123-562: [REDACTED] Look up fanam in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Fanam was the currency used historically in major parts of South India , especially during the British Raj . Fanam is the an Anglo-Germanic sound shift (called Grimm's law ) from the traditional Dravidan word paṇaṁ , meaning "coin" or "wealth" ( punch marked coins ). It may specifically refer to: Madras fanam ,
246-468: A lexical root to which one or more affixes are attached. Most Tamil affixes are suffixes . Tamil suffixes can be derivational suffixes, which either change the part of speech of the word or its meaning, or inflectional suffixes, which mark categories such as person , number , mood , tense , etc. There is no absolute limit on the length and extent of agglutination , which can lead to long words with many suffixes, which would require several words or
369-484: A , as with other Indic scripts . This inherent vowel is removed by adding a tittle called a puḷḷi , to the consonantal sign. For example, ன is ṉa (with the inherent a ) and ன் is ṉ (without a vowel). Many Indic scripts have a similar sign, generically called virama , but the Tamil script is somewhat different in that it nearly always uses a visible puḷḷi to indicate a 'dead consonant' (a consonant without
492-759: A 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies. Tamil is the primary language of the majority of the people residing in Tamil Nadu , Puducherry , (in India) and in the Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka . The language is spoken among small minority groups in other states of India which include Karnataka , Telangana , Andhra Pradesh , Kerala , Maharashtra , Gujarat , Delhi , Andaman and Nicobar Islands in India and in certain regions of Sri Lanka such as Colombo and
615-708: A crescent approximately along the borders of Tamil Nadu with northern Kerala and Karnataka, encompassing the Palakkad and Wayanad hills and the Sathyamangalam ranges, extending to the relatively low-lying hills of the Eastern Ghats on the western portion of the Tamil Nadu–Andhra Pradesh border, forming the Tirupati and Annamalai hills . The Deccan plateau is the elevated region bound by
738-603: A currency issued in Madras Presidency, now part of Tamil Nadu, India Travancore fanam , a currency issued in Travancore State, now part of Kerala, India See also [ edit ] Panam (disambiguation) Fana (disambiguation) Pana (disambiguation) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Fanam . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
861-509: A higher HDI as the economy has undergone growth at a faster rate than in most northern states. As of 2011, Literacy rates in the southern states is higher than the national average at approximately 76%. The fertility rate in South India is 1.9, the lowest of all regions in India. "South India" is also known as "Peninsular India" indicating its location in a peninsula surrounded by water on three sides. The term "Deccan", referring to
984-540: A higher per capita income and lower debt-to-GDP ratio than the national average. According to the Globalization and World Cities Research Network , Bengaluru, Chennai and Hyderabad are amongst the most integrated with the global economy with Bengaluru classified as an alpha- city , Chennai as beta and Hyderabad as beta-. Agriculture is the primary occupation in South India with nearly 5.31 crore people engaged in agriculture and allied activities in 2021. Rice
1107-476: A local rail transit system. As of December 2022, South India has 205.06 km of operational metro lines and 16 systems. In 1915, Tata Sons started a regular airmail service between Karachi and Madras marking the beginning of air transportation in the southern part of India. In March 1930, a discussion initiated by pilot G. Vlasto led to the founding of the Madras Flying Club , which became
1230-571: A long coastline. A total of 67 ports are situated in South India: Tamil Nadu (18), Kerala (14), Andhra Pradesh (13), Karanataka (11), Lakshadweep (10) and Pondicherry (1). Major ports include Visakhapatnam , Chennai , Mangalore , Tuticorin , Ennore and Kochi . The Kerala backwaters are a network of interconnected canals, rivers, lakes, and inlets, a labyrinthine system formed by more than 900 km of waterways. The Eastern Naval Command and Southern Naval Command of
1353-935: A major party in Telangana, Karnataka, and Kerala. The party ruled with minimal opposition for 30 years in Andhra Pradesh, before the formation of the Telugu Desam Party by Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao in 1982. Two prominent coalitions in Kerala are the United Democratic Front , led by the Indian National Congress, and the Left Democratic Front , led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) . For
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#17327730964651476-607: A number of apparent Tamil loanwords in Biblical Hebrew dating to before 500 BCE, the oldest attestation of the language. Old Tamil is the period of the Tamil language spanning the 3rd century BCE to the 8th century CE. The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions from 300 BCE to 700 CE. These inscriptions are written in a variant of the Brahmi script called Tamil-Brahmi . The earliest long text in Old Tamil
1599-518: A number of sound changes, in particular, a tendency to lower high vowels in initial and medial positions, and the disappearance of vowels between plosives and between a plosive and rhotic. Contact with European languages affected written and spoken Tamil. Changes in written Tamil include the use of European-style punctuation and the use of consonant clusters that were not permitted in Middle Tamil. The syntax of written Tamil has also changed, with
1722-543: A pioneer in pilot training in South India. On 15 October 1932, Indian aviator J. R. D. Tata flew a Puss Moth aircraft carrying mail from Karachi to Juhu aerodrome , Bombay ; and the aircraft continued to Madras , piloted by Neville Vincent, a former Royal Air Force pilot and friend of Tata. There are 12 international airports , 2 customs airports , 15 domestic airports, 5 state owned/private airports and 15 air bases in South India. Bengaluru , Chennai , Hyderabad , and Kochi international airports are amongst
1845-535: A relative parallel to Tamil, even as Tamil has undergone some changes in modern ways of speaking. According to Hindu legend, Tamil or in personification form Tamil Thāi (Mother Tamil) was created by Lord Shiva . Murugan , revered as the Tamil God, along with sage Agastya , brought it to the people. Tamil, like other Dravidian languages, ultimately descends from the Proto-Dravidian language , which
1968-422: A separate sovereign state. The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 reorganized the states based on linguistic lines resulting in the creation of the new states of Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , Kerala and Tamil Nadu . As a result of this act, Madras State retained its name with Kanyakumari district added to from Travancore-Cochin . The state was subsequently renamed Tamil Nadu in 1968. Andhra Pradesh
2091-647: A small number speak the language. In Reunion where the Tamil language was forbidden to be learnt and used in public space by France it is now being relearnt by students and adults. Tamil is also spoken by migrants from Sri Lanka and India in Canada , the United States , the United Arab Emirates , the United Kingdom , South Africa , and Australia . Tamil is the official language of
2214-610: A subject of study in schools in the French overseas department of Réunion . In addition, with the creation in October 2004 of a legal status for classical languages by the Government of India and following a political campaign supported by several Tamil associations, Tamil became the first legally recognised Classical language of India. The recognition was announced by the contemporaneous President of India , Abdul Kalam , who
2337-463: A variety of dialects that are all collectively known as Brahmin Tamil . These dialects tend to have softer consonants (with consonant deletion also common). These dialects also tend to have many Sanskrit loanwords. Tamil in Sri Lanka incorporates loan words from Portuguese , Dutch , and English. In addition to its dialects, Tamil exhibits different forms: a classical literary style modelled on
2460-438: A vowel). In other Indic scripts, it is generally preferred to use a ligature or a half form to write a syllable or a cluster containing a dead consonant, although writing it with a visible virama is also possible. The Tamil script does not differentiate voiced and unvoiced plosives . Instead, plosives are articulated with voice depending on their position in a word, in accordance with the rules of Tamil phonology . In addition to
2583-410: A well-documented history with literary works like Sangam literature , consisting of over 2,000 poems. Tamil script evolved from Tamil Brahmi, and later, the vatteluttu script was used until the current script was standardized. The language has a distinct grammatical structure, with agglutinative morphology that allows for complex word formations. Tamil is predominantly spoken in Tamil Nadu , India, and
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#17327730964652706-413: Is able to form a government. As per the 2011 census of India , the estimated population of South India was 252 million, around one fifth of the total population of the country. The region's total fertility rate (TFR) was less than the population replacement level of 2.1 for all states, with Kerala and Tamil Nadu having the lowest TFRs in India at 1.7. As a result, from 1981 to 2011 the proportion of
2829-471: Is about 60% of the country's total. As of 2019–20, the total gross domestic product of the region is ₹67 trillion (US$ 946 billion). Tamil Nadu has the second -highest GDP and is the second-most industrialised state in the country after Maharashtra . With the presence of two major ports, an international airport, and a converging road and rail networks, Chennai is referred to as the "Gateway of South India". South India contributes 30% of India's GDP with
2952-543: Is also relatively close to the Tamil language and shares the format of the formal ancient Tamil language. While there are some variations from the Tamil language, Kannada still preserves a lot from its roots. As part of the southern family of Indian languages and situated relatively close to the northern parts of India, Kannada also shares some Sanskrit words, similar to Malayalam. Many of the formerly used words in Tamil have been preserved with little change in Kannada. This shows
3075-457: Is based on the dialect of Jaffna . After Tamil Brahmi fell out of use, Tamil was written using a script called vaṭṭeḻuttu amongst others such as Grantha and Pallava . The current Tamil script consists of 12 vowels , 18 consonants and one special character, the āytam . The vowels and consonants combine to form 216 compound characters, giving a total of 247 characters (12 + 18 + 1 + (12 × 18)). All consonants have an inherent vowel
3198-563: Is extensively described in the oldest known grammar book for Tamil, the Tolkāppiyam . Modern Tamil writing is largely based on the 13th-century grammar Naṉṉūl which restated and clarified the rules of the Tolkāppiyam , with some modifications. Traditional Tamil grammar consists of five parts, namely eḻuttu , col , poruḷ , yāppu , aṇi . Of these, the last two are mostly applied in poetry. Tamil words consist of
3321-405: Is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century, was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes. In phonological terms, the most important shifts were the virtual disappearance of the aytam (ஃ), an old phoneme, the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals, and the transformation of the alveolar plosive into a rhotic . In grammar, the most important change
3444-409: Is generally used in formal writing and speech. For instance, it is the language of textbooks, of much of Tamil literature and of public speaking and debate. In recent times, however, koṭuntamiḻ has been making inroads into areas that have traditionally been considered the province of centamiḻ . Most contemporary cinema, theatre and popular entertainment on television and radio, for example,
3567-1045: Is home to one of the largest populations of endangered Bengal tigers and Indian elephants in India, being home to one-third of the tiger population and more than half of the elephant population, with 14 Project Tiger reserves and 11 Project Elephant reserves. Elephant populations are found in eight fragmented sites in the region: in northern Karnataka, along the Western Ghats, in Bhadra – Malnad , in Brahmagiri – Nilgiris – Eastern Ghats , in Nilambur – Silent Valley – Coimbatore , in Anamalai – Parambikulam , in Periyar – Srivilliputhur , and in Agasthyamalai Other threatened and endangered species found in
3690-410: Is in koṭuntamiḻ , and many politicians use it to bring themselves closer to their audience. The increasing use of koṭuntamiḻ in modern times has led to the emergence of unofficial 'standard' spoken dialects. In India, the 'standard' koṭuntamiḻ , rather than on any one dialect, but has been significantly influenced by the dialects of Thanjavur and Madurai . In Sri Lanka, the standard
3813-482: Is largely dependent on seasonal monsoons and monsoon failure often leads to droughts forcing farmers into debt, selling livestock and sometimes into committing suicide. Tamil language Sri Lanka Singapore Malaysia Canada and United States Tamil ( தமிழ் , Tamiḻ , pronounced [t̪amiɻ] ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia . It
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3936-771: Is not always consistently applied. ISO 15919 is an international standard for the transliteration of Tamil and other Indic scripts into Latin characters. It uses diacritics to map the much larger set of Brahmic consonants and vowels to Latin script , and thus the alphabets of various languages, including English. Apart from the usual numerals, Tamil has numerals for 10, 100 and 1000. Symbols for day, month, year, debit, credit, as above, rupee, and numeral are present as well. Tamil also uses several historical fractional signs. /f/ , /z/ , /ʂ/ and /ɕ/ are only found in loanwords and may be considered marginal phonemes, though they are traditionally not seen as fully phonemic. Tamil has two diphthongs : /aɪ̯/ ஐ and /aʊ̯/ ஔ ,
4059-453: Is not suitable for agriculture. The southwest monsoon from June to September accounts for most of the rainfall in the region. The Arabian Sea branch of the southwest monsoon hits the Western Ghats along the coastal state of Kerala and moves northward along the Konkan coast , with precipitation on coastal areas west of the Western Ghats. The lofty Western Ghats prevent the winds from reaching
4182-646: Is one of the two longest-surviving classical languages in India , along with Sanskrit , attested since c. 300 BCE. The language belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian language family and shares close ties with Malayalam and Kannada . Despite external influences, Tamil has retained a sense of linguistic purism, especially in formal and literary contexts. Tamil was the lingua franca for early maritime traders, with inscriptions found in places like Sri Lanka , Thailand , and Egypt . The language has
4305-510: Is spoken by about 1.5 million people in coastal Kerala and Karnataka; Konkani , an Indo-Aryan language, is spoken by around 0.8 million people in the Konkan coast (Canara) and Kerala; Kodava Takk is spoken by more than half a million people in Kodagu, Mysore, and Bangalore. English is also widely spoken in urban areas of South India. Deccani Urdu a regional dialect of Urdu is spoken by
4428-409: Is the Tolkāppiyam , an early work on Tamil grammar and poetics, whose oldest layers could be as old as the late 2nd century BCE. Many literary works in Old Tamil have also survived. These include a corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known as Sangam literature . These poems are usually dated to between the 1st century BCE and 5th century CE. The evolution of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil , which
4551-545: Is the tropical monsoon climate characterized by moderate to high year-round temperatures and seasonally heavy rainfall above 2,000 mm (79 in) per year. The tropical climate is experienced in a strip of south-western lowlands abutting the Malabar Coast , the Western Ghats and the Lakshadweep islands. A tropical wet and dry climate , drier than areas with a tropical monsoon climate, prevails over most of
4674-646: Is the highest peak in South India. The Eastern Ghats run parallel to the Bay of Bengal along the eastern coast and the strip of land between them forms the Coromandel region. They are a discontinuous range of mountains, which have been eroded and quadrisected by the four major rivers of southern India, the Godavari , Mahanadi , Krishna , and Kaveri . Both mountain ranges meet at the Nilgiri mountains which run in
4797-576: Is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , Kerala , Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry , occupying 19.31% of India's area (635,780 km or 245,480 sq mi) and 20% of India's population. It is bound by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in
4920-473: Is the staple food and major crop in the region. South India is a major producer of spices with black pepper , cardamom , clove and nutmeg grown exclusively in the region. Some of the main crops cultivated in South India include sugarcane , chilli , banana , cotton , turmeric , millets and pulses. Other plantation crops include cashew , coffee , tea , rubber , betel , areca nut , coconut , bamboo and cocoa . The region accounts for 92% of
5043-848: Is used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia , along with English, Malay and Mandarin. A large community of Pakistani Tamils speakers exists in Karachi , Pakistan , which includes Tamil-speaking Hindus as well as Christians and Muslims – including some Tamil-speaking Muslim refugees from Sri Lanka. There are about 100 Tamil Hindu families in Madrasi Para colony in Karachi. They speak impeccable Tamil along with Urdu, Punjabi and Sindhi. Many in Réunion , Guyana , Fiji , Suriname , and Trinidad and Tobago have Tamil origins, but only
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5166-615: The 1937 elections to the Indian National Congress, and Chakravarti Rajagopalachari became the Chief Minister of the Madras Presidency. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Self-Respect Movement , spearheaded by Theagaroya Chetty and E. V. Ramaswamy (commonly known as Periyar), emerged in the Madras Presidency. In 1944, Periyar transformed the party into a social organisation, renaming the party Dravidar Kazhagam , and withdrew from electoral politics. The initial aim
5289-509: The Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation , Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation , Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation , Telangana State Road Transport Corporation , Kerala State Road Transport Corporation , and Puducherry Road Transport Corporation . In 1832, the proposal to construct the first railway line in India at Madras was made. In 1835, a railway track
5412-490: The Irula and Yerukula languages (see SIL Ethnologue ). The closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam ; the two began diverging around the 9th century CE. Although many of the differences between Tamil and Malayalam demonstrate a pre-historic divergence of the western dialect, the process of separation into a distinct language, Malayalam, was not completed until sometime in the 13th or 14th century. Additionally Kannada
5535-619: The Kupgal petroglyphs of eastern Karnataka, at Stone Age sites. Hinduism is the major religion today in South India, with about 84% of the population adhering to it, which is often regarded as the oldest religion in the world, tracing its roots to prehistoric times in India. Its spiritual traditions include both the Shaivite and Vaishnavite branches of Hinduism, although Buddhist and Jain philosophies were influential several centuries earlier. Ayyavazhi has spread significantly across
5658-767: The Madras States Agency (composed of Travancore , Cochin , Jeypore , and a number of other minor princely states ). The region played a major role in the Indian independence movement . Of the 72 delegates who participated in the first session of the Indian National Congress at Bombay in December 1885, 22 hailed from South India. After Indian Independence in 1947, the region was organized into four states Madras State , Mysore State , Hyderabad State and Travancore-Cochin . Dravida Nadu
5781-642: The Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations and expected to be achieved by 2015, Kerala and Tamil Nadu achieved the goals related to improvement of maternal health and of reducing infant mortality and child mortality by 2009. Languages of South India ( 2011 census ) The largest linguistic group in South India is the Dravidian family of languages , of approximately 73 languages. The major languages spoken include Telugu , Tamil , Kannada , and Malayalam . Tulu
5904-724: The Muslims . Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Urdu, and konkani are listed among the 22 official languages of India . Tamil was the first language to be granted classical language status by the Government of India in 2004. Later Telugu (2008), Kannada (2008) and Malayalam (2013) were also declared as classical languages. These four languages combined have literary outputs larger than other literary languages of India. Religion in South India (2011) Evidence of prehistoric religion in South India comes from scattered Mesolithic rock paintings depicting dances and rituals, such as
6027-949: The Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve in the Nilgiri Hills , the Agasthyamala Biosphere Reserve in the Agastya Mala - Cardamom Hills and Gulf of Mannar coral reefs. The Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve covers an area of 10,500 km (4,100 sq mi) of ocean, islands and the adjoining coastline including coral reefs , salt marshes and mangroves. It is home to endangered aquatic species, including dolphins , dugongs , whales and sea cucumbers . Bird sanctuaries including Thattekad , Kadalundi , Vedanthangal , Ranganathittu , Kumarakom , Neelapattu , and Pulicat are home to numerous migratory and local birds. South India
6150-701: The Northern and Eastern provinces of Sri Lanka . It has significant speaking populations in Malaysia , Singapore , and among diaspora communities . Tamil has been recognized as a classical language by the Indian government and holds official status in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Singapore. The earliest extant Tamil literary works and their commentaries celebrate the Pandiyan Kings for the organization of long-termed Tamil Sangams , which researched, developed and made amendments in Tamil language. Even though
6273-747: The Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta , the Chalukyas of Badami , the Hoysalas of Belur , and the Kakatiyas of Orugallu ruled over the region from the 6th century BCE to the 14th century CE. In the 15th century, Vijayanagara empire was the last kingdom to conquer all of Southern India. After repeated invasions from the Sultanate of Delhi , the Vijayanagara empire fell in 1646 and the region
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#17327730964656396-1015: The Sangam period (c. 3rd century BCE to c. 4th century CE). The region was part of the ancient Silk Road connecting the East with the West . Several dynasties such as the Cheras of Karuvur , the Pandyas of Madurai , the Cholas of Thanjavur , the Zamorins of Kozhikode , the Satavahanas of Amaravati , the Pallavas of Kanchi , the Kadambas of Banavasi , the Western Gangas of Kolar ,
6519-471: The University of Madras , was one of the earliest dictionaries published in Indian languages. A strong strain of linguistic purism emerged in the early 20th century, culminating in the Pure Tamil Movement which called for removal of all Sanskritic elements from Tamil. It received some support from Dravidian parties . This led to the replacement of a significant number of Sanskrit loanwords by Tamil equivalents, though many others remain. According to
6642-407: The coffee and 85% of the natural rubber production in the country. Other major agricultural products include poultry and silk . Being a peninsular region, aquaculture is a major contributor to the economy. As of 2017–18, the region produced 53.68 lakh tonnes fish contributing to nearly 43% of total fish production in India. Like most of the Indian subcontinent, agriculture in the region
6765-400: The 10 busiest in the country. Chennai International Airport serves as the Southern Regional Headquarters of the Airports Authority of India , the Southern Region comprising the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, and the union territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep. Four of the ten busiest airports in India are in South India. The region comes under
6888-435: The 11th century, retain many features of the Vaishnava paribasai , a special form of Tamil developed in the 9th and 10th centuries that reflect Vaishnavite religious and spiritual values. Several castes have their own sociolects which most members of that caste traditionally used regardless of where they come from. It is often possible to identify a person's caste by their speech. For example, Tamil Brahmins tend to speak
7011-420: The 2011 census, the HDI in the southern states is high, and the economy has grown at a faster rate than those of most northern states. As per the 2011 census, the average literacy rate in South India is approximately 80%, considerably higher than the Indian national average of 74%, with Kerala having the highest literacy rate of 93.91%. South India has the highest sex ratio with Kerala and Tamil Nadu being
7134-408: The Deccan Plateau; hence, the leeward region (the region deprived of winds) receives very little rainfall. The Bay of Bengal branch of the southwest monsoon heads toward northeast India, picking up moisture from the Bay of Bengal. The Coramandel coast does not receive much rainfall from the southwest monsoon, due to the shape of the land. Tamil Nadu and southeast Andhra Pradesh receive rains from
7257-402: The Deccan were laid down in the massive Deccan Traps eruption, which occurred towards the end of the Cretaceous period, between 67 and 66 million years ago. Layer after layer was formed by the volcanic activity that lasted many years and when the volcanoes became extinct, they left a region of highlands with typically vast stretches of flat areas on top like a table. The plateau is watered by
7380-426: The Government of India operates the railway system. Currently, operational metro systems are there in four cities Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kochi. Chennai Suburban founded in 1928 is one of the oldest and largest urban networks in the country. Opened in 1995, Chennai MRTS was the first elevated urban railway in India. Hyderabad MMTS was opened in 2003, becoming the second city in South India to have
7503-504: The Indian Navy are headquartered at Visakhapatnam and Kochi respectively. In the region, the Indian Navy has its major operational bases at Visakhapatnam, Chennai, Kochi, Karwar, and Kavaratti. Kochi Water Metro is the first water metro service in India launched in 2023. After independence, the economy of South India conformed to a socialist framework, with strict governmental control over private sector participation, foreign trade , and foreign direct investment . From 1960 to 1990,
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#17327730964657626-427: The Indian state of Haryana , purportedly as a rebuff to Punjab , though there was no attested Tamil-speaking population in the state, and was later replaced by Punjabi , in 2010. In Malaysia, 543 primary education government schools are available fully in Tamil as the medium of instruction . The establishment of Tamil-medium schools has been in process in Myanmar to provide education completely in Tamil language by
7749-420: The Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the 22 languages under schedule 8 of the constitution of India . It is one of the official languages of the union territories of Puducherry and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands . Tamil is also one of the official languages of Singapore . Tamil is one of the official and national languages of Sri Lanka, along with Sinhala . It was once given nominal official status in
7872-433: The Jain king of Kalinga , also refers to a Tamira Samghatta ( Tamil confederacy ) The Samavayanga Sutra dated to the 3rd century BCE contains a reference to a Tamil script named 'Damili'. Southworth suggests that the name comes from tam-miḻ > tam-iḻ "self-speak", or "our own speech". Kamil Zvelebil suggests an etymology of tam-iḻ , with tam meaning "self" or "one's self", and " -iḻ " having
7995-483: The Madras Presidency began in 1859 and the 80 miles (130 km) link from Trichinopoly to Negapatam and a link from Tirur to the Port of Beypore at Kozhikode on the Malabar Coast , which eventually got expanded into the Mangalore - Chennai line via Palakkad Gap were opened in 1861. The Carnatic Railway Company was founded in 1864 and opened a Madras– Arakkonam – Conjeevaram –Katpadi junction line in 1865. These two companies subsequently merged in 1874 to form
8118-558: The Madras State, the districts of Belgaum , Bijapur , North Canara and Dharwad from Bombay State , the Kannada-majority districts of Bidar , Raichur and Gulbarga from Hyderabad State and the province of Coorg . Mysore State was renamed as Karnataka in 1973. The Union Territory of Puducherry was created in 1954 comprising the previous French enclaves of Pondichéry , Karaikal , Yanam and Mahé . The Laccadive Islands which were divided between South Canara and Malabar districts of Madras State were united and organized into
8241-400: The South Indian Railway Company. In 1880, the Great Indian Peninsula Railway , established by the British , built a railway network radiating from Madras . In 1879, the Madras Railway constructed a line from Royapuram to Bangalore; and the Maharaja of Mysore established the Mysore State Railway to build an extension from Bangalore to Mysore . The Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway
8364-459: The South Indian economies experienced mixed economic growth. In the 1960s, Kerala achieved above-average growth while Andhra Pradesh's economy declined. Kerala experienced an economic decline in the 1970s while the economies of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh consistently exceeded national average growth rates, due to reform-oriented economic policies. As of March 2015, there are 109 operational Special Economic Zones in South India, which
8487-463: The Tamils who settled there 200 years ago. Tamil language is available as a course in some local school boards and major universities in Canada and the month of January has been declared "Tamil Heritage Month" by the Parliament of Canada . Tamil enjoys a special status of protection under Article 6(b), Chapter 1 of the Constitution of South Africa and is taught as a subject in schools in KwaZulu-Natal province. Recently, it has been rolled out as
8610-476: The Western Ghats while tropical dry forests and scrub lands are common in the interior Deccan plateau. The southern Western Ghats have rain forests located at high altitudes called the South Western Ghats montane rain forests , and the Malabar Coast moist forests are found on the coastal plains. The Western Ghats is one of the eight hottest biodiversity hotspots in the world and a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Important ecological regions of South India are
8733-442: The ancient language ( sankattamiḻ ), a modern literary and formal style ( centamiḻ ), and a modern colloquial form ( koṭuntamiḻ ). These styles shade into each other, forming a stylistic continuum. For example, it is possible to write centamiḻ with a vocabulary drawn from caṅkattamiḻ , or to use forms associated with one of the other variants while speaking koṭuntamiḻ . In modern times, centamiḻ
8856-942: The approximately 100,000 inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India in India are in Tamil Nadu. Of them, most are in Tamil, with only about 5 percent in other languages. In 2004, a number of skeletons were found buried in earthenware urns dating from at least 696 BCE in Adichanallur . Some of these urns contained writing in Tamil Brahmi script, and some contained skeletons of Tamil origin. Between 2017 and 2018, 5,820 artifacts have been found in Keezhadi . These were sent to Beta Analytic in Miami , Florida , for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) dating. One sample containing Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions
8979-640: The area covered by the Deccan Plateau that covers most of peninsular India excluding the coastal areas, is an anglicised form of the Prakrit word dakkhiṇa derived from the Sanskrit word dakshiṇa meaning south. Carnatic , derived from "Karnāḍ" or "Karunāḍ" meaning high country , has also been associated with South India. Carbon dating shows that ash mounds associated with Neolithic cultures in South India date back to 8000 BCE. Towards
9102-539: The beginning of 1000 BCE, iron technology spread through the region; however, there does not appear to be a fully developed Bronze Age preceding the Iron Age in South India. The region was in the middle of a trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu linking the Mediterranean to East Asia . Trade with Phoenicians , Romans , Greeks , Arabs , Syrians , Jews , and Chinese began during
9225-413: The connotation of "unfolding sound". Alternatively, he suggests a derivation of tamiḻ < tam-iḻ < * tav-iḻ < * tak-iḻ , meaning in origin "the proper process (of speaking)". However, this is deemed unlikely by Southworth due to the contemporary use of the compound 'centamiḻ', which means refined speech in the earliest literature. The Tamil Lexicon of University of Madras defines
9348-402: The decades immediately after the independence of India, the economies of South Indian states have, over the past three decades, registered growth higher than the national average. While South Indian states have improved in some of the socio-economic metrics, poverty continues to affect the region as it does the rest of the country, although it has considerably decreased over the years. Based on
9471-575: The depression between the Vindhya and Satpura ranges, which define the northern spur of the Deccan plateau . The low-lying coral islands of Lakshadweep are situated off the southwestern coast of India and the Andaman and Nicobar islands lie far off the eastern coast. The Palk Strait and the chain of low sandbars and islands known as Rama's Bridge separate the region from Sri Lanka , which lies off
9594-952: The dialect of Madurai , and iṅkaṭe in some northern dialects. Even now, in the Coimbatore area, it is common to hear " akkaṭṭa " meaning "that place". Although Tamil dialects do not differ significantly in their vocabulary, there are a few exceptions. The dialects spoken in Sri Lanka retain many words and grammatical forms that are not in everyday use in India, and use many other words slightly differently. Tamil dialects include Central Tamil dialect , Kongu Tamil , Madras Bashai , Madurai Tamil , Nellai Tamil , Kumari Tamil in India ; Batticaloa Tamil dialect , Jaffna Tamil dialect , Negombo Tamil dialect in Sri Lanka; and Malaysian Tamil in Malaysia. Sankethi dialect in Karnataka has been heavily influenced by Kannada . The dialect of
9717-594: The district of Palakkad in Kerala has many Malayalam loanwords, has been influenced by Malayalam's syntax, and has a distinctive Malayalam accent. Similarly, Tamil spoken in Kanyakumari District has more unique words and phonetic style than Tamil spoken at other parts of Tamil Nadu. The words and phonetics are so different that a person from Kanyakumari district is easily identifiable by their spoken Tamil. Hebbar and Mandyam dialects, spoken by groups of Tamil Vaishnavites who migrated to Karnataka in
9840-907: The east-flowing Godavari , Krishna , Kaveri , Penna , Tungabhadra , Vaigai rivers and their tributaries. Other prominent features include the Gulf of Mannar , the Palk Strait , which separates India from Sri Lanka; the Ten Degree Channel , which separates the Andamans from the Nicobar Islands; and the Eight Degree Channel, which separates the Laccadive and Amindivi Islands from the Minicoy Island to
9963-731: The end of the Vellore Mutiny in 1806, the British consolidated their power over much of present-day South India, with the exception of French Pondichéry . The British Empire took control of the region from the British East India Company in 1857. During the British colonial rule, the region was divided into the Madras Presidency (later, the Madras Province), Hyderabad State , Mysore , and
10086-699: The hill country . Tamil or dialects of it were used widely in the state of Kerala as the major language of administration, literature and common usage until the 12th century CE. Tamil was also used widely in inscriptions found in southern Andhra Pradesh districts of Chittoor and Nellore until the 12th century CE. Tamil was used for inscriptions from the 10th through 14th centuries in southern Karnataka districts such as Kolar , Mysore , Mandya and Bengaluru . There are currently sizeable Tamil-speaking populations descended from colonial-era migrants in Malaysia , Singapore , Philippines , Mauritius , South Africa , Indonesia, Thailand, Burma , and Vietnam . Tamil
10209-434: The inland peninsular region except for a semi-arid rain shadow east of the Western Ghats. Winter and early summer are long dry periods with temperatures averaging above 18 °C (64 °F); summer is exceedingly hot with temperatures in low-lying areas exceeding 50 °C (122 °F); and the rainy season lasts from June to September, with annual rainfall averaging between 750 and 1,500 mm (30 and 59 in) across
10332-432: The introduction of new aspectual auxiliaries and more complex sentence structures, and with the emergence of a more rigid word order that resembles the syntactic argument structure of English. In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named Thambiran Vanakkam , thus making Tamil the first Indian language to be printed and published. The Tamil Lexicon , published by
10455-406: The latter of which is restricted to a few lexical items. Tamil employs agglutinative grammar, where suffixes are used to mark noun class , number , and case , verb tense and other grammatical categories. Tamil's standard metalinguistic terminology and scholarly vocabulary is itself Tamil, as opposed to the Sanskrit that is standard for most Indo-Aryan languages . Much of Tamil grammar
10578-427: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fanam&oldid=1254706161 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages South India South India , also known as Southern India or Peninsular India ,
10701-412: The mountain ranges. The plateau rises to 100 metres (330 ft) in the north and to more than 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) in the south, forming a raised triangle within the downward-pointing triangle of the Indian subcontinent 's coastline. It also slopes gently from West to East resulting in major rivers arising in the Western Ghats and flowing east into the Bay of Bengal. The volcanic basalt beds of
10824-485: The name of the language which was developed by these Tamil Sangams is mentioned as Tamil, the period when the name "Tamil" came to be applied to the language is unclear, as is the precise etymology of the name. The earliest attested use of the name is found in Tholkappiyam , which is dated as early as late 2nd century BCE. The Hathigumpha inscription , inscribed around a similar time period (150 BCE), by Kharavela ,
10947-408: The national parties usually aligning as junior partners to the major Dravidian parties, AIADMK and DMK. Indian National Congress dominated the political scene in Tamil Nadu in the 1950s and 1960s under the leadership of K. Kamaraj , who led the party after the death of Jawaharlal Nehru and ensured the selection of Prime Ministers Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi . Congress continues to be
11070-515: The northeast monsoon. The northeast monsoon takes place from November to early March, when the surface high-pressure system is strongest. The North Indian Ocean tropical cyclones occur throughout the year in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, bringing devastating winds and heavy rainfall. There is a wide diversity of plants and animals in South India, resulting from its varied climates and geography. Deciduous forests are found along
11193-537: The old aspect and time markers. The Nannūl remains the standard normative grammar for modern literary Tamil, which therefore continues to be based on Middle Tamil of the 13th century rather than on Modern Tamil. Colloquial spoken Tamil, in contrast, shows a number of changes. The negative conjugation of verbs, for example, has fallen out of use in Modern Tamil – instead, negation is expressed either morphologically or syntactically. Modern spoken Tamil also shows
11316-434: The past fifty years, these two coalitions have been alternately in power; and E. M. S. Namboodiripad , the first elected chief minister of Kerala in 1957, is credited as the leader of the first democratically elected communist government in the world. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Janata Dal (Secular) are significant parties in Karnataka. C. Rajagopalachari, the first Indian Governor General of India post independence,
11439-475: The population of South India to India's total population has declined. Scheduled Castes and Tribes form 18% of the population of the region. Agriculture is the major employer in the region, with 47.5% of the population being involved in agrarian activities. About 60% of the population lives in permanent housing structures. 67.8% of South India has access to tap water, with wells and springs being major sources of water supply. After experiencing fluctuations in
11562-747: The purview of the Southern Air Command of the Indian Air Force headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram . In addition, the National Training Command is headquartered at Bengaluru . The Air Force operates nine air bases in Southern India. In the region, the Indian Navy operates airbases at Kochi , Arakkonam , Uchipuli , Vizag and Chennai. The region is covered by water on three sides and has
11685-408: The region include the grizzled giant squirrel , grey slender loris , sloth bear , Nilgiri tahr , Nilgiri langur , lion-tailed macaque , and the Indian leopard . Politics in South India is characterized by a mix of regional and national political parties. The Justice Party and Swaraj Party were the two major parties in the erstwhile Madras Presidency. The Justice Party eventually lost
11808-467: The region was colonized by Britain , Portugal and France . After experiencing fluctuations in the decades immediately after Indian independence , the economies of South Indian states have registered a sustained higher-than-national-average growth over the past three decades. South India has the largest combined largest gross domestic product compared to other regions in India. The South Indian states lead in some socio-economic metrics of India with
11931-522: The region. The majority of the people in South India speak at least one of the four major Dravidian languages : Telugu , Tamil , Kannada and Malayalam . During its history , a number of dynastic kingdoms ruled over parts of South India, and shaped the culture in those regions. Major dynasties that were established in South India include the Cheras , Cholas , Pandyas , Pallavas , Satavahanas , Chalukyas , Hoysalas , Rashtrakutas and Vijayanagara . European countries entered India through Kerala and
12054-848: The region. Once the dry northeast monsoon begins in September, most precipitation in India falls in Tamil Nadu, leaving other states comparatively dry. A hot semi-arid climate predominates in the land east of the Western Ghats and the Cardamom Hills . The region – which includes Karnataka, inland Tamil Nadu and western Andhra Pradesh – gets between 400 and 750 millimetres (15.7 and 29.5 in) of rainfall annually, with hot summers and dry winters with temperatures around 20–24 °C (68–75 °F). The months between March and May are hot and dry, with mean monthly temperatures hovering around 32 °C (90 °F), with 320 millimetres (13 in) precipitation. Without artificial irrigation, this region
12177-515: The south. Laccadive Sea is a smaller sea. There are coral reefs located in the Gulf of Mannar and Lakshadweep islands. Large lakes include Vembanad Lake and Pulicat Lake . The region has a tropical climate and depends on monsoons for rainfall. According to the Köppen climate classification , it has a non- arid climate with minimum mean temperatures of 18 °C (64 °F). The most humid
12300-642: The southeastern coast. The southernmost tip of mainland India is at Kanyakumari where the Indian Ocean meets the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. The Western Ghats runs south along the western coast from south of the Tapti River to Kanyakumari and forms a narrow strip of land with the Arabian sea called Konkan region. Anai Mudi in the Anaimalai Hills 2,695 m (8,842 ft)
12423-596: The southern parts of South India. Shaiva Siddhanta philosophy is prominent among many communities. Islam was introduced to South India in the early 7th century by Arab traders on the Malabar Coast, and spread during the rule of the Deccan Sultanates, from the 17th to 18th centuries. About 11% of the population In South India follow Islam . Muslims of Arab descent in Kerala are called Jonaka Mappila . About 4% follow Christianity . Christianity
12546-470: The standard characters, six characters taken from the Grantha script , which was used in the Tamil region to write Sanskrit, are sometimes used to represent sounds not native to Tamil, that is, words adopted from Sanskrit, Prakrit , and other languages. The traditional system prescribed by classical grammars for writing loan-words, which involves respelling them in accordance with Tamil phonology, remains, but
12669-483: The state government. Each state or territory is further divided into districts , which are further subdivided into revenue divisions and taluk s / Mandal s or tehsil s. Local bodies govern respective cities, towns, and villages, along with an elected mayor , municipal chairman , or panchayat chairman , respectively. South India elects 132 members to the Lok Sabha , accounting for roughly one-fourth of
12792-432: The top two states. The South Indian states rank amongst the top 10 in economic freedom, life expectancy ., access to drinking water , house ownership , and TV ownership The poverty rate is at 19% while that in the other Indian states is at 38%. The per capita income is ₹ 19,531 (US$ 230), which is more than double of the other Indian states ( ₹ 8,951 (US$ 110)). Of the three demographically related targets of
12915-657: The total strength. The region is allocated 58 seats in the Rajya Sabha , out of the total of 245. The state legislatures of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry are unicameral , while Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Telangana have bicameral legislatures. States with bicameral legislatures have an upper house ( Legislative Council ) with members not more than one-third the size of the Assembly. State legislatures elect members for terms of five years. Governors may suspend or dissolve assemblies and can administer when no party
13038-461: The union territories of Puducherry, and Lakshadweep. Puducherry and the five states each have an elected state government, while Lakshadweep is centrally administered by the president of India . Each state is headed by a Governor who is appointed by the President of India and who names the leader of the state legislature's ruling party or coalition as chief minister , who is the head of
13161-536: The union territory of Lakshadweep . Telangana was created on June 2, 2014, by bifurcating Andhra Pradesh and comprises ten districts in northwestern Andhra Pradesh. South India is a peninsula in the shape of an inverted triangle bound by Indian Ocean in the South, Arabian Sea in the west, by Bay of Bengal in the east and the Vindhya and Satpura ranges in the north. The Narmada river flows westwards in
13284-516: The west and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse, with two mountain ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats , bordering the plateau heartland. The Godavari , Krishna , Kaveri , Penna , Tungabhadra and Vaigai rivers are important non- perennial sources of water. Chennai , Bangalore , Hyderabad , Coimbatore and Kochi are the largest urban areas in
13407-435: The word "Tamil" as "sweetness". S. V. Subramanian suggests the meaning "sweet sound", from tam – "sweet" and il – "sound". Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages , a family of around 26 languages native to the Indian subcontinent . It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family that, alongside Tamil proper, includes the languages of about 35 ethno-linguistic groups such as
13530-526: The word for "here"— iṅku in Centamil (the classic variety)—has evolved into iṅkū in the Kongu dialect of Coimbatore , inga in the dialects of Thanjavur and Palakkad , and iṅkai in some dialects of Sri Lanka . Old Tamil's iṅkaṇ (where kaṇ means place) is the source of iṅkane in the dialect of Tirunelveli , Old Tamil iṅkiṭṭu is the source of iṅkuṭṭu in
13653-534: Was a Tamilian himself, in a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament on 6 June 2004. The socio-linguistic situation of Tamil is characterised by diglossia : there are two separate registers varying by socioeconomic status , a high register and a low one. Tamil dialects are primarily differentiated from each other by the fact that they have undergone different phonological changes and sound shifts in evolving from Old Tamil. For example,
13776-403: Was a proposal for a separate sovereign state for the speakers of the Dravidian languages in South India. Initially, the demand of Dravida Nadu proponents was limited to Tamil -speaking regions, but it was later expanded to include other Indian states with a majority of Dravidian-speakers in the region. The States Reorganisation Act 1956, which created linguistic States, weakened the demand for
13899-600: Was claimed to be dated to around 580 BCE. John Guy states that Tamil was the lingua franca for early maritime traders from India. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri Lanka and on trade goods in Thailand and Egypt. In November 2007, an excavation at Quseir-al-Qadim revealed Egyptian pottery dating back to first century BCE with ancient Tamil Brahmi inscriptions. There are
14022-587: Was constructed between Red Hills and Chintadripet in Madras and became operational in 1837. The Madras Railway was established in 1845. The Great Southern of India Railway Company was founded in England in 1853 and registered in 1859. The construction on the first main line in the South between Royapuram in Madras and Arcot started in 1853, which became operational on 1 July 1856. Construction of track in
14145-538: Was created on 1 April 2003. Most of the region is covered by the three zones, with small portions of the coasts covered by East Coast Railway and Konkan Railway . In 2019, a new South Coast Railway zone was announced but is yet to become operational as of 2023. The Nilgiri Mountain Railway of Southern Railway is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Indian Railways under the ownership of the Ministry of Railways of
14268-623: Was created with the merger of Andhra State with the Telugu-speaking districts of Hyderabad State in 1956. Kerala was created with the merger of Malabar district and the Kasaragod taluk of South Canara districts of Madras State with Travancore-Cochin . Mysore State was re-organized with the addition of districts of Bellary and South Canara (excluding Kasaragod taluk) and the Kollegal taluk of Coimbatore district from
14391-833: Was founded on 1 January 1908 by merging the Madras Railway and the Southern Mahratta Railway . On 14 April 1951, the Madras and Southern Mahratta Railway, the South Indian Railway, and the Mysore State Railway were merged to form the Southern Railway , the first zone of Indian Railways . The South Central zone was created on 2 October 1966 as the ninth zone of Indian Railways and the South Western zone
14514-431: Was from South India. The region has produced six Indian presidents, namely, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan , V. V. Giri , Neelam Sanjiva Reddy , R. Venkataraman , K. R. Narayanan , and APJ Abdul Kalam . Prime ministers P. V. Narasimha Rao and H. D. Deve Gowda were from the region. South India consists of the five southern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Kerala, and Tamil Nadu, as well as
14637-851: Was introduced to South India by Thomas the Apostle , who visited Muziris in Kerala in 52 CE and proselytized natives, who are called Nazrani Mappila . Kerala is also home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, who are supposed to have arrived on the Malabar coast during the reign of King Solomon . The major metropolitan areas in south India are as follows: South India has an extensive road network with 20,573 km (12,783 mi) of National Highways and 46,813 km (29,088 mi) of State Highways . The Golden Quadrilateral connecting Chennai with Mumbai and Kolkata traverses Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Bus services are provided by state-run transport corporations, namely
14760-614: Was most likely spoken around the third millennium BCE, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of the culture associated with the Neolithic complexes of South India, but it has also been related to the Harappan civilization . Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods: Old Tamil (300 BCE–700 CE), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present). About of
14883-540: Was ruled by various Deccan Sultanates , polygars and Nayak governors of the erstwhile Vijayanagara empire who declared independence. The Europeans arrived in the 15th century; and by the middle of the 18th century, the French and the British were involved in a protracted struggle for military control over South India. After the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War in 1799 and
15006-451: Was the emergence of the present tense. The present tense evolved out of the verb kil ( கில் ), meaning "to be possible" or "to befall". In Old Tamil, this verb was used as an aspect marker to indicate that an action was micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such as ṉ ( ன் ). In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker – kiṉṟa ( கின்ற ) – which combined
15129-770: Was the secession of Dravida Nadu from the rest of India upon Indian independence. After independence, C. N. Annadurai , a follower of Periyar, formed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in 1948. The Anti-Hindi agitations of Tamil Nadu led to the rise of Dravidian parties that formed Tamil Nadu's first government, in 1967. In 1972, a split in the DMK resulted in the formation of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) led by M. G. Ramachandran . Dravidian parties continue to dominate Tamil Nadu electoral politics,
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