Middle Tamil

The development of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil, which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century,[2] was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes despite maintaining grammatical and structural continuity with the previous form of the language.

[9] From the period of the Pallava dynasty onwards, a number of Sanskrit loan-words entered Tamil, particularly in relation to political, religious and philosophical concepts.

[10] Sanskrit also influenced Tamil grammar, in the increased use of cases and in declined nouns becoming adjuncts of verbs,[11] and phonology.

[13] Middle Tamil is attested in many inscriptions, and in a significant body of secular and religious literature.

[14] These include the religious poems and songs of the Bhakti poets, such as the Tēvāram verses on Shaivism and Nālāyira Tivya Pirapantam on Vaishnavism,[15] and adaptations of religious legends such as the 12th-century Tamil Ramayana composed by Kamban and the story of 63 shaivite devotees known as Periyapurāṇam.