a
society was mainly based on barter, both in day-to-day transactions and in inter-tinai
exchange, i.e. mutual exchange of transactions and in inter-tinai exchange, i.e. mutual
exchange of resources available in the respective tinais, or a straight exchange of goods of
different tinais-called notuttal –hill products like wood, honey, bamboo-rice, etc. in exchange
for the marutam paddy or mullai dairy products and the salt of neital for the paddy of
marutam. The centres at which they were exchanged could well have become nodal points on
trade routes in the process of the expansion of trading networks. Another informal exchange
is indicated by the term kurietirppai, a loan of goods to be paid back (later) in the same kind
and quantity and did not involve the concept of profit.

The different level of exchange thus show a barter or person to person exchange of goods
of daily consumption like honey, fish, meat, toddy etc. Paddy and salt entered the larger
exchange network, while pepper and other spices, pearls, precious stones, aromatic woods
and cotton textiles may have been produced for the overseas exchange markets. Such
commodities were encountered only in a few market centres, which had inter-regional
commercial contacts such as Puhar, Madurai and Vanci. The maritime trade of this period
had restricted impact in certain zones leading to urbanism and the emergence of trading
stations/ports on the coast, which were centres of exchange in long-distance of trade, and of
consumption points in the inland centres. In these centres regular buying and selling of goods
took place. There were angadis (markets) and avanams (stores?) in places like Puhar,
Madurai and Vanci (Karur), which became major commercial centres due to expansion of
trade on the eastern coast of Tamilakam. Two kinds of markets –the nalangadi or the day
market, and the allangadi or the evening market –are known, and in Puhar these markets were
active in the area between the Maruvurpakkam (coastal area) and the Pattinappakam
(residential area). Occasional caravans (cattu) of itinerant traders such as umanar and
vambalar, carrying goods to the interior parts, such as paddy, salt and sometimes pepper, are
also known. The umanaccattu (caravan of salt traders) is often described in Sangam texts.

The mullai tinai on the fringes of settled agricultural tracts represented a transitory
ecological zone and could gradually have merged with the latter with the expansion of
agriculture and irrigation facilities. Though inter-tinai exchange introduced a symbiotic
relationship at one level, there still was a natural element of competition and hostility due to
the contrasts in the productivity of the different tinais. Predatory raids were hence common
and there are references to the razing of the enemies’ fields and despoiling of water tanks
show that the kurinci and mullai chiefs were no passive observers of the increasing influence
of the vendar. In the process of establishing inter-tinai exchange emerged several settlements,
probably as foci of inter-tinai contacts. Such settlements should be recognized from the terms
used to denote them, viz., mudur (old settlement) and perur (large settlement), usually found
at the junction of inter-tinai exchange, bordering on marutam land or, occasionally, as the
centres of the chiefs of the kurinci and mullai. The more commercially active and organized
towns were the pattinams located on the coast.

The chief economic activities in the neital tracts, apart from trade, were fishing and
manufacturing and selling of salt, in which the Valainar and paratavar were involved. The
paratavar gradually became pearl fishers and traders. Salt manufacture and trade also became
a more specialised activity with a group called umanar. However, the evidence, on the whole,
suggests that craft specialization was at a rudimentary level. Nor is there any evidence on
craft guilds or artisan guilds. Merchant guilds are also not known to have been a regular part
of the commercial organization, although there is a single epigraphic reference to a nigama
from Tiruvellarai and literary reference to a merchant of Kaverippumpattinam as a
Masattuvan (Sarthavaha). Money as an exchange medium was evidently used in larger
transactions and long distance trade, and perhaps only by itinerant merchants.
 In the marutam zone the producers controlled their product which remained with them.
The produce was shared with fellowmen who were ready to serve the community and supply
socially useful labour. There is enough evidence to show that specialized craft production
also developed such as metal working, weaving and salt manufacturing, evidently in response
to local exchange as well as inter-regional and long distance trade. Such specialists are
known both from literature and the early Tamil brahmi inscriptions. They have been viewed
as mere functionaries in a complex system of co-operation based on the network of kinship
relations. In the marutam tinai a certain degree of diversity seems to have accompanied the
agricultural settlements through the evolution of crafts related to agricultural activities, and
smiths, carpenters, jewellers, goldsmiths, weavers and metal workers are constantly referred
to in literature. Evidence of a broad dual division of society is provided by the reference to
the canror or uyarndor and the ilicinar. The position of dominance was occupied by the chiefs
or kings and the landed local elite (velir, kilan, talaivan, entai), collectively referred to as
uyarndor and canror (the superior ones), while the lower category, generally termed as
ilicinar, were engaged in various ‘inferior’ activities or subsistence production. The velir are
described in the Sangam works as lesser chiefs, pastoral-cum-agricultural, but next in
importance only to the vendar as a dominant socio-political group and as patrons of the Tamil
poets. The differentiation became more marked in the marutam and neital regions, where the
capitals and ports were located, and where an increase in trade ventures introduced a further
element of diversification, such as individual traders, vanikaccattu or groups of merchants,
king’s officers or customs agents and warehouse guards in the market and port towns, leading
to a more complex society.

The varna-based organization of society is also not clearly attested to, despite the fact
that the priestly brahmanas are often referred to as a distinct social group enjoying a high
status. The idea of ritual pollution was, however, prevalent, and groups associated with
impure activities are said to have lived separately. The spread of Buddhism and Jainism,
coinciding with the increase in trade and commercial activity, would also seem to have
introduced an element of further diversification, especially in the urban centres. Jainism was
predominantly represented in the inland towns, and Buddhism in the coastal towns, especially
Puhar. Their patrons came mainly from the commercial community, i.e. merchants and
craftsmen, apart from ruling families. The heterogeneity of the urban population of which
yavanas (people of West Asian and Mediterranean origin) were also part, shows that people
of different ethnic origins and belonging to various religions aggregated in towns, and
brahmanical and folk cults were also represented in most centres. Thus, the ultimate
manifestation of the impact of trade is seen mainly in the marutam and neital eco-zones, with
a greater diversity of occupations. However, the pace of social differentiation and
development was slower.

Located in the rice-producing marutam tracts, the early chiefdoms or potential

monarchies with their janapada like polities evolved out of earlier tribal organizations. The
earliest ruling families or ‘crowned kings’ (vendar), as they are described in Sangam
literature, emerged in the marutam tinai, representing the fertile agricultural tracts of the
major river valleys. The earliest towns also arose in these tracts as well as in the neital or
coastal/littoral. Such centres were consciously developed by the ruling families. These two
tinais were dominated by the Cera (Periyar valley), Colas (Kaveri valley) and the Pandyas
(Vaigai and Tamrapani valleys) the marutam was marked by an inland town of political and
commercial importance, e.g. Uraiyur and Kaverippumpattinam (Puhar) of the Colas, Madurai
and Korkai of the Pandyas and Vanci (Karuvur) and Muciri of the Ceras.

R. Champakalakshmi states that it is possible that the impact of trade, particularly

maritime trade, led to intensification of inter-tinai exchange, which in turn could have
provided an incentive for extracting the ‘surplus’ of the agricultural tracts and channelizing it
towards trade. The Kurinci tinai (hilly areas) was particularly rich in resources such as
aromatic wood, which were exported outside the Tamil region. A symbiotic relationship
developed between these and the marutam and neital tracts. In return for paddy and salt, the
people of the marutam and neital acquired the rich resources of the hilly tracts.
Champakalakshmi found inter-tribal warfare as another means by which the ruling families of
marutam obtained such resources. In this context, the wars among the vendors or ‘crowned
kings’ themselves become significant, as they represent attempts by each of the three rulers to
gain access to the pearl fisheries of the Pandya coast and the rich pepper areas of the Cera
Nadu, an exchange system.

Thus more than agriculture, the Chera-Chola-Pandya ruling families depended, for socio-
political hegemony, on maritime trade which the coastal regions (neital) carried on with
distant lands. Socio-political dominance was shared by theses three ruling families (Mu
vendar) and the minor chieftains called velir. Strife among the vendar was a common feature
of control feature for control over each other’s riverine tracts and other rich resources like
pearls and pepper. The matrimonial alliance was also common between the vendar and velir
for hegemony and control over resources of the hilly, forest and other zones. Tribal warfare,
endemic to such early societies, is also corroborated by the evidence of archaeology, which
shows a predominance of war weapons among the Megalithic burials. More important,
however, is the evidence of the ideology of war and heroism that dominates the Sangam
poetry, especially the puram collections (war poems).

The absence of a regular system of tax or tribute is underlined by the idealization of

war/plunder and different situations of raids, the glorification of the warrior, the hero and
death in battle, the sharing of the great meal by the ruler/chief with his warriors and the
reward in the form of land to the warrior. Hence, the lack of evidence on institutional
mechanisms for appropriating surplus by the rulers characteristic of a developed state system,
points to the tribal character of these chiefdoms. They were more akin to the sixth century BC
janapada polities of the Ganges valley. The performance of the Vedic sacrifice and the
protection of the varnashramadharma are significant claims made by the early Tamil lineage
polities. Although the performance of Vedic sacrifices, especially the rajasuya, by the Colas
and other major ruling families, i.e. the Cera and Pandyas, is attested in anthologies, yajna or
sacrifice was not intrinsic to their legitimation process.