the eight anthologies, and it was also at this college that the eighteen minor poems were collected. In the face of the above references to the Tamil Sangams or academies throughout the ancient Tamil literature, it would be impossible to deny their existence in some form or other before the eighth century A. D.
Having said so much for the history of the various Tamil academies, we shall now proceed to consider the amount of influence they exerted in giving shape to the Tamil language and literature.
The object with which the three academies were founded was threefold, namely, (1) the purification of the Tamil language by the writing of a grammar for it and by enforcing strict adherence to its rules, (2) the gradual introduction of Aryan civilisation in the Tamil country, and (3) the regulation of literary patronage so as to promote these ends. This task was first taken up by the Brahman sage Agastya, of course, under the guidance and patronage of the Pandya kings. With a view to carry out these plans the preliminary measures adopted were, first the assembling of a large body of literary men from different parts of the Tamil land ; secondly, the formation of a literary academy with Agastya, the traditional priest of the Pandya family, as its president; and thirdly, the promulgation of a royal mandate prohibiting the circulation of any literary production before it was approved by the academy.
Language has life and growth, and when left to itself sprouts out into divers dialects like the branches
