This poetry dates from around 2000 years ago, and appears to represent the fruition of a highly formalized bardic tradition, supported by patrons in the form of local kings and rulers. Given its highly developed and sophisticated linguistic and poetic form, one can easily imagine for it a long gestation period, passing through a period of oral tradition before emerging as a highly formalized literay genre. The word Agam means "interior" as opposed to "Puram "outside, exterior". Agam poetry deals with the interior landscape of lovers in their relationships, whilst Puram poetry deals with social issues, war and society and its ways in general. For an excellent introducion, I would recommend "Poems of Love and War" by A K Ramanujan, which is currently available from on-line and other bookstores. Kuruntogai is one of four Agam anthologies, consisting of 400 verses between 4 and 8 lines in length. Each poem is written in the context of a specific mood, of which there a 5, each corresponding to a Tinai, landscape type with its own specific Deity, flora and fauna, seasons, time of day and occupations. Each of the sets is named after a characteristic flower:
The fifth, Palai, is not restricted to a specific geographical location, it being considered that any landscape can become a desert due to the effects of extreme heat and drought. A brief overview of the five Tinais can be found at the following location: http://www.penkatali.org/cankam.html(The Cologne University Kuruntokai Project) , which also contains some translations from this anthology and from Aiñgurunûru, another Agam anthology of 500 short poems.