Rama

===''Ramayana in early Tamil Literature''===
{{Main article|Ramayana in Tamil literature}}

[[File:Madhuranthakan2.jpg|thumb|250px|1700 year old [[Eri-Katha Ramar Temple]] in Tamil Nadu and has received several donations from Cholas Like [[Parantaka I]] , [[Gandaraditya]], [[Uttama (Chola dynasty)|Madhuranthaka]], and many other Cholas.<ref name="epic">{{cite book|title=Indian Epic Values: Rāmāyaṇa and Its Impact : Proceedings of the 8th International Rāmāyaạ Conference|page=85|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVnK3q48dL0C&dq=veeraraghava+perumal+temple&pg=PA86|publisher=Peeters Publishers|last1=K.V.|first1=Raman|last2=T.|first2=Padmaja|isbn=9789068317015|date=8 July 1991|ref=K.V.}}</ref> ]]

There are several references of the ''Ramayana'' in early Tamil literature even before the ''[[Ramavataram]]'' (''Kamba Ramayanam''), which seems to indicate that the story of the text was familiar in the Tamil lands even before the 12th century.<ref name="MSPPillai">{{cite book |last1=Pillai |first1=M S Purnalingam |title=A Primer of Tamil Literature |date=1904 |publisher=The Ananda Press |location=Madras, British India |url=https://archive.org/details/APrimerOfTamilLiterature |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref><ref name="KZvelebil">{{cite book |last1=Zvelebil |first1=Kamil |title=The Smile of Murugan on Tamil Literature of South India |date=1973 |publisher=E J Brill |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |url=https://archive.org/details/TheSmileOfMuruganOnTamilLiteratureOfSouthIndia |access-date=22 July 2019}}</ref> Tamil [[Sangam literature|Sangam]] texts like the ''[[Akananuru]]'',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Dakshinamurthy |first1=A |title=Akananuru: Neytal – Poem 70 |url=https://adakshinamurthy.wordpress.com/2015/07/01/akananuru-neythal-poem-70/ |website=Akananuru |access-date=22 July 2019|date=July 2015 }}</ref> ''[[Purananuru]]'',<ref name="Columbia University Press">{{cite book |last1=Hart |first1=George L |last2=Heifetz |first2=Hank |title=The four hundred songs of war and wisdom : an anthology of poems from classical Tamil : the Puṟanāṉūṟu |url=https://archive.org/details/fourhundredsongs00 |url-access=registration |date=1999 |publisher=Columbia University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/fourhundredsongs00/page/219 219]-220 |isbn=9780231115629 }}</ref><ref name="Purananuru">{{cite book |editor1-last=Kalakam |editor1-first=Turaicămip Pillai |title=Purananuru |date=1950 |location=Madras}}</ref> and the ''[[Kalittokai]]'' mention scenes of the ''Ramayana'' and figures such as Rama, Sita, the ten-faced demon (Ravana), and monkeys. The Tamil epic ''[[Cilappatikaram]]'' also mentions Rama as the avatar of Vishnu, who measured the three worlds and destroyed the city of Lanka.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.201802/page/n251/mode/2up | title=The Silappadikaram | date=20 February 2024 }}</ref>