Tamilnadu heritage tours | South india culture tours | South india heritage tour organiser

Tamilnadu has a great tradition of heritage andculture that developed over 2,000 years ago and still continues toflourish. This great cultural heritage of the state of Tamilnadu evolvedthrough the rule of dynasties that ruled the state during various phasesof history. Many of the ruling dynasties gave patronage to art andculture that resulted into the development and evolution of a uniqueDravidian culture that Tamilnadu today symbolizes with.

Under the rule of the Pallavas, Cholas and the Pandya kings, there weretremendous growth and development in the field of art, architecture andliterature, which reached great heights. The history of Tamil languagecan be traced back to the age of the Tolkapiyam, the Tamil Grammar text,ascribed to around 500 B.C. Similarly, the Sangam literature dates backto 500 B.C.

People of Tamilnadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the most urbanized states of India but most of thepeople still live in villages. In Tamil Nadu, there is an establishedcaste system with traditional differentiations a lot more pronouncedthan in many other parts of India. A large part of population isconfined to the Chennai (covering industrial areas, townships and thesurrounding villages) and those around Madurai, Tiruchchirappall andCoimbatore. About 80 percent of the people in Tamil Nadu followHinduism. A substantial percentage of population in Tamil Nadu followsChristianity and Islam.

Languages Spoken inTamil Nadu
Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu state and one of the 18languages mentioned in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution.Tamil is one of the classical languages of the world, with a richheritage of literature. It is the most widely spoken language in TamilNadu. Besides Tamil Nadu, Tamil is also spoken by a number of people inSri Lanka, Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia. The antiquity of Tamil iscomparable to Sanskrit. Tamil is written in a derivative of the southern'Brahmi' script. The alphabet of Tamil is unique (phonetic). That is, inTamil language letters represent sounds, rather than ideas, as is thecase in the 'Mandarin' language of China.

Religions in TamilNadu
The history and culture of Tamilnadu goes back to thousands years back.For centuries, people of various religions have been residing in thestate. The main religions in Tamilnadu are Hinduism, Islam, Christianityand Jainism. Hinduism, along with its various sects, is the oldestreligion in the state. Hindus are followers of number of sectarianmonastic institutions (called mathas).

Tamilnadu Cuisines
Like all other South Indian states, Tamil Nadu is also known for a widevariety of delicious food both for the vegetarians as well as thenon-vegetarians. Grains, lentils, rice and vegetables are the mainingredients of the traditional foods of Tamil Nadu. Spices add flavorand give a distinctive taste to the Tamil cuisines. Some of the mostcommon and popular dishes of the region are idly, dosai, vada, pongaland Uppuma. Coconut chutney and sambhar invariably form a part of mostof the Tamil dishes.

Tamil is the main language of Tamil Nadu. Tamil is one of theoldest languages of India, and it is still in very much usage. Thelanguage has two forms, namely the spoken or colloquial form and thewritten form. It has a great literary tradition. Among the Dravidianlanguages, Tamil has the oldest extant literature. It is believed that Tamil language existed much before the Christian era as inscriptions in caves showthat the language dated back to the second century before Christ. Tamilhas been derived from the southern Brahmi script and it is a highlyphonetic language, where the letters represent the sounds more than theideas. The Tamil script comprises of 12 vowels, 18 consonants and aspecial character named aytam.

The Government of India has declared Tamil as the classical language ofIndia in 2004, thereby making it the first language in India to begiven such a status. Tamil is one of the eighteen official languagesrecognized by the government of India. It is spoken by a vast number ofpeople not only in the state but also in the neighbouring states likeKarnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala, etc. However, Tamil language is spoken not only within India but also by a section of people inMalaysia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Singapore. It has 77 millionspeakers, which makes it one of the most widely spoken languages of theglobe. Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu.

As said before, Tamil literature has a long history. Tolkappiyam is the earliest known grammatical treatise of the Tamil language which is in existence today and Sangam poetry, which dates back to theSangam period (100BC-300 AD) has eight anthologies of short verses andan anthology of long verses which are ten in number. The shortest versecontains a hundred lines.

Thirukkural is a world famous ethical literature which was composedby Thiruvalluvar, a famous saint who lived two thousand years ago. Itdeals with the universal principles of life which is to be lived wellby people. Dharma, Artha and Kaama are the main divisions of this hugework which comprises of 1330 couplets, whose meanings are simple yetvery deep, and they teach humans how to live righteously.

Inde du Sud de voyage chennai madurai tamil nadu

Tamilnadu Culture Language