Ilango Adigal was a Tamil

Tamil language

Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 poet and a Jain monk, who was instrumental in the creation of Silappathikaram, one of the five great epics

The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature

The Five Great Epics of Tamil Literature are five large narrative Tamil epics according to later Tamil literary tradition. The first mention of the "Aimperumkappiyam" occurs in Mayilainathar's commentary of Nannūl. However, Mayilainathar does not mention the names of the five epics...

 of Tamil Literature

Tamil literature

Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution...

. Prince Ilango was the brother of Chera

Chera dynasty

Chera Dynasty in South India is one of the most ancient ruling dynasties in India. Together with the Cholas and the Pandyas, they formed the three principle warring Iron Age Tamil kingdoms in southern India...

 king Cheran Chenguttuvan

Senguttuvan

King Senguttuvan; also Chenguttawan, was the most famous and powerful Chera king who ruled in Ancient south India during the early centuries of the Common Era. He is famous for the legends surrounding Kannagi, the heroine of the legendary Tamil epic Silapathikaram...

 (in modern day Kerala

Kerala

or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....

), in South India

South India

South India is the area encompassing India's states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Pondicherry, occupying 19.31% of India's area...

. Ilango Adigal was born in the Chera dynasty that ruled parts of what is now known as Kerala, but formed part of the Tamil Land

Ancient Tamil country

The Sangam period is the classical period in the history of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and other parts of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...

. According to a legend, an astrologer predicted that he would become the ruler of the land and to obviate such a happening, especially when his elder brother the rightful heir was alive, the prince became a Jain monk taking the name of Ilango Adigal, Adigal indicating that he had became a Jain monk.