madals

"Kulam Tharum Selvam Thandhidum
Adiyaar Paduthuyar Aayinavellaam
Nilandharam Seyyum Neel Visumbarulum
Arulodu Perinilam Alikkum
Valam tharum mattrum thandhidum Petra
Thaayinum Aayina Seyyum
Nalam Tharum Sollai Naan
Kandukondaen Narayana Ennum Naamam"

Kulam - status
Tharum, Thandhidum - provides
Selvam - Wealth
Adiyaar - devotees
Paduthuyar - sorrow
Aayinavellaam - all of the sorrows
Nilandharam - ground level
Seyyum - Does
Neel - Lengthy
Visumbu - Heaven
Arulum - Blesses
Arulodu - Along with the blessings
Perunilam - A huge piece of land
Alikkum - Provide
Valam - Strength
Mattrum - Others
Petra Thaai - Mother who begets a child
Nalam - Goodness
Soll - Word,
Kandukondaen - Found and realised
Narayana - Lord Vishnu's name
Naamam - Name

Tamil ranks 17th amongst the top twenty of the world's most spoken languages.

In scriptual form, Tamil is made up of 247 scripts which comprise of 12 vowels 18 consonants and 1 aytham

The earliest literature in Tamil is the Sangam poetry - regarded by many Tamils as the voice of the Tamil nation in its origin. 

It consists of anthologies of short lyrics and longer poems. The lyrics are made into eight collections known as Ettu-thokai 

"Tolkappiyam is a book on phonolgy, grammar and poetics. Therefore it implies the prior existence of Tamil literature. There is a distinction made therein between literary language and colloquial or non literary language - ceyyul and valakku, thus implying certain literary conventions not only in grammatical forms but also in literary form and subject matter..."

He adds:

"Sangam poetry is unique as group poetry par excellence. It has a personality of its own representing the group mind and the group personality of the Sangam age. Taken as a whole it satisfies all the requirements of great poetry... The folk songs and the proverbs of an age, with their authors unknown, form a unity, as the very expression of the national personality and the language."

"Sangam poetry, though too cultured to be called folk song, consciously creates this universal personality and that is why it has been classified as a separate group in Tamil literature - the really great national poetry, not in the sense of national popularity but in the sense of being the voice of the nation in its origin.

"Very early Tamils developed the passion for classification which is noticeable in many aspects of ancient Indian learning. Poetry was divided into two main groups: 'internal' (aham) and 'external' (puram). A unique feature of Tamil poetry is the initial rhyme or assonance. This does not appear in the earliest Tamil literature but by the end of the Sangam period it was quite regular. The first syllable or syllables of each couplet must rhyme. This initial assonance, in some poems continued through four or more lines, is never to be found in the poetry of Sanskrit languages, or as far as we know, in that of any other language. Its effect, a little strange at first, rapidly becomes pleasant to the reader, and to the Tamil it is as enjoyable as the end rhyme of Western poetry."

" We know of the immense richness of Tamil classics, dating back to the pre Christian era, of the many epics, anthologies of lyrics, long poems, of the wealth and beauty of Sangam literature, all of which represent the consciousness of a community independent of the main stream of the Aryan cultural pattern, and fully aware of the difference...''