133-499: Ayya Vaikundar ( Tamil : அய்யா வைகுண்டர் ) also known as Siva Narayana or Vaikunda Swami was the founder of the Ayyavazhi faith. The Ayyavazhis believe him to be the first and foremost Purna avatar of Eka-Paran and the god Vishnu (Narayana). As per Ayyavazhi mythology detailed in their scriptures, Ayya Vaikundar incarnated in 1833, when he rose from the sea of Tiruchendur in the mortal shell of Vaikundar. Ayya Vaikundar
266-590: A Subsidiary alliance with the East India Company in 1795. The Prime Ministers ( Dalawas or Dewans ) started to take control of the kingdom beginning with Velu Thampi Dalawa (Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi) (1799–1809) who was appointed as the divan following the dismissal of Jayanthan Sankaran Nampoothiri (1798–1799). Initially, Velayudhan Chempakaraman Thampi and the English East India Company got along very well. When
399-468: 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
532-484: 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
665-759: 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
798-519: 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 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
931-468: A grand manner. By way of soliciting his blessings, his devotees carried him to different places. During these occasions, he laid foundations in various places for small shrine-like centres, called Nizhal Thangals . Vaikundar came to recognize five individuals as his disciples Through one of his disciples, Hari Gopalan Citar , he wrote the holy book, called Akilam . Vaikundar returned to his celestial abode Vaikundam 3 June 1851. His 'Sacred-golden body'
1064-544: A meeting of his supporters at Allan Memorial Hall, Nagercoil on 8 September 1947. In that meeting it was declared that they must achieve their objective through their political organisation, the T.T.N.C. And T.T.N.C started gaining strength and momentum in Kalkulam – Vilavancode Taluks. T.T.N.C won in 14 constituencies in the election to the State Legislative Assembly. Mr. A. Nesamony was elected as
1197-598: A minimum of 1 kazhanch (78.65 gm) of gold. In 1848 the Marquess of Dalhousie , then Governor-General of India , was apprised that the depressed condition of the finances in Travancore was due to the mahādanams by the rulers. Lord Dalhousie instructed Lord Harris , Governor of the Madras Presidency , to warn the then King of Travancore, Martanda Varma (Uttram Tirunal 1847–60) , that if he did not put
1330-516: A number of Rayasoms or clerks along with Kanakku Pillamars (accountants). Individual districts were run by Sarvadhikaris under the supervision of Diwan, while dealings with the neighbouring states and Europeans was under the purview of the Valia Sarvahi , who signed treaties and agreements. His heir is Revathi Thirunal Balagopal Varma – the titular Elayaraja ( Crown Prince ) (born 1953). (Monarch) Body (1948–49) In 1856,
1463-607: 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
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#17328016488601596-671: 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
1729-518: 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
1862-402: A religious person with extraordinary powers. In the religious parlance of the time, he was addressed as a Pantaram , a religious person hailing from, and serving the ordinary folk. Akilattirattu addresses him as Pantaram. People came to him to listen to his teachings and instructions, to be cured by him of different diseases, to witness, worship and serve a religious person. Vaikundar encouraged
1995-617: A section of the Travancore army mutinied in 1805 against Velu Thampi Dalawa , he sought refuge with the British Resident Colonel (later General) Colin Macaulay and later used English East India Company troops to crush the mutiny. Velu Thampi also played a key role in negotiating a new treaty between Travancore and the English East India Company. However, the demands of the East India Company for
2128-566: A sentence in English. To give an example, the word pōkamuṭiyātavarkaḷukkāka (போகமுடியாதவர்களுக்காக) means "for the sake of those who cannot go" and consists of the following morphemes : போக pōka go முடி muṭi accomplish Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( / ˈ t r æ v ə ŋ k ɔːr / ), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor ( Malayalam: [t̪iɾuʋid̪aːŋɡuːr] ) or later as Travancore State ,
2261-647: 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
2394-535: A stamp on 6 Nov 1991, commemorating the reforms that marked his reign in Travancore. The State of Kerala came into existence on 1 November 1956, with a governor appointed by the president of India as the head of state instead of a king. The king was stripped of all political powers and of the right to receive privy purses , according to the twenty-sixth amendment of the Indian constitution act of 31 July 1971. He died on 20 July 1991. Tamils lived in large numbers in
2527-560: A stop to this practice, the Madras Presidency would take over his state's administration. This led to the cessation of the practice of mahādanams. All Travancorean Kings including Sree Moolam Thirunal conducted the Hiranyagarbham and Tulapurushadaanam ceremonies. Maharaja Chithira Thirunal was the only King of Travancore not to have conducted these rituals as he considered them extremely costly. In Travancore,
2660-610: 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
2793-490: A union of feudal lords and establishing internal peace, he expanded the kingdom of Venad through a series of military campaigns from Kanyakumari in the south to the borders of Kochi in the north during his 29-year rule. This rule also included Travancore-Dutch War (1739–1753) between Travancore and the Dutch East India Company, which had been allied to some of these kingdoms. In 1741, Travancore won
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#17328016488602926-463: 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
3059-438: 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
3192-553: A whole." He made the famous Temple Entry Proclamation on 12 November 1936, which opened all the Kshetrams (Hindu temples in Kerala) in Travancore to backward communities. This act won him praise from across India, most notably from Mahatma Gandhi . The first public transport system (Thiruvananthapuram–Mavelikkara) and telecommunication system (Thiruvananthapuram Palace–Mavelikkara Palace) were launched during his reign. He also started
3325-635: Is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia . It 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
3458-528: Is a central character in the narratives and teaching of the Ayyavazhi scripture Akilathirattu Ammanai (Akilam). The Ayyayazhis believe that he will be instrumental in the destruction of Kali and establishment of Dharma Yukam . As per Ayyavazhi scriptures, Ayya Vaikundar is the supreme God in his own right. Most of the preachings and activities found in Akilam and other texts about the life of Ayya Vaikundar
3591-457: 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
3724-401: 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 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 ,
3857-563: 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
3990-511: 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 , 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
4123-405: 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
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4256-409: 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,
4389-410: 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
4522-771: 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 ,
4655-539: Is predominantly spoken in Tamil Nadu , India, and 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
4788-409: 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
4921-793: 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
5054-518: The English East India Company in military conflicts. During Dharma Raja 's reign, Tipu Sultan , the de facto ruler of Mysore and the son of Hyder Ali , attacked Travancore in 1789 as a part of the Mysore invasion of Kerala . Dharma Raja had earlier refused to hand over the Hindu political refugees from the Mysore occupation of Malabar who had been given asylum in Travancore. The Mysore army entered
5187-692: The Malabar Coast between Alappuzha in the south and Kasaragod in the north. The region around Coimbatore was ruled by the Cheras during the Sangam period roughly between the first and the fourth centuries CE and served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad Gap, the principal trade route between the Malabar Coast and Tamil Nadu. However the southern region of the present-day Kerala state
5320-465: The Pandiyan Kings for the organization of long-termed Tamil Sangams , which researched, developed and made amendments in Tamil language. Even though 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
5453-508: The Thovalai , Agastheeswaram , Sengottai , Eraniel , Vilavancode , Kalkulam , Devikulam , Neyyattinkara , Thiruvananthapuram South and Thiruvananthapuram North taluks of erstwhile Travancore State. In the Tamil regions, Malayalam was the official language and there were only a few Tamil schools. So the Tamils met many hardships. The Travancore state government continued rejecting
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5586-599: 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
5719-402: The source of existence , incarnated as Ayya Vaikundar, the son of Narayana from the sea of Tiruchendur. He then camouflaged as Mudisoodum Perumal in order to deceive the all powerful Kaliyan and started walking towards Detchanam . This place became a holy place for the devotees of Ayyavazhi and they erected a temple there named Avatharappathi at Thiruchendur. This event is celebrated during
5852-491: 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
5985-717: The 12th century, two branches of the Ay dynasty, the Thrippappur and Chirava, merged in the Venad family, which set up the tradition of designating the ruler of Venad as Chirava Moopan and the heir-apparent as Thrippappur Moopan . While the Chrirava Moopan had his residence at Kollam, the Thrippappur Moopan resided at his palace in Thrippappur, nine miles north of Thiruvananthapuram, and was vested with authority over
6118-721: The Battle of Colachel against the Dutch East India Company , resulting in the complete eclipse of Dutch power in the region. In this battle, the Dutch Captain, Eustachius De Lannoy , was captured. He later defected to Travancore. De Lannoy was appointed captain of His Highness' bodyguard and later Senior Admiral ("Valiya kappittan") and modernised the Travancore army by introducing firearms and artillery. From 1741 to 1758, De Lannoy remained in command of
6251-536: The British rule as ‘Rule of White Devils’. Against the background of the growing popularity of Ayya Vaikundar and the convergence of people around him in multitudes, a complaint was lodged against him with the King of Travancore Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma . The King arrested Ayya Vaikundar in 1838 and imprisoned him at Singarathoppe jail. After 110 days of imprisonment, on 26 March 1839 he was released by Swathithirunal on
6384-515: The Chera king, Rama Varma Kulasekara, to shift his capital to Kollam. Thus, Rama Varma Kulasekara, the last emperor of the Chera dynasty, was probably the founder of the Venad royal house, and the title of the Chera kings, Kulasekara , was thenceforth kept by the rulers of Venad. Thus the end of the Second Chera dynasty in the 12th century marks the independence of Venad. In the second half of
6517-750: The Cochin kingdom from Coimbatore in November 1789 and reached Thrissur in December. On 28 December 1789 Tipu Sultan attacked the Nedunkotta (Northern Lines) from the north, causing the Battle of Nedumkotta (1789) , and the defeat of the Mysore army. On Dharma Raja 's death in 1798, Balarama Varma (1798–1810), the weakest ruler of the dynasty, took over at the age of sixteen. A treaty brought Travancore under
6650-481: The Congress government for not showing enough care the struggle of the Tamils, T.T.N.C had broken away from the coalition and the Congress government lost the majority. So fresh elections were announced. In 1954 elections, T.T.N.C gained victory in 12 constituencies. Pattom Thanu Pillai was the chief minister for Thiru – Kochi legislative assembly. He engaged hard measures against the agitations of Tamils. Especially
6783-504: The Deities ). He initiated festivities (see: Festivals and Celebrations ). The deities were made to 'come upon' some of the female devotees who became their human media and a marriage ceremony was performed. Ceremonial processions were held amidst singing, incantations and shouts of joy by the followers. Several rites and rituals were instituted during these occasions. Later Vaikundar was invited by his devotees to their homes and treated in
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#17328016488606916-477: The East India Company and was exiled to Madras and later to Benaras . The Company defeated forces under Velu Thampi Dalawa at battles near Nagercoil and Kollam, and inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels, many of whom then deserted and went back home. The Maharajah of Travancore, who hitherto had not openly taken any part in the rebellion, now allied with the British and appointed one of Thampi's enemies as his prime minister. The allied East India Company army and
7049-456: The East India Company undertaking to serve the Rajah in cases of external and internal aggression. The Rajahs of Travancore had been conditionally promoted to Kshatriyahood with periodic performance of 16 mahādānams (great gifts in charity) such as Hiranya-garbhā , Hiranya-Kāmadhenu, and Hiranyāswaratā in each of which thousands of Brahmins had been given costly gifts apart from each getting
7182-543: The English to Travancore . In the course of time, the Ay clan , part of the Chera empire, which ruled the Thiruvazhumkode area, became an independent kingdom, and the land was called Aayi Desam or Aayi Rajyam , meaning 'Aayi territory'. The Aayis controlled the land from the present-day Kollam district in the north, through Thiruvananthapuram district to Kanyakumari district in the south. There were two capitals,
7315-1093: The Harivamsa, the Visnu Purana, the Ghata Jataka, and the Bala Carita all appear between the first and the fifth century AD, and each of them represents a tradition of a Krsna cycle different from the others". 3. Edward Geoffrey Parrinder (1997). Avatar and Incarnation: The Divine in Human Form in the World's Religions. Oxford: Oneworld. pp. 19–24, 35–38, 75–78, 130–133. ISBN 978-1-85168-130-3 . 4. D. Muthu Prakash (2021), LIFE STORY OF CREATOR AND PROTECTOR OF UNIVERSE LORD MAHA VISHNU’S INCARNATE Ayya Vaikundar, IASF Publications, Chennai Tamil language Sri Lanka Singapore Malaysia Canada and United States Tamil ( தமிழ் , Tamiḻ , pronounced [t̪amiɻ] )
7448-466: The Indian Union; subsequently, an attempt was made on his life, following which he resigned and left for Madras, to be succeeded by Sri P.G.N. Unnithan . According to witnesses such as K. Aiyappan Pillai , constitutional adviser to the Maharaja and historians like A. Sreedhara Menon , the rioters and mob-attacks had no bearing on the decision of the Maharaja. After several rounds of discussion and negotiation between Sree Chithira Thirunal and V.P. Menon ,
7581-427: 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
7714-420: 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
7847-400: The Singarathoppu jail, where the jailor Appaguru ended up as a disciple of Vaikundar. Vaikundar was later set at liberty by the King. After the death of Sree Moolam Thirunal in 1924, Sethu Lakshmi Bayi became regent (1924–1931), as the heir apparent, Sree Chithira Thirunal was then a minor, 12 years old. In 1935, Travancore joined the Indian State Forces Scheme and a Travancore unit
7980-535: 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 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)
8113-503: The Tamils at Devikulam – Peermedu regions went through the atrocities of Travancore Police force. Condemning the attitude of the police, T.T.N.C leaders from Nagercoil went to Munnar and participated in agitations against the prohibitive orders. The leaders were arrested and an uncalm atmosphere prevailed in South Travancore. On 11 August, Liberation Day celebrations were held at many places in South Travancore. Public meetings and processions were organised. Communists also collaborated with
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#17328016488608246-463: 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
8379-517: The Travancore forces and was involved in annexation of small principalities. Travancore became the most dominant state in the Kerala region by defeating the powerful Zamorin of Kozhikode in the battle of Purakkad in 1755. Ramayyan Dalawa , the prime minister (1737–1756) of Marthanda Varma, also played an important role in this consolidation and expansion. On 3 January 1750, (5 Makaram , 925 Kollavarsham ), Marthanda Varma virtually "dedicated" Travancore to his tutelary deity Padmanabha , one of
8512-449: The Travancore soldiers camped in Pappanamcode, just outside Thiruvananthapuram . Velu Thampi Dalawa now organised a guerrilla struggle against the company, but committed suicide to avoid capture by the Travancore army. After the mutiny of 1805 against Velu Thampi Dalawa, most of the Nair army battalions of Travancore were disbanded, and after Velu Thampi Dalawa's uprising, almost all of the remaining Travancore forces were also disbanded, with
8645-427: The advice of Thycaud Ayya who was the Guru of Swathi thirunal Maharaj and a disciple of Ayya Vaikundar as well. After returning from the prison, Ayya Vaikundar inspired a group of his devotees to undertake a religious exercise called Thuvayal Thavasu . He also performed miracles. He married Saptha Kanniyar as Narayana (see: Marriage with the Seven Virgins ), the seven deities in the form of Ekam (see: Marriage with
8778-416: The agitation programmes. Police opened fire at the processions in Thoduvetty (Martandam) and Puthukadai. Nine Tamil volunteers were killed and thousands of T.T.N.C and communist sympathizers were arrested in various parts of Tamil main land. At the end, Pattom Thanu Pillai's ministry was toppled and normalcy returned to the Tamil regions. The central government had appointed Fazal Ali Commission (1953 dec) for
8911-442: 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
9044-413: The aspects of the Hindu God Vishnu with a lotus issuing from his navel on which Brahma sits. From then on the rulers of Travancore ruled as the "servants of Padmanabha" (the Padmnabha-dasar). At the Battle of Ambalapuzha, Marthanda Varma defeated the union of the kings who had been deposed and the king of the Cochin kingdom . Marthanda Varma's successor Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma (1758–1798), who
9177-408: The capital had been moved in 1601 to Padmanabhapuram , near Kalkulam. The Chera empire had dissolved by around 1100 and thereafter the territory comprised numerous small kingdoms until the time of Marthanda Varma who, as king of Venad from 1729, employed brutal methods to unify them. During his reign, Thiruvithamkoor (Anglicized as Travancore) became the official name. The Kingdom of Travancore
9310-418: The caste system was more rigorously enforced than in many other parts of India up to the mid-1800s. The hierarchical caste order was deeply entrenched in the social system and was supported by the government, which transformed this caste-based social system into a religious institution. In such a context, the belief in Ayyavazhi , apart from being a religious system, served also as a reform movement in uplifting
9443-436: The colonisation project. As a victory of the Colonisation project done by post-independence Travancore, these two Taluks and a larger portion of Cardamom Hills retained in the state of Kerala , after States Reorganisation Act, 1956 . Under the direct control of the King, Travancore's administration was headed by a Dewan assisted by the Neetezhutthu Pillay or secretary, Rayasom Pillay (assistant or under-secretary) and
9576-689: 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 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,
9709-429: The demons. Vaikundar, in a trance, made some of these Kanikkarar to testify in front of the people that they had surrendered their powers. People grew appreciative of Vaikundar's actions. They began addressing him as Vaikuntacami. This implied an attribution of divinity to Vaikundar. The fame of Vaikundar had begun to spread in the countries of Travancore and Tirunelveli , and he had been gradually recognised socially as
9842-952: 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
9975-399: 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 is also relatively close to the Tamil language and shares the format of the formal ancient Tamil language. While there are some variations from
10108-647: 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
10241-449: The downtrodden of society, both socially and religiously. The rituals of Ayyavazhi constituted a social discourse. Its beliefs, mode of worship, and religious organisation seem to have enabled the Ayyavazhi group to negotiate, cope with, and resist the imposition of authority. The hard tone of Vaikundar towards this was perceived as a revolution against the government. So King Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma initially imprisoned Vaikundar in
10374-450: The duress of possession got exhausted and fell flat on the ground. Thus the evil spirits were incinerated. Vaikundar performed another action to 'seize the esoteric evil powers'. The Akilam says that, he took away the powers of those who knew to perform witchcraft, sorcery, and other magical rituals. People living in the hills, called as Kanikkarar, were believed to be powerful shamans or witchdoctors, having powers to contain or to provoke
10507-468: The festival of Ayya vaikundar avataram , on 20th of the Tamil Month of Masi . Upon reaching Poovantanthoppu, (present-day Swamithopu ), he undertook a penance. The penance consisted of three stages, each spanning two years. A tradition describes his postures during the six-year tavam as follows: during the first two years, he stood inside a six feet deep pit; during the next two years, he squatted on
10640-676: The first time, an Art Advisor to the Government, Dr. G. H. Cousins. He also established a new form of University Training Corps, viz. Labour Corps , preceding the N.C.C, in the educational institutions. The expenses of the university were to be met fully by the government. Sree Chithira Thirunal also built a beautiful palace named Kowdiar Palace , finished in 1934, which was previously an old Naluektu , given by Sree Moolam Thirunal to his mother Sethu Parvathi Bayi in 1915. A famine in 1943 claimed approximately 90,000 lives in Travancore. However, his prime minister, Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer ,
10773-406: The ground; and during the last two years, he sat on a raised platform. His appearance was squalid, "long and entangled plait of hair" and frayed clothes. He spoke less and subsisted on frugal meals. The Akilam speaks of the act of incinerating the evil spirits as an important event in the life of Ayya Vaikundar. It took place when he was performing his penance, which had been announced by him to be
10906-699: 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
11039-480: The importance of self-respect and social dignity, he said, ‘if one lives with dignity and self-respect, the kali would destroy itself’. He said when people grew out of kalimayai , Dharma Yukam would unfold itself and in that age, he would rule over the people as Dharma Raja , the king of Dharma Yukam. Vaikundar made some controversial statements like mentioning the Travancore king as ‘Devil in Ananthapuri’ and
11172-504: The industrialisation of the state, enhancing the role of the public sector. He introduced heavy industry in the state and established giant public sector undertakings. As many as twenty industries were established, mostly for utilizing the local raw materials such as rubber, ceramics, and minerals. A majority of the premier industries in Kerala even today, were established by Sree Chithira Thirunal. He patronized musicians, artists, dancers, and Vedic scholars. Sree Chithira Thirunal appointed, for
11305-432: 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
11438-523: The king agreed that the Kingdom should accede to the Indian Union on 12 August 1947. On 1 July 1949 the Kingdom of Travancore was merged with the Kingdom of Cochin and the short-lived state of Travancore-Kochi was formed. On 11 July 1991, Maharaja Sree Chithira Thirunal suffered a stroke and was admitted to a hospital, where he died on 20 July. He had ruled Travancore for 67 years and at his death
11571-518: The land of proper Malayalis . The former state of Venad at the tip of the Indian subcontinent, traditionally ruled by rajas known as the Venattadis. Until the end of the 11th century AD, it was a small principality in the Ay Kingdom. The Ays were the earliest ruling dynasty in southern Kerala, who, at their zenith, ruled over a region from Nagercoil in the south to Thiruvananthapuram in
11704-408: The land under his leadership. 'Uplift of the lowly is dharmam’. was a constant refrain in his teachings. People were encouraged to serve as catalysts for the destruction of Kali by transforming themselves to be 'people of Dharma Yukam' and to acquire a new character. The new character would come upon them, he said, if they learned to live with self-respect, social dignity and fearlessness. Underscoring
11837-461: 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
11970-419: The legislative leader of the party. Then under his leadership, the awakened Tamil population was prepared to undergo any sacrifice to achieve their goal. In 1950, a meeting was held at Palayamkottai to make compromises between state congress and T.T.N.C. The meeting met with failure and Mr. Sam Nathaniel resigned from the post of president of T.T.N.C Mr. P. Ramasamy Pillai, a strong follower of Mr. A. Nesamony
12103-512: The life of Ayya Vaikundar. The film Oru Kudaikul (2021) also featured the tale of Ayya Vaikundar. 2. Benjamín Preciado-Solís (1984). The Kṛṣṇa Cycle in the Purāṇas: Themes and Motifs in a Heroic Saga. Motilal Banarsidass. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-89581-226-1 ., Quote: "Within a period of four or five centuries [around the start of the common era], we encounter our major sources of information, all in different versions. The Mahabharata,
12236-543: The major one at Kollam ( Venad Swaroopam or Desinganadu ) and a subsidiary one at Thrippapur ( Thrippapur Swaroopam or Nanjinad ). The kingdom was thus also called Venad . Kings of Venad had, built residential palaces in Thiruvithamcode and Kalkulam . Thiruvithamcode became the capital of the Thrippapur Swaroopam, and the country was referred to as Thiruvithamcode by Europeans even after
12369-470: The means of destroying the kalimayai – the illusory evil force. He, then, gathered the people around, and caused some of them to get possessed of the evil spirits (peyattam). The possessed ones came and danced in front of the crowd as if the evil spirits had come upon them. Vaikundar, then, ordered these evil spirits to make an oath, in front of the people, to surrender their powers and get burned up in flames. When he had finished his orders, those dancing under
12502-547: The merger of Tamil regions in Travancore with Tamil Nadu. During the election campaign, clashes occurred between the Tamil Nadar community and the Malayali Nair community in Kalkulam – Vilavancode taluks. The police force suppressed the agitating Nadars. In February 1948 police opened fire and two Tamil-speaking Nadars were killed. In the working committee meeting of Tamilian congress at Eraviputhur on 30 June 1946,
12635-423: 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 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
12768-551: The name of the political party was changed to Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress (T.T.N.C). T.T.N.C was popular among the Tamils living in Thovalai and Agateeswaram taluks. Ma. Po. Sivagnanam ( Ma.Po.Si ) was the only leader from Tamil Nadu who acted in favour of T.T.N.C. After the independence of India, State Assembly elections were announced in Travancore. As a consequence, T.T.N.C improved its popularity among Tamils. A popular and leading advocate from Vilavancode, A. Nesamony organised
12901-464: The nearby village of Puviyur . Thirumalammal had been previously married, but left her former husband to marry Mudisoodum Perumal. In his twenty-fourth year, he was struck by a severe illness and suffered for a year. His mother Veyilal Amma took her sick son to the temple at Thiruchendur , during a festival. There, He went into the sea and disappeared. On the Third day on March 2, 1833, Ukara-Pranava ,
13034-596: The north, Madurai and Tirunelveli districts of Pandya Nadu region in Madras Presidency to the east, the Indian Ocean to the south, and the Arabian Sea to the west. Travancore was divided into five divisions: Padmanabhapuram , Trivandrum , Quilon , Kottayam , and Devikulam , of which Padmanabhapuram and Devikulam was predominantly Tamil speaking region with small Malayalam speaking minorities. The divisions of Trivandrum , Kollam , Kottayam
13167-505: The north. Their capital during the first Sangam age was in Aykudi and later, towards the end of the eighth century AD, at Quilon (Kollam) . Though a series of attacks by the resurgent Pandyas between the seventh and eighth centuries caused the decline of the Ays, the dynasty was powerful until the beginning of the tenth century. Sulaiman al-Tajir , a Persian merchant who visited Kerala during
13300-537: 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
13433-526: The oldest available inscription written in Old Malayalam. Later, the northern regions of Thiruvananthapuram , Kollam , Alapuzha , and Pathanamthitta districts became proper Malayalam-speaking populations in Kerala , while the other districts showed influences from Arabic , Tamil and Kannada languages. During the period of Pattom Thanu Pillai , Travancore was referred to as Malayalam state or
13566-617: The payment of compensation for their involvement in the Travancore-Mysore War (1791) on behalf of Travancore, led to tension between the Diwan and Colonel Macaulay. Velu Thampi and the diwan of Cochin kingdom, Paliath Achan Govindan Menon, who was unhappy with Macaulay for granting asylum to his enemy Kunhi Krishna Menon, declared "war" on the East India Company. The East India Company army defeated Paliath Achan's army in Cochin on 27 February 1809. Paliath Achan surrendered to
13699-413: The people to come together around a well to take a ritual bath, irrespective of caste differences. He encouraged them to dine together in his presence. He gave out a number of teachings and instructions, the central point of which was that he had come to abolish Kali Yukam , and to usher in an age of Dharma Yukam , during the time of which the now-oppressed and suffering people would be liberated and rule
13832-602: The presence of the Western Ghats mountain ranges lying parallel to the coast, the population and language spoken in Kerala differed from those in neighboring states such as Tamil Nadu and Karnataka . According to the religious text " Keralolpathi " by the Nambudhiri Brahmins , the region from Gokharna to Kanyakumari district was created when Parashurama threw his axe and claimed this land, known as Parashuramakshetra. The Chera dynasty governed
13965-524: The present-day Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu . The region had many small independent kingdoms. Later, at the peak of the Chera - Chola - Pandya , this region became part of the Chera Kingdom (except for the Ay kingdom, which always remained independent). When the region was part of the Chera empire , it was still known as Thiruvazhumkode . It was contracted to Thiruvankode , and anglicised by
14098-565: The reign of Sthanu Ravi Varma (9th century CE), records that there was extensive trade between Kerala and China at that time, based at the port of Kollam. When the Ay diminished, Venad became the southernmost principality of the Second Chera Kingdom . An invasion of the Cholas into Venad caused the destruction of Kollam in 1096. However, the Chera capital, Mahodayapuram , also fell in the subsequent Chola attack, which compelled
14231-562: The requests of Tamils. During that period the Travancore State Congress favoured the idea of uniting all the Malayalam speaking regions and forming a "Unified Kerala". In protest against this idea, many Tamil leaders vacated the party. Tamils gathered together at Nagercoil on 16 December 1945 under the leadership of Sam Nathaniel and formed the new political party All Travancore Tamilian Congress. That party pushed for
14364-484: The smaller principalities of the native rulers. The Travancore royal family signed a treaty with the British in 1788, thereby adopting British dominance. Later, in 1805, they revised the treaty, leading to a diminution of royal authority and the loss of political independence for Travancore. They had to give up their ruling rights over the common people in 1949 when Travancore were forced to merge with Independent India. The kingdom takes its name from Thiruvithamcode in
14497-548: The southernmost part of modern-day Tamil Nadu ( Kanyakumari district and some parts of Tenkasi district ) with the Thachudaya Kaimal 's enclave of Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam temple in the neighbouring Kingdom of Cochin . However Tangasseri area of Kollam city and Anchuthengu near Attingal in Thiruvananthapuram were parts of British India . Malabar District of Madras Presidency to
14630-470: 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
14763-529: The states reorganisation based on language. It submitted its report on 10 August 1955. Based on this report, Devikulam – Peermedu and Neyyattinkara Taluks were merged with Kerala state . On 1 November 1956 – four Taluks Thovalai, Agastheeswaram, Kalkulam, Vilavancode were recognised to form the New Kanyakumari District and merged with Tamil Nadu State. Half of Sengottai Taluk was merged with Tirunelveli District . The main demand of T.T.N.C
14896-556: The teachings of Akilam and especially few books of Arul Nool form the basis of Ayyavazhi belief. The birth anniversary of Ayya Vaikundar is celebrated as Ayya Vaikunda Avataram on the 20th of Masi as per the Tamil Calendar (3 or 4 March C.E). In 1809, a baby born (lit. "Vishnu with a crown") to Ponnu Madan and Veyilal Amma at Poovandanthope in the Kanyakumari District (part of Travancore then). The baby boy
15029-524: The temples of Venad kingdom, especially the Sri Padmanabhaswamy temple . In the early 18th century CE, the Travancore royal family adopted some members from the royal family of Kolathunadu based at Kannur , and Parappanad in present-day Malappuram district . The history of Travancore began with Marthanda Varma, who inherited the kingdom of Venad (Thrippappur), and expanded it into Travancore during his reign (1729–1758). After defeating
15162-526: 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
15295-534: 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,
15428-505: Was a kingdom that lasted from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram , and later Thiruvananthapuram . At its zenith, the kingdom covered most of the south of modern-day Kerala ( Idukki , Kottayam , Alappuzha , Pathanamthitta , Kollam , and Thiruvananthapuram districts, major portions of Ernakulam district , Puthenchira village of Thrissur district ) and
15561-600: 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
15694-540: 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 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
15827-456: Was documented historically and detailed in critical contemporary sources externally as well. Though the prime features of Ayya Vaikundar's mission is revealed through Akilathirattu, he also teaches orally. His oral teaching are compiled in the Books of Pathiram , Sivakanta Athikara Pathiram and Thingal Patham . Though Akilam is directly against creating any form of organised religion or belief,
15960-571: Was elected as the New President. The first general election of Independent India was held on 1952. T.T.N.C won 8 legislative assembly seats. Mr. A. Chidambaranathan became the minister on behalf of T.T.N.C in the coalition state government formed by the Congress. In the parliamentary Constituency Mr. A. Nesamony was elected as M.P. and in the Rajyasabha seat. Mr. A. Abdul Razak was elected as M.P. on behalf of T.T.N.C. In due course, accusing
16093-524: Was interred in a tomb and a pati (temple) was built around the same later. His devotees revere this site, and performed the rituals as they used to do when Vaikundar was bodily present. His life and works remain the foundation of the Ayyavazhi. The head temple of the Ayyavazhi is the Swamithopepathi and is located in the Village of Swamithope . The film Ayyavazhi released in 2008 was based on
16226-405: Was located at the extreme southern tip of the Indian subcontinent . Geographically, Travancore was divided into three climatically distinct regions: the eastern highlands (rugged and cool mountainous terrain), the central midlands (rolling hills), and the western lowlands (coastal plains). Due to the geographical isolation of the Malabar Coast from the rest of the Indian peninsula, attributed to
16359-508: Was named 1st Travancore Nair Infantry , Travancore State Forces . The unit was reorganised as an Indian State Infantry Battalion by Lieutenant Colonel H S Steward, who was appointed commandant of the Travancore State Forces. The last ruling king of Travancore, Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma , reigned from 1931 to 1949. "His reign marked revolutionary progress in the fields of education, defence, economy and society as
16492-469: Was named Mudisoodum Perumal . The religious book, Akilam mentions that the child was still-born, and then the soul of the deva Sampooranathevan was placed in the body. He had special interest in the worship of the Vishnu . The holy book Akilam mentions that he had set a pedestal for Vishnu in his house and worshipped the deity devoutly. At the age of seventeen, He came to live with Thirumalammal from
16625-710: Was one of the few surviving rulers of a first-class princely state in the old British Raj . He was also the last surviving Knight Grand Commander of both the Order of the Star of India and of the Order of the Indian Empire . He was succeeded as head of the Royal House as well as the Titular Maharajah of Travancore by his younger brother, Uthradom Thirunal Marthanda Varma . The Government of India issued
16758-444: Was popularly known as Dharma Raja , shifted the capital in 1795 from Padmanabhapuram to Thiruvananthapuram . Dharma Raja 's period is considered a Golden Age in the history of Travancore. He not only retained the territorial gains of his predecessor, but also improved and encouraged social development. He was greatly assisted by a very efficient administrator, Raja Kesavadas , the Diwan of Travancore. Travancore often allied with
16891-718: Was predominantly Malayalam speaking region with small Tamil speaking Minority. King Marthanda Varma inherited the small feudal state of Venad in 1723, and built it into Travancore. Marthanda Varma led the Travancorean forces during the Travancore-Dutch War of 1739–46, which culminated in the Battle of Colachel . The defeat of the Dutch by Travancore is considered the earliest example of an organised power from Asia overcoming European military technology and tactics. Marthanda Varma went on to conquer most of
17024-504: Was the lingua franca for early maritime traders, with inscriptions found in places like Sri Lanka , Thailand , and Egypt . The language has 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
17157-451: 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
17290-453: Was the first prime minister of Travancore, that they retained in the modern-state of Kerala . Pattom came up with a colonisation project to re-engineer the demography of Cardamom Hills . His colonisation project was to relocate 8,000 Malayalam -speaking families into the Taluks of Devikulam and Peermade . About 50,000 acres in these Taluks, which were Tamil-majority area, were chosen for
17423-429: Was to merger the Tamil regions with Tamil Nadu and major part of its demand was realised. So T.T.N.C was dissolved thereafter. Apart from Kanyakumari district , the Taluks of Devikulam and Peermade in present-day Idukki district also had a Tamil -majority until late 1940's. The T.T.N.C had also requested to merge these Taluks with Madras State . However it was due to some decisions of Pattom Thanu Pillai , who
17556-645: Was under the Ay dynasty . During the Ay dynasty, they spoke a language known as Middle Tamil , which differed from Tamil spoken in Tamil Nadu. Later Ay dynasty, conquered and succeeded by the Kulashekara Perumals , based in Kollam (later known as Venad ), during the period of the Chera Kulashekara Perumal (Keralaputras) dynasty, the language evolved into Old-Malayalam . The Quilon copper plates (849/850 CE) are considered
17689-701: Was unpopular among the communists of Travancore. The tension between the Communists and Iyer led to minor riots. In one such riot in Punnapra-Vayalar in 1946, the Communist rioters established their own government in the area. This was put down by the Travancore Army and Navy. The prime minister issued a statement in June 1947 that Travancore would remain an independent country instead of joining
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