ABSTRACT
Tamil is the oldest of the four major Dravidian languages, and is spoken mainly in Tamil Nadu in southeastern India. The language was regularized around 250 b.c.e., and it is this standard language, ceṉtamiḻ that is described in the Tolkāppiyam (5th c. c.e.; The Old Composition), the earliest work on Tamil grammar and poetics. However, the earliest Tamil poetry goes back to a period between 100 b.c.e. and 250 c.e., and is found in numerous anthologies that were later gathered together in two great collections: the Eṭṭuttokai (The Eight Anthologies) and the Pattuppāṭṭu (The Ten Long Poems).
