Tamilnadu Culture - Tamilnadu Culture & Heritage - Culture of Tamil Nadu - Cultural Heritage Tamilnadu,Tamilnadu tourism packages,Tamil Nadu Tour Packages,Tamil Nadu Tour Package,Tamil Nadu Package tour, Tamil Nadu Travels,Culture in tamilnadu

Tamilnadu has a great tradition of heritage and culture that developed over 2,000 years ago and still continues to flourish. This great cultural heritage of the state of Tamilnadu evolved through the rule of dynasties that ruled the state during various phases of history. Many of the ruling dynasties gave patronage to art and culture that resulted into the development and evolution of a unique Dravidian culture that Tamilnadu today symbolizes with.

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

People of Tamilnadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the most urbanized states of India but most of the people still live in villages. In Tamil Nadu, there is an established caste system with traditional differentiations a lot more pronounced than in many other parts of India. A large part of population is confined to the Chennai (covering industrial areas, townships and the surrounding villages) and those around Madurai, Tiruchchirappall and Coimbatore. About 80 percent of the people in Tamil Nadu follow Hinduism. A substantial percentage of population in Tamil Nadu follows Christianity and Islam.

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

Religions in Tamil Nadu
The history and culture of Tamilnadu goes back to thousands years back. For centuries, people of various religions have been residing in the state. The main religions in Tamilnadu are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Jainism. Hinduism, along with its various sects, is the oldest religion in the state. Hindus are followers of number of sectarian monastic institutions (called mathas).

Tamilnadu Cuisines
Like all other South Indian states, Tamil Nadu is also known for a wide variety of delicious food both for the vegetarians as well as the non-vegetarians. Grains, lentils, rice and vegetables are the main ingredients of the traditional foods of Tamil Nadu. Spices add flavor and give a distinctive taste to the Tamil cuisines. Some of the most common and popular dishes of the region are idly, dosai, vada, pongal and Uppuma. Coconut chutney and sambhar invariably form a part of most of the Tamil dishes.

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

The Government of India has declared Tamil as the classical language of India in 2004, thereby making it the first language in India to be given such a status. Tamil is one of the eighteen official languages recognized by the government of India. It is spoken by a vast number of people not only in the state but also in the neighbouring states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala, etc. However, Tamil language is spoken not only within India but also by a section of people in Malaysia, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and Singapore. It has 77 million speakers, which makes it one of the most widely spoken languages of the globe. 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 the Sangam period (100BC-300 AD) has eight anthologies of short verses and an anthology of long verses which are ten in number. The shortest verse contains a hundred lines.

Thirukkural is a world famous ethical literature which was composed by Thiruvalluvar, a famous saint who lived two thousand years ago. It deals with the universal principles of life which is to be lived well by people. Dharma, Artha and Kaama are the main divisions of this huge work which comprises of 1330 couplets, whose meanings are simple yet very deep, and they teach humans how to live righteously.

Tamilnadu Culture & Language