Thousands of years ago, when the light of civilisation and culture had not as yet shed its lustre on the peoples of the West, when even Greek art and education were but in their infancy there was founded in Madura, in Southern India, a great society for fostering literature and poetry, which was in its scope and aims something akin to the French academy, founded in the seventeenth century by Cardinal Richdieu, the all powerful minister of Louis XIV of France. This society has been called, by later Tamil historians and writers as the 'First Tamil Sangam' to distinguish it from the two that followed. These three Sangams, which formed a 'Literary Tribunal,' a 'Supreme Court of Letters' and a 'Sovereign organ of opinion,' covering a period of more than ten thousand years had made it their purpose to develop and encourage Tamil poetry and Literature, and to preserve the pristine purity and sweetness of the Tamil Language from any contaminating influences. And well they had performed their noble and unselfish duty, for even to day there remain thousands of works, sublime and inimitable in their purity of thought and style, which were produced during this period of literary activity. It was certainly the golden age of Tamil poetry, which effected a lasting influence on the Tamil race.
The name Tamil, signifying 'sweet' is characteristic of the language. Indeed it is one of the most copious, and most polished of spoken languages. In
