சங்க இலக்கிய மருதநிலமும் தகவல் தொழில்நுட்பமும்

Abstract

Sangam literature divides the land into five thinai (landscape categories) and sings of the nature, occupations, people, and emotions of each within a systematic framework. Among them, Marutham depicts the agricultural land irrigated by rivers and the settled village life connected with it. The Sangam poets were unaware of the concept of information technology. Even so, several aspects of the Marutham thinai are comparable to today's information systems: its classification of knowledge, the exchange of messages through envoys, knowledge of water sharing, and the journey of media from oral tradition to palm leaf, print, and digital form. This article examines these parallels within historical limits and explains the applications and challenges of information technology in present-day agriculture in Marutham regions. Its conclusion is not that Sangam literature anticipated technology, but that it held a deep tradition of organizing knowledge.

Keywords

• Sangam literature
• Marutham thinai
• thinai theory
• knowledge representation
• communication
• agricultural information technology
• digitization