Culture, Language, Literature and Religion of Tamilnadu

Culture

Tamil Nadu has a long tradition of venerable culture. Tamil Nadu is known for its rich tradition of literature, music, and dance which continue to flourish today. Unique cultural features like Bharatanatyam (dance), Tanjore Painting, and Tamil architecture were developed and continue to be practised in Tamil Nadu.

Language and Literature

Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu and is one of the two classical languages of India, the other being Sanskrit. Tamil is also one of the official languages of India. It is a vibrant language with a long and rich literary tradition. Most of the older works are in verse form, and prose gained popularity later. All through history, Tamil literature has sought to inform and inspire, educate and entertain. Tamil poetry has universal appeal as evinced by many examples.

Tirukural which was written nearly two millennia ago portrays a universal outlook. This is evident as the author, Thiruvalluvar, does not mention his religion, land, or the audience for his work. He is portrayed as a holy saint of Tamil Nadu today. There is an evidential history that the kings of olden days rolled out Tamil Sangam (Tamil organisation) to develop literature works in Tamil. The Sangam headquartered in Madurai generated a large amount of notable literary works. The first Tamil printing press was established at Tarangambadi by the Danish missionaries.

During the Indian Freedom Struggle, many Tamil poets and writers provoked national spirit, social equity and secularist thoughts among the common man, notably Subramanya Bharathy. Even today, Tamil Nadu is home to creative writers like Jayakanthan, Jayamohan, Sujatha, Indira Parthasarathy.

Religion

Tamil Nadu was the home of several Hindu movements not in the usual mainstream. These include Shankara's Advaita, Ramanuja's Vishistadvaita, Alwar Vaishnavism, Nayanar Shaivism, as a whole (e.g., Shankara and Ramanuja.) In modern times, worldwide important figures for Hinduism were Ramana Maharishi and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. Other saints known more locally to Hindus within India are Raghavendra Swami the Dvaita Vaishnava, Paramahamsa Sri Nithyananda r the Nithyananda Foundation, Sivananda the expert of yoga and Vedanta. Several important Hindu Tamil figures became important figures for Hinduism

Popular forms of God include Vishnu, Shiva and Murugan (son of Shiva), although many other forms are also worshiped These other forms of God include, Rama, Krishna, Ganesh, Parvati, Surya and others. There is even a temple dedicated to the form of Hanuman and Ganesh in one form - Adianta Prabhu The government emblem of Tamil Nadu contained the popular Hindu temple of srivilliputhur.

Christians and Muslims form roughly over 11% of the population. Christians are mainly concentrated in the southern districts of Kanyakumari, Thoothukudi and Tirunelveli. St Thomas Mount in Chennai, the place where St Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus Christ, was believed to have been martyred, is an important pilgrimage site for Indian Christians. The Santhome Basilica, supposedly built atop the tomb of St. Thomas, and the Vailankanni Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health — revered churches by the Catholics in India — are good examples of majestic church architectures in Tamil Nadu. The Church of South India is headquartered in Chennai.

Muslims are mainly concentrated in areas like Ambur, Vaniyambadi, Nagore, Melapalayam and Keelakarai, with the state capital Chennai also home to a good number of Muslims. Among Muslims 97.5% are Sunni (Most of the Tamil Muslims, adhere to either Hanafi or Shafi schools of thought) and 1.5% Shia. Nagore, in Nagapattinam district, is an important pilgrimage site for Muslims, while the Thousand Lights Mosque in Chennai is one of the largest mosques in the country.