Page:Status of Women in Tamilnadu during the Sangam age .pdf/6

 A Word Ere you Read...

Sangam age is regarded as the "Golden Age' in the history of Tamil Literature. As rightly pointed out by Xavier S. Thaninayagam, Sangam Tamil has the characteristic of being extremely concise and curt of delineating magnifici ent word-pictures with great economy of language. To put it in a nutshell, brevity was the soul of Sangam wit.' But, it is noteworthy that a number of comprehen sive volumes have been published on Sangam Literature, and yet to be in the future also. Such is the greatness of Sangam classics.

The present volume deals precisely with the status of women in all dimensions in Tamil Nadu during the Sangam age. It is to be remembered that the scope of this study is limited for obvious reason. But, I hope it will certainly inspire the scholars to take up further profound studies.

With a deep sense of gratitude, I sincerely thank Dr. Malcolm S. Adiseshiah for having adorned this volume with his venerable and valuable foreword and Prof. Dr. N. Sanjeevi for his excellent encouragement. I am also deeply indebted to Thiru C. K. Kumaraswamy, the Registrar, University of Madras for his prompt help in bringing this volume to light.

I hope the Tamil world would warmly welcome this volume.

9-6-1976, Dr. C. BALASUBRAMANIAN Madras-600 00s. }