INDIAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM- NOTES

THIRUKKURAL
The Thirukkural, written by Thiruvalluvar, is a timeless Tamil classic that deeply impacts
life and dharma (righteousness or ethical duty) through its concise, universal wisdom.
Thirukkural is divided into 3 main parts:
1. அறம் (Aram) – Virtue / Moral life
– Focuses on ethics, good conduct, kindness, truth, etc.
2. பொருள் (Porul) – Wealth / Politics
– Talks about leadership, justice, kingship, war, economy, etc.
3. இன்பம் (Inbam) – Love / Family life
– Deals with love, marriage, and emotional life.
Each part has chapters, and each chapter has 10 kurals.
Total: 133 chapters × 10 kurals = 1,330 kurals.

IMPACT ON LIFE
1. Practical Guidance: It offers clear advice on everyday life—how to live
virtuously, love genuinely, lead wisely, and earn justly.
2. Personal Ethics: It shapes personal behaviour by emphasizing values like truth,
non-violence, compassion, and self-discipline.
3. Emotional Intelligence: Thirukkural speaks subtly about inner strength,
emotional balance, and how to deal with success and failure.
4. Holistic Development: It doesn't just focus on spiritual life but balances material,
emotional, and moral growth.
5. Family Values: There are entire chapters on duties of a householder, parenting,
and respect toward elders, reinforcing the importance of family ethics.
6. Leadership & Governance: It gives ethical guidance for rulers and leaders—
justice, fairness, and compassion are emphasized over mere power.
7. Work Ethic: It honours hard work, persistence, and honesty in one’s profession
—encouraging success through effort, not shortcuts.
8. Conflict Resolution: Thiruvalluvar encourages forgiveness, understanding, and
peace over revenge, offering timeless wisdom for resolving disputes.
9. Environment & Simplicity: It subtly values a simple, content lifestyle in harmony
with nature—aligning with modern sustainability ideals.

CONNECTION TO DHARMA
1. Moral Compass: Like the concept of dharma in Indian philosophy, the
Thirukkural teaches duty-based living—what’s right, not just what’s beneficial.
2. Universal Ethics: It transcends religious boundaries, making it a secular guide
aligned with the core of dharma: right thought, right speech, and right action.
 3. Balance of Life’s Goals: It echoes the four purusharthas—dharma (ethics),
artha (wealth), kama (desire), and moksha (liberation)—stressing that all pursuits
must be anchored in virtue.
4. Ahimsa (Non-violence): One of the central dharmic values is non-violence, and
the Kural beautifully reinforces it—not just in action, but in speech and thought.
5. Selflessness and Service: It encourages acts of charity and selfless service as
a part of righteous living, resonating with seva in dharma.
6. Equality and Humanity: Thiruvalluvar stresses that virtue is universal—cutting
across caste, religion, or status—which aligns with the dharmic idea of universal
truth (sanatana dharma).
7. Karma and Accountability: Without explicitly using the word “karma,” the Kural
teaches that good and bad actions bring corresponding outcomes—echoing the
moral logic of dharma.
8. Inner Purity: It values purity of thought and intention—central to dharmic
traditions where inner state is as important as outer conduct.

WHAT IS SANGAM LITERATURE?

Sangam literature is the earliest known body of Tamil literature, composed around
300 BCE to 300 CE. It’s part of Tamil Nadu’s deep literary and cultural history, and
it’s still widely read and studied today for its beauty, wisdom, and historic
value.Unlike many ancient Indian texts that are religious, Sangam literature is
mostly secular.It focuses on human life, emotion, and society, though it includes
occasional references to gods.
🏛️WHAT DOES "SANGAM" MEAN?
 "Sangam" means academy or gathering.
 The term refers to gatherings of poets and scholars in ancient Tamil Nadu who
composed and shared poems.
 There were three legendary Sangams:
1. First Sangam – Lost to history (mythical).
2. Second Sangam – Partly lost.
3. Third Sangam – Surviving texts come from this period.
These literary assemblies were supposedly held in the city of Madurai, under royal
patronage.
📚 WHAT ARE THE TEXTS IN SANGAM LITERATURE?
The Sangam texts are grouped mainly into two categories:
1. Ettuthogai (Eight Anthologies)
Poetic collections on different topics, written by multiple poets. Examples:
 Kurunthogai
 Ainkurunuru
 Purananuru
 Akananuru
 Natrinai
 Paripadal
  Kalithogai
 Pathirupathu

2. Pattuppāṭṭu (Ten Idylls)

Longer narrative poems, often celebrating kings, battles, or divine love. Examples:
 Thirumurugatrupadai
 Maduraikanchi

🧭 MAIN THEMES IN SANGAM LITERATURE

The Sangam poems are not just about kings and gods. They cover real human life in a
very poetic, emotional, and vivid way. The themes are divided into two broad categories:
🌸 1. Akam (Internal) – Love and Emotions
 Talks about love, relationships, heartbreak, separation.
 Symbolism from nature and landscapes (flowers, seasons, mountains) is used.
 There are five landscapes (tinai), each linked to a type of love:
 Kurinji (mountains) – Secret love
 Mullai (forest) – Waiting and patience
 Marutham (farmland) – Domestic love and arguments
 Neithal (seashore) – Longing and separation
 Paalai (desert) – Hardship and loneliness
2. Puram (External) – Public Life
 Talks about war, heroism, kings, ethics, generosity, and death.
 Celebrates great rulers, valorous warriors, and self-sacrifice.
 Focuses on duty, honour, and justice.
 Most famous poets: Avvaiyar, Kapilar, Nakkeerar, and Paranar.

📜 WHAT MAKES SANGAM LITERATURE SPECIAL?

1. Realism: It describes actual life—love, war, family, society—not just myths or
gods.
2. Ethics and Values: Strong focus on truth, charity, honour, and virtue—very
aligned with Indian values of dharma.
3. Rich Language: It uses beautiful Tamil, full of metaphors and deep feeling.
4. Women’s Voices: Women poets and characters are respected and central—
rare in ancient literature.
5. Historical Window: Offers insights into ancient Tamil life—food, clothing, cities,
trade, etc.
6. Mention of Overseas Trade
Sangam poems mention trade with Rome, Greece, and Southeast Asia .Items like
pearls, spices, muslin cloth, and ivory were exported, showing that Tamizhagam
had a global trade network even 2,000 years ago.
7.Advanced Urban Culture
Cities like Puhar (Kaveripattinam) and Madurai are described with busy markets,
large harbours, temples, and festivals .This shows that urban planning, commerce,
and arts were well developed.
8.Highly Structured Poetry
Poems followed strict rules of meter, grammar (Yappilakkanam), and poetic
devices .This formal structure reflects the discipline of Indian aesthetics (like
Natya Shastra in Sanskrit).
9.Use of Similes and Nature Imagery
Nature is not just background—landscapes mirror emotions. A cloud, a bird, or
a mountain becomes a metaphor for love, longing, or heroisim
10.Influence on Later Tamil Literature

🧠 HOW IT CONNECTS TO THE INDIAN KNOWLEDGE SYSTEM (IKS)

Sangam literature is an important regional expression of the larger Indian Knowledge
System:
 Dharma: Like the Mahabharata or Ramayana, Sangam texts focus on duty,
truth, honour, and righteous living.
 Cultural Unity: Though written in Tamil, it shares deep similarities with Sanskrit
and Pali traditions in values and wisdom.
 Environmental Knowledge: The poems reflect deep respect and understanding
of landscapes, seasons, and nature.
 Social Order: They discuss rulers, merchants, farmers, and poets—showing a
full, structured society.
 Education and Poetics: The poems follow strict rules of grammar, style, and
meter, showing a highly evolved literary system.
 Regional Expression of IKS: Just as Sanskrit texts express dharma and
philosophy in the North, Sangam texts express these in Tamil, showcasing the
diversity within unity of Indian thought.
 Historical and Social Knowledge: Sangam texts document social structures,
governance, warfare, agriculture, and trade, making them a rich source of
traditional Indian knowledge.
 Philosophical Depth: Though not framed like Upanishads, Sangam texts
explore impermanence, detachment, love, and fate, contributing to Indian
metaphysical thought.
 Eco-consciousness: The five landscapes (Tinai) in Akam poetry link human
emotions to nature—an early Indian eco-philosophy.

THOLKAAPIYAM
Tholkappiyam is the oldest surviving work of Tamil literature and Tamil grammar.
It is more than just a grammar book – it also explains poetics, human emotions, and
culture.
  It reflects Indian concepts of dharma, aesthetics (rasa), social order, and
nature-based living.
 It shows that South India had its own rich, parallel classical tradition
alongside Sanskrit.
WHO WROTE IT?
 Author: Tholkappiyar, a disciple of sage Agastya (according to tradition).
 Time: Scholars believe it was written around 2nd century BCE – 2nd century
CE.
WHAT DOES THOLKAPPIYAM CONTAIN?
1.Ezhuthadhikaram – Letters & Phonetics
 Deals with Tamil alphabets, sounds, pronunciation, and rules of letter
combination (sandhi).
 Discusses short and long vowels, consonants, and how words are formed.
 Very scientific—like phonetics in modern linguistics.
2.Soladhikaram – Words & Grammar
 Discusses word formation, parts of speech, noun-verb agreement, tenses,
gender, number, etc.
 Explains how words function in sentences.
 Similar to Sanskrit grammar concepts but in Tamil structure.
3.Poruladhikaram(Semantics, Poetics, and Culture)

ESSENCE OF THOLKAAPIYAM
1.Linguistics and grammar
 They preserve linguistic knowledge through systematic analysis of phonetics,
morphology, and syntax
 Language (Bhasha Vidya) is a core pillar of IKS. Tholkappiyam contributes to
Dravidian linguistics, just as Panini contributes to Indo-Aryan linguistics.
2.Poetics and Aesthetics (Alaṅkāra Śāstra)
 Tholkappiyam’s Poruladhikaram explains poetic theory, emotions, character
types, and literary conventions.
 Like Bharata’s Natya Shastra, it deals with rasa (emotions) and bhava
(feelings).
 The concept of thinai (landscapes) links nature to human emotions—an early
Indian eco-aesthetic idea.
3.Ethics and Dharma
 Tholkappiyam classifies poetry based on values, emotions, and social roles
,kingship,public behaviour
 Puram poems praise justice, heroism, generosity, and righteous rule—
matching the dharma-based worldview of Indian thought.