தமிழ் is one of the ancient languages of the world. தமிழ் has three intrinsic features - இயல், இசை, நாடகம். Roughly they stand for literary, musical and dramatic aspects. It is therefore called முத்தமிழ். Of the 3 qualities mentioned, musicality is the most basic to தமிழ். This lesson focuses on the importance of music in the ancient Tamil culture and the highly evolved musical sensibilities of the ancient Tamils.

The ancient தமிழ் studied the sounds of Nature and created a complex music system. This system which was refined systematically over the ages to reflect the myriad aspects of life was called பண்.

பண் was classified into 103 groups and depending on the style of the பண் songs, the musicians were grouped into பாணர், கூத்தர் and யாழ்ப்பாணர், பறையர் and துடியர் . Musical instruments to accompany the பண் were also designed. The ancient தமிழ் texts such as the தொல்காப்பியம், the எட்டுத்தொகை, பத்துப்பாட்டு and the சிலப்பதிகாரம் talk about the classical பண் musical tradition. பண் later came to be called கருநாடக இசை and கூத்து, பரதநாட்டியம்.