The Purananuru, sometimes called Puram or Purappattu, is a classical Tamil poetic work and traditionally the last of the Eight Anthologies (Ettuthokai) in the Sangam literature. It is a collection of 400 heroic poems about kings, wars and public life, of which two are lost and a few have survived into the modern age in fragments. The collected poems were composed by 157 poets, of which 14 are anonymous and at least 10 were women. This anthology has been variously dated between 1st century BCE and 5th century CE, with Kamil Zvelebil, a Tamil literature scholar, dating predominantly all of the poems of Purananuru sometime between 2nd and 5th century CE. Nevertheless, few poems are dated to the period of 1st century BCE.
Yagam, yagyam or Velvi being performed by Brahmins according to the Vedas. Such practices are mentioned several times in the text.
Erection of a Nadukal (hero stone) to honour fallen heroes is one of the cultural practices mentioned repeatedly in Purananuru.
The Purananuru's reference to Sita being kidnapped by evil king Ravana is the earliest mention of the Ramayana in Tamil literature.
Tamil literature includes a collection of literary works that have come from a tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from Tamil people from south India, including the land now comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Eelam Tamils from Sri Lanka, as well as the Tamil diaspora.
Sage Agastya, Chairman of the first Tamil Sangam, Madurai, Pandiya Kingdom. Statue in Tamil Thai temple, Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu.
Ilango Adigal (c. 100 CE) wrote Silappathikaaram, one of the Five great epics.
Thiruvalluvar wrote Thirukkural (c. 300s BCE), taught in schools today.
Kambar (c.1100 CE) wrote the Tamil 'Raamaayanam'.