Keeladi Excavation

About Keeladi Excavation:

• Keeladi excavation site is a Sangam period settlement that is being excavated by the Archaeological Survey of India and the Tamil Nadu Archaeology Department.
•  The settlement lies on the bank of the Vaigai River. This is a large-scale excavation carried out in Tamil Nadu after the Adichanallur archaeological site.
• This site is estimated to be from the period between the 5th century BCE and the 3rd century CE.

Key facts about the Sangam period

• The word ‘Sangam’ is the Tamil form of the Sanskrit word Sangha which means a group of persons or an association.
• This sangama was an academy of poets who flourished in three different periods and different places under the patronage of the Pandyan kings.
• The Sangam literature, which was largely consolidated from the third Sangam, sheds light on people's living conditions at the start of the Christian era.
• It gives information about the secular matter relating to public and social activities like government, war charity, trade, worship, agriculture, etc.
• Sangam literature consists of the earliest Tamil works (Tolkappiyam), the ten poems (Pattupattu), the eight anthologies (Ettutogai) and the eighteen minor works (Padinenkilkanakku), and the three epics. 

 

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Q1) Where is the Vaigai River basin?

The Vaigai river basin is an important basin among the 12 basins lying between the Cauvery and Kanyakumari. This basin is bounded by the Cardamom Hills and the Palani Hills on the West.

Source : https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/explained-the-significance-of-the-findings-in-keeladi/article66541961.ece