TAMIL ILAKKANAM (GRAMMATICAL WORKS) INCLUDING TOLKAPIYAM

இலக்கியம் இன்றி இலக்கணம் இன்றே
எள்ளின் றாகில் எண்ணையும் இன்றே
எள்ளினுள் எண்ணைய் எடுப்பது போல்
இலக்கியத்தினின்றும் எடுபடும் இலக்கனம்'

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Tolkappiyam -  Tamil Literature through the Ages by Professor C.R.Krishnamurthy -

"...The starting point for Thamizh literary works is therefore reckoned to be the third or last Sangam period which is assigned the approximate dates from 500 B.C. - 200 A.D. Literary works of the last Sangam period include TholkAppiam, a text on Thamizh grammar written by TholkAppiar(~ 500 B.C.)...Setting aside the oft repeated but justifiable criticism regarding the lack of evidence of specific dates and authors, it is appropriate to examine the contents of these texts with reference to their style and substance. It is indeed amazing that even prior to the beginning of the Christian era, there did exist a language with rigid grammatical rules which even today serve as authoritative guidelines. The corollary is that Thamizh should have been flourishing long before this time for someone to set out rules and regulations to formalize its usage in prose and poetry..."

Tolkapiyar's Literary Theory - T.P.Meenakshisundaram, 1966 - "Tolkappiyam at least in parts is the earliest work in Tamil. It is a book on phonology, grammar and poetics. Therefore it implies the prior existence of Tamil literature...The most important aspect of this literature is the distinction between what is called akam and puram the exterior or the outer and the interior or the inner. I prefer to call them the poetry of the phenomenon and the poetry of the noumenon. The inner core of truth of human life is akam or Love. There is a rule that in akam poetry no names are to be mentioned... As against this, puram or the poetry of the phenomenon shows the experience of the varying individuals in this world, an experience which can be often dated as belonging to the historical persons...   Ultimately akam and puram are as the inner palm of the hand and its back..."

Other grammatical works -