Tamil Nadu (
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
: தமிழ்நாடு "Country of the
TamilsTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
", ) is one of the 28
statesIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.- States and territories :...
of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. Its capital and largest city is
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
(formerly known as Madras). Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by
Puducherry; , , , , , English formerly Pondicherry, is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Puducherry. It is also known as The French Riviera of the East...
(Pondicherry),
KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
,
KarnatakaKarnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act...
and
Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
. It is bound by the
Eastern GhatsThe Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south. They are eroded and cut through by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari,...
in the north, the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and
PalakkadFor the district with the same name, see Palakkad District.Palakkad is a town and a municipality in the state of Kerala in southern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Palakkad District...
on the west, by the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal IPA:ˈbɒŋɡopoʃɑːˈgoɽ), the largest bay of the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal to the north , India and Sri Lanka to the west and Myanmar and the Andaman and...
in the east, the
Gulf of MannarThe Gulf of Mannar is a large shallow bay that is an arm of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean. It lies between the southeastern tip of India and the west coast of Sri Lanka with widths between 160 and 200 km...
, the
Palk StraitThe Palk Strait is a strait that lies between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the island nation of Sri Lanka. It connects the Palk Bay to the northeast with the Gulf of Mannar to the south. The strait is wide. Several rivers flow into it, including the Vaigai River of Tamil Nadu...
in the south east, and by the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
in the south.
Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area (about the size of
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
) and the seventh most populous state. It is the fifth largest contributor to India's GDP and the most urbanised state in India. The state has the highest number (10.56%) of business enterprises in India, compared to the population share of about 6%. It is one of the foremost states in the country in terms of overall development.
The region has been the home of the
Tamil civilizationTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
since at least 1500 BC, as attested by numerous archeological sites in and around
AdichanallurAdichanallur is an archaeological site near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is known locally as Aathichanallur, and has been the site of a number of very important archeological digs.-Archaeological excavations:...
. Its classical language
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
has been in use in inscriptions and literature for 2500 years. Tamil Nadu is home to many natural resources, grand Hindu temples of
Dravidian architectureDravidian architecture was a style of architecture that emerged thousands of years ago in the Indian subcontinent. They consist primarily of pyramid shaped temples which are dependent on intricate carved stone in order to create a step design consisting of numerous statues of deities, warriors,...
, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites and five UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Prehistory
Tamil Nadu's history dates back to pre-historic times. Archaeological evidence points to this area being one of the longest continuous habitations in India. In
AdichanallurAdichanallur is an archaeological site near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is known locally as Aathichanallur, and has been the site of a number of very important archeological digs.-Archaeological excavations:...
, from
TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
, archaeologists from the
Archaeological Survey of IndiaThe Archaeological Survey of India is a department of the Government of India, attached to the Ministry of Culture . It is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of archaeological heritage of the country by various acts of the Indian Parliament...
unearthed 169 clay urns containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, plus husks and grains of rice, charred rice and
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
celtsCelt is an archaeological term used to describe long thin prehistoric stone or bronze adzes, other axe-like tools, and hoes.By the beginning of the twentieth century, the term had largely been abandoned by archaeologists, who were beginning to classify the tools into more precise sub-groups...
, giving evidence confirming them to be of the Neolithic period, 3800 years ago.
The ASI archaeologists have proposed that the script used at that site is "very rudimentary" Tamil Brahmi. Adichanallur has been announced as an archaeological site for further excavation and studies.
About 60% of the epigraphical inscriptions found by the ASI in India have been from Tamil Nadu and most of which are in
Tamil languageTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
Recently there have been more discoveries of the evidence of prehistoric creatures inhabiting the landscape of what is now modern Tamil Nadu in the shape of eggs of dinosaurs and other animals of their kind. Geologists in Tamil Nadu have stumbled upon a Jurassic treasure trove buried in the sands of a river bed. Sheer luck led them to hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs, perhaps 65 million years old, underneath a stream in a tiny village in Ariyalur district. Researchers from the Salem-based Periyar University found clusters of eggs of what they believe to be the most aggressive Carnosaur and the docile, leaf-eating Sauropod at Sendurai village. While Carnosaurs were large predatory dinasaurs, Sauropods were long-necked, herbivores which grew to enormous heights and sizes.
Chera Rule
From early pre-historic times, Tamil Nadu was the home of the four Hindu Tamil kingdoms of the
CheraThe Chera Dynasty was a Dravidian Tamil dynasty that ruled in southern India from before the Sangam era until the twelfth century AD. Kalitokai,a Sangha work describes Cheras as Villavar people. Tamil literature calls the Chera king Villavar Kon,the king of Villavar tribe. Chera Flag had Bow and...
,
CholaThe Chola Empire was ruled by a Dravidian Tamil dynasty of that name that ruled primarily in southern India until the 13th century. The dynasty originated in the fertile valley of the Kaveri River...
,
PandyaPandyas were fierce warriors who took part in the Kurukshetra War as per the epic Mahabharata. They were mentioned both in the epic Mahabharata and epic Ramayana. A Pandya king named Sarangadwaja is mentioned as participating in the Kurukshetra War, siding with the Pandavas. It is not clear if...
and Pallavas. The oldest extant
literatureSangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years c. 600 BCE to 300 CE. This collection contains 2381 poems composed by 473 poets, some 102 of whom remain anonymous The period during which these poems were composed is commonly referred to as the Sangam...
, dated between 300 BC and 600 AD mentions the exploits of the kings and the princes, and of the poets who extolled them. Cherans, who spoke the Tamil language, ruled from the capital of
KarurKarur is a town and a municipality in Karur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu situated on the banks of Amaravati. It is the administrative headquarters of Karur District....
in the west and traded extensively with West Asian kingdoms.
An unknown dynasty called
KalabhrasThe Kalabhras dynasty ruled over the entire Ancient Tamil country between the 3rd and the 6th century C.E. in an era of South Indian history called the Kalabhra interregnum. The Kalabhras displaced the kingdoms of the early Cholas, early Pandayan and Chera dynasties. Information about its origin...
invaded and displaced the three
TamilThe Sangam period is the earliest historical period in the history of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...
kingdoms between the fourth and the seventh centuries CE. This is referred to as the Dark Age in
TamilTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
history. They were eventually expelled by the Pallavas and the Pandyas.
Pallava Rule
The seventh century Tamil Nadu saw the rise of the Pallavas under
Mahendravarman IMahendravarman I was a Pallava king who ruled the Northern regions of what forms present-day Tamil Nadu in India in the early 7th century. He was the son of Simhavishnu, who defeated the Kalabhras and re-established the Pallava kingdom....
and his son
Mamalla Narasimhavarman INarasimhavarman I was one of the most famous Tamil kings of the Pallava dynasty who ruled South India from 630 - 668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the work started by Mahendravarman in Mahabalipuram....
. The Pallavas were not a recognised political power before the second century. It has been widely accepted by scholars that they were originally executive officers under the
Satavahana EmpireThe Sātavāhana Empire also known as Andhras were a dynasty which ruled from Junnar , Prathisthan in Maharashtra and Kotilingala in Andhra Pradesh over Southern and Central India from around 230 BCE onward...
. After the fall of the Satavahanas, they began to get control over parts of Andhra and the Tamil country. Later they had marital ties with the
VishnukundinaThe Vishnukundina Empire was one of the Middle kingdoms of India, controlling the Deccan, Orissa and parts of South India during the 5th and 6th centuries, carving land out from the Vakataka Empire....
who ruled over the Deccan. It was around 550 AD under King
SimhavishnuSimhavishnu , also known as Avanisimha , son of Simhavarman III and one of the Pallava kings of India, was responsible for the revival of the Pallavan dynasty. He was the first Pallava monarch whose domain extended beyond Kanchipuram in the South...
that the Pallavas emerged into prominence. They subjugated the Cholas and reigned as far south as the
Kaveri RiverThe Kaveri River , also spelled Cauvery in English, is one of the major rivers of India, which is considered sacred by Hindus...
. Pallavas ruled a large portion of
South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, 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 area...
with
KanchipuramKanchipuram, Kanchi, or Kancheepuram is a city and a municipality in Kanchipuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a temple town and the headquarters of Kanchipuram district. In ancient times it was called Kachi and Kachiampathi....
as their capital.
Dravidian architectureDravidian architecture was a style of architecture that emerged thousands of years ago in the Indian subcontinent. They consist primarily of pyramid shaped temples which are dependent on intricate carved stone in order to create a step design consisting of numerous statues of deities, warriors,...
reached its peak during the Pallava rule.
Narasimhavarman IINarasimhavarman II or Rajasimha was a Pallava king who ruled in South India during the 6th century. Succeeding his father Paramesvaravarman I in the year 700 CE, he ruled for nearly 3 decades, until he was succeeded by his son Paramesvaravarman II in 728 CE.-Ascension to the throne:By the time...
built the
Shore TempleThe Shore Temple is so named because it over looks the Bay of Bengal. It is a structural temple, built with blocks of granite, dating from the 8th century AD. It was built on a promontory sticking out into the Bay of Bengal at Mamallapuram, a tiny village south of Chennai in the state of Tamil...
which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many sources describe
BodhidharmaBodhidharma was a Buddhist monk from southern India who lived during the early 5th century and is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Zen to China....
, the founder of the
ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
school of
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
in
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, as a
princePrince, from French "Prince" , is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarchs' or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility...
of the Pallava dynasty.
Pandya Rule
The Pallavas were replaced by the Pandyas in the 8th century. Their capital
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
was in the deep south away from the coast. They had extensive trade links with the Southeast Asian maritime empires of
SrivijayaSrivijaya or Sriwijaya was an ancient Malay kingdom on the island of Sumatra, Southeast Asia which influenced much of the Maritime Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months...
and their successors, as well as contacts, even formal diplomatic contacts, reaching as far as the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
. During the 13th century of the Christian era
Marco PoloMarco Polo was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, voyaged through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for...
mentioned the Pandya kingdom as the richest kingdom in existence. Temples such as the
Meenakshi Amman TempleMeenakshi Sundareswarar Temple or Meenakshi Amman Temple is a historic Hindu temple located in the holy city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort, Goddess Parvati . The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2500 year old city of Madurai...
at
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
and
Nellaiappar TempleSignificance: One of the famous temples in Tamil Nadu steeped in tradition and history and also known for its musical pillars and other brilliant sculptural splendours. This is the first largest Shiva Temple in Tamil Nadu. This temple houses a shrine to Shiva and Parvati dating back in time...
at
TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
are the best examples of Pandyan temple architecture. The Pandyas excelled in both trade and literature. They controlled the pearl fisheries along the South Indian coast, between Sri Lanka and India, which produced some of the finest pearls in the known ancient world.
Chola Empire
By the 9th century, during the times of the second Chola monarch
Aditya IAditya I , the son of Vijayalaya, was the first great Chola king of South India who extended the Chola dominions by the conquest of the Pallavas.- Pallava Civil War :...
, his son
Parantaka IParantaka Chola I ruled the Chola kingdom in southern India for forty-eight years. He continued the expansion of the Chola dominions begun by his father Aditya Chola...
,
Parantaka Chola IIParantaka Chola II ruled for approximately twelve years. Parantaka II was also known by the name Sundara Chola. He was the son of Arinjaya Chola. His mother’s name was Kalyani, a princes from the clan of Vaidumbas...
itself the Chola empire had expanded into what is now interior Andhra Pradesh and coastal Karnataka, while under the great Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola, the Cholas rose as a notable power in south
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
. The Chola Empire stretched as far as
BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
. At its peak, the empire spanned almost . Rajaraja Chola conquered all of peninsular
South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, 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 area...
and parts of the
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
. Rajendra Chola's navies went even further, occupying coasts from Burma (now
MyanmarBurma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. The country is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the...
) to
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
, the
Andaman and Nicobar IslandsThe Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a Union Territory of India...
,
LakshadweepLakshadweep , the smallest union territory of India, is a group of islands 200 to 300 km off of the coast of Kerala in the Laccadive Sea. Their total land area is 11 sq mi or 32 km². Ten of the islands are inhabited...
,
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
,
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
,
MalayaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
in South East Asia and Pegu islands. He defeated
MahipalaMahipala I is considered the second founder of the Pala dynasty. Gopala I established the dynastic rule of the Palas in the middle of the 8th century C.E. The Pala Dynasty ruled Bengal and Bihar for about four centuries from the middle of the 8th century AD...
, the king of the Bengal, and to commemorate his victory he built a new capital and named it
Gangaikonda CholapuramGangaikonda Cholapuram was erected as the capital of the Cholas by Rajendra Chola I, the son and successor of Rajaraja Chola, the great Chola who conquered a large area in South India at the beginning of the 11th century C.E. It occupies an important place in the history of India. As the capital...
.
The Cholas excelled in building magnificent temples.
Brihadeshwara TempleThe Brihadishwara Temple , also known as Rajarajeswaram, at Thanjavur, is the world's first complete granite temple and a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas in temple architecture. It is a tribute and a reflection of the power of its patron RajaRaja Chola I. It remains as one...
in
ThanjavurThanjavur Thanjavur Thanjavur ( (tañcāvūr), also known by its anglicised name Tanjore, is a municipality and the headquarters of the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a population of a 221,185 (2001 census)....
is a classical example of the magnificent
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
of the Chola kingdom. Brihadshwara temple is an UNESCO Heritage Site under "Great Living Chola Temples." Another example is the
Chidambaram TempleChidambaram Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located in the heart of the temple town of Chidambaram, 78 km south of Pondicherry and 60 km north of Karaikal in Cuddalore District, the east-central part of the Tamil Nadu state of southeastern India...
in the heart of the temple town of
ChidambaramChidambaram is a municipality in Tamil Nadu and the taluk headquarters of the Cuddalore district. Located at , it is 11 km from the coast and 240 km south of Chennai by rail in the Kollidam River Valley...
.
Pandya Rule (Restored)
With the decline of the Cholas towards the end of the 11th century, the Pandyas rose to prominence once again, under
Maravarman Sundara PandyaMaravarman Sundara Pandyan I was a Pandyan king, who ruled regions of South India between 1216–1238 CE. He laid the foundation for the Pandya revival, after being dominated by the Cholas for several centuries.-Accession:...
.
Delhi Sultanate
This restoration was short-lived as the Pandya capital of
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
itself was sacked by Alladin Khilji troops in 1316. The Muslim invasion led to the establishment of the
Madurai SultanateThe Madurai Sultanate was a short lived kingdom based in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India during the 14th century CE. It lasted from 1333 until 1378....
.
Vijayanagar Empire
These Muslim invasions triggered the establishment of the Hindu
Vijayanagara EmpireThe Vijayanagara Empire referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was a South Indian empire based in the Deccan Plateau. Established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I, it lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan...
in the Deccan. It eventually conquered the entire Tamil country (c. 1370 CE). This empire lasted for almost two centuries till the defeat of
VijayanagaraVijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city, located at , of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India.-Location and Surroundings:...
in the Battle of Talikota in 1565. Subsequent to this defeat, many incompetent kings succeeded to the throne of Vijayanagara with the result that its grip loosened over its feudatories among whom the Nayakas of Madurai and Tanjore were among the first to declare their independence, despite initially maintaining loose links with the Vijayanagara kingdom.".
Rule of Nayaks
As the
Vijayanagara EmpireThe Vijayanagara Empire referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was a South Indian empire based in the Deccan Plateau. Established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I, it lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan...
went into decline after mid-16th century, the Nayak governors, who were appointed by the Vijayanagar kingdom to administer various territories of the empire, declared their independence. The Nayaks of Madurai and Nayaks of Thanjavur were most prominent of them all in the 17th century. They reconstructed some of the oldest temples in the country such as the Meenakshi Temple.
Rule of Nizams and Nawabs
Around 1609, the
DutchThe Dutch people are the dominant ethnic group of the Netherlands.Dutch people, or descendants of Dutch people, are also found in migrant communities world wide, notably in Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States....
established a settlement in
PulicatPulicat is a fishing village in Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, South India. It is about 60 km north of Chennai, on the barrier island of Sriharikota, which separates Pulicat Lake from the Bay of Bengal...
. In 1639, the British, under the British East India Company, established a settlement further south, in present day Chennai.
The British exploited rivalries between the provincial rulers to expand their sphere of influence throughout the Nizam's dominions. The British fought and reduced the
French dominions in IndiaFrench India is a general name for the former French possessions in India. These included Pondichéry , Karikal and Yanaon on the Coromandel Coast, Mahé on the Malabar coast, and Chandannagar in Bengal...
to Pondicherry. Nizams bestowed tax revenue collection rights on the East India Company by the end of 18th century. Some notable chieftains or Poligars who fought the British East India Company as it was expanding were Maveeran Sundaralinga Kudumbanar , Veerapandya Kattabomman, Pulithevan and
Dheeran ChinnamalaiTheeran Chinnamalai was a Kongu chieftain, Palayakkarar from Tamil Nadu who rose up in revolt against the British East India Company in Southern India...
.
British Empire
In early 19th century, East India Company consolidated most of southern India into the Madras Presidency coterminous with the dominions of Nizam of Hyderabad.
PudukkottaiPudukkottai is a town and a municipality in Pudukkottai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai District. Population of Pudukkottai district is 14,59,601.-History:...
remained as a
princely stateThere were as many as 568 states in India before independence. A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entity of British rule in India that was not directly administered by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-The British...
under British suzerainty.
Independence
When India became independent in 1947, Madras Presidency became Madras State, comprising present day Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh up to Ganjam district in Orissa, northern Karnataka, and parts of Kerala. The state was subsequently split up along linguistic lines. In 1968, Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning Land of Tamil.
Geography and climate
Tamil Nadu covers an area of , and is the eleventh largest state in India. The bordering states are
KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
to the west,
KarnatakaKarnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act...
to the northwest and
Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
to the north. To the east is the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal IPA:ˈbɒŋɡopoʃɑːˈgoɽ), the largest bay of the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal to the north , India and Sri Lanka to the west and Myanmar and the Andaman and...
and the union territory of
Puducherry; , , , , , English formerly Pondicherry, is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Puducherry. It is also known as The French Riviera of the East...
. The southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula is located in Tamil Nadu. At this point is the town of Kanyakumari which is the meeting point of the
Arabian SeaThe Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia, Socotra, Kanyakumari in India, and the western coast...
, the Bay of Bengal, and the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
.
The western, southern and the north-western parts are hilly and rich in vegetation. Tamil Nadu is the only state in India which has both the
Western GhatsThe Western Ghats also known as the Sahyadri Mountains, is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea...
and the
Eastern GhatsThe Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south. They are eroded and cut through by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari,...
and they both meet at the Nilgiri hills. The Western Ghats dominate the entire western border with Kerala, effectively blocking much of the rain bearing clouds of the South West Monsoon from entering the state. The Eastern parts are fertile coastal plains and the northern parts are a mix of hills and plains. The central and the south central regions are arid plains and receive less rainfall than the other regions.
Tamil Nadu has a coastline of about which is the country’s third longest coastline. Tamil Nadu's coastline bore the brunt of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami when it hit India, which caused 7,793 direct deaths in the state. Tamil Nadu falls mostly in a region of low seismic hazard with the exception of the western border areas that lie in a low to moderate hazard zone; as per the 2002 Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) map, Tamil Nadu falls in Zones II & III. Historically, parts of this region have experienced seismic activity in the M5.0 range.
Tamil Nadu is heavily dependent on monsoon rains, and thereby is prone to droughts when the monsoons fail. The climate of the state ranges from dry sub-humid to semi-arid. The state has three distinct periods of rainfall: (1) Advancing monsoon period,
South West monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
(from June to September), with strong southwest winds; (2) North East
monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
(from October to December), with dominant northeast winds; and (3) Dry season (from January to May). The normal annual rainfall of the state is about of which 48% is through the North East monsoon, and 32% through the South West monsoon. Since the state is entirely dependent on rains for recharging its water resources, monsoon failures lead to acute water scarcity and severe drought.
Tamil Nadu is classified into seven agro-climatic zones: north-east, north-west, west, southern, high rainfall, high altitude hilly, and Cauvery Delta (the most fertile agricultural zone). The table below shows the maximum and minimum temperatures that the state experiences in the plains and hills.
Governance and administration
The
GovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
is the Constitutional head of the state while the
Chief MinisterA Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British overseas territory that has attained self-government...
is the head of the government and the head of the council of ministers. The
Chief JusticeThe Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme...
of the
Madras High CourtThe Madras High Court, one of the landmarks of the metropolis of Chennai, India, and believed to be the second largest judicial complex in the world, is located near the beach, one of the important central business districts of Chennai.-History:...
is the head of the judiciary. The present Governor, Chief Minister and the Chief Justice are
Surjit Singh BarnalaSurjit Singh Barnala is the present governor of Tamil Nadu, India. He has held that position since November 2004. During his eventful career in Indian politics he has been Governor of four states, Chief Minister of Punjab, a Minister in the Union Cabinet twice, a Vice-Presidential candidate.-Early...
, M. Karunanidhi and Hemant Laxman Gokhale respectively. The major administrative units of the state constitutes 39
Lok SabhaThe Lok Sabha is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India. As of 2009 there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
constituencies, 234 Assembly constituencies, 32 districts, 10 city corporations, 152 municipalities, 611 town panchayats and 12,618 village panchayats.
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
(formerly known as Madras) is the state capital. It is the fourth largest city in India and is also one of the five A1 Metropolitan cities of India.
Tamil Nadu had a
bicameral legislatureIn government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed...
until 1986, when it was replaced with a
unicameral legislatureUnicameralism is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Many countries with unicameral legislatures are often small and homogeneous unitary states and consider an upper house or second chamber unnecessary.-Concept:...
, like most other states in India. The term length of the government is 5 years, as is elsewhere in India. The present government run by the DMK led alliance came to power in 2006 and comprises a council of 29 ministers, chaired by the Chief Minister. Tamil Nadu legislative assembly is chaired by the speaker Mr. R Avudaiappan and is housed at the historical Fort St. George in Chennai. The state had come under the President's rule on four occasions - first from 1976 to 1977, next for a short period in 1980, then from 1988 to 1989 and the latest in 1991. Tamil Nadu has 10 City Corporations:
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
,
CoimbatoreCoimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Coimbatore District and a major textile and engineering hub of India, especially Southern India. It is part of the ancient Kongu Nadu region of Tamil...
,
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
,
Tiruchirapalli
,
TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
,
SalemSalem is a city and a corporation in Salem district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located in the north central part of the southernmost state of India....
,
ErodeErode is one of the ten municipal corporations and the headquarters of Erode district, Tamil Nadu, India.It is situated on the banks of the river Kaveri, which drives through the city, between 121 ° 19.5" and 11 ° 81.05" North latitude and 77 ° 42.5" and 77 ° 44.5" East longitude.The city lies in...
,
TirupurTirupur is a textile located on the banks of Noyyal River.It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirupur district.It is an important trade center of India. Tirupur has gained universal recognition as the leading source of Hosiery, Knitted Garments, Casual Wear and Sportswear. Tirupur has...
,
VelloreVellore is a city and headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The 142-year old municipality was crowned as largest Corporation in Tamil Nadu on August 1st 2008. Vellore is ninth corporation converted after Tirupur and Erode. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr...
and
ThoothukudiThoothukudi also known as Tuticorin, is a city and a Municipal Corporation in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tuticorin is the headquarters of Thoothukudi District.The Tuticorin is also known as "Pearl City"....
. There is a plan to upgrade
TambaramTambaram is a suburb of Chennai situated 27 km south of the city in Tamil Nadu, India. This is an urban node. It has an average elevation of 32 metres . Tambaram is a hub to all major destinations in south Tamil Nadu as it lies on the busy Chennai–Trichy national highway...
and
AmbatturAmbattur is a major municipality in Thiruvallur district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is an industrial area north-west of Chennai. Though considered a part of Chennai for all practical purposes, Ambattur technically belongs to the Tiruvallur district. Closer to Padi, Ambattur is a fast...
as City Corporations. The Corporation of Chennai, established in 1688, is the oldest Municipal Corporation not only in India but also in any commonwealth nations outside United Kingdom.
Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state of
E-Governance'E-Governance' is a network of organizations to include government, nonprofit, and private-sector entities; in e-governance there are no distinct boundaries....
initiatives in India. A large part of the government records like land ownership records are digitised and all major offices of the state government like Urban Local Bodies — all the
CorporationA corporation is a legal entity separate from the shareholders and employees. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate...
s and Municipal Office activities — revenue collection, land registration offices, and transport offices have been computerised. Tamil Nadu is one of the states where law and order has been maintained largely successfully. The
Tamil Nadu PoliceThe Tamil Nadu Police Force is the law enforcing agency / department of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is over 140 years old and is the fifth largest state police force in India. Tamil Nadu has a Police population ratio of 1 : 632.-Administration:...
Force is over 140 years old. It is the fifth largest state police force in India and has the largest strength of women police personnelin the country. As of 2003, the state had a total police population ratio of 1:668, higher than the national average of 1:717. The current Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu is K. P. Jain.
Districts
The 32 districts of Tamil Nadu are as listed below with the numbers corresponding to those in the image at right.
- Ariyalur District
Ariyalur is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters are located at Ariyalur. The district occupies an area of 2,033.66 km² and has a population of 694,058 ....
- Chennai District
The Chennai District is a district in the state of Tamil nadu, in India. It is the smallest of all the districts in the state. The district is a city district which means that it does not have a district headquarters. Most of the city region of Chennai comes under this district...
- Coimbatore District
Coimbatore District is one of the more affluent and industrially advanced districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The headquarters of the district is Coimbatore city, the second largest city in Tamil Nadu, which is located approximately 497 km from Chennai, the state capital, and 330 km...
- Cuddalore District
Cuddalore District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Cuddalore is the district headquarters.-Geography:The district has an area of 3,564 km²...
- Dharmapuri District
Dharmapuri District is a district in Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Which came into existence from 02.10.1965. Dharmapuri is the district headquarters. Dharmapuri town is historically called as Thakadoor....
- Dindigul District
Dindigul District is an administrative region in the south of Tamil Nadu, India. The district was carved out of Madurai District in the year 1985...
- Erode District
Erode District is a northern district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, with Erode as its headquarters.Until the year 1996, Erode district was named as Periyar District. Erode District was a part of Coimbatore District until Coimbatore was bifurcated on August 31, 1979. It is also the home of...
- Kanchipuram District
Kanchipuram, Kanchi, or Kancheepuram is a district in the northeast of Tamil Nadu, adjacent to the Bay of Bengal. It is bounded in the west by Vellore and Thiruvannamalai districts, in the north by Thiruvallur District and Chennai District, in the south by Viluppuram District...
- Kanyakumari District
Kanyakumari District is a district of Tamil Nadu state, India; it is the southernmost land area of mainland India.Kanyakumari District is the smallest of the 32 districts of Tamil Nadu state...
- Karur District
Karur District is located center along the Kaveri & Amaravathi rivers in Tamil Nadu India. The main town in Karur District is the city of Karur. It had a population of 935,686 as of 2001. It is 33.27% urbanized as per Census 2001. The district has a literacy of 81.74%.As per the Vedas the Brahma...
- Krishnagiri District
The Krishnagiri District is a district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The city of Krishnagiri is the district headquarters.-Etymology:...
- Madurai District
Madurai district is one of the 32 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. The city of Madurai serves as the district headquarters. It houses the world famous Sri Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple and is situated on the banks of river Vaigai...
- Nagapattinam District
Nagapattinam District is a coastal district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The town of Nagapattinam is the district headquarters.-Demography:It had a population of 1,488,839 as of 2001. It is 22.18% urbanised as per Census 2001...
- Namakkal District
Namakkal District is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The district was bifurcated from Salem District with Namakkal town as Head Quarters on 25-07-1996 and started to function independently from 01-01-1997...
- Nilgiris District
The Nilgiris District is in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri is also the name given to a range of mountains spread across the states of Tamilnadu as well as Karnataka and Kerala. The Nilgiri Hills are part of a larger mountain chain known as the Western Ghats...
- Perambalur District
Perambalur is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters are located at Perambalur. The district occupies an area of 1,752 km² and has a population of 4,93,646...
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- Pudukkottai District
Pudukkottai District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Pudukkottai is the district headquarters. It is also known colloquially as Pudhugai....
- Ramanathapuram District
Ramanathapuram District is an administrative district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Ramanathapuram is the district headquarters.Ramanthapuram District has an area of 4123 km²...
- Salem District
Salem District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Salem is the district headquarters. Other major towns in the district are Mettur, Omalur and Attur...
- Sivagangai District
- Thanjavur District
Thanjavur District is one of the 30 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Demographics:It had a population of 2,216,138 as of 2001. It is 33.78% urbanised....
- Theni District
Theni District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in South India. The city of Theni is the district headquarters. The district is divided into two natural divisions: The hilly areas constituted by parts of the three taluks Periyakulam, Uthamapalayam and Andipatti with thick vegetation and...
- Thoothukudi District
Thoothukudi District, also known as Tuticorin District, is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Thoothukudi is the district headquarters...
- Tiruchirapalli District
Tiruchirapalli District is located along the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu India. The main town in Tiruchirapalli District is the city of Tiruchirapalli also known as Trichy.-Geography:...
- Tirunelveli District
Tirunelveli District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Tirunelveli is the district headquarters...
- Tirupur district
Tirupur is a district of the Indian state Tamil Nadu, formed in October 2008. This district is formed with these taluks from Coimbatore district and Erode district: Tirupur, Avanashi, Palladam, Dharapuram, Kangeyam and Udumalpet...
- Tiruvallur District
Tiruvallur district is an administrative district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town of Thiruvallur is the district headquarters.-Geography:...
- Tiruvannamalai District
Thiruvannaamalai District is one of the 30 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, in South India. Thiruvannaamalai town is the district headquarters. The district is divided into 7 Taluks/: Chengam, Thiruvannaamalai, Polur, Thandarampattu, Aarani, Vandavasi and Cheyyar. Aarani is famous for silk...
- Tiruvarur District
Tiruvarur district is one of the 30 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. The district occupies an area of 2161 km². It is lies between Nagapattinam district on the east and Thanjavur district on the west, and is bounded by the Palk Strait on the south. The district headquarters is at...
- Vellore District
Vellore district is one of the 31 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. Vellore City is the headquarters of this district. It had a population of 3,477,317 as of 2001. It is 37.62% urbanised...
- Viluppuram District
For Headquarters see Viluppuram Viluppuram is one of the thirty districts which make up Tamil Nadu state situated on the southern tip of India. The district headquarters are located at Viluppuram. Viluppuram district came into existence on 30 September 1993 when it was created out of South Arcot...
- Virudhunagar District
Virudhunagar District is an administrative district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Virudhunagar is the district headquarters.Virudhunagar District, formerly called Kamarajar District....
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Pre Independence
Prior to Indian independence Tamil Nadu was under British colonial rule as part of the
Madras PresidencyMadras Presidency , also known as Madras Province and known officially as Presidency of Fort St. George, was a province of British India...
. The main party in Tamil Nadu at that time was the Congress Party.
Regional parties have dominated state politics since 1916. One of the earliest regional parties was the South Indian Welfare Association, which was a forerunner to
Dravidian partiesDravidian parties , include an array of regional political parties in the state of Tamil Nadu, India which trace their origins and ideologies either directly or indirectly to the Dravidian movement of Periyar E. V...
in Tamil Nadu, was started in 1916. The party was called after its English organ,
Justice PartyJustice Party is the name of several different political parties around the world:*Indian Justice Party*Justice Party the Socialists *Justice Party *Justice Party *Justice Party *Justice Party...
, by it opponents and later the same was adopted as its official name. The reason for victory of the Justice Party in elections was the non-participation of the Congress Party, demanding complete independence of India. Freedom movement saw great leaders like Subramania Bharathiar (Poet who inspired freedom movement by his poetic skills), Subramania Siva, V O Chidhamdaranar (Industrialist, who managed ships under the free India banner), Thirupur Kumaran, Rajagopalachariar (Rajaji) and Sathyamurthi to name a few.
E.V.Ramaswami Naicker popularly known as
EVR and also as
PeriyarPeriyar Erode Venkata Ramasamy , also known as Ramaswami, EVR, Thanthai Periyar, or Periyar, was a Dravidian social activist, who founded the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam....
, believed in agitational politics and he took the Justice Party away from its original path. The Justice Party which had a moribund existence under E.V.Ramaswami Naicker, died at last in 1944 which he renamed the party
Dravidar KazhagamDravidar Kazhagam or Dravida Kazhagam was the first fully Dravidian party in India. It was a radical party formed by E. V. Ramaswamy, also called Thanthai Periyar of erstwhile Madras Presidency...
(DK for short) in 1944. DK was a non-political party which demanded the establishment of an independent state called Dravida Nadu. However, due to the differences between its two leaders Periyar and
C.N. AnnaduraiAnnadurai can refer to:* C. N. Annadurai, an Indian politician* Mylswamy Annadurai, an Indian scientist...
, the party was split. Annadurai left the party to form the
Dravida Munnetra KazhagamDravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It also has presence in nearby union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N...
(DMK). The DMK decided to enter politics in 1956.
Dravidian Politics
Political
Alliance |
AssemblyThe Tamil Nadu state assembly election of 2006, conducted alongside a batch of state assembly elections in 2006, took place on May 8, 2006 in 234 constituencies in the state legislature of Tamil Nadu, India. The elections were conducted to elect the government in the state of Tamil Nadu for the...
Elections |
Lok SabhaThe Indian general election, 2009 polls in Tamil Nadu was held for 39 seats in the state. There was a radical change in the alliances in this election compared to the last election, reminiscent of the 1999 election in Tamil Nadu...
Elections |
DMK+Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It also has presence in nearby union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N...
|
163 |
27 |
AIADMK+All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in Tamil Nadu state in India. The party was founded by M. G. Ramachandran and is now headed by J. Jayalalithaa. The party headquarters is in Royapettah, Chennai and was gifted to the party in 1986 by its former leader Janaki...
|
69 |
12 |
| Independent/Other |
2 |
0 |
| Source: Indian Elections / Election Commission of India. |
In the 19th century, western scholars discovered that the
Dravidian languagesThe Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages, spoken by around 200 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and overseas in other...
that dominate the south of India formed a different linguistic group to that of the
Indo-Aryan languagesThe Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family.SIL International in a 2005 estimate counted a total of 209 varieties, the largest in terms of native speakers being Hindustani , Bengali , Punjabi , Marathi ,...
that are predominant in the north of the country. They also classified Indians into distinct Aryan and Dravidian races. It was proposed that the generally darker-skinned Dravidians constituted a distinct race. This concept has affected thinking in India about racial and regional differences and had an impact on aspects of
Tamil nationalismTamil nationalism in India is an aspiration by some Tamils to establish, at minimum, self determination. The ideology of Tamil Nationalism seeks to preserve and modernize Tamil language and culture, unite Tamils across boundaries, eradicate caste discrimination within Tamils, emancipate and empower...
, which has appropriated the claim that Dravidians are the earliest inhabitants of India, and the Aryan population were oppressive interlopers from whom Dravidians should liberate themselves.
Re-organisation of Indian states according to linguistic and ethnic basis has moderated Tamil nationalism, especially the demand for separation from the Indian Union. The
Anti-Hindi agitationsAnti-Hindi agitations refers to the protests in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, formerly known as Madras State during the years of 1938, 1948, 1952, and 1965. This was organized against the decision of the Government of India to adopt Hindi as the only official language of India and was...
in mid-1960s made the DMK more popular and a more powerful political force in the state. The DMK routed the Congress Party in the 1967 elections and took control of the state government, ending Congress' stronghold in Tamil Nadu. C.N. Annadurai became the DMK's first
Chief MinisterA Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British overseas territory that has attained self-government...
.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi took over as Chief Minister and party leader after Annadurai's death in 1969. Karunanidhi's leadership was soon challenged by M.G. Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR. In 1972, he split from DMK and formed the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) and later renamed the party as All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam. He was the Chief Minister of the state from 1977 until his death in 1987. After the death of MGR and the defeat of AIADMK in the 1989 assembly polls, J. Jayalalithaa took control of the party. She was elected as the General Secretary of the unified AIADMK. There have been several splits in both the DMK and the AIADMK, but since 1967 one of those two parties has held power in the state. The rise of Congress Party, Vijayakanth's
DMDKDesiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam is a regional political party formed by Tamil cinema actor Vijayakanth in Tamil Nadu along the lines of the regional Dravidian political parties. He formally announced party formation on September 14, 2005 at Madurai...
, Vaiko's
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra KazhagamMarumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a political party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu formed in 1994 by Mr. V. Gopalswamy , a member of Rajyasabha and a party activitist of DMK. Mr. V. Gopalsamy grew in the party from his student days. He actively participated in the party agitations and...
and Dr. Ramdoss's
PMKPattali Makkal Katchi is a Tamil political party.-History:PMK was founded by Dr. S. Ramdossu and the president is G. K. Mani. Ramdoss had earlier worked with the Vanniyar Sangham founded by him in 1980. PMK is based amongst the Vanniar caste, an OBC community...
in the recent years has ensured that no single party is in majority to run a government and thereby giving rise to coalition politics.
Demographics and Religion
Tamil Nadu is the seventh most populous state in
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
with a population of 62,405,679 (>62 million) as of the census of 2001, with estimates for year 2008 put at 6,63,96,000 (>66 million), (approximately 5.79% of India's population). It is the eleventh most densely populated state in India with a population density of 511 persons per square kilometre as of 2008, having increased from 429 in 1991, significantly higher than the Indian average of 324 persons per square kilometre. 44% of the state's population live in
urban areaAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
s, the highest among large states in India.
Tamil Nadu's population grew by 11.19% between 1991 and 2001, the second lowest rate for that period (after
KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
) amongst populous states (states whose population exceeded 20 million in 2001). Its decadal rate of population growth has declined since 1971, one of only three populous states (along with Kerala and
OrissaOrissa , is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of ancient republican nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC, that led to a turning point in the Emperor's life when deeply saddened by the bloodshed...
) to show this trend. The state has registered the lowest
fertiliy rateThis is a list of the States of India ranked in order of number of children born for each woman . Based on this study, seven Indian states including Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Sikkim do not contribute anymore to the population explosion of India...
along with
Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
and
GoaGoa is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast.Panaji is...
in India in year 2005-06 with 1.8 children born for each woman, lower than required for population sustainability.
Three major religions of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam are followed by the majority of the people. The distribution of population based on their faith, as of the 2001 census, is shown in the bar graph above. Among Hindus a sparse percentage follow Atheism, who normally target Hindus. Christianity, though a minority, has the highest population in absolute numbers when compared to other states, are getting established stronger by acquiring and purchasing lands and buildings. Tamil is the official and the principal spoken language of the state. As of the 2001 Census,
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
is spoken by 89.43% of the population followed by Telugu at 5.65%, Kannada at 1.68%,
UrduUrdu is a Central Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It is one of the two official languages of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of five Indian states...
at 1.51% and other languages at 1.67%.
The list of largest urban agglomerations of Tamil Nadu is displayed below:
Education and social development
Tamil Nadu has performed reasonably well in terms of
literacy growthLiteracy in India, says UNESCO, is an indispensable means for effective social and economic participation, contributing to human development and poverty reduction...
during the decade 1991-2001. The state's literacy rate increased from 62.66% in 1991 to 73.47% in 2001. which is above the national average. A survey conducted by the Industry body Assocham ranks Tamil Nadu top among Indian states with about 100% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in primary and upper primary education. One of the basic limitations for improvement in education in the state is the rate of absence of teachers in public schools, which at 21.4% is significant.
Tamil Nadu has 19 universities, 349 engineering colleges and 1150 arts college, 2550 schools and 5000 hospitals. Some of the reputed institutes include
University of MadrasThe University of Madras is one of the three oldest universities in India . The University of Madras, organized on the model of the University of London, was incorporated on 5 September 1857 by an Act of the Legislative Council of India...
, IIT Madras,
Anna UniversityAnna University is a university in Tamil Nadu state, India, offering higher education in Engineering, Technology and Allied Sciences.Anna University was formed on September 4, 1978 as a unitary type of university...
(includes MIT Chennai -
Madras Institute of TechnologyThe Madras Institute of Technology is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai, India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of the Anna University. It was started in 1949 by Mr.C. Rajam. The Institute was at that time a bold experiment in technical education, for it...
),
Government College of Technology, CoimbatoreThe Government College of Technology, Coimbatore is an autonomous state funded engineering college located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India...
, NIT Tiruchi, VIT University, Vellore,
Bharathidasan Institute of ManagementBharathidasan Institute of Management , Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu state, India, isa partnership between Bharathidasan University and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited...
Trichy,
Christian Medical College VelloreChristian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, known simply as "CMC Vellore", was founded by Ida S. Scudder, and located in the city of Vellore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, South India.-History:...
,
Madras Medical CollegeThe Madras Medical College is a prominent educational institution located in Chennai, India. It was established on February 2, 1835 and is one of the oldest medical schools of the Indian subcontinent....
,
Loyola College, ChennaiLoyola College is a Jesuit college in Chennai, India. It is generally counted among India's elite and most storied educational institutions. The college admits both undergraduates and post-graduates and offers degrees in the liberal arts, sciences and commerce...
,
Annamalai UniversityAnnamalai University is a State university in Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, India. The university offers courses in several fields of higher education including Arts, Science, Indian Languages, Engineering and Technology, Education, fine Arts, Agriculture, Medicine, Dentistry etc...
and
Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityThe Tamil Nadu Agricultural University came into being on June 1 1971. However, it had its genesis from establishment of an agricultural school at Saidapet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 1868 and was later relocated at Coimbatore-History:...
. The Indian Institute of Management is scheduled to open in Trichy by 2009-2010. Tamil Nadu produces the highest number of engineering graduates in India (around 1,30,000) every year which attracts many software companies to set up their shop in south India.
India has a human development index calculated as 0.619, while the corresponding figure for Tamil Nadu is 0.736, placing it among the top states in the country. The
life expectancyLife expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e
x, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
at birth for males is 65.2 years and for females it is 67.6 years. However, it has a number of challenges, significantly, the poverty is high, especially in the rural areas. As of 2004-2005, the poverty line was set at Rs. 351.86/month for rural areas and Rs. 547.42/month for urban areas. Poverty in the state dropped from 51.7% in 1983 to 21.1% in 2001 For the period 2004-2005, the Trend in Incidence of Poverty in the state was 22.5% compared with the national figure of 27.5%. The World Bank is currently assisting the state in reducing poverty High drop-out and low completion of secondary schools continue to hinder the quality of training in the population. Other problems include class, gender, inter-district and urban-rural disparities.
The Dravidian movement, which championed the causes of educating the people and eradicating superstitions, began in Tamil Nadu. In addition, it aims to uplift the socially repressed Dravidian people and drew considerable support from the middle classes for their efforts in this matter. The movement was committed to social justice which led to the expansion of
reservationsReservation in Indian law is a quota system whereby a percentage of seats are reserved in the public sector units, union and state government departments and in all public and private educational institutions, except in the religious/ linguistic minority educational institutions, for the socially...
for the deprived communities. Tamil Nadu now has a 69% reservation in educational institutions, the highest among all Indian states.
The Mid-day Meal Scheme program in Tamil Nadu, initiated by
KamarajKamaraj Kumarasami, better known as K. Kamaraj was an Indian politician widely known to be the kingmaker in Indian politics, and known for his honesty, integrity and simplicity....
, was expanded considerably during the rule of the AIADMK in 1983. It feeds over a fifth of the state's population. Despite this, the state is among the 12 states in India that have alarming level of hunger according to the 2008 Global Hunger Index.
Culture
Tamil Nadu has a long tradition of venerable culture. Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tradition of
literatureLiterature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" , and therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters...
,
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and
danceDance is a sport and art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
which continue to flourish today. Unique cultural features like Bharatanatyam (dance),
Tanjore paintingTanjore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting native to the town of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The art form dates back to about 1600 AD, a period when Nayakas of Tanjavur encouraged art- chiefly, classical dance and music as well as literature both in Telugu and Tamil...
, and Tamil architecture were developed and continue to be practised in Tamil Nadu.
Language and Literature
எப்பொருள் யார்யார்வாய்க் கேட்பினும் அப்பொருள்
மெய்ப்பொருள் காண்ப தறிவு |
'The mark of wisdom is to discern the truth
From whatever source it is heard.'
- (TirukkuralThirukkural is a classic of couplets or Kurals or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, and is considered to be the first work to focus on ethics, in Shramana literature of India. However it begins with salutation to Adi Bhagwan. Thirukkural expounds various aspects...
- 423) |
While
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
is the only official language of Tamil Nadu, English is also in common usage as an official language of India. When India adopted national standards Tamil was the very first language to be recognized as a classical language of India.
Most early Tamil literary works are in verse form, with prose not becoming more common until later periods. Throughout its history, Tamil literature has sought to inform and inspire, educate and entertain. Tamil poetry has universal appeal as evidenced by many examples.
TirukkuralThirukkural is a classic of couplets or Kurals or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, and is considered to be the first work to focus on ethics, in Shramana literature of India. However it begins with salutation to Adi Bhagwan. Thirukkural expounds various aspects...
, which was written nearly two millennia ago portrays a universal outlook. This is evident as the author,
TiruvalluvarThiruvalluvar was a celebrated Tamil poet who wrote the Thirukkural, a work on ethics in Tamil literature.Thiruvalluvar's period is between the second century BC and the eighth century AD...
, does not mention his religion, land, or the audience for his work. He is often portrayed as a holy saint of Tamil Nadu today.
The first Tamil printing press was established at Tarangambadi by the Danish missionaries. During the
Indian freedom struggleThe term Indian independence movement incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy. The term encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending the British...
, many Tamil poets and writers sought to provoke national spirit, social equity and secularist thoughts among the common man, notably
Subramanya BharathySubramanya Bharathi was a Tamil poet from Tamil Nadu, India, an independence fighter and iconoclastic reformer. Known as Mahakavi Bharathi , he is celebrated as one of India's greatest poets. Bharathi was prolific and adept in both the prose and poetry forms...
. Even today, Tamil Nadu is home to creative writers like
BharathidasanBharathidasan was a twentieth century Tamil poet and rationalist whose literary works handled mostly socio-political issues. His writings served as a catalyst for the growth of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu...
,
JayakanthanJayakanthan is a Tamil writer, essayist, journalist, pamphleteer, film-maker and critic. He was an iconoclast who ridiculed social anomalies and was known for his bold and revolutionary ideas. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2009....
, Jayamohan,
SujathaSujatha was the pseudonym of the Tamil writer S. Rangarajan, author of over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a slim volume of poems. He was one of the most popular writers in Tamil literature, and a regular contributor to topical columns in Tamil...
,
Indira ParthasarathyIndira Parthasarathy is the pen name of R. Parthasarathy. Born on July 10, 1930 in Chennai in a traditional Iyengar family....
.
Religions
About 88% of the population identifies as Hindu and Tamil Nadu is the home of several non-mainstream Hindu movements. These include
Advaita VedantaAdvaita Vedanta is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and . Advaita is a monistic system of thought...
,
Ramanuja'sRamanuja ; traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar, Emperumannar, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete...
VishishtadvaitaVishishtAdvaita Vedanta ) is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy, the other major sub-schools of Vedānta being Advaita and Dvaita. VishishtAdvaita is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy...
,
AlvarsThe Alvars were Tamil poet saints of south India who lived between the sixth and ninth centuries and espoused ‘emotional devotion’ or bhakti to Visnu-Krishna in their songs of longing, ecstasy and service...
'
Sri VaishnavismSri Sampradaya or Sri Vaishnavism is a Vaishnava sect within Hinduism. While its origin is lost in antiquity, its codification is generally traced back to around the 10th century when a collection of the devotional hymns and songs by Alvars was organized by Sri Nathamuni, who is considered to be...
, and
NayanarsThe Nayanars or Nayanmars were Shaivite devotional poets of Tamil Nadu, active between the fifth and the tenth centuries CE. The Tamil Shaiva hagiography Periya Puranam, a volume of the Tirumurai, written during the thirteenth century CE, narrates the history of each of sixty-three Nayanars, though...
ShaivismShaivism names the oldest of the four sects of Hinduism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. Shaivism is...
. Several important Hindu Tamil figures became important figures for Hinduism as a whole (e.g.
RamanujaRamanuja ; traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar, Emperumannar, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete...
.) In modern times, worldwide important figures for Hinduism were Ramana Maharishi and
Sri Sri Ravi ShankarSri Sri Ravi Shankar is a spiritual and humanitarian leader. He was born on May 13, 1956 in Tamil Nadu, India. He is often referred to by the double-honorific "Sri Sri", Guruji or Gurudeva...
.
MuruganMurugan or Mayuri Kandasamy called Subrahmanya is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus, and is worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influence, especially South India, Singapore , Sri Lanka , Malaysia and Mauritius...
,
VishnuVishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God...
and
ShivaShiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...
, are perhaps the most "popular" gods, although many other deities are also worshiped. These other forms of God include
RamaRama or Ramachandra is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient India...
,
KrishnaKrishna is a deity worshipped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of perspectives...
, Ganesh, Paravati,
SuryaIn Hinduism, Sūrya is the chief solar deity, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
, and others. There is even a temple dedicated to the form of
HanumanHanuman , known also as Anjaneya or Maruti , is one of the most popular concepts of devotees of God in Hinduism and one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic, the Ramayana...
and Ganesh in one form - Adianta Prabhu. The government emblem of Tamil Nadu contained the popular Hindu temple of Srivilliputhur.
Christians and Muslims together form over 11% of the population. Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern districts of Kanyakumari (44% of the population, 2001), Thoothukudi (17%, 2001) and Tirunelveli (11%,2001).
St. Thomas MountSt. Thomas Mount, or Chinnamalai, is a small hillock located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located near the neighbourhood of Guindy and close to Chennai airport, St. Thomas Mount is associated with St. Thomas, the apostle of Christ, who is believed to have been martyred here. The mount is commonly...
in Chennai, the place where
St. ThomasThomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus , was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for disbelieving Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, was believed to have been martyred, is an important pilgrimage site for Indian Christians. The Santhome Basilica, supposedly built atop the tomb of St. Thomas, and the
VailankanniVelankanni , also known as Vailankanni or "Velanganni", is a panchayat town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu...
Basilica of Our Lady of Good HealthThe Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health is located at the small town of Velankanni in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The Roman Catholic Basilica is devoted to Our Lady of Good Health...
— revered churches by India's Roman Catholics — are good examples of majestic church architectures in Tamil Nadu. The
Church of South IndiaThe Church of South India came into being as a union of Anglican and Protestant churches in South India. It is India's second largest Christian church after the Roman Catholic Church in India...
and the Pentecostal Mission Church are headquartered in Chennai
Muslims are mainly concentrated in areas such as
KayalpatnamKayalpatnam or Korkai is a town in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu, India. Kayal is referred to in Marco Polo's travel diaries dating to 1250 AD. Korkai or Kayal was an ancient port dating to the 1st centuries of the Christian era and was contemporaneous to the existence of Kollam, another...
,
KilakaraiKilakarai is a 3rd category nakarachi in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.- History :...
, Ambur, Vaniyambadi,
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
, Nagore, and Melapalayam, with the state capital Chennai also home to a number of Muslims. Among Muslims, 97.5% are
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
speaking Sunni and the rest are
UrduUrdu is a Central Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It is one of the two official languages of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of five Indian states...
speakers. All
Tamil MuslimTamil Muslim refers to members of Tamil speaking multi-ethnic Islamic community found in South Asia and South East Asia. According to the official Indian census of 2001, there were at least 2 million Tamil Muslims in the southern province of Tamil Nadu...
s are Sunnis, who adhere to either
HanafiThe Hanafi school is one of the four schools of law or jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , and his legal views were preserved primarily by his two most...
or Shafi schools of thought.
ErwadiErvadi or Erwadi is a village where the grave and shrine of Qutbus sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed Badusha Radiyallh Ta'ala anhu, the ruler of Madinah Al Munawwara is found. Erwadi is in Ramanathapuram district belonging to Kadaladi Taluk and Keelakarai Town panchayat...
in Ramanathapuram district and Nagore in Nagapattinam district are important pilgrimage site for Muslims, while the
Thousand Lights MosqueThousand Lights Mosque, a beautiful multi domed mosque located at Anna Salai in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India is one of the largest mosques in the country and is a revered place of worship for Muslims...
in Chennai is one of the largest mosques in the country. Karpudaiyar masjid in Kayalpatnam is the oldest mosque in Tamil Nadu.
Festivals
PongalThai Pongal is a harvest festival equivalent to a thanksgiving event celebrated by Tamils across the world. Pongal coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated in various parts of India...
, also called as
Tamizhar Thirunaal (festival of Tamils) or Makara Sankranti elsewhere in India, a four-day harvest festival is one of the most widely celebrated festivals throughout Tamil Nadu. The Tamil language saying
Thai Pirandhal Vazhi Pirakkum — literally meaning, the birth of the month of Thai will pave way for new opportunities — is often quoted with reference to this festival. The first day, Bhogi Pongal, is celebrated by throwing away and destroying old clothes and materials by setting them on fire to mark the end of the old and emergence of the new. The second day, Surya Pongal, is the main day which falls on the first day of the tenth Tamil month Thai (14 January or 15 January in western calendar). The third day, Maattu Pongal, is meant to offer thanks to the cattle, as they provide milk and are used to plough the lands.
JallikattuJallikattu - ஜல்லிகட்டு is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebration. This is one of the oldest living ancient sports seen in the modern era. Although it sounds similar to the Spanish running of the bulls, it is quite different. In Jallikattu, the bull is not killed...
, a bull taming contest, marks the main event of this day. During this final day, Kaanum Pongal — the word "kaanum", means 'to view' in Tamil — youths used to gather at river banks to view and select their future life partners, but that practice has declined.
The first month in the Tamil calendar is
Chitterai and the first day of this month in mid-April is celebrated as
Tamil New Year. Thiruvalluvar Calendar is 31 years ahead of Gregorian Calendar, that is 2000A.D. in Gregorian calendar is represented as 2031 in Thiruvalluvar Calendar.
Aadi Perukku is celebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil month
Aadi, which celebrates the rising of the water level in the river Cauvery. Apart from these major festivals, in every village and town of Tamil Nadu, the inhabitants celebrate festivals for the local gods once a year and the time varies from place to place. Most of these festivals are related to the goddess Maariyamman, the mother goddess of rain.
Additional major Hindu festivals including Deepavali ( Death of Narakasura) (In the recent years, the present chief minister had been propagating not to celebrate the festival, Ayudha Poojai, Saraswathi Poojai (
DasaraDashera, , also called Navaratri, is among the most important festivals celebrated in India. Unlike the festival of Dussera - "the festival of joy," this is celebrated for 10 days in some parts of the subcontinent....
),
KrishnaKrishna is a deity worshipped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of perspectives...
Jayanthi and Vinayaka Chathurthi are celebrated widely.
Ayya Vaikunda AvataramThe Ayya Vaikunda Avataram is a festival celebrated by the followers of Ayyavazhi on the 20th day of the Tamil Month of Masi, the date on which the Ayyavazhi followers believe that Lord Vaikundar arose from the sea at Thiruchendur as the son of Mummorthies to destroy the evil spirit of Kali and...
, is celebrated predominantly in the southern districts. In addition,
ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
,
Eid ul-FitrEid ul-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fiṭr means "to break fast"; and so the holiday symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period...
,
EasterEaster is the most important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day from his crucifixion...
and Bakrid are celebrated by Christians and Muslims in the state.
Music
The Kings of ancient Thamizhagam created sangams for Iyal Isai Nadagam (Literature, Music and Drama). Music played a major role in sangams. Music in Tamil Nadu had different forms. In villages where farming was the primary occupation, ladies who work in the fields used to sing kulavai songs. Odhuvars, Sthanikars or Kattalaiyars offer short musical programmes in the temples by singing the devotional Thevaram songs. In sharp contrast with the restrained and intellectual nature of carnatic music, Tamil folk music tends to be much more exuberant. Popular forms of Tamil folk music include the
Tamil Nadu (TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
: தமிழ்நாடு "Country of the
TamilsTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
", {{IPA2|t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ|pron|Tamil_Nadu.ogg}}) is one of the 28
statesIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.- States and territories :...
of
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. Its capital and largest city is
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
(formerly known as Madras). Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by
Puducherry; , , , , , English formerly Pondicherry, is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Puducherry. It is also known as The French Riviera of the East...
(Pondicherry),
KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
,
KarnatakaKarnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act...
and
Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
. It is bound by the
Eastern GhatsThe Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south. They are eroded and cut through by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari,...
in the north, the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and
PalakkadFor the district with the same name, see Palakkad District.Palakkad is a town and a municipality in the state of Kerala in southern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Palakkad District...
on the west, by the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal IPA:ˈbɒŋɡopoʃɑːˈgoɽ), the largest bay of the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal to the north , India and Sri Lanka to the west and Myanmar and the Andaman and...
in the east, the
Gulf of MannarThe Gulf of Mannar is a large shallow bay that is an arm of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean. It lies between the southeastern tip of India and the west coast of Sri Lanka with widths between 160 and 200 km...
, the
Palk StraitThe Palk Strait is a strait that lies between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the island nation of Sri Lanka. It connects the Palk Bay to the northeast with the Gulf of Mannar to the south. The strait is wide. Several rivers flow into it, including the Vaigai River of Tamil Nadu...
in the south east, and by the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
in the south.
Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area (about the size of
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
) and the seventh most populous state. It is the fifth largest contributor to India's GDP and the most urbanised state in India. The state has the highest number (10.56%) of business enterprises in India, compared to the population share of about 6%. It is one of the foremost states in the country in terms of overall development.
The region has been the home of the
Tamil civilizationTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
since at least 1500 BC, as attested by numerous archeological sites in and around
AdichanallurAdichanallur is an archaeological site near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is known locally as Aathichanallur, and has been the site of a number of very important archeological digs.-Archaeological excavations:...
. Its classical language
TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
has been in use in inscriptions and literature for 2500 years. Tamil Nadu is home to many natural resources, grand Hindu temples of
Dravidian architectureDravidian architecture was a style of architecture that emerged thousands of years ago in the Indian subcontinent. They consist primarily of pyramid shaped temples which are dependent on intricate carved stone in order to create a step design consisting of numerous statues of deities, warriors,...
, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites and five UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Prehistory
Tamil Nadu's history dates back to pre-historic times. Archaeological evidence points to this area being one of the longest continuous habitations in India. In
AdichanallurAdichanallur is an archaeological site near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is known locally as Aathichanallur, and has been the site of a number of very important archeological digs.-Archaeological excavations:...
, {{convert|24|km|0|abbr=on}} from
TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
, archaeologists from the
Archaeological Survey of IndiaThe Archaeological Survey of India is a department of the Government of India, attached to the Ministry of Culture . It is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of archaeological heritage of the country by various acts of the Indian Parliament...
unearthed 169 clay urns containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, plus husks and grains of rice, charred rice and
NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
celtsCelt is an archaeological term used to describe long thin prehistoric stone or bronze adzes, other axe-like tools, and hoes.By the beginning of the twentieth century, the term had largely been abandoned by archaeologists, who were beginning to classify the tools into more precise sub-groups...
, giving evidence confirming them to be of the Neolithic period, 3800 years ago.
The ASI archaeologists have proposed that the script used at that site is "very rudimentary" Tamil Brahmi. Adichanallur has been announced as an archaeological site for further excavation and studies.
About 60% of the epigraphical inscriptions found by the ASI in India have been from Tamil Nadu and most of which are in
Tamil languageTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
Recently there have been more discoveries of the evidence of prehistoric creatures inhabiting the landscape of what is now modern Tamil Nadu in the shape of eggs of dinosaurs and other animals of their kind. Geologists in Tamil Nadu have stumbled upon a Jurassic treasure trove buried in the sands of a river bed. Sheer luck led them to hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs, perhaps 65 million years old, underneath a stream in a tiny village in Ariyalur district. Researchers from the Salem-based Periyar University found clusters of eggs of what they believe to be the most aggressive Carnosaur and the docile, leaf-eating Sauropod at Sendurai village. While Carnosaurs were large predatory dinasaurs, Sauropods were long-necked, herbivores which grew to enormous heights and sizes.
Chera Rule
{{Main|Chera dynasty}}
From early pre-historic times, Tamil Nadu was the home of the four Hindu Tamil kingdoms of the
CheraThe Chera Dynasty was a Dravidian Tamil dynasty that ruled in southern India from before the Sangam era until the twelfth century AD. Kalitokai,a Sangha work describes Cheras as Villavar people. Tamil literature calls the Chera king Villavar Kon,the king of Villavar tribe. Chera Flag had Bow and...
,
CholaThe Chola Empire was ruled by a Dravidian Tamil dynasty of that name that ruled primarily in southern India until the 13th century. The dynasty originated in the fertile valley of the Kaveri River...
,
PandyaPandyas were fierce warriors who took part in the Kurukshetra War as per the epic Mahabharata. They were mentioned both in the epic Mahabharata and epic Ramayana. A Pandya king named Sarangadwaja is mentioned as participating in the Kurukshetra War, siding with the Pandavas. It is not clear if...
and Pallavas. The oldest extant
literatureSangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years c. 600 BCE to 300 CE. This collection contains 2381 poems composed by 473 poets, some 102 of whom remain anonymous The period during which these poems were composed is commonly referred to as the Sangam...
, dated between 300 BC and 600 AD mentions the exploits of the kings and the princes, and of the poets who extolled them. Cherans, who spoke the Tamil language, ruled from the capital of
KarurKarur is a town and a municipality in Karur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu situated on the banks of Amaravati. It is the administrative headquarters of Karur District....
in the west and traded extensively with West Asian kingdoms.
An unknown dynasty called
KalabhrasThe Kalabhras dynasty ruled over the entire Ancient Tamil country between the 3rd and the 6th century C.E. in an era of South Indian history called the Kalabhra interregnum. The Kalabhras displaced the kingdoms of the early Cholas, early Pandayan and Chera dynasties. Information about its origin...
invaded and displaced the three
TamilThe Sangam period is the earliest historical period in the history of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...
kingdoms between the fourth and the seventh centuries CE. This is referred to as the Dark Age in
TamilTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
history. They were eventually expelled by the Pallavas and the Pandyas.
Pallava Rule
{{Main|Pallavas}}
The seventh century Tamil Nadu saw the rise of the Pallavas under
Mahendravarman IMahendravarman I was a Pallava king who ruled the Northern regions of what forms present-day Tamil Nadu in India in the early 7th century. He was the son of Simhavishnu, who defeated the Kalabhras and re-established the Pallava kingdom....
and his son
Mamalla Narasimhavarman INarasimhavarman I was one of the most famous Tamil kings of the Pallava dynasty who ruled South India from 630 - 668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the work started by Mahendravarman in Mahabalipuram....
. The Pallavas were not a recognised political power before the second century. It has been widely accepted by scholars that they were originally executive officers under the
Satavahana EmpireThe Sātavāhana Empire also known as Andhras were a dynasty which ruled from Junnar , Prathisthan in Maharashtra and Kotilingala in Andhra Pradesh over Southern and Central India from around 230 BCE onward...
. After the fall of the Satavahanas, they began to get control over parts of Andhra and the Tamil country. Later they had marital ties with the
VishnukundinaThe Vishnukundina Empire was one of the Middle kingdoms of India, controlling the Deccan, Orissa and parts of South India during the 5th and 6th centuries, carving land out from the Vakataka Empire....
who ruled over the Deccan. It was around 550 AD under King
SimhavishnuSimhavishnu , also known as Avanisimha , son of Simhavarman III and one of the Pallava kings of India, was responsible for the revival of the Pallavan dynasty. He was the first Pallava monarch whose domain extended beyond Kanchipuram in the South...
that the Pallavas emerged into prominence. They subjugated the Cholas and reigned as far south as the
Kaveri RiverThe Kaveri River , also spelled Cauvery in English, is one of the major rivers of India, which is considered sacred by Hindus...
. Pallavas ruled a large portion of
South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, 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 area...
with
KanchipuramKanchipuram, Kanchi, or Kancheepuram is a city and a municipality in Kanchipuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a temple town and the headquarters of Kanchipuram district. In ancient times it was called Kachi and Kachiampathi....
as their capital.
Dravidian architectureDravidian architecture was a style of architecture that emerged thousands of years ago in the Indian subcontinent. They consist primarily of pyramid shaped temples which are dependent on intricate carved stone in order to create a step design consisting of numerous statues of deities, warriors,...
reached its peak during the Pallava rule.
Narasimhavarman IINarasimhavarman II or Rajasimha was a Pallava king who ruled in South India during the 6th century. Succeeding his father Paramesvaravarman I in the year 700 CE, he ruled for nearly 3 decades, until he was succeeded by his son Paramesvaravarman II in 728 CE.-Ascension to the throne:By the time...
built the
Shore TempleThe Shore Temple is so named because it over looks the Bay of Bengal. It is a structural temple, built with blocks of granite, dating from the 8th century AD. It was built on a promontory sticking out into the Bay of Bengal at Mamallapuram, a tiny village south of Chennai in the state of Tamil...
which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many sources describe
BodhidharmaBodhidharma was a Buddhist monk from southern India who lived during the early 5th century and is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Zen to China....
, the founder of the
ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
school of
BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
in
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, as a
princePrince, from French "Prince" , is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarchs' or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility...
of the Pallava dynasty.
Pandya Rule
{{Main|Pandyan kingdom}}
The Pallavas were replaced by the Pandyas in the 8th century. Their capital
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
was in the deep south away from the coast. They had extensive trade links with the Southeast Asian maritime empires of
SrivijayaSrivijaya or Sriwijaya was an ancient Malay kingdom on the island of Sumatra, Southeast Asia which influenced much of the Maritime Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months...
and their successors, as well as contacts, even formal diplomatic contacts, reaching as far as the
Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
. During the 13th century of the Christian era
Marco PoloMarco Polo was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, voyaged through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for...
mentioned the Pandya kingdom as the richest kingdom in existence. Temples such as the
Meenakshi Amman TempleMeenakshi Sundareswarar Temple or Meenakshi Amman Temple is a historic Hindu temple located in the holy city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort, Goddess Parvati . The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2500 year old city of Madurai...
at
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
and
Nellaiappar TempleSignificance: One of the famous temples in Tamil Nadu steeped in tradition and history and also known for its musical pillars and other brilliant sculptural splendours. This is the first largest Shiva Temple in Tamil Nadu. This temple houses a shrine to Shiva and Parvati dating back in time...
at
TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
are the best examples of Pandyan temple architecture. The Pandyas excelled in both trade and literature. They controlled the pearl fisheries along the South Indian coast, between Sri Lanka and India, which produced some of the finest pearls in the known ancient world.
Chola Empire
{{Main|Chola dynasty}}
{{Seealso|Early Cholas|Medieval Cholas|Later Cholas}}
By the 9th century, during the times of the second Chola monarch
Aditya IAditya I , the son of Vijayalaya, was the first great Chola king of South India who extended the Chola dominions by the conquest of the Pallavas.- Pallava Civil War :...
, his son
Parantaka IParantaka Chola I ruled the Chola kingdom in southern India for forty-eight years. He continued the expansion of the Chola dominions begun by his father Aditya Chola...
,
Parantaka Chola IIParantaka Chola II ruled for approximately twelve years. Parantaka II was also known by the name Sundara Chola. He was the son of Arinjaya Chola. His mother’s name was Kalyani, a princes from the clan of Vaidumbas...
itself the Chola empire had expanded into what is now interior Andhra Pradesh and coastal Karnataka, while under the great Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola, the Cholas rose as a notable power in south
AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
. The Chola Empire stretched as far as
BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
. At its peak, the empire spanned almost {{convert|250|e6acre|km2}}. Rajaraja Chola conquered all of peninsular
South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, 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 area...
and parts of the
Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
. Rajendra Chola's navies went even further, occupying coasts from Burma (now
MyanmarBurma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. The country is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the...
) to
VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
, the
Andaman and Nicobar IslandsThe Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a Union Territory of India...
,
LakshadweepLakshadweep , the smallest union territory of India, is a group of islands 200 to 300 km off of the coast of Kerala in the Laccadive Sea. Their total land area is 11 sq mi or 32 km². Ten of the islands are inhabited...
,
SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
,
JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
,
MalayaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
in South East Asia and Pegu islands. He defeated
MahipalaMahipala I is considered the second founder of the Pala dynasty. Gopala I established the dynastic rule of the Palas in the middle of the 8th century C.E. The Pala Dynasty ruled Bengal and Bihar for about four centuries from the middle of the 8th century AD...
, the king of the Bengal, and to commemorate his victory he built a new capital and named it
Gangaikonda CholapuramGangaikonda Cholapuram was erected as the capital of the Cholas by Rajendra Chola I, the son and successor of Rajaraja Chola, the great Chola who conquered a large area in South India at the beginning of the 11th century C.E. It occupies an important place in the history of India. As the capital...
.
The Cholas excelled in building magnificent temples.
Brihadeshwara TempleThe Brihadishwara Temple , also known as Rajarajeswaram, at Thanjavur, is the world's first complete granite temple and a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas in temple architecture. It is a tribute and a reflection of the power of its patron RajaRaja Chola I. It remains as one...
in
ThanjavurThanjavur Thanjavur Thanjavur ( (tañcāvūr), also known by its anglicised name Tanjore, is a municipality and the headquarters of the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a population of a 221,185 (2001 census)....
is a classical example of the magnificent
architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
of the Chola kingdom. Brihadshwara temple is an UNESCO Heritage Site under "Great Living Chola Temples." Another example is the
Chidambaram TempleChidambaram Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located in the heart of the temple town of Chidambaram, 78 km south of Pondicherry and 60 km north of Karaikal in Cuddalore District, the east-central part of the Tamil Nadu state of southeastern India...
in the heart of the temple town of
ChidambaramChidambaram is a municipality in Tamil Nadu and the taluk headquarters of the Cuddalore district. Located at , it is 11 km from the coast and 240 km south of Chennai by rail in the Kollidam River Valley...
.
Pandya Rule (Restored)
With the decline of the Cholas towards the end of the 11th century, the Pandyas rose to prominence once again, under
Maravarman Sundara PandyaMaravarman Sundara Pandyan I was a Pandyan king, who ruled regions of South India between 1216–1238 CE. He laid the foundation for the Pandya revival, after being dominated by the Cholas for several centuries.-Accession:...
.
Delhi Sultanate
This restoration was short-lived as the Pandya capital of
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
itself was sacked by Alladin Khilji troops in 1316. The Muslim invasion led to the establishment of the
Madurai SultanateThe Madurai Sultanate was a short lived kingdom based in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India during the 14th century CE. It lasted from 1333 until 1378....
.
Vijayanagar Empire
{{Main|Vijayanagara Empire}}
These Muslim invasions triggered the establishment of the Hindu
Vijayanagara EmpireThe Vijayanagara Empire referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was a South Indian empire based in the Deccan Plateau. Established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I, it lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan...
in the Deccan. It eventually conquered the entire Tamil country (c. 1370 CE). This empire lasted for almost two centuries till the defeat of
VijayanagaraVijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city, located at , of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India.-Location and Surroundings:...
in the Battle of Talikota in 1565. Subsequent to this defeat, many incompetent kings succeeded to the throne of Vijayanagara with the result that its grip loosened over its feudatories among whom the Nayakas of Madurai and Tanjore were among the first to declare their independence, despite initially maintaining loose links with the Vijayanagara kingdom.".
Rule of Nayaks
{{Main|Nayaks of Madurai|Nayaks of Tanjore}}
As the
Vijayanagara EmpireThe Vijayanagara Empire referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was a South Indian empire based in the Deccan Plateau. Established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I, it lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan...
went into decline after mid-16th century, the Nayak governors, who were appointed by the Vijayanagar kingdom to administer various territories of the empire, declared their independence. The Nayaks of Madurai and Nayaks of Thanjavur were most prominent of them all in the 17th century. They reconstructed some of the oldest temples in the country such as the Meenakshi Temple.
Rule of Nizams and Nawabs
{{Main|Nizam of Hyderabad|Arcot Nawab}}
Around 1609, the
DutchThe Dutch people are the dominant ethnic group of the Netherlands.Dutch people, or descendants of Dutch people, are also found in migrant communities world wide, notably in Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States....
established a settlement in
PulicatPulicat is a fishing village in Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, South India. It is about 60 km north of Chennai, on the barrier island of Sriharikota, which separates Pulicat Lake from the Bay of Bengal...
. In 1639, the British, under the British East India Company, established a settlement further south, in present day Chennai.
The British exploited rivalries between the provincial rulers to expand their sphere of influence throughout the Nizam's dominions. The British fought and reduced the
French dominions in IndiaFrench India is a general name for the former French possessions in India. These included Pondichéry , Karikal and Yanaon on the Coromandel Coast, Mahé on the Malabar coast, and Chandannagar in Bengal...
to Pondicherry. Nizams bestowed tax revenue collection rights on the East India Company by the end of 18th century. Some notable chieftains or Poligars who fought the British East India Company as it was expanding were Maveeran Sundaralinga Kudumbanar , Veerapandya Kattabomman, Pulithevan and
Dheeran ChinnamalaiTheeran Chinnamalai was a Kongu chieftain, Palayakkarar from Tamil Nadu who rose up in revolt against the British East India Company in Southern India...
.
British Empire
In early 19th century, East India Company consolidated most of southern India into the Madras Presidency coterminous with the dominions of Nizam of Hyderabad.
PudukkottaiPudukkottai is a town and a municipality in Pudukkottai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai District. Population of Pudukkottai district is 14,59,601.-History:...
remained as a
princely stateThere were as many as 568 states in India before independence. A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entity of British rule in India that was not directly administered by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-The British...
under British suzerainty.
Independence
When India became independent in 1947, Madras Presidency became Madras State, comprising present day Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh up to Ganjam district in Orissa, northern Karnataka, and parts of Kerala. The state was subsequently split up along linguistic lines. In 1968, Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning Land of Tamil.
Geography and climate
Tamil Nadu covers an area of {{convert|130058|km2|sqmi}}, and is the eleventh largest state in India. The bordering states are
KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
to the west,
KarnatakaKarnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act...
to the northwest and
Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
to the north. To the east is the
Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal IPA:ˈbɒŋɡopoʃɑːˈgoɽ), the largest bay of the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal to the north , India and Sri Lanka to the west and Myanmar and the Andaman and...
and the union territory of
Puducherry; , , , , , English formerly Pondicherry, is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Puducherry. It is also known as The French Riviera of the East...
. The southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula is located in Tamil Nadu. At this point is the town of Kanyakumari which is the meeting point of the
Arabian SeaThe Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia, Socotra, Kanyakumari in India, and the western coast...
, the Bay of Bengal, and the
Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
.
The western, southern and the north-western parts are hilly and rich in vegetation. Tamil Nadu is the only state in India which has both the
Western GhatsThe Western Ghats also known as the Sahyadri Mountains, is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea...
and the
Eastern GhatsThe Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south. They are eroded and cut through by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari,...
and they both meet at the Nilgiri hills. The Western Ghats dominate the entire western border with Kerala, effectively blocking much of the rain bearing clouds of the South West Monsoon from entering the state. The Eastern parts are fertile coastal plains and the northern parts are a mix of hills and plains. The central and the south central regions are arid plains and receive less rainfall than the other regions.
Tamil Nadu has a coastline of about {{convert|910|km|mi|-2}} which is the country’s third longest coastline. Tamil Nadu's coastline bore the brunt of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami when it hit India, which caused 7,793 direct deaths in the state. Tamil Nadu falls mostly in a region of low seismic hazard with the exception of the western border areas that lie in a low to moderate hazard zone; as per the 2002 Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) map, Tamil Nadu falls in Zones II & III. Historically, parts of this region have experienced seismic activity in the M5.0 range.
Tamil Nadu is heavily dependent on monsoon rains, and thereby is prone to droughts when the monsoons fail. The climate of the state ranges from dry sub-humid to semi-arid. The state has three distinct periods of rainfall: (1) Advancing monsoon period,
South West monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
(from June to September), with strong southwest winds; (2) North East
monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
(from October to December), with dominant northeast winds; and (3) Dry season (from January to May). The normal annual rainfall of the state is about {{convert|945|mm|in|abbr=on}} of which 48% is through the North East monsoon, and 32% through the South West monsoon. Since the state is entirely dependent on rains for recharging its water resources, monsoon failures lead to acute water scarcity and severe drought.
Tamil Nadu is classified into seven agro-climatic zones: north-east, north-west, west, southern, high rainfall, high altitude hilly, and Cauvery Delta (the most fertile agricultural zone). The table below shows the maximum and minimum temperatures that the state experiences in the plains and hills.
| |
Plains |
Hills |
| Max. |
{{convert|46.6|°C|F}} |
{{convert|32.3|°C|F}} |
| Min. |
{{convert|13.1|°C|F}} |
{{convert|3.0|°C|F}} |
Governance and administration
{{Main|Government of Tamil Nadu|Legislature of Tamil Nadu}}
{{Tamil Nadu symbols}}
The
GovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
is the Constitutional head of the state while the
Chief MinisterA Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British overseas territory that has attained self-government...
is the head of the government and the head of the council of ministers. The
Chief JusticeThe Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme...
of the
Madras High CourtThe Madras High Court, one of the landmarks of the metropolis of Chennai, India, and believed to be the second largest judicial complex in the world, is located near the beach, one of the important central business districts of Chennai.-History:...
is the head of the judiciary. The present Governor, Chief Minister and the Chief Justice are
Surjit Singh BarnalaSurjit Singh Barnala is the present governor of Tamil Nadu, India. He has held that position since November 2004. During his eventful career in Indian politics he has been Governor of four states, Chief Minister of Punjab, a Minister in the Union Cabinet twice, a Vice-Presidential candidate.-Early...
, M. Karunanidhi and Hemant Laxman Gokhale respectively. The major administrative units of the state constitutes 39
Lok SabhaThe Lok Sabha is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India. As of 2009 there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
constituencies, 234 Assembly constituencies, 32 districts, 10 city corporations, 152 municipalities, 611 town panchayats and 12,618 village panchayats.
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
(formerly known as Madras) is the state capital. It is the fourth largest city in India and is also one of the five A1 Metropolitan cities of India.
Tamil Nadu had a
bicameral legislatureIn government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed...
until 1986, when it was replaced with a
unicameral legislatureUnicameralism is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Many countries with unicameral legislatures are often small and homogeneous unitary states and consider an upper house or second chamber unnecessary.-Concept:...
, like most other states in India. The term length of the government is 5 years, as is elsewhere in India. The present government run by the DMK led alliance came to power in 2006 and comprises a council of 29 ministers, chaired by the Chief Minister. Tamil Nadu legislative assembly is chaired by the speaker Mr. R Avudaiappan and is housed at the historical Fort St. George in Chennai. The state had come under the President's rule on four occasions - first from 1976 to 1977, next for a short period in 1980, then from 1988 to 1989 and the latest in 1991. Tamil Nadu has 10 City Corporations:
ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
,
CoimbatoreCoimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Coimbatore District and a major textile and engineering hub of India, especially Southern India. It is part of the ancient Kongu Nadu region of Tamil...
,
MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
,
Tiruchirapalli
,
TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
,
SalemSalem is a city and a corporation in Salem district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located in the north central part of the southernmost state of India....
,
ErodeErode is one of the ten municipal corporations and the headquarters of Erode district, Tamil Nadu, India.It is situated on the banks of the river Kaveri, which drives through the city, between 121 ° 19.5" and 11 ° 81.05" North latitude and 77 ° 42.5" and 77 ° 44.5" East longitude.The city lies in...
,
TirupurTirupur is a textile located on the banks of Noyyal River.It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirupur district.It is an important trade center of India. Tirupur has gained universal recognition as the leading source of Hosiery, Knitted Garments, Casual Wear and Sportswear. Tirupur has...
,
VelloreVellore is a city and headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The 142-year old municipality was crowned as largest Corporation in Tamil Nadu on August 1st 2008. Vellore is ninth corporation converted after Tirupur and Erode. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr...
and
ThoothukudiThoothukudi also known as Tuticorin, is a city and a Municipal Corporation in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tuticorin is the headquarters of Thoothukudi District.The Tuticorin is also known as "Pearl City"....
. There is a plan to upgrade
TambaramTambaram is a suburb of Chennai situated 27 km south of the city in Tamil Nadu, India. This is an urban node. It has an average elevation of 32 metres . Tambaram is a hub to all major destinations in south Tamil Nadu as it lies on the busy Chennai–Trichy national highway...
and
AmbatturAmbattur is a major municipality in Thiruvallur district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is an industrial area north-west of Chennai. Though considered a part of Chennai for all practical purposes, Ambattur technically belongs to the Tiruvallur district. Closer to Padi, Ambattur is a fast...
as City Corporations. The Corporation of Chennai, established in 1688, is the oldest Municipal Corporation not only in India but also in any commonwealth nations outside United Kingdom.
Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state of
E-Governance'E-Governance' is a network of organizations to include government, nonprofit, and private-sector entities; in e-governance there are no distinct boundaries....
initiatives in India. A large part of the government records like land ownership records are digitised and all major offices of the state government like Urban Local Bodies — all the
CorporationA corporation is a legal entity separate from the shareholders and employees. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate...
s and Municipal Office activities — revenue collection, land registration offices, and transport offices have been computerised. Tamil Nadu is one of the states where law and order has been maintained largely successfully. The
Tamil Nadu PoliceThe Tamil Nadu Police Force is the law enforcing agency / department of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is over 140 years old and is the fifth largest state police force in India. Tamil Nadu has a Police population ratio of 1 : 632.-Administration:...
Force is over 140 years old. It is the fifth largest state police force in India and has the largest strength of women police personnelin the country. As of 2003, the state had a total police population ratio of 1:668, higher than the national average of 1:717. The current Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu is K. P. Jain.
Districts
The 32 districts of Tamil Nadu are as listed below with the numbers corresponding to those in the image at right.
- Ariyalur District
Ariyalur is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters are located at Ariyalur. The district occupies an area of 2,033.66 km² and has a population of 694,058 ....
- Chennai District
The Chennai District is a district in the state of Tamil nadu, in India. It is the smallest of all the districts in the state. The district is a city district which means that it does not have a district headquarters. Most of the city region of Chennai comes under this district...
- Coimbatore District
Coimbatore District is one of the more affluent and industrially advanced districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The headquarters of the district is Coimbatore city, the second largest city in Tamil Nadu, which is located approximately 497 km from Chennai, the state capital, and 330 km...
- Cuddalore District
Cuddalore District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Cuddalore is the district headquarters.-Geography:The district has an area of 3,564 km²...
- Dharmapuri District
Dharmapuri District is a district in Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Which came into existence from 02.10.1965. Dharmapuri is the district headquarters. Dharmapuri town is historically called as Thakadoor....
- Dindigul District
Dindigul District is an administrative region in the south of Tamil Nadu, India. The district was carved out of Madurai District in the year 1985...
- Erode District
Erode District is a northern district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, with Erode as its headquarters.Until the year 1996, Erode district was named as Periyar District. Erode District was a part of Coimbatore District until Coimbatore was bifurcated on August 31, 1979. It is also the home of...
- Kanchipuram District
Kanchipuram, Kanchi, or Kancheepuram is a district in the northeast of Tamil Nadu, adjacent to the Bay of Bengal. It is bounded in the west by Vellore and Thiruvannamalai districts, in the north by Thiruvallur District and Chennai District, in the south by Viluppuram District...
- Kanyakumari District
Kanyakumari District is a district of Tamil Nadu state, India; it is the southernmost land area of mainland India.Kanyakumari District is the smallest of the 32 districts of Tamil Nadu state...
- Karur District
Karur District is located center along the Kaveri & Amaravathi rivers in Tamil Nadu India. The main town in Karur District is the city of Karur. It had a population of 935,686 as of 2001. It is 33.27% urbanized as per Census 2001. The district has a literacy of 81.74%.As per the Vedas the Brahma...
- Krishnagiri District
The Krishnagiri District is a district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The city of Krishnagiri is the district headquarters.-Etymology:...
- Madurai District
Madurai district is one of the 32 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. The city of Madurai serves as the district headquarters. It houses the world famous Sri Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple and is situated on the banks of river Vaigai...
- Nagapattinam District
Nagapattinam District is a coastal district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The town of Nagapattinam is the district headquarters.-Demography:It had a population of 1,488,839 as of 2001. It is 22.18% urbanised as per Census 2001...
- Namakkal District
Namakkal District is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The district was bifurcated from Salem District with Namakkal town as Head Quarters on 25-07-1996 and started to function independently from 01-01-1997...
- Nilgiris District
The Nilgiris District is in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri is also the name given to a range of mountains spread across the states of Tamilnadu as well as Karnataka and Kerala. The Nilgiri Hills are part of a larger mountain chain known as the Western Ghats...
- Perambalur District
Perambalur is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters are located at Perambalur. The district occupies an area of 1,752 km² and has a population of 4,93,646...
|
- Pudukkottai District
Pudukkottai District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Pudukkottai is the district headquarters. It is also known colloquially as Pudhugai....
- Ramanathapuram District
Ramanathapuram District is an administrative district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Ramanathapuram is the district headquarters.Ramanthapuram District has an area of 4123 km²...
- Salem District
Salem District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Salem is the district headquarters. Other major towns in the district are Mettur, Omalur and Attur...
- Sivagangai District
- Thanjavur District
Thanjavur District is one of the 30 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Demographics:It had a population of 2,216,138 as of 2001. It is 33.78% urbanised....
- Theni District
Theni District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in South India. The city of Theni is the district headquarters. The district is divided into two natural divisions: The hilly areas constituted by parts of the three taluks Periyakulam, Uthamapalayam and Andipatti with thick vegetation and...
- Thoothukudi District
Thoothukudi District, also known as Tuticorin District, is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Thoothukudi is the district headquarters...
- Tiruchirapalli District
Tiruchirapalli District is located along the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu India. The main town in Tiruchirapalli District is the city of Tiruchirapalli also known as Trichy.-Geography:...
- Tirunelveli District
Tirunelveli District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Tirunelveli is the district headquarters...
- Tirupur district
Tirupur is a district of the Indian state Tamil Nadu, formed in October 2008. This district is formed with these taluks from Coimbatore district and Erode district: Tirupur, Avanashi, Palladam, Dharapuram, Kangeyam and Udumalpet...
- Tiruvallur District
Tiruvallur district is an administrative district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town of Thiruvallur is the district headquarters.-Geography:...
- Tiruvannamalai District
Thiruvannaamalai District is one of the 30 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, in South India. Thiruvannaamalai town is the district headquarters. The district is divided into 7 Taluks/: Chengam, Thiruvannaamalai, Polur, Thandarampattu, Aarani, Vandavasi and Cheyyar. Aarani is famous for silk...
- Tiruvarur District
Tiruvarur district is one of the 30 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. The district occupies an area of 2161 km². It is lies between Nagapattinam district on the east and Thanjavur district on the west, and is bounded by the Palk Strait on the south. The district headquarters is at...
- Vellore District
Vellore district is one of the 31 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. Vellore City is the headquarters of this district. It had a population of 3,477,317 as of 2001. It is 37.62% urbanised...
- Viluppuram District
For Headquarters see Viluppuram Viluppuram is one of the thirty districts which make up Tamil Nadu state situated on the southern tip of India. The district headquarters are located at Viluppuram. Viluppuram district came into existence on 30 September 1993 when it was created out of South Arcot...
- Virudhunagar District
Virudhunagar District is an administrative district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Virudhunagar is the district headquarters.Virudhunagar District, formerly called Kamarajar District....
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Pre Independence
Prior to Indian independence Tamil Nadu was under British colonial rule as part of the
Madras PresidencyMadras Presidency , also known as Madras Province and known officially as Presidency of Fort St. George, was a province of British India...
. The main party in Tamil Nadu at that time was the Congress Party.
Regional parties have dominated state politics since 1916. One of the earliest regional parties was the South Indian Welfare Association, which was a forerunner to
Dravidian partiesDravidian parties , include an array of regional political parties in the state of Tamil Nadu, India which trace their origins and ideologies either directly or indirectly to the Dravidian movement of Periyar E. V...
in Tamil Nadu, was started in 1916. The party was called after its English organ,
Justice PartyJustice Party is the name of several different political parties around the world:*Indian Justice Party*Justice Party the Socialists *Justice Party *Justice Party *Justice Party *Justice Party...
, by it opponents and later the same was adopted as its official name. The reason for victory of the Justice Party in elections was the non-participation of the Congress Party, demanding complete independence of India. Freedom movement saw great leaders like Subramania Bharathiar (Poet who inspired freedom movement by his poetic skills), Subramania Siva, V O Chidhamdaranar (Industrialist, who managed ships under the free India banner), Thirupur Kumaran, Rajagopalachariar (Rajaji) and Sathyamurthi to name a few.
E.V.Ramaswami Naicker popularly known as
EVR and also as
PeriyarPeriyar Erode Venkata Ramasamy , also known as Ramaswami, EVR, Thanthai Periyar, or Periyar, was a Dravidian social activist, who founded the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam....
, believed in agitational politics and he took the Justice Party away from its original path. The Justice Party which had a moribund existence under E.V.Ramaswami Naicker, died at last in 1944 which he renamed the party
Dravidar KazhagamDravidar Kazhagam or Dravida Kazhagam was the first fully Dravidian party in India. It was a radical party formed by E. V. Ramaswamy, also called Thanthai Periyar of erstwhile Madras Presidency...
(DK for short) in 1944. DK was a non-political party which demanded the establishment of an independent state called Dravida Nadu. However, due to the differences between its two leaders Periyar and
C.N. AnnaduraiAnnadurai can refer to:* C. N. Annadurai, an Indian politician* Mylswamy Annadurai, an Indian scientist...
, the party was split. Annadurai left the party to form the
Dravida Munnetra KazhagamDravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It also has presence in nearby union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N...
(DMK). The DMK decided to enter politics in 1956.
Dravidian Politics
{{Main|Dravidian parties}}
Political
Alliance |
AssemblyThe Tamil Nadu state assembly election of 2006, conducted alongside a batch of state assembly elections in 2006, took place on May 8, 2006 in 234 constituencies in the state legislature of Tamil Nadu, India. The elections were conducted to elect the government in the state of Tamil Nadu for the...
Elections |
Lok SabhaThe Indian general election, 2009 polls in Tamil Nadu was held for 39 seats in the state. There was a radical change in the alliances in this election compared to the last election, reminiscent of the 1999 election in Tamil Nadu...
Elections |
DMK+Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It also has presence in nearby union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N...
|
163 |
27 |
AIADMK+All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in Tamil Nadu state in India. The party was founded by M. G. Ramachandran and is now headed by J. Jayalalithaa. The party headquarters is in Royapettah, Chennai and was gifted to the party in 1986 by its former leader Janaki...
|
69 |
12 |
| Independent/Other |
2 |
0 |
| Source: Indian Elections / Election Commission of India. |
In the 19th century, western scholars discovered that the
Dravidian languagesThe Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages, spoken by around 200 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and overseas in other...
that dominate the south of India formed a different linguistic group to that of the
Indo-Aryan languagesThe Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family.SIL International in a 2005 estimate counted a total of 209 varieties, the largest in terms of native speakers being Hindustani , Bengali , Punjabi , Marathi ,...
that are predominant in the north of the country. They also classified Indians into distinct Aryan and Dravidian races. It was proposed that the generally darker-skinned Dravidians constituted a distinct race. This concept has affected thinking in India about racial and regional differences and had an impact on aspects of
Tamil nationalismTamil nationalism in India is an aspiration by some Tamils to establish, at minimum, self determination. The ideology of Tamil Nationalism seeks to preserve and modernize Tamil language and culture, unite Tamils across boundaries, eradicate caste discrimination within Tamils, emancipate and empower...
, which has appropriated the claim that Dravidians are the earliest inhabitants of India, and the Aryan population were oppressive interlopers from whom Dravidians should liberate themselves.
Re-organisation of Indian states according to linguistic and ethnic basis has moderated Tamil nationalism, especially the demand for separation from the Indian Union. The
Anti-Hindi agitationsAnti-Hindi agitations refers to the protests in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, formerly known as Madras State during the years of 1938, 1948, 1952, and 1965. This was organized against the decision of the Government of India to adopt Hindi as the only official language of India and was...
in mid-1960s made the DMK more popular and a more powerful political force in the state. The DMK routed the Congress Party in the 1967 elections and took control of the state government, ending Congress' stronghold in Tamil Nadu. C.N. Annadurai became the DMK's first
Chief MinisterA Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British overseas territory that has attained self-government...
.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi took over as Chief Minister and party leader after Annadurai's death in 1969. Karunanidhi's leadership was soon challenged by M.G. Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR. In 1972, he split from DMK and formed the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) and later renamed the party as All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam. He was the Chief Minister of the state from 1977 until his death in 1987. After the death of MGR and the defeat of AIADMK in the 1989 assembly polls, J. Jayalalithaa took control of the party. She was elected as the General Secretary of the unified AIADMK. There have been several splits in both the DMK and the AIADMK, but since 1967 one of those two parties has held power in the state. The rise of Congress Party, Vijayakanth's
DMDKDesiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam is a regional political party formed by Tamil cinema actor Vijayakanth in Tamil Nadu along the lines of the regional Dravidian political parties. He formally announced party formation on September 14, 2005 at Madurai...
, Vaiko's
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra KazhagamMarumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a political party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu formed in 1994 by Mr. V. Gopalswamy , a member of Rajyasabha and a party activitist of DMK. Mr. V. Gopalsamy grew in the party from his student days. He actively participated in the party agitations and...
and Dr. Ramdoss's
PMKPattali Makkal Katchi is a Tamil political party.-History:PMK was founded by Dr. S. Ramdossu and the president is G. K. Mani. Ramdoss had earlier worked with the Vanniyar Sangham founded by him in 1980. PMK is based amongst the Vanniar caste, an OBC community...
in the recent years has ensured that no single party is in majority to run a government and thereby giving rise to coalition politics.
Demographics and Religion
{{IndiaCensusPop
| title= Population Growth
| 1951= 30119000
| 1961= 33687000
| 1971= 41199000
| 1981= 48408000
| 1991= 55859000
| 2001= 62406000
| estimate=
| estyear=
| estref=
| footnote=Source:Census of India
}}
{{bar box
|title=Religions in Tamil Nadu
|titlebar=#ddd
|left1=Religion
|right1=Percent
|float=left
|bars=
{{bar percent|HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
|#FF8000|88.34}}
{{bar percent|ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
|#0080FF|6.08}}
{{bar percent|IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
|#009000|5.57}}
{{bar percent|Others|#FFFF00|0.26}}
}}
Tamil Nadu is the seventh most populous state in IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
with a population of 62,405,679 (>62 million) as of the census of 2001, with estimates for year 2008 put at 6,63,96,000 (>66 million), (approximately 5.79% of India's population). It is the eleventh most densely populated state in India with a population density of 511 persons per square kilometre as of 2008, having increased from 429 in 1991, significantly higher than the Indian average of 324 persons per square kilometre. 44% of the state's population live in urban areaAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
s, the highest among large states in India.
Tamil Nadu's population grew by 11.19% between 1991 and 2001, the second lowest rate for that period (after KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
) amongst populous states (states whose population exceeded 20 million in 2001). Its decadal rate of population growth has declined since 1971, one of only three populous states (along with Kerala and OrissaOrissa , is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of ancient republican nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC, that led to a turning point in the Emperor's life when deeply saddened by the bloodshed...
) to show this trend. The state has registered the lowest fertiliy rateThis is a list of the States of India ranked in order of number of children born for each woman . Based on this study, seven Indian states including Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Sikkim do not contribute anymore to the population explosion of India...
along with Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
and GoaGoa is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast.Panaji is...
in India in year 2005-06 with 1.8 children born for each woman, lower than required for population sustainability.
Three major religions of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam are followed by the majority of the people. The distribution of population based on their faith, as of the 2001 census, is shown in the bar graph above. Among Hindus a sparse percentage follow Atheism, who normally target Hindus. Christianity, though a minority, has the highest population in absolute numbers when compared to other states, are getting established stronger by acquiring and purchasing lands and buildings. Tamil is the official and the principal spoken language of the state. As of the 2001 Census, TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
is spoken by 89.43% of the population followed by Telugu at 5.65%, Kannada at 1.68%, UrduUrdu is a Central Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It is one of the two official languages of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of five Indian states...
at 1.51% and other languages at 1.67%.
The list of largest urban agglomerations of Tamil Nadu is displayed below:
{{-}}
{{Largest metropolitan areas of Tamil Nadu}}
{{-}}
Education and social development
Tamil Nadu has performed reasonably well in terms of literacy growthLiteracy in India, says UNESCO, is an indispensable means for effective social and economic participation, contributing to human development and poverty reduction...
during the decade 1991-2001. The state's literacy rate increased from 62.66% in 1991 to 73.47% in 2001. which is above the national average. A survey conducted by the Industry body Assocham ranks Tamil Nadu top among Indian states with about 100% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in primary and upper primary education. One of the basic limitations for improvement in education in the state is the rate of absence of teachers in public schools, which at 21.4% is significant.
Tamil Nadu has 19 universities, 349 engineering colleges and 1150 arts college, 2550 schools and 5000 hospitals.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} Some of the reputed institutes include University of MadrasThe University of Madras is one of the three oldest universities in India . The University of Madras, organized on the model of the University of London, was incorporated on 5 September 1857 by an Act of the Legislative Council of India...
, IIT Madras, Anna UniversityAnna University is a university in Tamil Nadu state, India, offering higher education in Engineering, Technology and Allied Sciences.Anna University was formed on September 4, 1978 as a unitary type of university...
(includes MIT Chennai - Madras Institute of TechnologyThe Madras Institute of Technology is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai, India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of the Anna University. It was started in 1949 by Mr.C. Rajam. The Institute was at that time a bold experiment in technical education, for it...
), Government College of Technology, CoimbatoreThe Government College of Technology, Coimbatore is an autonomous state funded engineering college located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India...
, NIT Tiruchi, VIT University, Vellore, Bharathidasan Institute of ManagementBharathidasan Institute of Management , Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu state, India, isa partnership between Bharathidasan University and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited...
Trichy, Christian Medical College VelloreChristian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, known simply as "CMC Vellore", was founded by Ida S. Scudder, and located in the city of Vellore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, South India.-History:...
, Madras Medical CollegeThe Madras Medical College is a prominent educational institution located in Chennai, India. It was established on February 2, 1835 and is one of the oldest medical schools of the Indian subcontinent....
, Loyola College, ChennaiLoyola College is a Jesuit college in Chennai, India. It is generally counted among India's elite and most storied educational institutions. The college admits both undergraduates and post-graduates and offers degrees in the liberal arts, sciences and commerce...
, Annamalai UniversityAnnamalai University is a State university in Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, India. The university offers courses in several fields of higher education including Arts, Science, Indian Languages, Engineering and Technology, Education, fine Arts, Agriculture, Medicine, Dentistry etc...
and Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityThe Tamil Nadu Agricultural University came into being on June 1 1971. However, it had its genesis from establishment of an agricultural school at Saidapet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 1868 and was later relocated at Coimbatore-History:...
. The Indian Institute of Management is scheduled to open in Trichy by 2009-2010. Tamil Nadu produces the highest number of engineering graduates in India (around 1,30,000) every year which attracts many software companies to set up their shop in south India.
India has a human development index calculated as 0.619, while the corresponding figure for Tamil Nadu is 0.736, placing it among the top states in the country. The life expectancyLife expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e
x, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
at birth for males is 65.2 years and for females it is 67.6 years. However, it has a number of challenges, significantly, the poverty is high, especially in the rural areas. As of 2004-2005, the poverty line was set at Rs. 351.86/month for rural areas and Rs. 547.42/month for urban areas. Poverty in the state dropped from 51.7% in 1983 to 21.1% in 2001 For the period 2004-2005, the Trend in Incidence of Poverty in the state was 22.5% compared with the national figure of 27.5%. The World Bank is currently assisting the state in reducing poverty High drop-out and low completion of secondary schools continue to hinder the quality of training in the population. Other problems include class, gender, inter-district and urban-rural disparities.
The Dravidian movement, which championed the causes of educating the people and eradicating superstitions, began in Tamil Nadu. In addition, it aims to uplift the socially repressed Dravidian people and drew considerable support from the middle classes for their efforts in this matter. The movement was committed to social justice which led to the expansion of reservationsReservation in Indian law is a quota system whereby a percentage of seats are reserved in the public sector units, union and state government departments and in all public and private educational institutions, except in the religious/ linguistic minority educational institutions, for the socially...
for the deprived communities. Tamil Nadu now has a 69% reservation in educational institutions, the highest among all Indian states.
The Mid-day Meal Scheme program in Tamil Nadu, initiated by KamarajKamaraj Kumarasami, better known as K. Kamaraj was an Indian politician widely known to be the kingmaker in Indian politics, and known for his honesty, integrity and simplicity....
, was expanded considerably during the rule of the AIADMK in 1983. It feeds over a fifth of the state's population.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}} Despite this, the state is among the 12 states in India that have alarming level of hunger according to the 2008 Global Hunger Index.
Culture
{{Main|Tamil people|Temples of Tamilnadu}}
Tamil Nadu has a long tradition of venerable culture. Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tradition of literatureLiterature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" , and therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters...
, musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and danceDance is a sport and art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
which continue to flourish today. Unique cultural features like Bharatanatyam (dance), Tanjore paintingTanjore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting native to the town of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The art form dates back to about 1600 AD, a period when Nayakas of Tanjavur encouraged art- chiefly, classical dance and music as well as literature both in Telugu and Tamil...
, and Tamil architecture were developed and continue to be practised in Tamil Nadu.
Language and Literature
{{Main |Tamil literature}}
எப்பொருள் யார்யார்வாய்க் கேட்பினும் அப்பொருள்
மெய்ப்பொருள் காண்ப தறிவு |
'The mark of wisdom is to discern the truth
From whatever source it is heard.'
- (TirukkuralThirukkural is a classic of couplets or Kurals or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, and is considered to be the first work to focus on ethics, in Shramana literature of India. However it begins with salutation to Adi Bhagwan. Thirukkural expounds various aspects...
- 423) |
While TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
is the only official language of Tamil Nadu, English is also in common usage as an official language of India. When India adopted national standards Tamil was the very first language to be recognized as a classical language of India.
Most early Tamil literary works are in verse form, with prose not becoming more common until later periods. Throughout its history, Tamil literature has sought to inform and inspire, educate and entertain. Tamil poetry has universal appeal as evidenced by many examples. {{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}
TirukkuralThirukkural is a classic of couplets or Kurals or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, and is considered to be the first work to focus on ethics, in Shramana literature of India. However it begins with salutation to Adi Bhagwan. Thirukkural expounds various aspects...
, which was written nearly two millennia ago portrays a universal outlook. This is evident as the author, TiruvalluvarThiruvalluvar was a celebrated Tamil poet who wrote the Thirukkural, a work on ethics in Tamil literature.Thiruvalluvar's period is between the second century BC and the eighth century AD...
, does not mention his religion, land, or the audience for his work. He is often portrayed as a holy saint of Tamil Nadu today.
The first Tamil printing press was established at Tarangambadi by the Danish missionaries. During the Indian freedom struggleThe term Indian independence movement incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy. The term encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending the British...
, many Tamil poets and writers sought to provoke national spirit, social equity and secularist thoughts among the common man, notably Subramanya BharathySubramanya Bharathi was a Tamil poet from Tamil Nadu, India, an independence fighter and iconoclastic reformer. Known as Mahakavi Bharathi , he is celebrated as one of India's greatest poets. Bharathi was prolific and adept in both the prose and poetry forms...
. Even today, Tamil Nadu is home to creative writers like BharathidasanBharathidasan was a twentieth century Tamil poet and rationalist whose literary works handled mostly socio-political issues. His writings served as a catalyst for the growth of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu...
, JayakanthanJayakanthan is a Tamil writer, essayist, journalist, pamphleteer, film-maker and critic. He was an iconoclast who ridiculed social anomalies and was known for his bold and revolutionary ideas. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2009....
, Jayamohan, SujathaSujatha was the pseudonym of the Tamil writer S. Rangarajan, author of over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a slim volume of poems. He was one of the most popular writers in Tamil literature, and a regular contributor to topical columns in Tamil...
, Indira ParthasarathyIndira Parthasarathy is the pen name of R. Parthasarathy. Born on July 10, 1930 in Chennai in a traditional Iyengar family....
.
Religions
About 88% of the population identifies as Hindu and Tamil Nadu is the home of several non-mainstream Hindu movements. These include Advaita VedantaAdvaita Vedanta is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and . Advaita is a monistic system of thought...
, Ramanuja'sRamanuja ; traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar, Emperumannar, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete...
VishishtadvaitaVishishtAdvaita Vedanta ) is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy, the other major sub-schools of Vedānta being Advaita and Dvaita. VishishtAdvaita is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy...
, AlvarsThe Alvars were Tamil poet saints of south India who lived between the sixth and ninth centuries and espoused ‘emotional devotion’ or bhakti to Visnu-Krishna in their songs of longing, ecstasy and service...
' Sri VaishnavismSri Sampradaya or Sri Vaishnavism is a Vaishnava sect within Hinduism. While its origin is lost in antiquity, its codification is generally traced back to around the 10th century when a collection of the devotional hymns and songs by Alvars was organized by Sri Nathamuni, who is considered to be...
, and NayanarsThe Nayanars or Nayanmars were Shaivite devotional poets of Tamil Nadu, active between the fifth and the tenth centuries CE. The Tamil Shaiva hagiography Periya Puranam, a volume of the Tirumurai, written during the thirteenth century CE, narrates the history of each of sixty-three Nayanars, though...
ShaivismShaivism names the oldest of the four sects of Hinduism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. Shaivism is...
. Several important Hindu Tamil figures became important figures for Hinduism as a whole (e.g.RamanujaRamanuja ; traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar, Emperumannar, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete...
.) In modern times, worldwide important figures for Hinduism were Ramana Maharishi and Sri Sri Ravi ShankarSri Sri Ravi Shankar is a spiritual and humanitarian leader. He was born on May 13, 1956 in Tamil Nadu, India. He is often referred to by the double-honorific "Sri Sri", Guruji or Gurudeva...
.
MuruganMurugan or Mayuri Kandasamy called Subrahmanya is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus, and is worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influence, especially South India, Singapore , Sri Lanka , Malaysia and Mauritius...
, VishnuVishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God...
and ShivaShiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...
, are perhaps the most "popular" gods, although many other deities are also worshiped. These other forms of God include RamaRama or Ramachandra is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient India...
, KrishnaKrishna is a deity worshipped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of perspectives...
, Ganesh, Paravati, SuryaIn Hinduism, Sūrya is the chief solar deity, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
, and others. There is even a temple dedicated to the form of HanumanHanuman , known also as Anjaneya or Maruti , is one of the most popular concepts of devotees of God in Hinduism and one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic, the Ramayana...
and Ganesh in one form - Adianta Prabhu. The government emblem of Tamil Nadu contained the popular Hindu temple of Srivilliputhur.
Christians and Muslims together form over 11% of the population. Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern districts of Kanyakumari (44% of the population, 2001), Thoothukudi (17%, 2001) and Tirunelveli (11%,2001). St. Thomas MountSt. Thomas Mount, or Chinnamalai, is a small hillock located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located near the neighbourhood of Guindy and close to Chennai airport, St. Thomas Mount is associated with St. Thomas, the apostle of Christ, who is believed to have been martyred here. The mount is commonly...
in Chennai, the place where St. ThomasThomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus , was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for disbelieving Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, was believed to have been martyred, is an important pilgrimage site for Indian Christians. The Santhome Basilica, supposedly built atop the tomb of St. Thomas, and the VailankanniVelankanni , also known as Vailankanni or "Velanganni", is a panchayat town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu...
Basilica of Our Lady of Good HealthThe Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health is located at the small town of Velankanni in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The Roman Catholic Basilica is devoted to Our Lady of Good Health...
— revered churches by India's Roman Catholics — are good examples of majestic church architectures in Tamil Nadu. The Church of South IndiaThe Church of South India came into being as a union of Anglican and Protestant churches in South India. It is India's second largest Christian church after the Roman Catholic Church in India...
and the Pentecostal Mission Church are headquartered in Chennai
Muslims are mainly concentrated in areas such as KayalpatnamKayalpatnam or Korkai is a town in the Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu, India. Kayal is referred to in Marco Polo's travel diaries dating to 1250 AD. Korkai or Kayal was an ancient port dating to the 1st centuries of the Christian era and was contemporaneous to the existence of Kollam, another...
, KilakaraiKilakarai is a 3rd category nakarachi in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.- History :...
, Ambur, Vaniyambadi, MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
, Nagore, and Melapalayam, with the state capital Chennai also home to a number of Muslims. Among Muslims, 97.5% are TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
speaking Sunni and the rest are UrduUrdu is a Central Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It is one of the two official languages of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of five Indian states...
speakers. All Tamil MuslimTamil Muslim refers to members of Tamil speaking multi-ethnic Islamic community found in South Asia and South East Asia. According to the official Indian census of 2001, there were at least 2 million Tamil Muslims in the southern province of Tamil Nadu...
s are Sunnis, who adhere to either HanafiThe Hanafi school is one of the four schools of law or jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , and his legal views were preserved primarily by his two most...
or Shafi schools of thought. ErwadiErvadi or Erwadi is a village where the grave and shrine of Qutbus sulthan Syed Ibrahim Shaheed Badusha Radiyallh Ta'ala anhu, the ruler of Madinah Al Munawwara is found. Erwadi is in Ramanathapuram district belonging to Kadaladi Taluk and Keelakarai Town panchayat...
in Ramanathapuram district and Nagore in Nagapattinam district are important pilgrimage site for Muslims, while the Thousand Lights MosqueThousand Lights Mosque, a beautiful multi domed mosque located at Anna Salai in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India is one of the largest mosques in the country and is a revered place of worship for Muslims...
in Chennai is one of the largest mosques in the country. Karpudaiyar masjid in Kayalpatnam is the oldest mosque in Tamil Nadu.
Festivals
PongalThai Pongal is a harvest festival equivalent to a thanksgiving event celebrated by Tamils across the world. Pongal coincides with the festival Makara Sankranthi celebrated in various parts of India...
, also called as Tamizhar Thirunaal (festival of Tamils) or Makara Sankranti elsewhere in India, a four-day harvest festival is one of the most widely celebrated festivals throughout Tamil Nadu. The Tamil language saying Thai Pirandhal Vazhi Pirakkum — literally meaning, the birth of the month of Thai will pave way for new opportunities — is often quoted with reference to this festival. The first day, Bhogi Pongal, is celebrated by throwing away and destroying old clothes and materials by setting them on fire to mark the end of the old and emergence of the new. The second day, Surya Pongal, is the main day which falls on the first day of the tenth Tamil month Thai (14 January or 15 January in western calendar). The third day, Maattu Pongal, is meant to offer thanks to the cattle, as they provide milk and are used to plough the lands. JallikattuJallikattu - ஜல்லிகட்டு is a bull taming sport played in Tamil Nadu as a part of Pongal celebration. This is one of the oldest living ancient sports seen in the modern era. Although it sounds similar to the Spanish running of the bulls, it is quite different. In Jallikattu, the bull is not killed...
, a bull taming contest, marks the main event of this day. During this final day, Kaanum Pongal — the word "kaanum", means 'to view' in Tamil — youths used to gather at river banks to view and select their future life partners, but that practice has declined.
The first month in the Tamil calendar is Chitterai and the first day of this month in mid-April is celebrated as Tamil New Year. Thiruvalluvar Calendar is 31 years ahead of Gregorian Calendar, that is 2000A.D. in Gregorian calendar is represented as 2031 in Thiruvalluvar Calendar. Aadi Perukku is celebrated on the 18th day of the Tamil month Aadi, which celebrates the rising of the water level in the river Cauvery. Apart from these major festivals, in every village and town of Tamil Nadu, the inhabitants celebrate festivals for the local gods once a year and the time varies from place to place. Most of these festivals are related to the goddess Maariyamman, the mother goddess of rain.
Additional major Hindu festivals including Deepavali ( Death of Narakasura) (In the recent years, the present chief minister had been propagating not to celebrate the festival, Ayudha Poojai, Saraswathi Poojai (DasaraDashera, , also called Navaratri, is among the most important festivals celebrated in India. Unlike the festival of Dussera - "the festival of joy," this is celebrated for 10 days in some parts of the subcontinent....
), KrishnaKrishna is a deity worshipped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of perspectives...
Jayanthi and Vinayaka Chathurthi are celebrated widely. Ayya Vaikunda AvataramThe Ayya Vaikunda Avataram is a festival celebrated by the followers of Ayyavazhi on the 20th day of the Tamil Month of Masi, the date on which the Ayyavazhi followers believe that Lord Vaikundar arose from the sea at Thiruchendur as the son of Mummorthies to destroy the evil spirit of Kali and...
, is celebrated predominantly in the southern districts. In addition, ChristmasChristmas , also referred to as Christmas Day, is an annual holiday celebrated on December 25 that commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The day marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days. The nativity of Jesus, which is the basis for the anno Domini...
, Eid ul-FitrEid ul-Fitr , often abbreviated to Eid, is a Muslim holiday that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity", while Fiṭr means "to break fast"; and so the holiday symbolizes the breaking of the fasting period...
, EasterEaster is the most important annual religious feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to Christian scripture, Jesus was resurrected from the dead on the third day from his crucifixion...
and Bakrid are celebrated by Christians and Muslims in the state.
Music
{{See also | Ancient Tamil music}}
The Kings of ancient Thamizhagam created sangams for Iyal Isai Nadagam (Literature, Music and Drama). Music played a major role in sangams. Music in Tamil Nadu had different forms. In villages where farming was the primary occupation, ladies who work in the fields used to sing kulavai songs. Odhuvars, Sthanikars or Kattalaiyars offer short musical programmes in the temples by singing the devotional Thevaram songs. In sharp contrast with the restrained and intellectual nature of carnatic music, Tamil folk music tends to be much more exuberant. Popular forms of Tamil folk music include the
Tamil Nadu (TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
: தமிழ்நாடு "Country of the TamilsTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
", {{IPA2|t̪ɐmɨɻ n̪aːɽɯ|pron|Tamil_Nadu.ogg}}) is one of the 28 statesIndia is a federal union of states comprising twenty-eight states and seven union territories. The states and territories are further subdivided into districts and so on.- States and territories :...
of IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
. Its capital and largest city is ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
(formerly known as Madras). Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by Puducherry; , , , , , English formerly Pondicherry, is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Puducherry. It is also known as The French Riviera of the East...
(Pondicherry), KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
, KarnatakaKarnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act...
and Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
. It is bound by the Eastern GhatsThe Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south. They are eroded and cut through by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari,...
in the north, the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and PalakkadFor the district with the same name, see Palakkad District.Palakkad is a town and a municipality in the state of Kerala in southern India. It is the administrative headquarters of Palakkad District...
on the west, by the Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal IPA:ˈbɒŋɡopoʃɑːˈgoɽ), the largest bay of the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal to the north , India and Sri Lanka to the west and Myanmar and the Andaman and...
in the east, the Gulf of MannarThe Gulf of Mannar is a large shallow bay that is an arm of the Laccadive Sea in the Indian Ocean. It lies between the southeastern tip of India and the west coast of Sri Lanka with widths between 160 and 200 km...
, the Palk StraitThe Palk Strait is a strait that lies between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the island nation of Sri Lanka. It connects the Palk Bay to the northeast with the Gulf of Mannar to the south. The strait is wide. Several rivers flow into it, including the Vaigai River of Tamil Nadu...
in the south east, and by the Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
in the south.
Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area (about the size of GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
) and the seventh most populous state. It is the fifth largest contributor to India's GDP and the most urbanised state in India. The state has the highest number (10.56%) of business enterprises in India, compared to the population share of about 6%. It is one of the foremost states in the country in terms of overall development.
The region has been the home of the Tamil civilizationTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
since at least 1500 BC, as attested by numerous archeological sites in and around AdichanallurAdichanallur is an archaeological site near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is known locally as Aathichanallur, and has been the site of a number of very important archeological digs.-Archaeological excavations:...
. Its classical language TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
has been in use in inscriptions and literature for 2500 years. Tamil Nadu is home to many natural resources, grand Hindu temples of Dravidian architectureDravidian architecture was a style of architecture that emerged thousands of years ago in the Indian subcontinent. They consist primarily of pyramid shaped temples which are dependent on intricate carved stone in order to create a step design consisting of numerous statues of deities, warriors,...
, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites and five UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Prehistory
Tamil Nadu's history dates back to pre-historic times. Archaeological evidence points to this area being one of the longest continuous habitations in India. In AdichanallurAdichanallur is an archaeological site near Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu, India. The town is known locally as Aathichanallur, and has been the site of a number of very important archeological digs.-Archaeological excavations:...
, {{convert|24|km|0|abbr=on}} from TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
, archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of IndiaThe Archaeological Survey of India is a department of the Government of India, attached to the Ministry of Culture . It is responsible for archaeological studies and the preservation of archaeological heritage of the country by various acts of the Indian Parliament...
unearthed 169 clay urns containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, plus husks and grains of rice, charred rice and NeolithicThe Neolithic Age, Era, or Period, or New Stone Age, was a period in the development of human technology, beginning about 9500 BCE in the Middle East that is traditionally considered the last part of the Stone Age...
celtsCelt is an archaeological term used to describe long thin prehistoric stone or bronze adzes, other axe-like tools, and hoes.By the beginning of the twentieth century, the term had largely been abandoned by archaeologists, who were beginning to classify the tools into more precise sub-groups...
, giving evidence confirming them to be of the Neolithic period, 3800 years ago.
The ASI archaeologists have proposed that the script used at that site is "very rudimentary" Tamil Brahmi. Adichanallur has been announced as an archaeological site for further excavation and studies.
About 60% of the epigraphical inscriptions found by the ASI in India have been from Tamil Nadu and most of which are in Tamil languageTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
Recently there have been more discoveries of the evidence of prehistoric creatures inhabiting the landscape of what is now modern Tamil Nadu in the shape of eggs of dinosaurs and other animals of their kind. Geologists in Tamil Nadu have stumbled upon a Jurassic treasure trove buried in the sands of a river bed. Sheer luck led them to hundreds of fossilized dinosaur eggs, perhaps 65 million years old, underneath a stream in a tiny village in Ariyalur district. Researchers from the Salem-based Periyar University found clusters of eggs of what they believe to be the most aggressive Carnosaur and the docile, leaf-eating Sauropod at Sendurai village. While Carnosaurs were large predatory dinasaurs, Sauropods were long-necked, herbivores which grew to enormous heights and sizes.
Chera Rule
{{Main|Chera dynasty}}
From early pre-historic times, Tamil Nadu was the home of the four Hindu Tamil kingdoms of the CheraThe Chera Dynasty was a Dravidian Tamil dynasty that ruled in southern India from before the Sangam era until the twelfth century AD. Kalitokai,a Sangha work describes Cheras as Villavar people. Tamil literature calls the Chera king Villavar Kon,the king of Villavar tribe. Chera Flag had Bow and...
, CholaThe Chola Empire was ruled by a Dravidian Tamil dynasty of that name that ruled primarily in southern India until the 13th century. The dynasty originated in the fertile valley of the Kaveri River...
, PandyaPandyas were fierce warriors who took part in the Kurukshetra War as per the epic Mahabharata. They were mentioned both in the epic Mahabharata and epic Ramayana. A Pandya king named Sarangadwaja is mentioned as participating in the Kurukshetra War, siding with the Pandavas. It is not clear if...
and Pallavas. The oldest extant literatureSangam literature refers to a body of classical Tamil literature created between the years c. 600 BCE to 300 CE. This collection contains 2381 poems composed by 473 poets, some 102 of whom remain anonymous The period during which these poems were composed is commonly referred to as the Sangam...
, dated between 300 BC and 600 AD mentions the exploits of the kings and the princes, and of the poets who extolled them. Cherans, who spoke the Tamil language, ruled from the capital of KarurKarur is a town and a municipality in Karur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu situated on the banks of Amaravati. It is the administrative headquarters of Karur District....
in the west and traded extensively with West Asian kingdoms.
An unknown dynasty called KalabhrasThe Kalabhras dynasty ruled over the entire Ancient Tamil country between the 3rd and the 6th century C.E. in an era of South Indian history called the Kalabhra interregnum. The Kalabhras displaced the kingdoms of the early Cholas, early Pandayan and Chera dynasties. Information about its origin...
invaded and displaced the three TamilThe Sangam period is the earliest historical period in the history of South India, spanning about the 3rd century BCE to the 3rd century CE...
kingdoms between the fourth and the seventh centuries CE. This is referred to as the Dark Age in TamilTamil people , are an ethnic group native to Tamil Nadu, a state in India, and the north-eastern region of Sri Lanka. They speak Tamil , with a recorded history going back two millennia. Emigrant communities are found across the world...
history. They were eventually expelled by the Pallavas and the Pandyas.
Pallava Rule
{{Main|Pallavas}}
The seventh century Tamil Nadu saw the rise of the Pallavas under Mahendravarman IMahendravarman I was a Pallava king who ruled the Northern regions of what forms present-day Tamil Nadu in India in the early 7th century. He was the son of Simhavishnu, who defeated the Kalabhras and re-established the Pallava kingdom....
and his son Mamalla Narasimhavarman INarasimhavarman I was one of the most famous Tamil kings of the Pallava dynasty who ruled South India from 630 - 668 CE. He shared his father Mahendravarman I's love of art and completed the work started by Mahendravarman in Mahabalipuram....
. The Pallavas were not a recognised political power before the second century. It has been widely accepted by scholars that they were originally executive officers under the Satavahana EmpireThe Sātavāhana Empire also known as Andhras were a dynasty which ruled from Junnar , Prathisthan in Maharashtra and Kotilingala in Andhra Pradesh over Southern and Central India from around 230 BCE onward...
. After the fall of the Satavahanas, they began to get control over parts of Andhra and the Tamil country. Later they had marital ties with the VishnukundinaThe Vishnukundina Empire was one of the Middle kingdoms of India, controlling the Deccan, Orissa and parts of South India during the 5th and 6th centuries, carving land out from the Vakataka Empire....
who ruled over the Deccan. It was around 550 AD under King SimhavishnuSimhavishnu , also known as Avanisimha , son of Simhavarman III and one of the Pallava kings of India, was responsible for the revival of the Pallavan dynasty. He was the first Pallava monarch whose domain extended beyond Kanchipuram in the South...
that the Pallavas emerged into prominence. They subjugated the Cholas and reigned as far south as the Kaveri RiverThe Kaveri River , also spelled Cauvery in English, is one of the major rivers of India, which is considered sacred by Hindus...
. Pallavas ruled a large portion of South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, 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 area...
with KanchipuramKanchipuram, Kanchi, or Kancheepuram is a city and a municipality in Kanchipuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is a temple town and the headquarters of Kanchipuram district. In ancient times it was called Kachi and Kachiampathi....
as their capital. Dravidian architectureDravidian architecture was a style of architecture that emerged thousands of years ago in the Indian subcontinent. They consist primarily of pyramid shaped temples which are dependent on intricate carved stone in order to create a step design consisting of numerous statues of deities, warriors,...
reached its peak during the Pallava rule. Narasimhavarman IINarasimhavarman II or Rajasimha was a Pallava king who ruled in South India during the 6th century. Succeeding his father Paramesvaravarman I in the year 700 CE, he ruled for nearly 3 decades, until he was succeeded by his son Paramesvaravarman II in 728 CE.-Ascension to the throne:By the time...
built the Shore TempleThe Shore Temple is so named because it over looks the Bay of Bengal. It is a structural temple, built with blocks of granite, dating from the 8th century AD. It was built on a promontory sticking out into the Bay of Bengal at Mamallapuram, a tiny village south of Chennai in the state of Tamil...
which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Many sources describe BodhidharmaBodhidharma was a Buddhist monk from southern India who lived during the early 5th century and is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Zen to China....
, the founder of the ZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism, translated from the Chinese word Chán. This word is in turn derived from the Sanskrit dhyāna, which means "meditation" ....
school of BuddhismBuddhism, as traditionally conceived, is a path of salvation attained through insight into the ultimate nature of reality. It encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha...
in ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
, as a princePrince, from French "Prince" , is a general term for a monarch, for a member of a monarchs' or former monarch's family, and is a hereditary title in some members of Europe's highest nobility...
of the Pallava dynasty.
Pandya Rule
{{Main|Pandyan kingdom}}
The Pallavas were replaced by the Pandyas in the 8th century. Their capital MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
was in the deep south away from the coast. They had extensive trade links with the Southeast Asian maritime empires of SrivijayaSrivijaya or Sriwijaya was an ancient Malay kingdom on the island of Sumatra, Southeast Asia which influenced much of the Maritime Southeast Asia. The earliest solid proof of its existence dates from the 7th century; a Chinese monk, I-Tsing, wrote that he visited Srivijaya in 671 for 6 months...
and their successors, as well as contacts, even formal diplomatic contacts, reaching as far as the Roman EmpireThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican phase of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean. The term is used to describe the Roman state during and after the time of the first emperor,...
. During the 13th century of the Christian era Marco PoloMarco Polo was a merchant from the Venetian Republic who wrote Il Milione, which introduced Europeans to Central Asia and China. He learned about trading whilst his father and uncle, Niccolò and Maffeo, voyaged through Asia and met Kublai Khan. In 1269, they returned to Venice to meet Marco for...
mentioned the Pandya kingdom as the richest kingdom in existence. Temples such as the Meenakshi Amman TempleMeenakshi Sundareswarar Temple or Meenakshi Amman Temple is a historic Hindu temple located in the holy city of Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is dedicated to Lord Shiva and his consort, Goddess Parvati . The temple forms the heart and lifeline of the 2500 year old city of Madurai...
at MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
and Nellaiappar TempleSignificance: One of the famous temples in Tamil Nadu steeped in tradition and history and also known for its musical pillars and other brilliant sculptural splendours. This is the first largest Shiva Temple in Tamil Nadu. This temple houses a shrine to Shiva and Parvati dating back in time...
at TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
are the best examples of Pandyan temple architecture. The Pandyas excelled in both trade and literature. They controlled the pearl fisheries along the South Indian coast, between Sri Lanka and India, which produced some of the finest pearls in the known ancient world.
Chola Empire
{{Main|Chola dynasty}}
{{Seealso|Early Cholas|Medieval Cholas|Later Cholas}}
By the 9th century, during the times of the second Chola monarch Aditya IAditya I , the son of Vijayalaya, was the first great Chola king of South India who extended the Chola dominions by the conquest of the Pallavas.- Pallava Civil War :...
, his son Parantaka IParantaka Chola I ruled the Chola kingdom in southern India for forty-eight years. He continued the expansion of the Chola dominions begun by his father Aditya Chola...
, Parantaka Chola IIParantaka Chola II ruled for approximately twelve years. Parantaka II was also known by the name Sundara Chola. He was the son of Arinjaya Chola. His mother’s name was Kalyani, a princes from the clan of Vaidumbas...
itself the Chola empire had expanded into what is now interior Andhra Pradesh and coastal Karnataka, while under the great Rajaraja Chola and his son Rajendra Chola, the Cholas rose as a notable power in south AsiaAsia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.6% of the earth's total surface area and with approximately 4 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population.Asia is traditionally defined as part of the...
. The Chola Empire stretched as far as BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
. At its peak, the empire spanned almost {{convert|250|e6acre|km2}}. Rajaraja Chola conquered all of peninsular South IndiaSouth India, also known as the Dravida in the Indian anthem, 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 area...
and parts of the Sri LankaSri Lanka , officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka , is an island country in South Asia, located about off the southern coast of India...
. Rajendra Chola's navies went even further, occupying coasts from Burma (now MyanmarBurma, officially the Union of Myanmar, is the largest country by geographical area in mainland Southeast Asia or Indochina. The country is bordered by China on the northeast, Laos on the east, Thailand on the southeast, Bangladesh on the west, India on the northwest and the Bay of Bengal to the...
) to VietnamVietnam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam , is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea to the east...
, the Andaman and Nicobar IslandsThe Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a Union Territory of India...
, LakshadweepLakshadweep , the smallest union territory of India, is a group of islands 200 to 300 km off of the coast of Kerala in the Laccadive Sea. Their total land area is 11 sq mi or 32 km². Ten of the islands are inhabited...
, SumatraSumatra is an island in western Indonesia, westernmost of the Sunda Islands. It is the largest island entirely in Indonesia , and the sixth largest island in the world .-Etymology:Sumatra was known in ancient times by the Sanskrit...
, JavaJava is an island of Indonesia and the site of its capital city, Jakarta. Once the centre of powerful Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms, Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, Java now plays a dominant role in the economic and political life of Indonesia...
, MalayaThe Malay Peninsula or Thai-Malay Peninsula is a major peninsula located in Southeast Asia, with its narrowest point at the Isthmus of Kra. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its teminus, is the most southern point of the Asian mainland...
in South East Asia and Pegu islands. He defeated MahipalaMahipala I is considered the second founder of the Pala dynasty. Gopala I established the dynastic rule of the Palas in the middle of the 8th century C.E. The Pala Dynasty ruled Bengal and Bihar for about four centuries from the middle of the 8th century AD...
, the king of the Bengal, and to commemorate his victory he built a new capital and named it Gangaikonda CholapuramGangaikonda Cholapuram was erected as the capital of the Cholas by Rajendra Chola I, the son and successor of Rajaraja Chola, the great Chola who conquered a large area in South India at the beginning of the 11th century C.E. It occupies an important place in the history of India. As the capital...
.
The Cholas excelled in building magnificent temples. Brihadeshwara TempleThe Brihadishwara Temple , also known as Rajarajeswaram, at Thanjavur, is the world's first complete granite temple and a brilliant example of the major heights achieved by Cholas in temple architecture. It is a tribute and a reflection of the power of its patron RajaRaja Chola I. It remains as one...
in ThanjavurThanjavur Thanjavur Thanjavur ( (tañcāvūr), also known by its anglicised name Tanjore, is a municipality and the headquarters of the Thanjavur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It has a population of a 221,185 (2001 census)....
is a classical example of the magnificent architectureFor a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of architecture. Architecture is the art and science of designing and constructing buildings and other physical structures for human shelter or use....
of the Chola kingdom. Brihadshwara temple is an UNESCO Heritage Site under "Great Living Chola Temples." Another example is the Chidambaram TempleChidambaram Temple is a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva located in the heart of the temple town of Chidambaram, 78 km south of Pondicherry and 60 km north of Karaikal in Cuddalore District, the east-central part of the Tamil Nadu state of southeastern India...
in the heart of the temple town of ChidambaramChidambaram is a municipality in Tamil Nadu and the taluk headquarters of the Cuddalore district. Located at , it is 11 km from the coast and 240 km south of Chennai by rail in the Kollidam River Valley...
.
Pandya Rule (Restored)
With the decline of the Cholas towards the end of the 11th century, the Pandyas rose to prominence once again, under Maravarman Sundara PandyaMaravarman Sundara Pandyan I was a Pandyan king, who ruled regions of South India between 1216–1238 CE. He laid the foundation for the Pandya revival, after being dominated by the Cholas for several centuries.-Accession:...
.
Delhi Sultanate
This restoration was short-lived as the Pandya capital of MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
itself was sacked by Alladin Khilji troops in 1316. The Muslim invasion led to the establishment of the Madurai SultanateThe Madurai Sultanate was a short lived kingdom based in the city of Madurai in Tamil Nadu, India during the 14th century CE. It lasted from 1333 until 1378....
.
Vijayanagar Empire
{{Main|Vijayanagara Empire}}
These Muslim invasions triggered the establishment of the Hindu Vijayanagara EmpireThe Vijayanagara Empire referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was a South Indian empire based in the Deccan Plateau. Established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I, it lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan...
in the Deccan. It eventually conquered the entire Tamil country (c. 1370 CE). This empire lasted for almost two centuries till the defeat of VijayanagaraVijayanagara is in Bellary District, northern Karnataka. It is the name of the now-ruined capital city, located at , of the historic Vijayanagara empire which extended over the southern part of India.-Location and Surroundings:...
in the Battle of Talikota in 1565. Subsequent to this defeat, many incompetent kings succeeded to the throne of Vijayanagara with the result that its grip loosened over its feudatories among whom the Nayakas of Madurai and Tanjore were among the first to declare their independence, despite initially maintaining loose links with the Vijayanagara kingdom.".
Rule of Nayaks
{{Main|Nayaks of Madurai|Nayaks of Tanjore}}
As the Vijayanagara EmpireThe Vijayanagara Empire referred as the Kingdom of Bisnaga by the Portuguese, was a South Indian empire based in the Deccan Plateau. Established in 1336 by Harihara I and his brother Bukka Raya I, it lasted until 1646 although its power declined after a major military defeat in 1565 by the Deccan...
went into decline after mid-16th century, the Nayak governors, who were appointed by the Vijayanagar kingdom to administer various territories of the empire, declared their independence. The Nayaks of Madurai and Nayaks of Thanjavur were most prominent of them all in the 17th century. They reconstructed some of the oldest temples in the country such as the Meenakshi Temple.
Rule of Nizams and Nawabs
{{Main|Nizam of Hyderabad|Arcot Nawab}}
Around 1609, the DutchThe Dutch people are the dominant ethnic group of the Netherlands.Dutch people, or descendants of Dutch people, are also found in migrant communities world wide, notably in Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand and the United States....
established a settlement in PulicatPulicat is a fishing village in Thiruvallur District, of Tamil Nadu state, South India. It is about 60 km north of Chennai, on the barrier island of Sriharikota, which separates Pulicat Lake from the Bay of Bengal...
. In 1639, the British, under the British East India Company, established a settlement further south, in present day Chennai.
The British exploited rivalries between the provincial rulers to expand their sphere of influence throughout the Nizam's dominions. The British fought and reduced the French dominions in IndiaFrench India is a general name for the former French possessions in India. These included Pondichéry , Karikal and Yanaon on the Coromandel Coast, Mahé on the Malabar coast, and Chandannagar in Bengal...
to Pondicherry. Nizams bestowed tax revenue collection rights on the East India Company by the end of 18th century. Some notable chieftains or Poligars who fought the British East India Company as it was expanding were Maveeran Sundaralinga Kudumbanar , Veerapandya Kattabomman, Pulithevan and Dheeran ChinnamalaiTheeran Chinnamalai was a Kongu chieftain, Palayakkarar from Tamil Nadu who rose up in revolt against the British East India Company in Southern India...
.
British Empire
In early 19th century, East India Company consolidated most of southern India into the Madras Presidency coterminous with the dominions of Nizam of Hyderabad. PudukkottaiPudukkottai is a town and a municipality in Pudukkottai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai District. Population of Pudukkottai district is 14,59,601.-History:...
remained as a princely stateThere were as many as 568 states in India before independence. A Princely State was a nominally sovereign entity of British rule in India that was not directly administered by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule such as suzerainty or paramountcy.-The British...
under British suzerainty.
Independence
When India became independent in 1947, Madras Presidency became Madras State, comprising present day Tamil Nadu, coastal Andhra Pradesh up to Ganjam district in Orissa, northern Karnataka, and parts of Kerala. The state was subsequently split up along linguistic lines. In 1968, Madras State was renamed Tamil Nadu, meaning Land of Tamil.
Geography and climate
Tamil Nadu covers an area of {{convert|130058|km2|sqmi}}, and is the eleventh largest state in India. The bordering states are KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
to the west, KarnatakaKarnataka is a state in the southern part of India. It was created on November 1, 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act...
to the northwest and Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
to the north. To the east is the Bay of BengalThe Bay of Bengal IPA:ˈbɒŋɡopoʃɑːˈgoɽ), the largest bay of the world, forms the northeastern part of the Indian Ocean. It resembles a triangle in shape, and is bordered by Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal to the north , India and Sri Lanka to the west and Myanmar and the Andaman and...
and the union territory of Puducherry; , , , , , English formerly Pondicherry, is a Union Territory of India. It is a former French colony, consisting of four non-contiguous enclaves, or regions, and named after the largest region, Puducherry. It is also known as The French Riviera of the East...
. The southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula is located in Tamil Nadu. At this point is the town of Kanyakumari which is the meeting point of the Arabian SeaThe Arabian Sea is a region of the Indian Ocean bounded on the east by India, on the north by Pakistan and Iran, on the west by Arabian Peninsula, on the south, approximately, by a line between Cape Guardafui, the north-east point of Somalia, Socotra, Kanyakumari in India, and the western coast...
, the Bay of Bengal, and the Indian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering about 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by South Asia ; on the west by Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and Australia; and on the south by the Southern Ocean...
.
The western, southern and the north-western parts are hilly and rich in vegetation. Tamil Nadu is the only state in India which has both the Western GhatsThe Western Ghats also known as the Sahyadri Mountains, is a mountain range along the western side of India. It runs north to south along the western edge of the Deccan Plateau, and separates the plateau from a narrow coastal plain along the Arabian Sea...
and the Eastern GhatsThe Eastern Ghats are a discontinuous range of mountains along India's eastern coast. The Eastern Ghats run from West Bengal state in the north, through Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to Tamil Nadu in the south. They are eroded and cut through by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari,...
and they both meet at the Nilgiri hills. The Western Ghats dominate the entire western border with Kerala, effectively blocking much of the rain bearing clouds of the South West Monsoon from entering the state. The Eastern parts are fertile coastal plains and the northern parts are a mix of hills and plains. The central and the south central regions are arid plains and receive less rainfall than the other regions.
Tamil Nadu has a coastline of about {{convert|910|km|mi|-2}} which is the country’s third longest coastline. Tamil Nadu's coastline bore the brunt of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami when it hit India, which caused 7,793 direct deaths in the state. Tamil Nadu falls mostly in a region of low seismic hazard with the exception of the western border areas that lie in a low to moderate hazard zone; as per the 2002 Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) map, Tamil Nadu falls in Zones II & III. Historically, parts of this region have experienced seismic activity in the M5.0 range.
Tamil Nadu is heavily dependent on monsoon rains, and thereby is prone to droughts when the monsoons fail. The climate of the state ranges from dry sub-humid to semi-arid. The state has three distinct periods of rainfall: (1) Advancing monsoon period, South West monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
(from June to September), with strong southwest winds; (2) North East monsoonA pennis is traditionally defined as a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by seasonal changes in precipitation, but now is used to describe seasonal changes atmospheric circulation and precipitation The major monsoon systems of the world consist of the African and Asia-Australian monsoons...
(from October to December), with dominant northeast winds; and (3) Dry season (from January to May). The normal annual rainfall of the state is about {{convert|945|mm|in|abbr=on}} of which 48% is through the North East monsoon, and 32% through the South West monsoon. Since the state is entirely dependent on rains for recharging its water resources, monsoon failures lead to acute water scarcity and severe drought.
Tamil Nadu is classified into seven agro-climatic zones: north-east, north-west, west, southern, high rainfall, high altitude hilly, and Cauvery Delta (the most fertile agricultural zone). The table below shows the maximum and minimum temperatures that the state experiences in the plains and hills.
| |
Plains |
Hills |
| Max. |
{{convert|46.6|°C|F}} |
{{convert|32.3|°C|F}} |
| Min. |
{{convert|13.1|°C|F}} |
{{convert|3.0|°C|F}} |
Governance and administration
{{Main|Government of Tamil Nadu|Legislature of Tamil Nadu}}
{{Tamil Nadu symbols}}
The GovernorA governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
is the Constitutional head of the state while the Chief MinisterA Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British overseas territory that has attained self-government...
is the head of the government and the head of the council of ministers. The Chief JusticeThe Chief Justice in many countries is the name for the presiding member of a Supreme Court in Commonwealth or other countries with an Anglo-Saxon justice system based on English common law, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Supreme Court of India, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, the Supreme...
of the Madras High CourtThe Madras High Court, one of the landmarks of the metropolis of Chennai, India, and believed to be the second largest judicial complex in the world, is located near the beach, one of the important central business districts of Chennai.-History:...
is the head of the judiciary. The present Governor, Chief Minister and the Chief Justice are Surjit Singh BarnalaSurjit Singh Barnala is the present governor of Tamil Nadu, India. He has held that position since November 2004. During his eventful career in Indian politics he has been Governor of four states, Chief Minister of Punjab, a Minister in the Union Cabinet twice, a Vice-Presidential candidate.-Early...
, M. Karunanidhi and Hemant Laxman Gokhale respectively. The major administrative units of the state constitutes 39 Lok SabhaThe Lok Sabha is the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India. As of 2009 there have been fifteen Lok Sabhas elected by the people of India...
constituencies, 234 Assembly constituencies, 32 districts, 10 city corporations, 152 municipalities, 611 town panchayats and 12,618 village panchayats. ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
(formerly known as Madras) is the state capital. It is the fourth largest city in India and is also one of the five A1 Metropolitan cities of India.
Tamil Nadu had a bicameral legislatureIn government, bicameralism is the practice of having two legislative or parliamentary chambers. Thus, a bicameral parliament or bicameral legislature is a legislature which consists of two chambers or houses. Bicameralism is an essential and defining feature of the classical notion of mixed...
until 1986, when it was replaced with a unicameral legislatureUnicameralism is the practice of having only one legislative or parliamentary chamber. Many countries with unicameral legislatures are often small and homogeneous unitary states and consider an upper house or second chamber unnecessary.-Concept:...
, like most other states in India. The term length of the government is 5 years, as is elsewhere in India. The present government run by the DMK led alliance came to power in 2006 and comprises a council of 29 ministers, chaired by the Chief Minister. Tamil Nadu legislative assembly is chaired by the speaker Mr. R Avudaiappan and is housed at the historical Fort St. George in Chennai. The state had come under the President's rule on four occasions - first from 1976 to 1977, next for a short period in 1980, then from 1988 to 1989 and the latest in 1991. Tamil Nadu has 10 City Corporations: ChennaiChennai , formerly known as , is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the fourth most populous metropolitan area and the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai city had a population of 4.34 million in the 2001...
, CoimbatoreCoimbatore , also known as Kovai , is the second largest city in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Coimbatore District and a major textile and engineering hub of India, especially Southern India. It is part of the ancient Kongu Nadu region of Tamil...
, MaduraiMadurai , is the oldest inhabited city in the Indian peninsula. It is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and is the second biggest Municipal Corporation of Tamil Nadu. It is situated on the banks of the River Vaigai in Madurai district...
, Tiruchirapalli
, TirunelveliTirunelveli is a large and ancient city in southern Tamil Nadu, which became a City Corporation in 1994 by the merging of the municipalities of Tirunelveli city, Palayamkottai, Melapalayam and a few other Panchayat areas. It is the district headquarters of Tirunelveli district. Tirunelveli is the...
, SalemSalem is a city and a corporation in Salem district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, located in the north central part of the southernmost state of India....
, ErodeErode is one of the ten municipal corporations and the headquarters of Erode district, Tamil Nadu, India.It is situated on the banks of the river Kaveri, which drives through the city, between 121 ° 19.5" and 11 ° 81.05" North latitude and 77 ° 42.5" and 77 ° 44.5" East longitude.The city lies in...
, TirupurTirupur is a textile located on the banks of Noyyal River.It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirupur district.It is an important trade center of India. Tirupur has gained universal recognition as the leading source of Hosiery, Knitted Garments, Casual Wear and Sportswear. Tirupur has...
, VelloreVellore is a city and headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The 142-year old municipality was crowned as largest Corporation in Tamil Nadu on August 1st 2008. Vellore is ninth corporation converted after Tirupur and Erode. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Mr...
and ThoothukudiThoothukudi also known as Tuticorin, is a city and a Municipal Corporation in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tuticorin is the headquarters of Thoothukudi District.The Tuticorin is also known as "Pearl City"....
. There is a plan to upgrade TambaramTambaram is a suburb of Chennai situated 27 km south of the city in Tamil Nadu, India. This is an urban node. It has an average elevation of 32 metres . Tambaram is a hub to all major destinations in south Tamil Nadu as it lies on the busy Chennai–Trichy national highway...
and AmbatturAmbattur is a major municipality in Thiruvallur district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is an industrial area north-west of Chennai. Though considered a part of Chennai for all practical purposes, Ambattur technically belongs to the Tiruvallur district. Closer to Padi, Ambattur is a fast...
as City Corporations. The Corporation of Chennai, established in 1688, is the oldest Municipal Corporation not only in India but also in any commonwealth nations outside United Kingdom.
Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state of E-Governance'E-Governance' is a network of organizations to include government, nonprofit, and private-sector entities; in e-governance there are no distinct boundaries....
initiatives in India. A large part of the government records like land ownership records are digitised and all major offices of the state government like Urban Local Bodies — all the CorporationA corporation is a legal entity separate from the shareholders and employees. In British tradition it is the term designating a body corporate, where it can be either a corporation sole or a corporation aggregate...
s and Municipal Office activities — revenue collection, land registration offices, and transport offices have been computerised. Tamil Nadu is one of the states where law and order has been maintained largely successfully. The Tamil Nadu PoliceThe Tamil Nadu Police Force is the law enforcing agency / department of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. It is over 140 years old and is the fifth largest state police force in India. Tamil Nadu has a Police population ratio of 1 : 632.-Administration:...
Force is over 140 years old. It is the fifth largest state police force in India and has the largest strength of women police personnelin the country. As of 2003, the state had a total police population ratio of 1:668, higher than the national average of 1:717. The current Director General of Police of Tamil Nadu is K. P. Jain.
Districts
The 32 districts of Tamil Nadu are as listed below with the numbers corresponding to those in the image at right.
- Ariyalur District
Ariyalur is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters are located at Ariyalur. The district occupies an area of 2,033.66 km² and has a population of 694,058 ....
- Chennai District
The Chennai District is a district in the state of Tamil nadu, in India. It is the smallest of all the districts in the state. The district is a city district which means that it does not have a district headquarters. Most of the city region of Chennai comes under this district...
- Coimbatore District
Coimbatore District is one of the more affluent and industrially advanced districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The headquarters of the district is Coimbatore city, the second largest city in Tamil Nadu, which is located approximately 497 km from Chennai, the state capital, and 330 km...
- Cuddalore District
Cuddalore District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Cuddalore is the district headquarters.-Geography:The district has an area of 3,564 km²...
- Dharmapuri District
Dharmapuri District is a district in Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Which came into existence from 02.10.1965. Dharmapuri is the district headquarters. Dharmapuri town is historically called as Thakadoor....
- Dindigul District
Dindigul District is an administrative region in the south of Tamil Nadu, India. The district was carved out of Madurai District in the year 1985...
- Erode District
Erode District is a northern district of the state of Tamil Nadu, India, with Erode as its headquarters.Until the year 1996, Erode district was named as Periyar District. Erode District was a part of Coimbatore District until Coimbatore was bifurcated on August 31, 1979. It is also the home of...
- Kanchipuram District
Kanchipuram, Kanchi, or Kancheepuram is a district in the northeast of Tamil Nadu, adjacent to the Bay of Bengal. It is bounded in the west by Vellore and Thiruvannamalai districts, in the north by Thiruvallur District and Chennai District, in the south by Viluppuram District...
- Kanyakumari District
Kanyakumari District is a district of Tamil Nadu state, India; it is the southernmost land area of mainland India.Kanyakumari District is the smallest of the 32 districts of Tamil Nadu state...
- Karur District
Karur District is located center along the Kaveri & Amaravathi rivers in Tamil Nadu India. The main town in Karur District is the city of Karur. It had a population of 935,686 as of 2001. It is 33.27% urbanized as per Census 2001. The district has a literacy of 81.74%.As per the Vedas the Brahma...
- Krishnagiri District
The Krishnagiri District is a district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The city of Krishnagiri is the district headquarters.-Etymology:...
- Madurai District
Madurai district is one of the 32 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. The city of Madurai serves as the district headquarters. It houses the world famous Sri Meenakshi Sundareshwarar temple and is situated on the banks of river Vaigai...
- Nagapattinam District
Nagapattinam District is a coastal district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The town of Nagapattinam is the district headquarters.-Demography:It had a population of 1,488,839 as of 2001. It is 22.18% urbanised as per Census 2001...
- Namakkal District
Namakkal District is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. The district was bifurcated from Salem District with Namakkal town as Head Quarters on 25-07-1996 and started to function independently from 01-01-1997...
- Nilgiris District
The Nilgiris District is in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Nilgiri is also the name given to a range of mountains spread across the states of Tamilnadu as well as Karnataka and Kerala. The Nilgiri Hills are part of a larger mountain chain known as the Western Ghats...
- Perambalur District
Perambalur is an administrative district in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. The district headquarters are located at Perambalur. The district occupies an area of 1,752 km² and has a population of 4,93,646...
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- Pudukkottai District
Pudukkottai District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Pudukkottai is the district headquarters. It is also known colloquially as Pudhugai....
- Ramanathapuram District
Ramanathapuram District is an administrative district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Ramanathapuram is the district headquarters.Ramanthapuram District has an area of 4123 km²...
- Salem District
Salem District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Salem is the district headquarters. Other major towns in the district are Mettur, Omalur and Attur...
- Sivagangai District
- Thanjavur District
Thanjavur District is one of the 30 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur.-Demographics:It had a population of 2,216,138 as of 2001. It is 33.78% urbanised....
- Theni District
Theni District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in South India. The city of Theni is the district headquarters. The district is divided into two natural divisions: The hilly areas constituted by parts of the three taluks Periyakulam, Uthamapalayam and Andipatti with thick vegetation and...
- Thoothukudi District
Thoothukudi District, also known as Tuticorin District, is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Thoothukudi is the district headquarters...
- Tiruchirapalli District
Tiruchirapalli District is located along the Kaveri River in Tamil Nadu India. The main town in Tiruchirapalli District is the city of Tiruchirapalli also known as Trichy.-Geography:...
- Tirunelveli District
Tirunelveli District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Tirunelveli is the district headquarters...
- Tirupur district
Tirupur is a district of the Indian state Tamil Nadu, formed in October 2008. This district is formed with these taluks from Coimbatore district and Erode district: Tirupur, Avanashi, Palladam, Dharapuram, Kangeyam and Udumalpet...
- Tiruvallur District
Tiruvallur district is an administrative district in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The town of Thiruvallur is the district headquarters.-Geography:...
- Tiruvannamalai District
Thiruvannaamalai District is one of the 30 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu, in South India. Thiruvannaamalai town is the district headquarters. The district is divided into 7 Taluks/: Chengam, Thiruvannaamalai, Polur, Thandarampattu, Aarani, Vandavasi and Cheyyar. Aarani is famous for silk...
- Tiruvarur District
Tiruvarur district is one of the 30 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. The district occupies an area of 2161 km². It is lies between Nagapattinam district on the east and Thanjavur district on the west, and is bounded by the Palk Strait on the south. The district headquarters is at...
- Vellore District
Vellore district is one of the 31 districts in the Tamil Nadu state of India. Vellore City is the headquarters of this district. It had a population of 3,477,317 as of 2001. It is 37.62% urbanised...
- Viluppuram District
For Headquarters see Viluppuram Viluppuram is one of the thirty districts which make up Tamil Nadu state situated on the southern tip of India. The district headquarters are located at Viluppuram. Viluppuram district came into existence on 30 September 1993 when it was created out of South Arcot...
- Virudhunagar District
Virudhunagar District is an administrative district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. Virudhunagar is the district headquarters.Virudhunagar District, formerly called Kamarajar District....
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Pre Independence
Prior to Indian independence Tamil Nadu was under British colonial rule as part of the Madras PresidencyMadras Presidency , also known as Madras Province and known officially as Presidency of Fort St. George, was a province of British India...
. The main party in Tamil Nadu at that time was the Congress Party. Regional parties have dominated state politics since 1916. One of the earliest regional parties was the South Indian Welfare Association, which was a forerunner to Dravidian partiesDravidian parties , include an array of regional political parties in the state of Tamil Nadu, India which trace their origins and ideologies either directly or indirectly to the Dravidian movement of Periyar E. V...
in Tamil Nadu, was started in 1916. The party was called after its English organ, Justice PartyJustice Party is the name of several different political parties around the world:*Indian Justice Party*Justice Party the Socialists *Justice Party *Justice Party *Justice Party *Justice Party...
, by it opponents and later the same was adopted as its official name. The reason for victory of the Justice Party in elections was the non-participation of the Congress Party, demanding complete independence of India. Freedom movement saw great leaders like Subramania Bharathiar (Poet who inspired freedom movement by his poetic skills), Subramania Siva, V O Chidhamdaranar (Industrialist, who managed ships under the free India banner), Thirupur Kumaran, Rajagopalachariar (Rajaji) and Sathyamurthi to name a few.
E.V.Ramaswami Naicker popularly known as EVR and also as PeriyarPeriyar Erode Venkata Ramasamy , also known as Ramaswami, EVR, Thanthai Periyar, or Periyar, was a Dravidian social activist, who founded the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam....
, believed in agitational politics and he took the Justice Party away from its original path. The Justice Party which had a moribund existence under E.V.Ramaswami Naicker, died at last in 1944 which he renamed the party Dravidar KazhagamDravidar Kazhagam or Dravida Kazhagam was the first fully Dravidian party in India. It was a radical party formed by E. V. Ramaswamy, also called Thanthai Periyar of erstwhile Madras Presidency...
(DK for short) in 1944. DK was a non-political party which demanded the establishment of an independent state called Dravida Nadu. However, due to the differences between its two leaders Periyar and C.N. AnnaduraiAnnadurai can refer to:* C. N. Annadurai, an Indian politician* Mylswamy Annadurai, an Indian scientist...
, the party was split. Annadurai left the party to form the Dravida Munnetra KazhagamDravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It also has presence in nearby union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N...
(DMK). The DMK decided to enter politics in 1956.
Dravidian Politics
{{Main|Dravidian parties}}
Political
Alliance |
AssemblyThe Tamil Nadu state assembly election of 2006, conducted alongside a batch of state assembly elections in 2006, took place on May 8, 2006 in 234 constituencies in the state legislature of Tamil Nadu, India. The elections were conducted to elect the government in the state of Tamil Nadu for the...
Elections |
Lok SabhaThe Indian general election, 2009 polls in Tamil Nadu was held for 39 seats in the state. There was a radical change in the alliances in this election compared to the last election, reminiscent of the 1999 election in Tamil Nadu...
Elections |
DMK+Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. It also has presence in nearby union territory of Puducherry. It is a Dravidian party founded by C. N...
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163 |
27 |
AIADMK+All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a regional political party in Tamil Nadu state in India. The party was founded by M. G. Ramachandran and is now headed by J. Jayalalithaa. The party headquarters is in Royapettah, Chennai and was gifted to the party in 1986 by its former leader Janaki...
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69 |
12 |
| Independent/Other |
2 |
0 |
| Source: Indian Elections / Election Commission of India. |
In the 19th century, western scholars discovered that the Dravidian languagesThe Dravidian family of languages includes approximately 73 languages, spoken by around 200 million people. They are mainly spoken in southern India and parts of eastern and central India as well as in northeastern Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iran, and overseas in other...
that dominate the south of India formed a different linguistic group to that of the Indo-Aryan languagesThe Indo-Aryan languages are a branch of the Indo-European language family.SIL International in a 2005 estimate counted a total of 209 varieties, the largest in terms of native speakers being Hindustani , Bengali , Punjabi , Marathi ,...
that are predominant in the north of the country. They also classified Indians into distinct Aryan and Dravidian races. It was proposed that the generally darker-skinned Dravidians constituted a distinct race. This concept has affected thinking in India about racial and regional differences and had an impact on aspects of Tamil nationalismTamil nationalism in India is an aspiration by some Tamils to establish, at minimum, self determination. The ideology of Tamil Nationalism seeks to preserve and modernize Tamil language and culture, unite Tamils across boundaries, eradicate caste discrimination within Tamils, emancipate and empower...
, which has appropriated the claim that Dravidians are the earliest inhabitants of India, and the Aryan population were oppressive interlopers from whom Dravidians should liberate themselves.
Re-organisation of Indian states according to linguistic and ethnic basis has moderated Tamil nationalism, especially the demand for separation from the Indian Union. The Anti-Hindi agitationsAnti-Hindi agitations refers to the protests in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, formerly known as Madras State during the years of 1938, 1948, 1952, and 1965. This was organized against the decision of the Government of India to adopt Hindi as the only official language of India and was...
in mid-1960s made the DMK more popular and a more powerful political force in the state. The DMK routed the Congress Party in the 1967 elections and took control of the state government, ending Congress' stronghold in Tamil Nadu. C.N. Annadurai became the DMK's first Chief MinisterA Chief Minister is the elected head of government of a sub-national state, provinces of Pakistan, notably a state of India, a territory of Australia or a British overseas territory that has attained self-government...
.
Muthuvel Karunanidhi took over as Chief Minister and party leader after Annadurai's death in 1969. Karunanidhi's leadership was soon challenged by M.G. Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR. In 1972, he split from DMK and formed the Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) and later renamed the party as All India Anna Dravid Munnetra Kazhagam. He was the Chief Minister of the state from 1977 until his death in 1987. After the death of MGR and the defeat of AIADMK in the 1989 assembly polls, J. Jayalalithaa took control of the party. She was elected as the General Secretary of the unified AIADMK. There have been several splits in both the DMK and the AIADMK, but since 1967 one of those two parties has held power in the state. The rise of Congress Party, Vijayakanth's DMDKDesiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam is a regional political party formed by Tamil cinema actor Vijayakanth in Tamil Nadu along the lines of the regional Dravidian political parties. He formally announced party formation on September 14, 2005 at Madurai...
, Vaiko's Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra KazhagamMarumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is a political party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu formed in 1994 by Mr. V. Gopalswamy , a member of Rajyasabha and a party activitist of DMK. Mr. V. Gopalsamy grew in the party from his student days. He actively participated in the party agitations and...
and Dr. Ramdoss's PMKPattali Makkal Katchi is a Tamil political party.-History:PMK was founded by Dr. S. Ramdossu and the president is G. K. Mani. Ramdoss had earlier worked with the Vanniyar Sangham founded by him in 1980. PMK is based amongst the Vanniar caste, an OBC community...
in the recent years has ensured that no single party is in majority to run a government and thereby giving rise to coalition politics.
Demographics and Religion
{{IndiaCensusPop
| title= Population Growth
| 1951= 30119000
| 1961= 33687000
| 1971= 41199000
| 1981= 48408000
| 1991= 55859000
| 2001= 62406000
| estimate=
| estyear=
| estref=
| footnote=Source:Census of India
}}
{{bar box
|title=Religions in Tamil Nadu
|titlebar=#ddd
|left1=Religion
|right1=Percent
|float=left
|bars=
{{bar percent|HinduismHinduism is the predominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. Hinduism is often referred to as ', a Sanskrit phrase meaning "the eternal law", by its adherents. Generic "types" of Hinduism that attempt to accommodate a variety of complex views span folk and Vedic Hinduism to bhakti tradition, as...
|#FF8000|88.34}}
{{bar percent|ChristianityChristianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as presented by the revelations in the New Testament....
|#0080FF|6.08}}
{{bar percent|IslamIslam Islam Islam ( al-’islām,
[There are ten pronunciations of Islam in English, differing in whether the first or second syllable has the stress, whether the s is or , and whether the a is pronounced as in father, as in cat, or (when the stress is on the i) as in the a of sofa...]
|#009000|5.57}}
{{bar percent|Others|#FFFF00|0.26}}
}}
Tamil Nadu is the seventh most populous state in IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
with a population of 62,405,679 (>62 million) as of the census of 2001, with estimates for year 2008 put at 6,63,96,000 (>66 million), (approximately 5.79% of India's population). It is the eleventh most densely populated state in India with a population density of 511 persons per square kilometre as of 2008, having increased from 429 in 1991, significantly higher than the Indian average of 324 persons per square kilometre. 44% of the state's population live in urban areaAn urban area is characterized by higher population density and vast human features in comparison to areas surrounding it. Urban areas may be cities, towns or conurbations, but the term is not commonly extended to rural settlements such as villages and hamlets.Urban areas are created and further...
s, the highest among large states in India.
Tamil Nadu's population grew by 11.19% between 1991 and 2001, the second lowest rate for that period (after KeralaKerala , is a state located in southwestern India. The state was created in 1956 on linguistc basis, bringing together those places where Malayalam formed the principal language...
) amongst populous states (states whose population exceeded 20 million in 2001). Its decadal rate of population growth has declined since 1971, one of only three populous states (along with Kerala and OrissaOrissa , is a state of India, located on the east coast of India, by the Bay of Bengal. It is the modern name of ancient republican nation of Kalinga, which was invaded by the Indian Emperor Ashoka in 261 BC, that led to a turning point in the Emperor's life when deeply saddened by the bloodshed...
) to show this trend. The state has registered the lowest fertiliy rateThis is a list of the States of India ranked in order of number of children born for each woman . Based on this study, seven Indian states including Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Punjab and Sikkim do not contribute anymore to the population explosion of India...
along with Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh , abbreviated A.P., is a state situated on the south-eastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Hyderabad...
and GoaGoa is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located on the west coast of India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its western coast.Panaji is...
in India in year 2005-06 with 1.8 children born for each woman, lower than required for population sustainability.
Three major religions of Hinduism, Christianity and Islam are followed by the majority of the people. The distribution of population based on their faith, as of the 2001 census, is shown in the bar graph above. Among Hindus a sparse percentage follow Atheism, who normally target Hindus. Christianity, though a minority, has the highest population in absolute numbers when compared to other states, are getting established stronger by acquiring and purchasing lands and buildings. Tamil is the official and the principal spoken language of the state. As of the 2001 Census, TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
is spoken by 89.43% of the population followed by Telugu at 5.65%, Kannada at 1.68%, UrduUrdu is a Central Indo-Aryan language of the Indo-Iranian branch, belonging to the Indo-European family of languages. It is one of the two official languages of Pakistan. It is also one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of five Indian states...
at 1.51% and other languages at 1.67%.
The list of largest urban agglomerations of Tamil Nadu is displayed below:
{{-}}
{{Largest metropolitan areas of Tamil Nadu}}
{{-}}
Education and social development
Tamil Nadu has performed reasonably well in terms of literacy growthLiteracy in India, says UNESCO, is an indispensable means for effective social and economic participation, contributing to human development and poverty reduction...
during the decade 1991-2001. The state's literacy rate increased from 62.66% in 1991 to 73.47% in 2001. which is above the national average. A survey conducted by the Industry body Assocham ranks Tamil Nadu top among Indian states with about 100% Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in primary and upper primary education. One of the basic limitations for improvement in education in the state is the rate of absence of teachers in public schools, which at 21.4% is significant.
Tamil Nadu has 19 universities, 349 engineering colleges and 1150 arts college, 2550 schools and 5000 hospitals.{{Citation needed|date=June 2008}} Some of the reputed institutes include University of MadrasThe University of Madras is one of the three oldest universities in India . The University of Madras, organized on the model of the University of London, was incorporated on 5 September 1857 by an Act of the Legislative Council of India...
, IIT Madras, Anna UniversityAnna University is a university in Tamil Nadu state, India, offering higher education in Engineering, Technology and Allied Sciences.Anna University was formed on September 4, 1978 as a unitary type of university...
(includes MIT Chennai - Madras Institute of TechnologyThe Madras Institute of Technology is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai, India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of the Anna University. It was started in 1949 by Mr.C. Rajam. The Institute was at that time a bold experiment in technical education, for it...
), Government College of Technology, CoimbatoreThe Government College of Technology, Coimbatore is an autonomous state funded engineering college located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India...
, NIT Tiruchi, VIT University, Vellore, Bharathidasan Institute of ManagementBharathidasan Institute of Management , Tiruchirapalli, Tamilnadu state, India, isa partnership between Bharathidasan University and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited...
Trichy, Christian Medical College VelloreChristian Medical College and Hospital, Vellore, known simply as "CMC Vellore", was founded by Ida S. Scudder, and located in the city of Vellore in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, South India.-History:...
, Madras Medical CollegeThe Madras Medical College is a prominent educational institution located in Chennai, India. It was established on February 2, 1835 and is one of the oldest medical schools of the Indian subcontinent....
, Loyola College, ChennaiLoyola College is a Jesuit college in Chennai, India. It is generally counted among India's elite and most storied educational institutions. The college admits both undergraduates and post-graduates and offers degrees in the liberal arts, sciences and commerce...
, Annamalai UniversityAnnamalai University is a State university in Annamalai Nagar, Tamil Nadu, India. The university offers courses in several fields of higher education including Arts, Science, Indian Languages, Engineering and Technology, Education, fine Arts, Agriculture, Medicine, Dentistry etc...
and Tamil Nadu Agricultural UniversityThe Tamil Nadu Agricultural University came into being on June 1 1971. However, it had its genesis from establishment of an agricultural school at Saidapet, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, in 1868 and was later relocated at Coimbatore-History:...
. The Indian Institute of Management is scheduled to open in Trichy by 2009-2010. Tamil Nadu produces the highest number of engineering graduates in India (around 1,30,000) every year which attracts many software companies to set up their shop in south India.
India has a human development index calculated as 0.619, while the corresponding figure for Tamil Nadu is 0.736, placing it among the top states in the country. The life expectancyLife expectancy is the expected number of years of life remaining at a given age. It is denoted by e
x, which means the average number of subsequent years of life for someone now aged x, according to a particular mortality experience...
at birth for males is 65.2 years and for females it is 67.6 years. However, it has a number of challenges, significantly, the poverty is high, especially in the rural areas. As of 2004-2005, the poverty line was set at Rs. 351.86/month for rural areas and Rs. 547.42/month for urban areas. Poverty in the state dropped from 51.7% in 1983 to 21.1% in 2001 For the period 2004-2005, the Trend in Incidence of Poverty in the state was 22.5% compared with the national figure of 27.5%. The World Bank is currently assisting the state in reducing poverty High drop-out and low completion of secondary schools continue to hinder the quality of training in the population. Other problems include class, gender, inter-district and urban-rural disparities.
The Dravidian movement, which championed the causes of educating the people and eradicating superstitions, began in Tamil Nadu. In addition, it aims to uplift the socially repressed Dravidian people and drew considerable support from the middle classes for their efforts in this matter. The movement was committed to social justice which led to the expansion of reservationsReservation in Indian law is a quota system whereby a percentage of seats are reserved in the public sector units, union and state government departments and in all public and private educational institutions, except in the religious/ linguistic minority educational institutions, for the socially...
for the deprived communities. Tamil Nadu now has a 69% reservation in educational institutions, the highest among all Indian states.
The Mid-day Meal Scheme program in Tamil Nadu, initiated by KamarajKamaraj Kumarasami, better known as K. Kamaraj was an Indian politician widely known to be the kingmaker in Indian politics, and known for his honesty, integrity and simplicity....
, was expanded considerably during the rule of the AIADMK in 1983. It feeds over a fifth of the state's population.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}} Despite this, the state is among the 12 states in India that have alarming level of hunger according to the 2008 Global Hunger Index.
Culture
{{Main|Tamil people|Temples of Tamilnadu}}
Tamil Nadu has a long tradition of venerable culture. Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tradition of literatureLiterature is the art of written works. Literally translated, the word means "acquaintance with letters" , and therefore the academic study of literature is known as Letters...
, musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
and danceDance is a sport and art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
which continue to flourish today. Unique cultural features like Bharatanatyam (dance), Tanjore paintingTanjore painting is an important form of classical South Indian painting native to the town of Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu. The art form dates back to about 1600 AD, a period when Nayakas of Tanjavur encouraged art- chiefly, classical dance and music as well as literature both in Telugu and Tamil...
, and Tamil architecture were developed and continue to be practised in Tamil Nadu.
Language and Literature
{{Main |Tamil literature}}
எப்பொருள் யார்யார்வாய்க் கேட்பினும் அப்பொருள்
மெய்ப்பொருள் காண்ப தறிவு |
'The mark of wisdom is to discern the truth
From whatever source it is heard.'
- (TirukkuralThirukkural is a classic of couplets or Kurals or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, and is considered to be the first work to focus on ethics, in Shramana literature of India. However it begins with salutation to Adi Bhagwan. Thirukkural expounds various aspects...
- 423) |
While TamilTamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in India, Sri Lanka and Singapore. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia, Mauritius and Réunion as well as emigrant communities around the world...
is the only official language of Tamil Nadu, English is also in common usage as an official language of India. When India adopted national standards Tamil was the very first language to be recognized as a classical language of India.
Most early Tamil literary works are in verse form, with prose not becoming more common until later periods. Throughout its history, Tamil literature has sought to inform and inspire, educate and entertain. Tamil poetry has universal appeal as evidenced by many examples. {{Citation needed|date=July 2009}}
TirukkuralThirukkural is a classic of couplets or Kurals or aphorisms celebrated by Tamils. It was authored by Thiruvalluvar, and is considered to be the first work to focus on ethics, in Shramana literature of India. However it begins with salutation to Adi Bhagwan. Thirukkural expounds various aspects...
, which was written nearly two millennia ago portrays a universal outlook. This is evident as the author, TiruvalluvarThiruvalluvar was a celebrated Tamil poet who wrote the Thirukkural, a work on ethics in Tamil literature.Thiruvalluvar's period is between the second century BC and the eighth century AD...
, does not mention his religion, land, or the audience for his work. He is often portrayed as a holy saint of Tamil Nadu today.
The first Tamil printing press was established at Tarangambadi by the Danish missionaries. During the Indian freedom struggleThe term Indian independence movement incorporates various national and regional campaigns, agitations and efforts of both nonviolent and militant philosophy. The term encompasses a wide spectrum of political organizations, philosophies, and movements which had the common aim of ending the British...
, many Tamil poets and writers sought to provoke national spirit, social equity and secularist thoughts among the common man, notably Subramanya BharathySubramanya Bharathi was a Tamil poet from Tamil Nadu, India, an independence fighter and iconoclastic reformer. Known as Mahakavi Bharathi , he is celebrated as one of India's greatest poets. Bharathi was prolific and adept in both the prose and poetry forms...
. Even today, Tamil Nadu is home to creative writers like BharathidasanBharathidasan was a twentieth century Tamil poet and rationalist whose literary works handled mostly socio-political issues. His writings served as a catalyst for the growth of the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu...
, JayakanthanJayakanthan is a Tamil writer, essayist, journalist, pamphleteer, film-maker and critic. He was an iconoclast who ridiculed social anomalies and was known for his bold and revolutionary ideas. He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 2009....
, Jayamohan, SujathaSujatha was the pseudonym of the Tamil writer S. Rangarajan, author of over 100 novels, 250 short stories, ten books on science, ten stage plays, and a slim volume of poems. He was one of the most popular writers in Tamil literature, and a regular contributor to topical columns in Tamil...
, Indira ParthasarathyIndira Parthasarathy is the pen name of R. Parthasarathy. Born on July 10, 1930 in Chennai in a traditional Iyengar family....
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Religions
About 88% of the population identifies as Hindu and Tamil Nadu is the home of several non-mainstream Hindu movements. These include Advaita VedantaAdvaita Vedanta is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy. Other major sub-schools of Vedānta are Dvaita and . Advaita is a monistic system of thought...
, Ramanuja'sRamanuja ; traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar, Emperumannar, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete...
VishishtadvaitaVishishtAdvaita Vedanta ) is a sub-school of the Vedānta school of Hindu philosophy, the other major sub-schools of Vedānta being Advaita and Dvaita. VishishtAdvaita is a non-dualistic school of Vedanta philosophy...
, AlvarsThe Alvars were Tamil poet saints of south India who lived between the sixth and ninth centuries and espoused ‘emotional devotion’ or bhakti to Visnu-Krishna in their songs of longing, ecstasy and service...
' Sri VaishnavismSri Sampradaya or Sri Vaishnavism is a Vaishnava sect within Hinduism. While its origin is lost in antiquity, its codification is generally traced back to around the 10th century when a collection of the devotional hymns and songs by Alvars was organized by Sri Nathamuni, who is considered to be...
, and NayanarsThe Nayanars or Nayanmars were Shaivite devotional poets of Tamil Nadu, active between the fifth and the tenth centuries CE. The Tamil Shaiva hagiography Periya Puranam, a volume of the Tirumurai, written during the thirteenth century CE, narrates the history of each of sixty-three Nayanars, though...
ShaivismShaivism names the oldest of the four sects of Hinduism. Followers of Shaivism, called "Shaivas," and also "Saivas" or "Saivites," revere Shiva as the Supreme Being. Shaivas believe that Shiva is All and in all, the creator, preserver, destroyer, revealer and concealer of all that is. Shaivism is...
. Several important Hindu Tamil figures became important figures for Hinduism as a whole (e.g.RamanujaRamanuja ; traditionally 1017–1137, also known as Ramanujacharya, Ethirajar, Emperumannar, was a theologian, philosopher, and scriptural exegete...
.) In modern times, worldwide important figures for Hinduism were Ramana Maharishi and Sri Sri Ravi ShankarSri Sri Ravi Shankar is a spiritual and humanitarian leader. He was born on May 13, 1956 in Tamil Nadu, India. He is often referred to by the double-honorific "Sri Sri", Guruji or Gurudeva...
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MuruganMurugan or Mayuri Kandasamy called Subrahmanya is a popular Hindu deity among Tamil Hindus, and is worshipped primarily in areas with Tamil influence, especially South India, Singapore , Sri Lanka , Malaysia and Mauritius...
, VishnuVishnu , , is the Supreme God in Vaishnavite tradition of Hinduism. Smarta followers of Adi Shankara, among others, venerate Vishnu as one of the five primary forms of God...
and ShivaShiva , also known as Rudra is a major Hindu god and one aspect of Trimurti. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God...
, are perhaps the most "popular" gods, although many other deities are also worshiped. These other forms of God include RamaRama or Ramachandra is the seventh avatar of Vishnu in Hinduism, and a legendary king of Ayodhya in ancient India...
, KrishnaKrishna is a deity worshipped across many traditions in Hinduism in a variety of perspectives...
, Ganesh, Paravati, SuryaIn Hinduism, Sūrya is the chief solar deity, one of the Adityas, son of Kasyapa and one of his wives, Aditi; of Indra; or of Dyaus Pitar . The term Surya also refers to the Sun, in general. Surya has hair and arms of gold...
, and others. There is even a temple dedicated to the form of HanumanHanuman , known also as Anjaneya or Maruti , is one of the most popular concepts of devotees of God in Hinduism and one of the most important personalities in the Indian epic, the Ramayana...
and Ganesh in one form - Adianta Prabhu. The government emblem of Tamil Nadu contained the popular Hindu temple of Srivilliputhur.
Christians and Muslims together form over 11% of the population. Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern districts of Kanyakumari (44% of the population, 2001), Thoothukudi (17%, 2001) and Tirunelveli (11%,2001). St. Thomas MountSt. Thomas Mount, or Chinnamalai, is a small hillock located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Located near the neighbourhood of Guindy and close to Chennai airport, St. Thomas Mount is associated with St. Thomas, the apostle of Christ, who is believed to have been martyred here. The mount is commonly...
in Chennai, the place where St. ThomasThomas the Apostle, also called Doubting Thomas or Didymus , was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He is best known for disbelieving Jesus' resurrection when first told of it, then proclaiming "My Lord and my God" on seeing Jesus in . He was perhaps the only Apostle who went outside the Roman...
, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, was believed to have been martyred, is an important pilgrimage site for Indian Christians. The Santhome Basilica, supposedly built atop the tomb of St. Thomas, and the VailankanniVelankanni , also known as Vailankanni or "Velanganni", is a panchayat town in Nagapattinam district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu...
Basilica of Our Lady of Good HealthThe Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health is located at the small town of Velankanni in the state of Tamil Nadu in southern India. The Roman Catholic Basilica is devoted to Our Lady of Good Health...
— revered churches by India's Roman Catholics — are good examples of majestic church architectures in Tamil Nadu. The Church of South India