The earliest extant records survived from the Sangam age academies and continued in the medieval era in the courts of the Jaffna kingdom until modern times.
[2] Īḻattup pūtaṉtēvaṉār was one of the earliest known native classical Eelam Tamil poets from the Sangam period, hailing from Manthai, Mannar District, Sri Lanka.
[3] Included in the Tamil language anthologies of the Sangam literature compiled in Tamilakam before 250 CE[4] his poems, written in the city of Madurai, praise the valour of the contemporaneous King Pasum Poon Pandyan, who, as per the Narkudi Velalar Varalaru, reigned from 275 - 240 BCE.
During the reign of Jeyaveera Cinkaiariyan, a writing on medical sciences (Segarajasekaram), astrology (Segarajasekaramalai)[6][7] and mathematics (Kanakathikaram) were authored by Karivaiya.
This academy performed a useful service in collecting and preserving ancient works in the form of manuscripts in a library[7] called Saraswathy Mahal.
[9][10] Portuguese and the Dutch colonial periods (1619–1796) brought its own local literary responses; Muttukumara Kavirajar (1780–1851) is the earliest known among those who used literature to respond to Christian missionary activities.
[2] The war produced writers from across the globe who reminisced their longing for their lost homes as well as a need for integration with mainstream communities in Europe and North America.