Uniqueness of warfare in Tamil culture

Abstract

The voluminous Tamil literary works serve as the mirrors on the social ethics of the ancient Tamils. They are graphic and gravitating in bringing to our memory the distinct dynamism of the Tamil society of yore and the varied facets of their walks of life in different fields like values, art and architecture, commerce etcetera. Every literary work is a clear index of its contemporary social facets and cultural achievements. They are the real measuring scales of man’s achievement in his progress of civility and creativity and development of appreciation of values. The history of the Tamils goes as far back as Tolkappiyar’s period of two thousand years from now. Tolkappiyam and the Sangam literature are profuse with their prevalent social and cultural ethos. The ancient Tamils were concerned; they thought that love (family life) and war (social life) were the two main aspects of life. This paper deals about the war aspects of the Tamils which formed a part of their culture.