Rediscovery
The works of Sangam literature were lost and forgotten for several centuries before they were brought to light by several Tamil Scholars such as Arumuga Navalar, S. V. Damodaram Pillai and U. V. Swaminatha Iyer. They painstakingly collected and catalogued numerous manuscripts in various stages of deterioration. Navalar and Pillai hailed from Jaffna. Navalar brought to print for the first time any Sangam text; this was the Thirumurukaattuppadai of Pattupattu (one of The Ten Idylls), in 1851. Pillai brought the first of the Eight Anthologies (Edduththokai) of the Sangam classics the Kaliththokai, in 1887. Swaminathaiyar brought his first print of Pattupattu in 1889. Together, these scholars printed and published Tholkappiyam, Nachinarkiniyar urai (1895), Tholkappiyam Senavariyar urai, (1868), Manimekalai (1898), Cilappatikaram (1889), Pattupattu (1889), and Purananuru (1894), all with scholarly commentaries. They published more than 100 works in all, including minor poems. J V Chellaiah of Jaffna College did the entire translation of Pattupattu in English in 1945.
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