Tamil Culture

Tamil culture
Tamil Culture

Tamil culture is rooted in the arts and ways of life of Tamil people in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, and across the globe. Tamil culture is expressed in language, literature, arts of different forms such as music, dance, theatre, folk arts, martial arts, painting, sculpture, architecture etc.,

Tamil people have strong attachment to Tamil language, which is often venerated in literature as “Tamil̲ An̲n̲ai”(the Tamil mother). Tamil is unrelated to the Indo-European languages of northern India. The Tamil language preserves many features of Proto-Dravidian, though modern-day spoken Tamil in Tamil Nadu freely includes words from Sanskrit and English and vice versa. Tamil language is recognized as Classic Language by Government of India considering the antiquity of the language.

To understand the religious beliefs of ancient Tamil people, we can seek guidance from Tamil grammatical works such as Tolkappiyam, Pattuppāṭṭu, Eṭṭuttokai. Murugan was glorified as the god of war, who is ever young and resplendent, as the favored god of the Tamils. Sivan was also seen as the supreme God. Early iconography of Murugan and Sivanand their association with native flora and fauna goes back to Indus Valley Civilization. The Sangam landscape was classified into five categories, Thinais, based on the mood, the season and the land. Tolkappiyam, mentions that each of these Thinai had an associated deity.

Various martial arts including Silambam, Adimurai, Kuttu Varisai, Varma Kalai, Malyutham and Kalarippayattu were practiced in ancient TamilNadu which includes TamilNadu and Kerala of present time. Silambam originated in ancient Tamilakam and was patronized by the Cholas, Pandyans and Cheras, who ruled over this region. Silapathigaram, a Tamil literature from the 2nd century AD, refers to the sale of Silamabam instructions, weapons and equipment to foreign traders.