"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"
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...''