Early Tamil Epigraphy: From the Earliest Times to the Sixth Century A.D. c23.s27.t4.3

c23.s27.t4.3

Bards were so much respected in early Tamil society that they could move from court to court across the political barriers even when the princes were at war. The oral bardic tradition which must have been rich and expressive even in the pre-literate era, flowered into the written poetry of the Caṅkam Age with the availability of writing under the active patronage of the Tamil princes, chieftains and nobles.