student I sat at the feet of the learned professors and
lecturers of Pachaiyappa's College and drank deep at the
founts of the ancient Sangam literature, and I learnt more and
more of the greatness of womanhood. Now that an
opportunity had presented itself, I seized it quickly to
express the results of my own examination of the condition
and status of women of the Sangam Age.
The Tamils have enriched the Hindu philosophy by contributing to it the Sakti-Sivam Tatva which is peculiar to the Saiva Siddhanta system of thought. The Tamils have always believed in the manifestation of God as Sivam and Sakti in a single form. Saint Appar realised at Tiruvaiyaru in his ripe old age that the Supreme God had manifested Himself in this Sikti-Sivam aspect in all the categories of life on earth. He has described the Vision he had of this aspect in one of the most beautiful soul stirring and oft quoted hymns commencing with "Madhar Piraikkanniyānai."
Kavimaņi Dēsika Vinayakam Pillai, one of the most loved and respected modern poets sings in simple and chaste Tamil, that one should have performed severe penance in the previous births to be gifted to be born a woman on earth ¹ Poet Bhāratidãsan sings that a wife sublimates her husband's life and guides him on the correct path. He further exalts the womanhood of Tamil Nadu and states that it is due to the feminine touch that man becomes generous, attains moral height and acquires all the masculine virtues." His appreciation of the fair sex reaches sky high when he says that a woman values her husband's grace towards her as the very essence of her life even though he might have forsaken her.
The Sangam literature uniformly praises the womanhood of Tamil Nadu. The women of the Sangam period had distinguished themselves in their cultural attainments and virtuous living. Avvaiyar, the great poetess of very high literary attainments, untrammelled wisdom, and strength of
