The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature

The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature (Tamil: ஐம்பெரும்காப்பியங்கள்) are five large narrative Tamil epics according to later Tamil literary tradition, namely Silappatikaram, Manimegalai, Civaka Cintamani, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi. The first mention of the "Aimperumkappiyam" (lit. Five large epics) occurs in Mayilainathar's commentary of Nannūl. However, Mayilainathar does not mention the names of the five epics. The names of the epics are first mentioned in the late 18th century - early 19th century work Thiruthanikaiula. Earlier works like the 17th century poem Tamil vidu thoothu mention the great epics as Panchkavyams. Among these, the last two, namely Valayapathi and Kundalakesi are extant.

These five epics were written over a period of 1st century CE to 10th century CE and act as the historical evidence of social, religious, cultural and academic life of people during the era they ere created. Civaka Cintamani introduced long verses called virutha pa in Tamil literature., while Silappatikaram used akaval meter (monologue), a style adopted from Sangam literature.