RAS question
Tolkappiyam, the earliest extant Tamil grammar, was composed during:
Correct answer: (A) Sangam Age.
Tolkappiyam, the earliest extant Tamil grammar, was composed during the Sangam Age.
Explanation
Tolkappiyam is linked to the Sangam Age because Tamil Virtual University describes it as "the grammar of the Sangam age", and it was composed by Tolkappiyar in roughly 300 BCE to 300 CE. Its importance is not limited to grammar: the work also covers poetics and rhetoric, which is why it is treated as the earliest extant Tamil literary work rather than just a technical grammar manual. The reference to the five thinai, Kurinji, Mullai, Marutham, Neytal and Palai, places it within the classical Tamil poetic world that RAS history questions usually group under Sangam literature.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) The Pallava period came after the Sangam Age, so it cannot be the period in which this Sangam-age grammar was composed.
- (C) The Vijayanagara period belongs to the 14th to 17th centuries, far later than the Sangam Age dated to 300 BCE to 300 CE.
- (D) The medieval Chola period was later than the Sangam Age and therefore does not match Tolkappiyam's placement as a Sangam-age work.
Concept
This tests the ancient Indian history theme of Sangam literature and early Tamil textual traditions. It recurs in RAS because candidates must connect landmark texts with their broad historical periods, not just remember author names.