| Enchanting Tamil Nadu |
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Tamil Nadu is the nucleus of Dravidian culture in India. The Dravidians are said to be the original inhabitants of the Indian sub-continent according to some theories. With the coming of the Aryans into North India, the Dravidians appear to have been pushed into south, where they have remained. By 300 BC ambitious Dravidian Emperors held sway with three major Dynasties ruling different parts of South India. Known as Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas they spoke Tamil, the oldest language of the region, and shared a common culture. The Tamil kings were great patrons of art and literature. At the Pandya palace in Madurai, scholars and poets from different lands assembled to participate in academic debates and discussions. Such a gathering of Tamil scholars was called the sangam. The sangams were held frequently between 200 B.C. and 300 A.D. Hence, historians call this period ‘Sangam Age’. This is the only instance where a historical period has been named after an academic conference. The sangam literature describes large houses, palaces, temples and monasteries in big cities. It also describes trade and commerce with Roman merchants. Recently, the ruins of a Hindu temple of this period have been unearthed at the coastal site near Mahabalipuram in Tamil Nadu. Likewise Roman coins and amphora’s have been excavated in the Peninsular and in the islands of Maldives.
After the decline of the Sangam Age Dynasties, the most important kingdom in South India was that of the Pallavas. The Pallavas ruled from around the 4th to the 9th centuries A.D. The Pallavas are best remembered for their contributions to temple architecture. They started a new style of temple architecture where the shrine or temple is scooped or dug out of the living rock. These temples survive till date.
With the fall of the Pallavas in the ninth century, the Cholas rose to power once again. These Cholas, aptly called the ‘Imperial Cholas’, not only concurred kingdoms as far as River Ganges in Northern India but they also consolidated Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Burma and parts of Thailand. Their 400 years rule saw a whopping 5000 structural temples rise across region, each a master piece of architecture and sculptures. Long after the Cholas, the Nayaks ruled South India. After the Nayaks came the Marathas of Western India During the reign of these dynasties in South India, literature, music, dance, architecture and trade flourished. All this has made the culture of this region very rich and interesting. Bharathanatyam, Kathakali, Mohini attam are some of the classical dance.
With the coming of the European Colonists, Madras Presidency, which comprised areas of present day Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh grew out from its humble beginnings as a trading settlement of the East India Company on the banks of the Cooum river.
Main festivals are Deepawali, Pongal (harvest festival). Festivals have significant religious dimensions and become occasions when the society comes together to celebrate as one unit.
Today, the state of Tamilnadu is home to multinationals like Ford, Hyundai, Saint Gobain Glass, the capital city of Chennai, is a leader in infotech and is connected to the rest of the world by an International airport. Tuticorin in the south is a major port city, second only to Chennai. Coimbatore is often hailed as the “Manchester of the South” with its landscape dotted with spinning mills. The Western Ghats which Tamil Nadu shares with Kerala is a Bio-Diversity Hotspot. Ooty has always been favored since colonial times as a charming Hill-Station, Kodaikannal is a close second which is just a as breathtaking.
In spite of all the industrial and technological developments, Tamil Nadu has retained much more of her ancient cultural heritage than any other part of India. |
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