முதற்சங்க பருவம்

The First Cankam period (Tamil: முதற்சங்க பருவம், Mutaṟcanka paruvam ^?) or Head Cankam period (Tamil: தலைச்சங்க பருவம், Talaiccanka paruvam ^?) was a legendary period in the history of Ancient Tamilakam said to be the foremost of Tamil Sangams, known in the Tamil language as கூடல் (kooṭal) or 'gathering'. It is the first of three Tamil Sangams of Classical Tamil literature. While most historians accept that there is little historicity in this, they do accept that some literary academies would have held Pandyan patronage.^[1] This is not to be confused with the historical Third Cankam period which lasted roughly from 600 BC to 300 AD.

It was allegedly held in Old Madurai under the patronage of 89 Pandya kings,^[2][3] who were called Maravar^{[citation needed]} during this period. The city was then called (Tamil: கூடல், kooṭal ^?) reflecting the site of the Tamil Sangam^[4] and (Tamil: திருவாலவாய், Tiruvālavāi ^?) which literally means 'Holy mouth of poison' referring to the tightly coiled city boundaries.^[5] It is meant to have lasted for 4,440 years, which, if true, would put the First Cankam between 9600 BC to 5200 BC.^[6]
Some are of the opinion that Agattiyar was the head of the Talaiccankam, however, this is unlikely as the first mention of him is from Ptolemy and no Sangam work refers to him.^[7] A more likely proposition is Shiva being the head of the First Cankam as believed by others.^[8] சிவன் (civan) in Tamil means 'the red one'.^[9]