The Pandayan Empire

The road East across the plain leads inevitably to the large city of Madurai, centre of trade of the great Pandyan Empire. This was the peak of the great Sangam age. The Sangam Academies of scholars were centred in Madurai and flourished between about 300 BCE and 400 CE. They laid the foundation, through great works of literature for a defined linguistic area, the Tamilkam, roughly corresponding to the whole of the South. The third Sangam, or congregation of scholars and poets was held here in around 1800 BC. The first and second Sangam ages are generally accepted as mythical, one legend telling that they were held in cities since inundated by the sea.

The Pandyan Empire

When the first Greeks came here the Pandyan Empire spread over most of the extreme tip of the peninsular. Present-day Sri Lanka was part of this kingdom, but the lands in between were still primitive and controlled by small chiefdoms. By the time of the Roman Empire the Cholas to the East and the Chera to the West had pushed the Pandaya further South. The area had always been a seething mess of small chiefdoms, sometimes allied to the main Pandyan rulers, sometimes fighting against them.  
The Chola, to the North and West, built a maritime trade. By the first century CE they were actively trading with South East Asia and Indonesia, and had a developed Navy. The great wealth which came from overseas trade helped to build a well-organised and cultured society. They declined from the end of the Sangam period until about 850 CE. One of the rock edicts of Ashoka mentions the three “crowned” dynasties of the South, the Pandyas, Cholas and Cheras.

The wealth which enabled the great Pandya city of Madurai to grow and thrive came from two directions, both East and West. Madurai, positioned in the centre of the peninsular and with access to the sea routes to the extreme South in Tuticorin and Sri Lanka and to the West via the gaps in the mountains. It may hold the record for the longest continually-inhabited city in the world.

Sangam poetry tells of the richness and sophistication of the time and is often the only historical source remaining. The Greeks and Romans knew the city well and traded here, caches of coins and records unearthed far away telling of the spices which were taken out and the wine and silks which went in the other direction. There is even evidence of Greek soldiers serving in the army of the Pandyan kings. There are good classical references to the kingdom and its trade in both Greek and Roman sources.

Nothing can be seen now of Madurai’s ancient roots. The temples came much later, but there is much in Madurai which is timeless. The market traders sit at the roadside in front of their produce. Right next to the temple the tailors trade from booths where they are packed in so tight that it is difficult to see how they can manage to move their sewing machines and the shoppers push and shove to negotiate the narrow walkways.  Just outside the city the rock-cut temple bears hundreds of years of soot from lanterns and butter lamps and the elephant gives its age-old blessing to anyone with donation. Away from the city on the surrounding hills where wild-life still proliferates, the four huge gopura dominate the low sprawl around them, just as they would have done in previous centuries, and Madurai is still a city of trade

In the Sangam age the South was divided into five areas whose boundaries are uncertain, but which seemed to be based on topographical features. Kuttenad is still recognisable today in the low, rice-growing area, Venad the present day Trivandrum region, or “Land of the Chieftans”. In the early years of this period the Ay dynasty in the South and the Ezhimalas in the North separated the Cheras who came in between.