widely current is 'academy'. And as the chief function of the sangam, like that of the French Academy, was the promotion of Tamil literature, the name 'academy’ seems to be appropriate to this institution and is therefore used in the following pages.
According to Tamil writers there were three sangams in the Pandya country at different periods. After the dissolution of the last of them spasmodic attempts were made at various times to establish new Colleges ; but none of them were very successful. These later academies did not attain the high rank, distinction and influence of their predecessors, nor were they recognised by learned Tamil scholars as of such importance as to deserve mention,
A full account of the three academies, their dates, the places where they were founded, the Pandya kings who patronised them, the works that were approved and sanctioned by their senatus academicus, the number and names of the members and lastly the influence they exerted in moulding the Tamil language and literature will be given below ; and of the rest only a passing notice.
Before entering upon the discussion of the ages of the academies severally, it would be convenient at the outset to determine approximately the earlier and the later limits of the period during which the three academies existed. It is admitted both by Indian and European scholars that the civilisation of the Tamil nation was, in the main, due to the Aryan colonists in the south, and that the first academy owed
