Ponnar Shankar is a historical incident (990–1020 CE) as part of the post-Sangam history of the Tamil country. This period saw the rise and fall of many kingdoms, some of which were empires that exerted influence far and wide.
It is also named as a source of their cultural materials and traditions, transmitted orally from one generation to another either by messages or testimony or speech or song or street theatre and many other forms.
The life of two brothers, known as Ponnar (also known as Periya Annan, the elder brother) and Shankar (also known as Chinna Annan, the younger brother), revered as the Annanmar Swami, is a tale deeply ingrained in folk tradition. Recited and passed down through generations as gramiya padalgal (folk songs) and enacted as folk entertainment through therukoothu (street theater),