Portal:Tamils

Portal topics: Activities; Culture; Geography; Health; History; Mathematics; Nature; People; Philosophy; Religion; Society; Technology; Random portal

The Tamils portal

The Tamils (/ˈtæmɪlz, ˈtɑː-/ TAM-ilz, TAHM-), also known as the Tamilar, are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is one of the longest-surviving classical languages, with over two thousand years of written history, dating back to the Sangam period (between 300 BCE and 300 CE). Tamils constitute about 5.7% of the Indian population and form the majority in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. They also form significant proportion of the population in Sri Lanka (15.3%), Malaysia (7%) and Singapore (5%). Tamils have migrated world-wide since the 19th century CE and a significant population exists in South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, as well as other regions such as the Southeast Asia, Middle East, Caribbean and parts of the Western World.

Archaeological evidence from Tamil Nadu indicates a continuous history of human occupation for more than 3,800 years. In the Sangam period, Tamilakam was ruled by the Three Crowned Kings of the Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas. Smaller Velir kings and chieftains ruled certain territories and maintained relationship with the larger kingdoms. Urbanisation and mercantile activity developed along the coasts during the later Sangam period with the Tamils influencing the regional trade in the Indian Ocean region. Artifacts obtained from excavations indicate the presence of early trade relations with the Romans. The major kingdoms to rule the region later were the Pallavas (3rd–9th century CE), and the Vijayanagara Empire (14th–17th century CE).

The island of Sri Lanka often saw attacks from the Indian mainland with the Cholas establishing their influence across the island and across several areas in Southeast Asia in the 10th century CE. This led to the spread of Tamil influence and contributed to the cultural Indianisation of the region. Scripts brought by Tamil traders like the Grantha and Pallava scripts, induced the development of many Southeast Asian scripts. The Jaffna Kingdom later controlled the Tamil territory in the north of the Sri Lanka from 13th to 17th century CE. European colonization began in the 17th century CE, and continued for two centuries until the middle of the 20th century. (Full article...)

Refresh with new selections below (purge)

Selected article - show another

The Five Great Epics (Tamil: ஐம்பெரும்காப்பியங்கள், romanized: Aimperumkāppiyaṅkaḷ) are five Tamil epics according to later Tamil literary tradition. They are Cilappatikāram, Manimekalai, Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi.

Three of the five great epics of Tamil literature are attributed to Tamil Jains, while two are attributed to Tamil Buddhists. Cīvaka Cintāmaṇi, Cilappathikāram, and Valayapathi were written by Tamil Jains, while the Manimekalai and Kundalakesi were authored by Buddhists. The first mention of the Aimperumkappiyam "five large epics" occurs in Mayilainathar's commentary, the Nannūl. However, Mayilainathar does not mention their titles. The titles are first mentioned in the late-18th-to-early-19th-century work Thiruthanikaiula. Earlier works like the 17th-century poem Tamil vidu thoothu mention the great epics as Panchkavyams. Among these, the last two, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi are not extant. (Full article...)

List of selected articles

General images

Image 1Celebrations of Murugan by the Sri Lankan Tamil community in Paris, France (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 2Katar, a dagger that originated in South India (from Tamils)
Image 3A Bharatanatyam performance (from Tamils)
Image 4A traditional meal served on a banana leaf (from Tamils)
Image 5Tamils decorate their homes with colorful Kolams. (from Tamils)
Image 6Tamilakam during Sangam period (from Tamils)
Image 7Extent of Jaffna kingdom (from Tamils)
Image 8Sri Kandaswamy Temple, Brickfields, Malaysia. (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 9Krishna with Rukmini and Satyabhama and his mount Garuda (12th–13th century CE) (from Tamils)
Image 10Agathiar, poet from the first Sangam period (from Tamils)
Image 11Sri Kamakshi Ambaal temple in Hamm, Germany (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 12Rock cut monuments in Mahabalipuram built by the Pallavas (from Tamils)
Image 13A Malbar temple in Réunion. (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 14A megalithic burial jar from north-western Sri Lanka, 5th-2nd century BCE, similar to the ones found in South India. (from Tamils)
Image 15Aiyyan̲ār, guardian folk deity of Tamils (from Tamils)
Image 16Ancient oceanic trade and ports of Tamilakam (from Tamils)
Image 17The large gopuram is a hallmark of Dravidian architecture (from Tamils)
Image 18Murugan Temple, Sydney (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 19The Chola Empire at its greatest extent, during the reign of Rajendra Chola I in 1030 (from Tamils)
Image 20Distribution of Tamils (2013) (from Tamils)
Image 21The northern and eastern areas of Sri Lanka with majority Tamil population. (from Tamils)
Image 22Tharai and Thappattai, traditional music instruments (from Tamils)
Image 23Extent of Pandyas (13th century CE) (from Tamils)
Image 24Jallikattu, a traditional bull taming event. (from Tamils)
Image 25Expatriate Sri Lankan Tamil children in traditional clothes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 26Tamil people in Medan, Indonesia (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 27Distribution of Tamil speakers in South India and Sri Lanka (1981) (from Tamils)
Image 28Kanchipuram silk saris worn by women on special occasions. (from Tamils)
Image 29The New York City Metropolitan Area, including Central New Jersey, as well as Long Island and Staten Island in New York, is home to the largest Tamil American population. (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 30Tamil written in Tamil script (from Tamils)
Image 31One of the most popular overseas branches of Chennai-based Saravanaa Bhavan, the world's largest Indian vegetarian restaurant chain, is located in Edison, New Jersey, U.S. (from Tamil diaspora)
Image 32Tamil girls in Malaysia (from Tamil diaspora)

Selected biography - show another

Madhavan in 2016

Ranganathan Madhavan (born 1 June 1970) is an Indian actor, screenwriter, film producer and film director who predominantly works in Tamil and Hindi cinema. He has won one National Film Award, four Filmfare Awards South, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and five SIIMA Awards. As of 2023, Madhavan is the President of FTII, Pune.

Madhavan attained his first break in Tamil cinema with Mani Ratnam's romantic drama Alai Payuthey (2000) and followed it with romantic roles in Gautham Vasudev Menon's directorial debut Minnale (2001) and Madras Talkies' Dumm Dumm Dumm (2001). He had further commercial successes in Run (2002), Jay Jay (2003), Thambi (2006) and Rendu (2006) and gained praise for his performances in Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Anbe Sivam (2003), Nala Damayanthi (2003) and Aayutha Ezhuthu (2004). In the mid-2000s, Madhavan inclined to Hindi films with pivotal roles in three highly successful productions: the patriotism Rang De Basanti (2006), Mani Ratnam's biopic Guru (2007) and the comedy-drama 3 Idiots (2009), which went on to become the highest-grossing Indian film of all time at the time of its release. Simultaneously, he continued to appear in Tamil films like Evano Oruvan (2007) and Yavarum Nalam (2009). (Full article...)

List of selected biographies

Topics

Tamil People

Tamil People Countrywide: India • Sri Lanka • Canada • Malaysia • Singapore • South Africa • England

Related Ethnic Groups: Brahui • Gond • Kannadiga • Khonds • Kodava • Oraon • Malayali • Telugus • Tuluvas

Related indigenous Groups: Badagas • Toda • Kuruba

Tamil Nadu

Related portals

WikiProjects

Things to do

Add {{portal|Tamil People}} to the See also section of Tamil People-related articles.
Tag the talk pages of Tamil People-related articles with {{WikiProject Tamil civilization/Welcome}}
Join WikiProject Tamil civilization and list yourself as a Participant in the project.