Arjun Verma
Independent Researcher
Madhya Pradesh, India
Abstract
This study undertakes an extensive exploration of metaphysical constructs in Sangam Tamil poetry (c. 300 BCE–300 CE) and examines how these ontological themes reverberate in selected works of modern Dalit writers. By employing both a close textual analysis of canonical Sangam anthologies and a targeted survey of 100 Tamil‐literate respondents, the research identifies four primary metaphysical motifs—unity of self and cosmos, cyclical temporality, divine immanence in nature, and transcendence of social boundaries—and traces their redeployment within Dalit narratives as vehicles of spiritual agency and social emancipation. The abstract summarizes the scope, methodology, key findings, and implications: (1) Sangam poems regularly dissolve the binary between human experience and cosmic order, a pattern mirrored in Dalit texts through images of bodily communion with land; (2) the Sangam emphasis on life–death–rebirth cycles informs Dalit writers’ portrayals of communal resilience; (3) the Sangam valorization of nature as infused with divinity reappears in Dalit depictions of everyday labor as sacred praxis; and (4) the Sangam ideal of borderless landscapes inspires Dalit visions of a society beyond caste. Quantitative survey data demonstrate that readers familiar with both traditions perceive these resonances strongly (means of 4.05–4.21 on a 5-point scale). These findings deepen our understanding of Tamil literary continuity, underscore the philosophical sophistication of Dalit poetics, and suggest new avenues for postcolonial and comparative literary inquiry into the interplay between ancient metaphysics and contemporary social critique.
Keywords
Metaphysical Concepts, Sangam Tamil Poetry, Dalit Writings, Ontology, Postcolonial Literature
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