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CALDWELL.
85
Dr. Caldwell's Classification.
No.
Name of Cycle.
Period.
Representative works
or authors.
1.
The Jaina cycle or 8th or 9th-12th Kural, Naladiyar,Chin.
the cycle of the 1or 13th century. tāmgni, Divakaram Sangam.
and Nannūl.
2. The Rāmāyana
cycle.
13th century
.. Kamban.
3.
The Saive revival
cycle.
13th and 14th
centuries.
Tiru.
Tēvāram and
vāchakam.
4.
The Vaishnava
cycle..
Do.
The Vaishnava Pra. bandhams.
5. / The cycle of the
literary revival.
15th and 16th
centuries.
6. The Anti-Brahmi- I nical cycle.
17th century
.. Siddhar school came
into existence during this period.
7. The Modern cycle .. 18th and 19th
centuries.
That the above classification is defective in many respects needs no mention. Those defects have been pointed out in an able manner by the late Prof. Sundaram Pillai in his Milestones in Tamil Literature. And yet the bishop's remarks in regard to the existence of the Sangam about the 8th century A.D. need not be dismissed with such contempt, as has been done by scholars who have criticised him." There are to be found, even to-day, when our knowledge of
