Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India, with its capital located in Chennai (formerly known as Madras), the largest city. Tamil Nadu is best known for its monumental ancient Hindu temples and classical form of dance, Bharata Natyam. The state is situated in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and shares borders with the union territory of Puducherry, as well as the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It is bound by the Eastern Ghats in the north, the Nilgiri and the Anamalai Hills, and Kerala in the west, the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait in the southeast, and the Indian Ocean in the south.
Tamil Nadu is the eleventh largest state in India by area and the seventh most populous state. As of 2012, it boasts the second-largest state economy in India. The state ranked sixth among states in India according to the Human Development Index as of 2011. In the 2013 Raghuram Rajan panel report, Tamil Nadu was ranked as the third most developed state in India based on a “Multidimensional Development Index”. The state has the highest number (10.56 percent) of business enterprises and stands second in total employment (9.97 percent) in India, compared to its population share of about 6 percent.
The Tamil language is the official language of Tamil Nadu and holds the status of being a classical language. It has been in use in inscriptions and literature for over 2,500 years. Mythical traditions dictate that Lord Shiva himself taught sage Agastya this language. Sage Agastya is considered the Father of Tamil literature and compiled the first Tamil grammar called Agathiyam, although the scripts of Agathiyam no longer exist. It is believed that he lived in the 6th or 7th century B.C. and specialized in language, alchemy, medicine, and spirituality (yoga and Janam). There are 96 books in the name of Agathiyar. Tamil Nadu is home to many natural resources, classical arts, classical music, classical literature, Hindu temples of Dravidian architecture, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites, and eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Archaeological evidence suggests that the Tamil Nadu region has been one of the longest-continuous habitations in the Indian peninsula. In Adichanallur, 24 km (15 mi) from Tirunelveli, archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) have unearthed 169 clay urns containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, husks, and grains of rice, charred rice, and celts from the Neolithic period, 3,800 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 percent of the total epigraphical inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) in India are from Tamil Nadu, and most of these are in the Tamil language. Virumandi Andithevar, a member of the Piramalai Kallar community from the Tamil Nadu region of southern India, was identified by the Genographic Project as one of the direct descendants of the first modern human settlers in India. His Y-DNA belongs to Haplogroup C, and he carries the M130 marker which defines the first migrants to Southeast Asia and Australia from the African coast 60,000 years ago. More than half of Australian Aborigines also carry the M130 gene.
The Indus Valley script dates back to between 2000 BCE and 1500 BCE. The Neolithic people of Tamil Nadu shared the same language family as the Harappan group. The Neolithic people of the Tamil country spoke a Dravidian language. According to Iravatham Mahadevan, the discovery of a Neolithic stone celt, a hand-held axe, with the Indus script on it at Sembian-Kandiyur in Tamil Nadu was a major discovery because, for the first time, a text in the Indus script has been found in the state on a datable artifact, which is a polished Neolithic celt.
The early history of the people and rulers of Tamil Nadu is a topic in Tamil sources known as Sangam literature. Numismatic, archaeological, and literary sources corroborate that the Sangam period lasted for about six centuries, from 300 BCE to 300 CE. Three dynasties, namely the Chera, Chola, and Pandya, ruled the area of present-day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The Chera ruled the whole of present-day Kerala and parts of western Tamil Nadu, comprising Coimbatore, Karur, Salem, and Erode districts from the capital of Vanchi Muthur (thought to be modern-day Karur).
The Chola dynasty ruled the northern and central parts of Tamil Nadu from their capital, Uraiyur, and the Pandya dynasty ruled southern Tamil Nadu, from the capitals at Korkai and Madurai. All three dynasties had extensive trade relationships with Rome, Greece, Egypt, Ceylon, Phoenicia, Arabia, Mesopotamia, and Persia. Trade flourished in commodities such as spices, ivory, pearls, beads, and gems. Chera traded extensively from Muziris on the west coast, Chola from Arikamedu and Puhar, and Pandya through the Korkai port.
A Greco-Roman trade and travel document, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea (c. 60–100 CE), gives a description of the Tamil country and its ports. Between the third and seventh centuries CE, the three Tamil kingdoms were overwhelmed by the Kalabhras, which is sometimes referred to as the “Dark Age” in Tamil history, and little is known about it. The Kalabhras were expelled by the Pallavas, Badami Chalukyas, and Pandyas in the sixth century.
The Medieval period saw the construction of the Kallanai or Grand Anicut, an ancient dam built on the Kaveri River in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. It was built by the Chola king Karikala Chola around the 2nd century AD and is considered one of the oldest water-diversion or water-regulator structures in the world that is still in use. It still stands as a symbol of Dravidian engineering. During the Kalabhras’ rule, Buddhism flourished in the land of the Tamils.
The didactic work Naaladiyar was composed during their reign. It consists of moral sayings in the vena meter, numbering 400 in 40 chapters, each by one Buddhist ascetic, according to tradition. Following the tradition of Tamil Buddhism, Naaladiyar emphasizes virtues such as control of the senses, Dhamma (Lord Buddha’s teaching), renunciation, and other desirable social qualities. Pali was the court language of the Kalabhras, who were also called Kalapara or Kalaparaya, according to the Koramangalam inscription. The Shore Temple, built by the Pallavas at Mamallapuram during the eighth century, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. During the fourth to eighth centuries CE, Tamil Nadu saw the rise of the Pallavas under Mahendravarman I and his son Mamalla Narasimhavarman I.
The Pallavas ruled parts of South India with Kanchipuram as their capital. Dravidian architecture reached its peak during the Pallava rule. Narasimhavarman II built the Shore Temple, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. They came into conflict with the Kannada Chalukyas of Badami. During this period, the great Badami Chalukya King Pulakesi II extended the Chalukya Empire up to the northern extents of the Pallava kingdom and defeated the Pallavas in several battles.
Pallava Narasimhavarman, however, reversed this victory in 642 by attacking and occupying Badami temporarily. However, a later Chalukya King, Vikramaditya II, took revenge by repeated invasions of the territory of Tondaimandalam and his subsequent victories over Pallava Parameswarvarman I and the temporary occupation of Kanchipuram.
The Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai is one of the grand Hindu temples in India. The Pallava dynasty was overthrown in the 9th century by the imperial Rashtrakutas who ruled from Gulbarga. King Krishna III, the last great Rashtrakuta king, consolidated the empire so that it stretched from the Narmada River to the Kaveri River and included the northern Tamil country (Tondaimandalam) while levying tribute on the king of Ceylon.
Much later, the Pallavas were replaced by the Cholas as the dominant kingdom in the 10th century CE, and they, in turn, were replaced by Pandyas in the 13th century CE. The Pandyan capital Madurai was in the deep south away from the coast. They had extensive trade links with the southeast Asian maritime empires of Srivijaya and their successors, as well as contacts, even formal diplomatic contacts, reaching as far as the Roman Empire.
During the 13th century CE, Marco Polo mentioned the Pandyas as the richest empire in existence. Temples such as the Meenakshi Amman Temple at Madurai and Nellaiappar Temple at Tirunelveli are the best examples of Pandyan temple architecture. The Pandyas excelled in both trade and literature. They controlled the pearl fisheries along the south coast of India, between Sri Lanka and India, which produced some of the finest pearls in the known ancient world.
The Muslim invasions of southern India triggered the establishment of the Hindu Vijayanagara Empire with Vijayanagara in modern Karnataka as its capital. The Vijayanagara empire eventually conquered the entire Tamil country by c. 1370 CE and ruled for almost two centuries until its defeat in the Battle of Talikota in 1565 by a confederacy of Deccan sultanates. Subsequently, as the Vijayanagara Empire went into decline after the mid-16th century, many local rulers, called Nayaks, succeeded in gaining the trappings of independence.
This eventually resulted in the further weakening of the empire. Many Nayaks declared themselves independent, among whom the Nayaks of Madurai and Tanjore were the first to declare their independence, despite initially maintaining loose links with the Vijayanagara kingdom. The Nayaks of Madurai and Nayaks of Thanjavur were the most prominent of Nayaks in the 17th century. They reconstructed some of the well-known temples in Tamil Nadu such as the Meenakshi Temple.
The fall of Nayaka period brought up many small Nayakars of southern Tamil Nadu, who ruled small parcels of land called Palayams. Some of these Palaiyakkarar (‘polygar’ as called by British) were ruling under Nawabs of Carnatic. Nawabs granted taxation rights to the British, which led to conflicts between British and the Palaiyakkarar, resulting in a series of wars to establish independent states by the aspiring Palaiyakkarar. Puli Thevar was one of the earliest opponents of British rule in South India. He was involved in a vendetta with the Nawab of Arcot, who was supported by the British.
Thevar’s prominent exploits were his confrontations with Marudhanayagam, who later rebelled against the British in the late 1750s and early 1760s. The author of the Thirunelveli District Gazetteer, H.R. Pate, observes as follows: “Nelkatumseval is chiefly memorable as having been in the eighteenth century stronghold of the redoubtable Puli Thevar, who figured for many years as the leader of the Marava Confederacy against the troops of the Nawab and the Company.”
Azhagu Muthu Kone (1728-1757) was an Indian revolutionary and independence activist. He is regarded for having raised one of the revolts against the British East India Company in India. Kone was born and brought up in Kattalankulam, a village in erstwhile Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu. Puli Thevar (1715-1767) was a Vennikkaladi Kudumbar, Thalapathi in Puli Thevar Force chieftain who fought the British East India Company in the 1750s and 1760s.
Rani Velu Nachiyar was the first woman freedom fighter of India and Queen of Sivagangai. She was drawn to war after her husband, Muthu Vaduganatha Thevar (1750–1772), King of Sivaganga, was murdered at Kalayar Kovil temple by British generals Joseph Smith and Benjour. Before her death, Queen Velu Nachi granted powers to Maruthu brothers to rule Sivaganga. Kattabomman (1760–1799), the Palaiyakkara chief of Panchalakurichi, fought the British in the First Polygar War. He was captured by the British at the end of the war and hanged near Kayattar in 1799.
Veeran Sundaralingam (1700-1800) was the General of Kattapomman Nayakan’s palayam, who died in the process of blowing up a British ammunition dump in 1799, killing more than 150 British soldiers to save Kattapomman Palace. Oomaithurai, the younger brother of Kattabomman, took asylum under the Maruthu brothers Periya Marudhu and Chinna Marudhu and raised an army. They formed a coalition with Dheeran Chinnamalai and Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja, which fought the British in the Second Polygar Wars. Dheeran Chinnamalai (1756–1805), the Polygar chieftain of Kongu and feudatory of Tipu Sultan, fought the British in the Second Polygar War.
The Vellore Mutiny on July 10, 1806, was the first instance of a large-scale and violent mutiny by Indian sepoys against the British East India Company, predating the Indian Rebellion of 1857 by half a century. The revolt, which took place in the South Indian city of Vellore, was brief, lasting only one full day but was brutal, as mutineers broke into the Vellore fort and killed or wounded 200 British troops before being subdued by reinforcements from nearby Arcot.
European rule
Around 1609, the Dutch established a settlement in Pulicat, while the Danes had their establishment in Tharangambadi, also known as Tranquebar. In 1639, the British, under the East India Company, established a settlement further south of Pulicat, in present-day Chennai. In the late 18th century, the British fought and reduced the French dominions in India to Puducherry.
The Nizams of Hyderabad and the Nawabs of the Carnatic bestowed tax revenue collection rights on the East India Company for defeating the Kingdom of Mysore. After winning the Polygar wars, the East India Company consolidated most of southern India into the Madras Presidency coterminous with the dominions of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Pudukkottai remained as a princely state.
Governance and Administration
The Governor is the constitutional head of the state, while the Chief Minister is the head of the government and the head of the council of ministers. The Chief Justice of the Madras High Court is the head of the judiciary. The present Governor, Chief Minister, and Chief Justice are Konijeti Rosaiah, J. Jayalalitha, and Rajesh Kumar Agarwal, respectively. Administratively, the state is divided into 32 districts. It has 10 city corporations, 125 municipalities, 529 town panchayats, and 12,524 village panchayats.
Chennai (formerly known as Madras) is the state capital. It is the fourth-largest city in India and is also one of the eight metropolitan cities of India. The state comprises 39 Lok Sabha constituencies and 234 Legislative Assembly constituencies. Tamil Nadu had a bicameral legislature until 1986 when it was replaced with a unicameral legislature, like most other states in India. The term length of the government is five years, as it is elsewhere in India.
The present government run by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK)-led alliance came to power in 2011 and consists of a council of 33 ministers, headed by the Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha. The Tamil Nadu legislative assembly is housed at Fort St. George in Chennai. The state had come under the President’s rule four times – first from 1976 to 1977, next for a short period in 1980, then from 1988 to 1989, and the latest in 1991. The local administration is divided into revenue administration and developmental administration. Revenue administrative units are classified based on the district.
Each of the 32 districts in Tamil Nadu is divided into divisions, which are further divided into Taluks. Each of these Taluks has a list of revenue villages under them. Tahsildar is the head of these Taluks. Developmental administration, in contrast, is carried out by Panchayat Unions (called blocks) in rural areas. These panchayat unions have a set of panchayat villages under them. In urban areas, governance is done by municipal corporations, municipalities, or town panchayats based on the size of the town.
Tamil Nadu has 10 municipal corporations: Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirappalli, Salem, Tirunelveli, Tirupur, Erode, Thoothukudi, and Vellore. Nagercoil and Thanjavur are soon going to be upgraded as the next two Municipal corporations. Tamil Nadu has been a pioneering state of E-Governance initiatives in India. A large part of the government records like land ownership records is digitized, and all major offices of the state government like Urban Local Bodies — all the corporations and municipal office activities – revenue collection, land registration offices, and transport offices have been computerized. Tamil Nadu is one of the states where law and order has been maintained largely successfully.
The Tamil Nadu Police Force is over 140 years old. It is the fifth-largest state police force in India and has the largest strength of women police personnel in 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 of G Literature” – It would be more grammatically correct to include an article before “G Literature,” such as “the current Director of the G Literature department.”
“Most early Tamil literary works are in verse form, with prose not becoming more common until later periods.” – This sentence is grammatically correct.
“Throughout its history, Tamil literature has sought to inform and inspire, educate and entertain.” – This sentence is grammatically correct.
“Notable examples of Tamil poetry include the Tirukkural, written during the Tamil Sangams period.” – This sentence is grammatically correct.
“The poem encompasses a universal outlook, as the author, Tiruvalluvar, does not mention his religion, land, or the audience for his work. He is often portrayed as a holy saint of Tamil Nadu today.” – These sentences are grammatically correct.
“Ancient Tamil literature is predominantly secular and deals with everyday life in the Tamil context. The only religious poems among the shorter poems occur in perinatal. The rest of the corpus of Sangam literature deals with human relationships and emotions.” – These sentences are grammatically correct.
“The first Tamil printing press was established at Tarangambadi by the Danish missionaries. During the Indian freedom struggle, many Tamil poets and writers sought to provoke national spirit, social equity, and secularist thoughts among the common man, notably Subramanya Bharathy and Bharathidasan. The current Director General of Police (law and order) of Tamil Nadu is K. Ramanujan.” – The second sentence needs a period after “common man.” Additionally, “Director General of Police” should be capitalized, and there should be a comma after “Tamil Nadu” in the last sentence.
Economy
Main articles: Economy of Tamil Nadu, List of conglomerates in Tamil Nadu, and List of rivers of Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is the second largest contributor to India’s GDP. Tamil Nadu’s gross state domestic product for the year 2011-2012 was 4.28 lakh crore or $145,868 million. The state has shown a growth of 9.4 percent in the year 2011-2012.
Tamil Nadu is the second most industrialized state in India. It ranks third in foreign direct investment (FDI) approvals (cumulative 1991–2002) of 225,826 million ($5,000 million), next only to Maharashtra and Delhi, constituting 9.12 percent of the total FDI in the country. The per capita income in 2007–2008 for the state was 72,993, ranking third among states with a population over 10 million, and has steadily been above the national average.” – This section is mostly grammatically correct. However, there should be a comma after “Delhi” in the second paragraph.
Agriculture
Tamil Nadu has historically been an agricultural state and is a leading producer of agricultural products in India. In 2008, Tamil Nadu was India’s fifth biggest producer of rice. The total cultivated area in the state was 5.60 million hectares in 2009–10. The Cauvery delta region is known as the Rice Bowl of South India. In terms of production, Tamil Nadu accounts for 10 percent of fruits and 6 percent of vegetables in India.
Annual food grains production in the year 2007–08 was 100.35 lakh mt. Mango and banana are the leading fruit crops in Tamil Nadu, accounting for over 87 percent of the total fruit production. The main vegetables grown are tapioca, tomato, onion, brinjal (eggplant), and drumstick. Tamil Nadu is also a leading state in the production of flowers, with the total production of horticultural crops standing at 99.47 Lakhs during 2003–04.
The main flowers grown in Tamil Nadu are jasmine, mulai, chrysanthemum, marigold, and rose Tourism:
The tourism industry of Tamil Nadu is the second-largest in India, with an annual growth rate of 16 percent. Tourism in Tamil Nadu is promoted by the Tamil Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC), a Government of Tamil Nadu undertaking. Approximately 2,804,687 foreign and 111,637,104 domestic tourists visited the state in 2010.
The state boasts some of the grand Hindu temples built in Dravidian architecture. The Brihadishwara Temple in Thanjavur, built by the Cholas, the Airavateswara temple in Darasuram, and the Shore Temple, along with the collection of other monuments in Mahabalipuram (also called Mamallapuram), have been declared as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Madurai is home to the Madurai Meenakshi Amman Temple. Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, Srirangam. Tiruchendur is the largest functioning temple in Tamil Nadu, Tiruchirappalli where the famous Rockfort Temple is located, Rameshwaram whose temple walkways corridor (Praagarams) are the longest 1.2 km (0.75 mi) of all Indian temples in the world, Kanchipuram, and Palani is important pilgrimage sites for Hindus.
Other popular temples in Tamil Nadu include those in Keelaiyur (East Thirukoilur), Gangaikonda Cholapuram, Chidambaram, Thiruvannaamalai, Palani, Tiruvarur, Kumbakonam, Srivilliputhur, Tiruttani, Namakkal, Vellore, Karur, Bhavani, Coimbatore, and Kanniyakumari. Tamil Nadu is also home to hill stations like Udhagamandalam (Ooty), Kodaikanal, Yercaud, Coonoor, Topslip, Valparai, Yelagiri, and Manjolai. The Nilgiri hills, Palani hills, Shevaroy hills, Kolli Hills, and Cardamom hills are all abodes of thick forests and wildlife. Tamil Nadu has many National Parks, Biosphere Reserves, Wildlife Sanctuaries, Elephant and Bird Sanctuaries, Reserved Forests, Zoos, and Crocodile farms.
Prominent among them are Mudumalai National Park, The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve, Anaimalai Wildlife Sanctuary, Vedanthangal Bird Sanctuary, and Arignar Anna Zoological Park. The mangrove forests at Pichavaram are also eco-tourism spots of importance. Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of peninsular India, is famous for its beautiful sunrise, Vivekananda Rock Memorial, and Thiruvalluvar’s statue built off the coastline. Marina Beach in Chennai is one of the longest beaches in the world. The stretch of beaches from Chennai to Mahabalipuram is home to many resorts, theme parks, and eateries.
