Tamil culture
Tamil culture refers to the culture of the Tamil people. The Tamils speak the Tamil language, one of the oldest languages in India with more than two thousand years of written history.
Archaeological evidence from the Tamilakam region indicates a continuous history of human occupation for more than 3,800 years. Historically, the region was inhabited by Tamil-speaking Dravidian people. It was ruled by various kingdoms such as the Sangam period triumvirate of the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas, the Pallavas, and the later Vijayanagara Empire. European colonization began in the 17th century CE, and continued for two centuries until the Indian Independence in 1947. Due to its long history, the culture has seen multiple influences over the years and have developed diversely.
The Tamils had outside contact in the form of diplomatic and trade relations with other kingdoms to the north and with the Romans since the Sangam era. The conquests of Tamil kings in the 10th century CE resulted in Tamil culture spreading to South and Southeast Asia. Tamils form the majority in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and a significant portion of northern Sri Lanka. Tamils have migrated world-wide since the 19th century CE and a significant population exists in Sri Lanka, South Africa, Mauritius, Reunion Island, Fiji, as well as other regions such as the Southeast Asia, Middle East, Caribbean and parts of the Western World.
History
was the region inhabited by the ancient Tamil people. While archaeological evidence points to hominids inhabiting the region nearly 400 millennia ago, it has been inhabited by modern humans continuously for more than 3,800 years. Excavations at Keezhadi have revealed urban settlements dating to the 6th century BCE. The Tamilakam region has been ruled over by many kingdoms, major of which are the Sangam era rulers of the Chera, Chola, and Pandya clans, the Pallavas, and the later Vijayanagara Empire. The kingdoms had significant diplomatic and trade contacts with other kingdoms to the north and with the Romans. In the 11th century CE, the Chola empire expanded with the conquests of parts of present-day Sri Lanka and Maldives, and increased influence across the Indian Ocean with contacts in Southeast Asia. This resulted in Tamil influence spreading to the regions.Before mid 20th century, the regions populated by Tamils were under European colonization for more than two centuries. During the European occupation, Tamils migrated and settled in various regions across the globe. This resulted in significant Tamil population in Southeast Asia, Caribbean, South Africa, Mauritius, Seychelles and Fiji. Since the 20th century, Tamils have migrated to other regions such as Middle East and the Western World for employment. Tamils form the majority in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka.
Language
Tamil people speak Tamil, which belongs to the Dravidian languages and is one of the oldest classical languages. According to epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan, the rudimentary Tamil Brahmi script originated in South India in the 3rd century BCE. Though the old Tamil preserved features of Proto-Dravidian language, modern-day spoken Tamil uses loanwords from other languages such as English. The existent Tamil grammar is largely based on the grammar book Naṉṉūl which incorporates facets from the old Tamil literary work Tolkāppiyam. The Tamil grammar is classified into five divisions, namely eḻuttu, sol, poruḷ, yāppu, and aṇi. Since the later part of the 19th century, Tamils made the language as a key part of the Tamil identity and personified the language in the form of Tamil̲taay. Various varieties of Tamil is spoken across regions such as Madras Bashai, Kongu Tamil, Madurai Tamil, Nellai Tamil, Kumari Tamil and various Sri Lankan Tamil dialects such as Batticaloa Tamil, Jaffna Tamil and Negombo Tamil in Sri Lanka.Literature
is of considerable antiquity compared to the contemporary literature from other Indian languages and represents one of the oldest bodies of literature in South Asia. The earliest epigraphic records have been dated to around the 3rd century BCE. Early Tamil literature was composed in three successive poetic assemblies known as Tamil Sangams, the earliest of which destroyed by floods. The Sangam literature was broadly classified into three divisions: iyal, isai and nadagam. There are no surviving works from the later two categories and literature from the first category were further classified into illakkanam and ilakkiyam. The sangam literature was broadly based on two genres, akam and puram described on the five landscapes.The oldest surviving book is the Tolkappiyam, a treatise on Tamil grammar. The early Tamil literature was compiled and classified into two categories: Patinenmelkanakku consisting of the Ettuttokai and the Pattuppattu, and the Patinenkilkanakku. The Tamil literature that followed in the next 300 years after the Sangam period is generally called the "post-Sangam" literature which included the Five Great Epics and the Five Minor Epics. Another book of the post Sangam era is the Tirukkural, a book on ethics, by Thiruvalluvar.
In the beginning of the middle age, Vaishnava and Shaivite literature became prominent following the Bhakti movement in 7th century CE with hymns composed by Alwars and Nayanmars. Notable work from the post-Bhakti period included Ramavataram by Kambar in 12th century CE and Tiruppugal by Arunagirinathar in 15th century CE. In 1578, the Portuguese published a Tamil book in old Tamil script named Thambiraan Vanakkam, thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and published. Tamil Lexicon, published by the University of Madras between 1924 and 1939, was amongst the first comprehensive dictionaries published in the language. The 19th century gave rise to Tamil Renaissance and writings and poems by authors such as Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai, U.V.Swaminatha Iyer, Damodaram Pillai, V. Kanakasabhai and others. During the Indian Independence Movement, many Tamil poets and writers sought to provoke national spirit, notably Bharathiar and Bharathidasan.
Art and architecture
According to Tamil literature, there are 64 art forms called aayakalaigal. The art is classified into two broad categories: kavin kalaigal which include architecture, sculpture, painting and poetry and nun kalaigal which include dance, music and drama.Architecture
style of temple architecture consisted of a central sanctum topped by pyramidal tower or vimana, porches or mantapas preceding the door leading to the sanctum and large gate-pyramids or gopurams on the quadrangular enclosures that surround the temple. Besides these, they consisted of large pillared halls and one or more water tanks or wells. The gopuram is a monumental tower, usually ornate at the entrance of the temple forms a prominent feature of Hindu temples of the Dravidian style. They are topped by kalasams and function as gateways through the walls that surround the temple complex.There are a number of early rock-cut cave-temples established by the various Tamil kingdoms. The Group of Monuments at Mahabalipuram, built by the Pallavas in the 7th and 8th centuries has more than forty rock-cut temples, monoliths and rock reliefs. The Pallavas, who built the group of monuments in Mahabalipuram and Kanchipuram, were one of the earliest patronisers of the Dravidian architectural style. These gateways became regular features in the Cholas and the Pandya architecture, was later expanded by the Vijayanagara and the Nayaks and spread to other parts such as Sri Lanka. Madurai, which hosts many temples including the massive Meenakshi Amman Temple and Kanchipuram, considered as one of the seven great holy cities are amongst the notable centres of Dravidian architecture. The Srirangam Ranganathaswamy Temple, which is amongst the biggest functioning Hindu temples in the world, has a high Rajagopuram. The state emblem also features the Lion Capital of Ashoka with an image of a Gopuram on the background.
Vimana, which are similar structures built over the inner sanctum of the temple are usually smaller than the gopurams in the Dravidian architecture with a few exceptions such as the Brihadisvara Temple in Thanjavur. There are more than 34,000 temples in Tamil Nadu built across various periods some of which are several centuries old. The influence of Tamil culture had led to the construction of various temples outside India by the Tamil dispora.
The Mugal influence in medieval times and the British influence later gave rise to a blend of Hindu, Islamic and Gothic revival styles, resulting in the distinct Indo-Saracenic architecture with several institutions during the British era following the style. By the early 20th century, the art deco made its entry upon in the urban landscape. In the later part of the century, the architecture witnessed a rise in the modern concrete buildings.
Sculpture and paintings
Tamil sculpture ranges from stone sculptures in temples, to detailed bronze icons. The bronze statues of the Cholas are considered to be one of the greatest contributions of Tamil art. Models made of a special mixture of beeswax and sal tree resin were encased in clay and fired to melt the wax leaving a hollow mould, which would then be filled with molten metal and cooled to produce bronze statues.Tamil paintings are usually centered around natural, religious or aesthetic themes. Sittanavasal is a rock-cut monastery and temple attributed to Pandyas and Pallavas which consist of frescoes and murals from the 7th century CE, painted with vegetable and mineral dyes in over a thin wet surface of lime plaster. Similar murals are found in temple walls, the most notable examples are the murals on the Ranganathaswamy Temple at Srirangam and the Brihadeeswarar temple at Thanjavur. One of the major forms of Tamil painting is Thanjavur painting, which originated in the 16th century CE where a base made of cloth and coated with zinc oxide is painted using dyes and then decorated with semi-precious stones, as well as silver or gold threads.