CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION OF HISTORY

History is the study and the documentation of the past. Events before the invention of
writing systems are considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events
as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of
these events. Historians seek knowledge of the past using historical sources such as written
documents, oral accounts, art and material artifacts, and ecological markers.

History is also an academic discipline which uses narrative to describe, examine,

question, and analyze past events, and investigate their patterns of cause and effect. Historians
often debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different
causes and effects. Historians also debate the nature of history as an end in itself, as well as its
usefulness to give perspective on the problems of the present.

Stories common to a particular culture, but not supported by external sources (such as
the tales surrounding King Arthur), are usually classified as cultural heritage or legends. History
differs from myth in that it is supported by verifiable evidence. However, ancient cultural
influences have helped spawn variant interpretations of the nature of history which have evolved
over the centuries and continue to change today. The modern study of history is wide-ranging,
and includes the study of specific regions and the study of certain topical or thematic elements
of historical investigation. History is often taught as a part of primary and secondary education,
and the academic study of history is a major discipline in university studies.

Herodotus, a 5th-century BC Greek historian, is often considered the "father of history"

in the Western tradition, although he has also been criticized as the "father of lies". Along with
his contemporary Thucydides, he helped form the foundations for the modern study of past
events and societies. Their works continue to be read today, and the gap between the culture-
focused Herodotus and the military-focused Thucydides remains a point of contention or
approach in modern historical writing. In East Asia, a state chronicle, the Spring and Autumn
Annals, was reputed to date from as early as 722 BC, although only 2nd-century BC texts have
survived.

AREA OF STUDY

Periods

Historical study often focuses on events and developments that occur in particular blocks
of time. Historians give these periods of time names in order to allow "organising ideas and
classificatory generalisations" to be used by historians.[52] The names given to a period can vary
with geographical location, as can the dates of the beginning and end of a particular
period. Centuries and decades are commonly used periods and the time they represent depends
on the dating system used. Most periods are constructed retrospectively and so reflect value
judgments made about the past. The way periods are constructed and the names given to them
can affect the way they are viewed and studied.

Prehistoric periodisation

The field of history generally leaves prehistory to archaeologists, who have entirely
different sets of tools and theories. In archaeology, the usual method for periodisation of the
distant prehistoric past is to rely on changes in material culture and technology, such as
the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age, with sub-divisions that are also based on different
styles of material remains. Here prehistory is divided into a series of "chapters" so that periods
in history could unfold not only in a relative chronology but also narrative chronology. This
narrative content could be in the form of functional-economic interpretation. There are
periodisations, however, that do not have this narrative aspect, relying largely on relative
chronology, and that are thus devoid of any specific meaning.

Despite the development over recent decades of the ability through radiocarbon
dating and other scientific methods to give actual dates for many sites or artefacts, these long-
established schemes seem likely to remain in use. In many cases neighbouring cultures with
writing have left some history of cultures without it, which may be used. Periodisation, however,
is not viewed as a perfect framework, with one account explaining that "cultural changes do not
conveniently start and stop (combinedly) at periodisation boundaries" and that different
trajectories of change need to be studied in their own right before they get intertwined with
cultural phenomena.

Geographical locations

Particular geographical locations can form the basis of historical study, for
example, continents, countries, and cities. Understanding why historic events took place is
important. To do this, historians often turn to geography. According to Jules Michelet in his
book Histoire de France (1833), "without geographical basis, the people, the makers of history,
seem to be walking on air.” Weather patterns, the water supply, and the landscape of a place all
affect the lives of the people who live there. For example, to explain why the ancient Egyptians
developed a successful civilization, studying the geography of Egypt is essential. Egyptian
civilization was built on the banks of the Nile River, which flooded each year, depositing soil on
its banks. The rich soil could help farmers grow enough crops to feed the people in the cities.
That meant everyone did not have to farm, so some people could perform other jobs that helped
develop the civilization. There is also the case of climate, which historians like Ellsworth
Huntington and Ellen Churchill Semple cited as a crucial influence on the course of history.
Huntington and Semple further argued that climate has an impact on racial temperament.

Regions

 History of Africa begins with the first emergence of modern human beings on the continent,
continuing into its modern present as a patchwork of diverse and politically developing
nation states.
 History of the Americas is the collective history of North and South America, including
Central America and the Caribbean.
o History of North America is the study of the past passed down from generation to
generation on the continent in the Earth's northern and western hemisphere.
o History of Central America is the study of the past passed down from generation to
generation on the continent in the Earth's western hemisphere.
 o History of the Caribbean begins with the oldest evidence where 7,000-year-old remains
have been found.
o History of South America is the study of the past passed down from generation to
generation on the continent in the Earth's southern and western hemisphere.
 History of Antarctica emerges from early Western theories of a vast continent, known as
Terra Australis, believed to exist in the far south of the globe.
 History of Eurasia is the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal regions: the
Middle East, South Asia, East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Europe, linked by the interior mass
of the Eurasian steppe of Central Asia and Eastern Europe.
o History of Europe describes the passage of time from humans inhabiting the European
continent to the present day.
o History of Asia can be seen as the collective history of several distinct peripheral coastal
regions, East Asia, South Asia, and the Middle East linked by the interior mass of the
Eurasian steppe.
 History of East Asia is the study of the past passed down from generation to
generation in East Asia.
 History of the Middle East begins with the earliest civilizations in the region now
known as the Middle East that were established around 3000 BC, in Mesopotamia
(Iraq).
 History of India is the study of the past passed down from generation to generation
in the Sub-Himalayan region.
 History of Southeast Asia has been characterized as interaction between regional
players and foreign powers.
 History of Oceania is the collective history of Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific
Islands.
o History of Australia starts with the documentation of the Makassar trading with
Indigenous Australians on Australia's north coast.
 o History of New Zealand dates back at least 700 years to when it was discovered and
settled by Polynesians, who developed a distinct Māori culture centred on kinship links
and land.
o History of the Pacific Islands covers the history of the islands in the Pacific Ocean.

Military

Military history concerns warfare, strategies, battles, weapons, and the psychology of
combat. The "new military history" since the 1970s has been concerned with soldiers more than
generals, with psychology more than tactics, and with the broader impact of warfare on society
and culture.

Religious

The history of religion has been a main theme for both secular and religious historians
for centuries, and continues to be taught in seminaries and academe. Leading journals
include Church History, The Catholic Historical Review, and History of Religions. Topics range
widely from political and cultural and artistic dimensions, to theology and liturgy. This subject
studies religions from all regions and areas of the world where humans have lived.

Social

Social history, sometimes called the new social history, is the field that includes history
of ordinary people and their strategies and institutions for coping with life In its "golden age" it
was a major growth field in the 1960s and 1970s among scholars, and still is well represented in
history departments. In two decades from 1975 to 1995, the proportion of professors of history
in American universities identifying with social history rose from 31% to 41%, while the
proportion of political historians fell from 40% to 30%. In the history departments of British
universities in 2007, of the 5723 faculty members, 1644 (29%) identified themselves with social
history while political history came next with 1425 (25%). The "old" social history before the
1960s was a hodgepodge of topics without a central theme, and it often included political
movements, like Populism, that were "social" in the sense of being outside the elite system.
Social history was contrasted with political history, intellectual history and the history of great
men. English historian G. M. Trevelyan saw it as the bridging point between economic and
political history, reflecting that, "Without social history, economic history is barren and political
history unintelligible." While the field has often been viewed negatively as history with the
politics left out, it has also been defended as "history with the people put back in".

Subfields

The chief subfields of social history include:

 Black history
 Demographic history
 Ethnic history
 Gender history
 History of childhood
 History of education
 History of the family
 Labour history
 LGBT history
 Rural history
 Urban history
o American urban history
 Women's history

Cultural

Cultural history replaced social history as the dominant form in the 1980s and 1990s. It
typically combines the approaches of anthropology and history to look at language, popular
cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records
and narrative descriptions of past knowledge, customs, and arts of a group of people. How
peoples constructed their memory of the past is a major topic. Cultural history includes the study
of art in society as well is the study of images and human visual production (iconography).
Diplomatic

Diplomatic history focuses on the relationships between nations, primarily regarding

diplomacy and the causes of wars. More recently it looks at the causes of peace and human
rights. It typically presents the viewpoints of the foreign office, and long-term strategic values,
as the driving force of continuity and change in history. This type of political history is the study
of the conduct of international relations between states or across state boundaries over time.
Historian Muriel Chamberlain notes that after the First World War, "diplomatic history replaced
constitutional history as the flagship of historical investigation, at once the most important, most
exact and most sophisticated of historical studies." She adds that after 1945, the trend reversed,
allowing social history to replace it.

Economic

Although economic history has been well established since the late 19th century, in
recent years academic studies have shifted more and more toward economics departments and
away from traditional history departments. Business history deals with the history of individual
business organizations, business methods, government regulation, labour relations, and impact
on society. It also includes biographies of individual companies, executives, and entrepreneurs.
It is related to economic history. Business history is most often taught in business schools.

Environmental

Environmental history is a new field that emerged in the 1980s to look at the history of
the environment, especially in the long run, and the impact of human activities upon it. It is an
offshoot of the environmental movement, which was kickstarted by Rachel Carson's Silent
Spring in the 1960s.

World

World history is the study of major civilizations over the last 3000 years or so. World
history is primarily a teaching field, rather than a research field. It gained popularity in the
United States,[73] Japan[74] and other countries after the 1980s with the realization that students
need a broader exposure to the world as globalization proceeds.
It has led to highly controversial interpretations by Oswald Spengler and Arnold J. Toynbee,
among others.

The World History Association publishes the Journal of World History every quarter
since 1990.[75] The H-World discussion list serves as a network of communication among
practitioners of world history, with discussions among scholars, announcements, syllabi,
bibliographies and book reviews.

People's

A people's history is a type of historical work which attempts to account for historical
events from the perspective of common people. A people's history is the history of the world
that is the story of mass movements and of the outsiders. Individuals or groups not included in
the past in other types of writing about history are the primary focus, which includes
the disenfranchised, the oppressed, the poor, the nonconformists, and the otherwise forgotten
people. The authors are typically on the left and have a socialist model in mind, as in the
approach of the History Workshop movement in Britain in the 1960s.

Intellectual

Intellectual history and the history of ideas emerged in the mid-20th century, with the
focus on the intellectuals and their books on the one hand, and on the other the study of ideas as
disembodied objects with a career of their own.

Gender

Gender history is a subfield of History and Gender studies, which looks at the past from
the perspective of gender. The outgrowth of gender history from women's history stemmed from
many non-feminist historians dismissing the importance of women in history. According to Joan
W. Scott, “Gender is a constitutive element of social relationships based on perceived
differences between the sexes, and gender is a primary way of signifying relations of
power”,[80] meaning that gender historians study the social effects of perceived differences
between the sexes and how all genders utilize allotted power in societal and political structures.
Despite being a relatively new field, gender history has had a significant effect on the general
study of history. Gender history traditionally differs from women's history in its inclusion of all
aspects of gender such as masculinity and femininity, and today's gender history extends to
include people who identify outside of that binary. LGBT history deals with the first recorded
instances of same-sex love and sexuality of ancient civilizations, and involves the history
of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) peoples and cultures around the world.

Public

Public history describes the broad range of activities undertaken by people with some
training in the discipline of history who are generally working outside of specialized academic
settings. Public history practice has quite deep roots in the areas of historic preservation,
archival science, oral history, museum curatorship, and other related fields. The term itself
began to be used in the U.S. and Canada in the late 1970s, and the field has become increasingly
professionalized since that time. Some of the most common settings for public history are
museums, historic homes and historic sites, parks, battlefields, archives, film and television
companies, and all levels of government.

Types of History

India has an extremely rich and diverse culture, what you read in your class 10 history is
extremely interesting in the present context.

A lot of students get interested in history mainly due to history class 10 books show to
us, all the battles to all the historical monuments made during the ancient eras. From Battle to
Panipat to the achievements of The Great Shivaji Maharaj, India has a great history and we must
respect it.

History is a science in and of itself and like most if not all scientific fields, History is
divided into many more sub-categories, each specifically studying a period of Human
history or a specific region of the world.
 If you are studying for a History degree or you are already an undergraduate aiming for a
bachelor, you will most likely study many though not all, aspects of History.

With the rise of civilisations, not in one unique location on the planet but everywhere
man had settled, many different cultures emerged across the globe. Each of these cultures
possesses their own history, often written down by local historians but frequently passed from a
generation to the other through oral tradition.

Not only history is divided chronologically and geographically, but some fields of history
also study specific subjects of Human culture, such as:

 Political history, which studies the story of government, political leaders, elections,
policies and the interaction between the different branches of government
 Diplomatic history, which studies the relations between countries, ambassadors, and
ideas of diplomacy
 Social history, which studies the ways and customs of a people, of families and children,
education, as well as demography, and social institutions such as churches.
 Cultural history, which studies languages and their uses, the arts including literature,
sports and other entertainments and the way they participate in constructing cultural
identities
 Economic history, which studies how a whole system of production and consumption
(or of any of its parts) works, of businesses, industry, banks, and working classes at all
levels of the system
 Intellectual history, which studies ideology and epistemology and works to analyze
how ideas affect human lives and how the material world influences human ideas.

There is much more than that still. There is even a field of History called Historiography,
which is the history of history. Instead of subjecting actual events - say, the conquest of England
by William, Duke of Normandy - to historical analysis, the object of historiography is the
history of the history of the event: how it has been written, the often conflicting bias pursued by
those writing about it through time, and the way in which such circumstances shape our
understanding of the actual event in question, and of the nature of history itself.

Questions of historiography include the following:

 who writes history, what was their agenda, and towards what goal?
 how reliable can a historian ever aspire to be, interpreting past events from the point of
view of the historian's present?
 what about the sources a historian choose to include in their work or purposefully
exclude?

To keep it simple we will only look at the main groups of history, Ancient, Postclassical and
Modern as well as Art History.

Ancient History

The History of humanity starts when the first civilisation emerged and historians defined
everything that came before as Pre-History.

Commonly, Ancient history is accepted to begin around 3000BCE with the apparition of
early writing system in Mesopotamia. It extends up until the 6th century CE when the Western
Roman Empire collapsed following a succession of invasion and the death of the last Roman
Emperor, Romulus Augustulus.

Archaeology has been at the centre of any research regarding Ancient History. It has
played a huge part in our knowledge of early civilizations, from the excavation of
the Terracotta Army of the First Qin Emperor in ancient China to the exploration of
the Mayan Pyramids in South America.

Egypt, as the birth place of one of the earliest civilisation on the planet, is full of
historical sites that have fascinated historians for hundreds of years. (by Retlaw Snellac
Photography)
Medieval History

Whereas Ancient History stop in 500CE, Modern History only starts around 1500,
depending on the geographic region you are studying. So what happened during those roughly
1000 years?

Those ten centuries of history is what Historians refer to as the Middles Ages or
Medieval times. In Western and Central Europe this era started when the Roman
Empire collapsed but it is not exactly the same for all parts of the world.

For Scandinavia including current Denmark, Finland and Norway, the Medieval times is
often assimilated to the Age of the Vikings, beginning in 793 with the first ever recorded
Viking invasion in England and lasted until the failed invasion attempted by the Norwegian king
Harald III (Haraldr Harðráði), who was defeated by Saxon King Harold Godwinson in 1066
at the Battle of Stamford Bridge; in Ireland. The same year, William the Conqueror, Duke of
Normandy, and descendant of Vikings himself defeated Harold Godwinson and became King of
England.

In the East, Japan's medieval period is commonly accepted to start with the Nara
period (when Empress Genmei established the capital of Heijō-kyō) in 709 and ended with the
last battle of Sekighahara in 1600 when Tokugawa and his allies defeated
the Toyotomi regime and unified the country.

At the same time on the continent, China's different historical periods did not follow the
same pattern and the Imperial Era of China began in 221 with the Qin dynasty and only ended
with the Qing Emperor in 1911.

In the Middle East and North Africa as well as the Iberian Peninsula, Medieval times
were marked by the ascent of Islam and the creation of powerful Empires.

As studying and following history courses requires a lot of critical thinking skills as
well as research skills, many university alumni who graduated from a scholar institution with
a degree level in History turn to the law after completing their undergraduate tuition and
become lawyers.

The Vikings left far more than just a few casks in England (by Arthur_ASCII)

Modern History

The Middles Ages slowly faded in Europe as Renaissance was making its way to a full-
blown social, religious and economic change. Even though the Renaissance movement started in
Italy around the 13th century, with the rediscovery of Antic philosopher and the contact with the
scientific knowledge of the Middle East, Medieval History only ended around the year 1500
following a few major events:

 The invention of the printing press by Gutenberg in 1439

 The discovery of the Americas by Christopher Colombus in 1492.
 The globalisation of the world and the acceleration of the exchange of ideas, goods and
money through Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

Academics commonly split Modern History into two periods, Early Modern History and
Late Modern History. For students who have successfully past the admission stage in their
undergraduate degree, Modern History will probably be studied over more than one semester
along with other humanities discipline, some elective and some mandatory.

Early Modern History includes:

 The Renaissance, marked by a new school of thought, Humanism, and the rediscovery
of classical Greek philosophy
 The Reformation (the split in Western Christianity launched by Martin Luther and
sustained by Huldrych Zwingli, John Calvin and other Protestant Reformers in 16th-
century Europe)
 The Counter-Reformation, was the Catholic resurgence launched in response to the
Protestant Reformation, starting with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) and ending at the
 end of the Thirty Years' War (1648). It was initiated to protect the power, influence and
wealth held by the Catholic Church.
 The Age of Discovery, spanning from the 15th century until the end of the 18th century
and was marked by extensive overseas exploration which led to a profound change in
European diplomacy and was the inception of globalization.
 The Rise of capitalism, based on the private ownership of the means of production and
their operation for profit.
 The Golden Age of Piracy, which spans from the 1650s to the late 1720s and includes
three separate upheavals of piracy:
 The buccaneering period of approximately 1650 to 1680, characterized by French
and English sailors based in Tortuga and Jamaica and targeting Spanish ships and
colonies throughout the Caribbeans
 The Pirate Round of the 1690s, marked by long-distance cross sea voyages from
the Americas to rob Muslim and East India Company possessions in the Indian
Ocean and the Red Sea
 The post-Spanish Succession, from 1716 to 1726, when English and American
seamen and privateers, turned to piracy after the end of the Spanish Succession
war and roamed in the Caribbean, the North American Eastern Coasts, the West
African seaboard, and the Indian Ocean.

History is such a vast and interesting subject that most universities and school
institutions offer the possibility to pursue a History degree or to study history in an
interdisciplinary bachelor of arts degree for example. You could even look past your graduation
and continue on getting a doctoral degree in History.

Commonly accepted to start at the end of the 18th century and was marked by major events such
as:

 The American Revolution, which ended the dominion of the British Crown over its
American colonies.
  The French Revolution, which ended with the abolition of monarchy and initiated a
democratic government system.
 The Colonization of Australia, driven by the need to address overpopulation in the
British prison system, and the fact that the British Crown had lost the Thirteen Colonies
of America in the American Revolution.
 The Revolutions of 1848, which were a series of political upheavals across Europe in
1848 (France, Italy, Denmark, Germany, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland and Ireland
were all affected). It continues to be the most widespread revolutionary wave in
European history.
 The Russian Revolution, which was not one but two revolutions in Russia in 1917
which struck down the Tsarist absolutism and led to the rise of the Soviet Union. The
Russian Empire fell with the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II.
 The First World War and the Second World War, from 1914 to 1918 and 1939 to
1945 involved all the main powers of the time and almost all countries on the planet.
Those two conflicts resulted in the death of tens of millions of soldiers and civilians and
changed the world order forever.

If you study civilization and societies, time spent in the classroom will mainly focus on
historical research and analytical and critical thinking, all research skills being the requirement
for journalism or a career in sociology.

Laocoon and his Sons' was one of the first piece of art to be describe by an Historian, Pliny
the Elder (by Kartlyn Earth & ArtKN)

Art History

One of the sub-categories of History is the History of Art. While the main focus of
Historians has mostly been to study and analyse historical, religious, social and
political events through different periods, Art History has been focused on something different.
 Art Historians have been studying the visual, aural and oral expression of humanity.
Scholars scrutinising Art History have been trying to interpret visual art, music and fictional
writings through a thorough investigation using different approaches and methodologies.

One of the earliest Art Historians that we know of is one of the most Antiquity Historian,
namely Pliny the Elder. During his time he was considered to be one of the most
famous Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher and even served as a naval and
army commander of the early Roman Empire.

If you are studying liberal arts, it is very likely that your coursework and curriculum will
include some Art History before the completion of your degree programs.

There are many more fields of History that one can spend their life to study, from
Western civilization to Latin American History, African History, anthropology, American
History or even African American History. The different history degrees that you can earn are
many if not endless.
 CHAPTER II

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF

TAMILNADU AND COIMBATORE

History And Geography

The State of Tamil Nadu has a hoary antiquity. Though early sangam classics throw historical
references, we pass to recorded history only from the Pallavas.

The southern states of India were under the hegemony of the Cholas, the Cheras and the
Pandyas for centuries. The Pallavas held supremacy from about the second quarter of the fourth
century A.D. They were the originators of the famous Dravidian style of temple architecture.
The last Pallava ruler was Aparajita, in whose reign the later Cholas under Vijayalaya and
Aditya asserted themselves by about the 10th century. At the end of the 11th century, Tamil Nadu
was ruled by several dynasties like the Chalukyas, Cholas and Pandyas. In the two centuries that
followed, the imperial Cholas gained paramountcy over South India.

Muslims gradually strengthened their position, which led to the establishment of the
Bahamani Sultanate, by the middle of the 14th century. At the same time, the Vijayanagar
Kingdom quickly consolidated itself and extended its sway over the whole of South India, and at
the close of the century, Vijayanagar became the supreme power in South. However, it crumbled
at the battle of Talikota in 1564 to the confederate forces of the Deccan Sultans.

Even during the period of the tumultuous confusion that followed the battle of Talikota,
European commercial interest had appeared as rivals in the area of South India. The Portuguese,
the Dutch, the French and the English came in quick succession and established trading centres
known as 'Factories'. East India Company, which had established its factory at Masulipatnam
(now in Andhra Pradesh) in 1611, gradually annexed territories by encouraging enmity among
the native rulers. Tamil Nadu was one of the first of British settlements in India. The State is the
successor to the old Madras Presidency, which covered the bulk of the southern peninsula in
1901. The composite Madras State was later reorganised, and the present Tamil Nadu was
formed.

Tamil Nadu is bounded on north by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, on the west by
Kerala, on the east by the Bay of Bengal, and on the south by the Indian Ocean.

Administrative units of state

District Statistics 38
Revenue Divisions 87
Taluks 310
Firkas 1,349
Revenue Villages 17,680
Municipal Corporations 15
Municipalities 121
Panchayat Unions (Blocks) 385
Town Panchayats 528
Village Panchayats 12,618
Lok Sabha Constituencies 39
Assembly Constituencies 234

Tamil Nadu State Symbols

State Anima Nilgiri tahr

State Bird Emerald dove
State Flower Glorosa lily
State Tree Palm tree
State Butterfly Tamil yeoman
State Fruit Jackfruit
Agriculture

Agriculture is the major occupation in Tamilnadu. The total cultivated area in the State
was 56.10 million hectares in 2007-08. The principal food crops include paddy, millets and
pulses. Commercial crops include sugarcane, cotton, sunflower, coconut, cashew, chillies,
gingelly and groundnut. Plantation crops are tea, coffee, cardamom and rubber. Major forest
produces are timber, sandalwood, pulp wood and fuel wood. Tamilnadu occupies a premier
position in the production and extensive application of bio-fertilizers. Efforts are on to improve
farming technologies so as to increase yields in the low rainfall areas of the State. Annual food
grains production in the year 2007-08 was 100.35 lakh mt.

Industry and Minerals

Major Industries in the State are cotton, heavy commercial vehicles, auto components,
railway coaches, power pumps, leather tanning industries, cement, sugar, paper, automobiles
and safety matches.

Knowledge based industries like I.T. and Biotechnology have become the thrust area in
the industrial scene in Tamilnadu. TIDEL, a software technology park, has been established in
Tharamani, Chennai. The Software export from the State which was Rs. 20,700 crores in 2006-
07 is expected to cross Rs. 25,000 crores in 2007-08. Top I.T. and Telecom companies such as
Nokia, Motorola, Foxcon, Flextronic and Dell have commenced production.

Global auto majors Hyundai Motors, Ford, Hindustan Motors and Mitsubishi have
commenced production plants. Ashok Leyland and TAFE have set up expansion plants in
Chennai.

Main mineral wealth of the state is granite, lignite and limestone. The state is an
important exporter of tanned skin and leather goods, yarn, tea, coffee, spices, engineering goods,
tobacco, handicrafts and black granite. Tamil Nadu contributes to 60 per cent of the tannery
industry in India.

Irrigation
Important irrigation schemes and modernisation of existing Periyar Vaigai System, Palar
Basin System and Parambikulam-Aliyar System besides the minor system in Vellar, Pennayar,
Araniyar Amaravathi, Chithar basins totaling, an extent of six lakh acres of existing ayacut in
Tamil Nadu have been benefited by implementing the 'System Improvement and Farmers
Turnover Projects' executed with assistance from World Bank. The major irrigation system
covering one-third of irrigated extent in Tamil Nadu, namely tank irrigation system has been
given due regard for development under WRCP, and 620 tanks maintained by Public Works
Department falling under Palar, Vaigai, and Tamaraparani Basins have been taken up for
rehabilitation and improvement. The State has become the pioneer State to implement the
system of 'River basin management' by an individual body consisting of officials and farmers
besides various representatives of the basin. To start with, Basin Management Boards have been
formed for Palar and Tamaraparani basins.

Power
The total installed capacity for electricity in the State is 8,249 MW. The installed
capacity of State Sector is 5,288 MW, and that of Private Sector is 1,058 MW. Apart from this,
1,903 MW is available as share from Central Sector.

Transport
 Roads: The length of roads network in Tamil Nadu is 1, 93,918 km.
 Railways: The total length of railways is 4,181 km, the main junctions being Chennai,
Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Coimbatore and Tirunelveli.
 Aviation: Chennai being the international airport in the southern region is the main
centre of airline routes. Besides, there are airports at Tiruchirapalli, Madurai, Coimbatore
and Salem.
  Ports: Major ports in the State are Chennai and Tuticorin. There are seven other minor
ports including Cuddalore and Nagapattinam.

Festivals
Pongal is the harvest festival celebrated by the farmers in January to worship the sun, the earth
and the cattle as thanks giving for a bounteous harvest. Pongal festival is followed by
the Jallikattu-Bull fight, in some parts of southern Tamil Nadu. Alanganallur in Tamil Nadu is
internationally famous for Jallikattu - Bull fight. Chithirai festival, Madurai brings a
spectacular re-enactment of the marriage of the Pandiyan princess Meenakshi to Lord
Sundareswarar. Adipperukku is a festival celebrated on the 18th day of Tamil month, Adi, on
the banks of rivers. It marks the commencement of new farming operations. Dance
Festival, Mamallapuram, which is set before an open air stage, created 13 centuries ago the
incredible monolithic rock sculptures of the Pallavas, next to the sea in this ancient city of
Mamallapuram. Bharatha Natyam, Kuchipudi, Kathakali, and Odissi are some dance forms
presented by the very best exponents of the art besides folk dances. At the Natyanjali Dance
Festival, the temple city of Chidambaram pays special tribute to Lord Nataraja the 'Cosmic
Dancer'.

Mahamagam Festival is a holy festival that brings pilgrims to Kumbakonam once in 12

years - the temple city that gets its name from Kumbha - the divine pot. The summer festival is
held every year in the 'Queen of Hill Stations', the evergreen Ooty, the exquisite Kodaikkanal or
the salubrious heights of Yercaud. Kanthuri Festival is a truly secular festival, where devotees
flock to the shrine of saint Quadirwali. One of the descendants of the Saint is chosen as
a Peer or spiritual leader, and is honoured with offerings. On the tenth day of the festival, the
Saint's tomb is anointed with sandalwood, and later the holy sandal paste is distributed to
everyone. Wondrous legends surround the church, the most famous being that of the ship
wrecked Portuguese sailors, who in the 16th century, vowed to build a great shrine for the Virgin
Mary, for saving their lives in a terrible storm. The Velankanni festival attracts thousands, clad
in orange robes to the sacred spot where the ship landed. Equally famous are the Virgin Mary's
miraculous healing powers, earning for the church the name 'Lourdes of the East'.

The Navarathiri Festival, literally means the festival of 'nine nights', taking unique and
different forms in different states of India, all to propitiate the goddess Sakthi, for power, wealth
and knowledge. Rows of glittering earthen lamps outside every home and joyous burst of fire
crackers mark Tamil Nadu's Festival of lights, Karthigai Deepam. In December, Chennai
celebrates her priceless heritage of carnatic music and dance at its Music Festival to present a
galaxy of star artistes, old and new.

The region of Tamil Nadu in the southeast of modern India, shows evidence of having
had continuous human habitation from 15,000 BCE to 10,000 BCE.[1][2] Throughout its history,
spanning the early Upper Paleolithic age to modern times, this region has coexisted with various
external cultures.

The three ancient Tamil dynasties namely Chera, Chola, and Pandya were of ancient
origins. Together they ruled over this land with a unique culture and language, contributing to
the growth of some of the oldest extant literature in the world These three dynasties were in
constant struggle with each other vying for hegemony over the land. Invasion by
the Kalabhras during the 3rd century disturbed the traditional order of the land, displacing the
three ruling kingdoms. These occupiers were overthrown by the resurgence of the Pandyas and
the Pallavas, who restored the traditional kingdoms. The Cholas who re-emerged from obscurity
in the 9th century by defeating the Pallavas and the Pandyas rose to become a great power and
extended their empire over the entire southern peninsula. At its height the Chola empire spanned
almost 3,600,000 km² (1,389,968 sq mi) straddling the Bay of Bengal. The Chola navy held
sway over the Sri Vijaya kingdom in Southeast Asia.

Rapid changes in the political situation of the rest of India occurred due to incursions of
Muslim armies from the northwest and the decline of the three ancient dynasties during the 14th
century, The Madras Presidency, comprising most of southern India, was created in the 18th
century and was ruled directly by the British. After the independence of India, after the Telugu
and Malayalam parts of Madras state were separated from Tamilagam state in 1956, it was
renamed as Tamil Nadu in 1968 by the state government.

Palaeolithic

For most of the Lower Palaeolithic stage, pre-modern humans lived close to river valleys
with sparse forest cover or in grassland environments. The population density was very low and
so far only two localities of this lower Palaeolithic culture have been found in south India Pre-
modern humans in South India, belonging to the species of Homo erectus, lived in this primitive
'old stone age' (Palaeolithic) for quite a long time, using only crude implements such as hand
axes and choppers and subsisting as hunter-gatherers.

In Attirampakkam, archaeologists from the Sharma Centre for Heritage Education

excavated ancient stone tools which suggests that a humanlike population existed in the Tamil
Nadu region somewhere around 300,000 years before homo sapiens arrived from Africa.

A discovery of a rare fossilized baby brain in Viluppuram district, by a team of

archaeologists was reported in April 2003, It is estimated to be about 187,000 years - 200,000
years or older The ancestor of modern humans (Homo sapiens) who appeared around 50,000
years ago was more developed and could make thinner flake tools and blade-like tools using a
variety of stones. From about 10,000 years ago, humans made still smaller tools
called Microlithic tools. The material used by the early humans to make these tools
were jasper, agate, flint, quartz, etc. In 1949, researchers found such microliths in Tirunelveli
district. Archaeological evidence suggests that the microlithic period lasted between 6000–3000
BCE.

Neolithic

In Tamil Nadu, the Neolithic period had its advent around 2500 BCE. Humans of
the Neolithic period made their stone tools in finer shapes by grinding and polishing. A
Neolithic axe head with ancient writing on it has been found in North Tamil Nadu Near Palar
river.[13] The Neolithic humans lived mostly on small flat hills or on the foothills in small, more
or less permanent settlements but for periodical migration for grazing purposes. They gave the
dead proper burials within urns or pits. They were also starting to use copper for making certain
tools or weapons.

Iron Age

During the Iron Age humans started using iron for making tools and weapons. The Iron
Age culture in peninsular India is marked by Megalithic burial sites, which are found in several
hundreds of places.[14] On the bases of both some excavations and the typology of the burial
monuments, it has been suggested that there was a gradual spread of the Iron Age sites from the
north to the south. Comparative excavations carried out in Adichanallur in Thirunelveli District
and in Northern India have provided evidence of a southward migration of the Megalithic
culture

The earliest clear evidence of the presence of the megalithic urn burials are those dating
from around 1800 BCE, which have been discovered at various places in Tamil Nadu, notably
at Adichanallur, 24 km from Tirunelveli, where archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey
of India unearthed 157 urns, including 15 containing human skulls, skeletons and bones, plus
husks, grains of rice, charred rice and Neolithic Celts. One urn has writing inside, which,
according to archaeologists from the Archaeological Survey of India, resembles early Tamil-
Brahmi script, confirming it of the Neolithic period 2800 years ago. Adhichanallur has been
announced as an archaeological site for further excavation and studies.

Mentions of the political situation of Tamil Nadu before the common era are found
in Ashoka's edicts dated c.3rd century BCE and, vaguely, in the Hathigumpha inscription dated
c.2nd century BCE.

Ancient Tamil Nadu contained three monarchical states, headed by kings

called Vendhar and several tribal chieftaincies, headed by the chiefs called by the general
denomination Vel or Velir. Still lower at the local level there were clan chiefs
called kizhar or mannar. During the 3rd century BCE, the Deccan was part of the Maurya
Empire, and from the middle of the 1st century BCE to 2nd century CE the same area was ruled
by the Satavahana dynasty. The Tamil area had an independent existence outside the control of
these northern empires. The Tamil kings and chiefs were always in conflict with each other
mostly over the property. The royal courts were mostly places of social gathering rather than
places of dispensation of authority; they were centres for distribution of resources. Tamil
literature Tolkappiyam sheds some light on early religion.

The names of the three dynasties, Cholas, Pandyas, and Cheras, are mentioned in
the Pillars of Ashoka (inscribed 273–232 BCE) inscriptions, among the kingdoms, which though
not subject to Ashoka, were on friendly terms with him.[24][25] The king of Kalinga, Kharavela,
who ruled around 150 BCE, mentioned in the famous Hathigumpha inscription of the
confederacy of the Tamil kingdoms that had existed for over 100 years.

Karikala Chola was the most famous early Chola. He is mentioned in a number of poems
in the Sangam poetry. In later times Karikala was the subject of many legends found in
the Cilappatikaram and in inscriptions and literary works of the 11th and 12th centuries. They
attribute to him the conquest of the whole of India up to the Himalayas and the construction of
the flood banks of the river Kaveri with the aid of his feudatories. [28] These legends, however,
are conspicuous by their absence in the Sangam poetry. Kocengannan was another famous early
Chola king who has been extolled in a number of poems of the Sangam period. He was even
made a Saiva saint during the medieval period

Pandyas ruled initially from Korkai, a seaport on the southernmost tip of the Indian
peninsula, and in later times moved to Madurai. Pandyas are also mentioned in Sangam
Literature, as well as by Greek and Roman sources during this period. Megasthenes in
his Indika mentions the Pandyan kingdom.[30] The Pandyas controlled the present districts of
Madurai, Tirunelveli, and parts of south Kerala. They had trading contacts
with Greece and Rome.[31] With the other kingdoms of Tamilakam, they maintained trading
contacts and marital relationships with Tamil merchants from Eelam. Various Pandya kings find
mention in a number of poems in the Sangam literature. Among them, Nedunjeliyan, 'the victor
of Talaiyalanganam' deserves a special mention. Besides several short poems found in
the Akananuru and the Purananuru collections, there are two major works—Mathuraikkanci and
the Netunalvatai (in the collection of Pattupattu) that give a glimpse into the society and
commercial activities in the Pandyan kingdom during the Sangam age. The early Pandyas went
into obscurity at the end of the 3rd century CE during the incursion of the Kalabhras.
 The kingdom of the Cheras comprised the modern Western Tamil Nadu and Kerala,
along the western or Malabar Coast of southern India. Their proximity to the sea favoured trade
with Africa.[32][33] Chera rulers dated to the first few centuries AD. It records the names of the
kings, the princes, and the court poets who extolled them. The internal chronology of this
literature is still far from settled, and at present, a connected account of the history of the period
cannot be derived. Uthiyan Cheralathan, Nedum Cheralathan and Senguttuvan Chera are some
of the rulers referred to in the Sangam poems. Senguttuvan Chera, the most celebrated Chera
king, is famous for the legends surrounding Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil
epic Silapathikaram.

These early kingdoms sponsored the growth of some of the oldest extant literature in
Tamil. The classical Tamil literature, referred to as Sangam literature is attributed to the period
between 500 BCE and 300 CE.[35][36] The poems of Sangam literature, which deal with
emotional and material topics, were categorised and collected into various anthologies during
the medieval period. These Sangam poems paint the picture of a fertile land and of a people who
were organised into various occupational groups. The governance of the land was through
hereditary monarchies, although the sphere of the state's activities and the extent of the ruler's
powers were limited through the adherence to the established order (dharma). [37] The people
were loyal to their kings and roving bards and musicians and danseuse gathered at the royal
courts of the generous kings. The arts of music and dancing were highly developed and popular.
Musical instruments of various types find mention in the Sangam poems. The amalgamation of
the southern and the northern styles of dancing started during this period and is reflected fully in
the epic Cilappatikaram.

Internal and external trade was well organised and active. Evidence from both
archaeology and literature speaks of a flourishing foreign trade with the Yavanas (Greeks). The
port city of Puhar on the east coast and Muziris on the west coast of south India were emporia of
foreign trade, where huge ships moored, offloading precious merchandise. [39] This trade started
to decline after the 2nd century CE and the direct contact between the Roman empire and the
ancient Tamil country was replaced by trade with the Arabs and the Auxumites of East Africa.
Internal trade was also brisk and goods were sold and bartered. Agriculture was the main
profession of a vast majority of the populace.

Interregnum (300–600)

After the close of the Sangam era, from about 300 to about 600 CE, there is an almost
total lack of information regarding occurrences in the Tamil land. Some time about 300 CE, the
whole region was upset by the appearance of the Kalabhras. These people are described in later
literature as 'evil rulers' who overthrew the established Tamil kings and got a stranglehold of the
country.[40] information about their origin and details about their reign is scarce. They did not
leave many artifacts or monuments. The only source of information on them is the scattered
mentions in Buddhist and Jain literature.[41]

Historians speculate that these people followed Buddhist or Jain faiths and were antagonistic
towards the Hindu religions (viz. the Astika schools) adhered by the majority of inhabitants of
the Tamil region during the early centuries CE. As a result, Hindu scholars and authors who
followed their decline in the 7th and 8th century may have expunged any mention of them in
their texts and generally tended to paint their rule in a negative light. It is perhaps due to this
reason, the period of their rule is known as a 'Dark Age'—an interregnum. Some of the ruling
families migrated northwards and found enclaves for themselves away from the
Kalabhras. Jainism and Buddhism, took deep roots in the society, giving birth to a large body of
ethical poetry.

Writing became very widespread and vatteluttu evolved from the Tamil-Brahmi became
a mature script for writing Tamil.[44][45] While several anthologies were compiled by collecting
bardic poems of earlier centuries, some of the epic poems such as the Cilappatikaram and
didactic works such as the Tirukkural were also written during this period. [46] The patronage of
the Jain and Buddhist scholars by the Kalabhra kings influenced the nature of the literature of
the period, and most of the works that can be attributed to this period were written by the Jain
and Buddhist authors. In the field of dance and music, the elite started patronising new polished
styles, partly influenced by northern ideas, in the place of the folk styles. A few of the earliest
rock-cut temples belong to this period. Brick temples (known as kottam, devakulam, and palli)
dedicated to various deities are referred to in literary works. Kalabhras were displaced around
the 7th century by the revival of Pallava and Pandya power.

Even with the exit of the Kalabhras, the Jain and Buddhist influence still remained in
Tamil Nadu. The early Pandya and the Pallava kings were followers of these faiths. The Hindu
reaction to this apparent decline of their religion was growing and reached its peak during the
later part of the 7th century.[48] There was a widespread Hindu revival during which a huge body
of Saiva and Vaishnava literature was created. Many Saiva Nayanmars and
Vaishnava Alvars provided a great stimulus to the growth of popular devotional literature.
Karaikkal Ammaiyar who lived in the 6th century CE was the earliest of these Nayanmars. The
celebrated Saiva hymnists Sundaramurthi, Thirugnana Sambanthar and Thirunavukkarasar were
of this period. Vaishnava Alvars such as Poigai Alvar, Bhoothathalvar and Peyalvar produced
devotional hymns for their faith and their songs were collected later into the four thousand
poems of Naalayira Divyap Prabhandham.

Age of empires (600–1300)

The medieval period of the history of the Tamil country saw the rise and fall of many
kingdoms, some of whom went on to the extent of empires, exerting influences both in India and
overseas. The Cholas who were very active during the Sangam age were entirely absent during
the first few centuries.[50] The period started with the rivalry between the Pandyas and the
Pallavas, which in turn caused the revival of the Cholas. The Cholas went on to becoming a
great power. Their decline saw the brief resurgence of the Pandyas. This period was also that of
the re-invigorated Hinduism during which temple building and religious literature were at their
best.

The Hindu sects Saivism and Vaishnavism became dominant, replacing the prevalence
of Jainism and Buddhism of the previous era. Saivism was patronised more by the Chola kings
and became more or less a state religion.[52] Some of the earliest temples that are still standing
were built during this period by the Pallavas. The rock-cut temples in Mamallapuram and the
majestic Kailasanatha and Vaikuntaperumal temples of Kanchipuram stand testament to the
Pallava art. The Cholas, utilising their prodigious wealth earned through their extensive
conquests, built long-lasting stone temples including the great Brihadisvara
temple of Thanjavur and exquisite bronze sculptures. Temples dedicated to Siva and Vishnu
received liberal donations of money, jewels, animals, and land, and thereby became powerful
economic institutions.[53] Mutharaiyar who ruled the central part of Tamil Nadu between 600 -
900 CE. The Cauvery Delta regions were mostly ruled by the Muthraiyar Kings having
Woraiyur as their Capital. Vijayalayachola conquered Tanjore from Dhancheya Muhuraiyar
King who established the Tanjore City. Among the noted Muthariyar King, Perumbidugu alias
Swaran Maran Muthraiyar who conquered consequently 14 battles and known as the Emperor in
Tamil Nadu (Perarasar). He and his ancestors built many cave temples in Tiruchirappalli and
Pudukottai regions. Among them Kuvavan Sathan alias Videl Vidugu Muthraiyar built many
cave temples in Pudukottai Region. Mutharaiyars and ancestors are known as Muthuraja in
central of part of Tamil Nadu particularly Tiruchirappalli. Reference : Mutharaiyar Dynasty
wikipedia.org.

Tamil script replaced the vatteluttu script throughout Tamil Nadu for writing Tamil.
Religious literature flourished during the period. The Tamil epic, Kamban's Ramavatharam, was
written in the 13th century. A contemporary of Kamban was the famous poet Auvaiyar who
found great happiness in writing for young children. The secular literature was mostly court
poetry devoted to the eulogy of the rulers. The religious poems of the previous period and the
classical literature of the Sangam period were collected and systematised into several
anthologies. Sanskrit was patronised by the priestly groups for religious rituals and other
ceremonial purposes. Nambi Andar Nambi, who was a contemporary of Rajaraja Chola I,
collected and arranged the books on Saivism into eleven books called Tirumurais. The
hagiology of Saivism was standardised in Periyapuranam by Sekkilar, who lived during the
reign of Kulothunga Chola II (1133–1150 CE). Jayamkondar's Kalingattupparani, a semi-
historical account on the two invasions of Kalinga by Kulothunga Chola I was an early example
of a biographical work.
Pallavas

The 7th century Tamil Nadu saw the rise of the Pallavas under Mahendravarman I and
his son Mamalla Narasimhavarman I. The Pallavas were not a recognised political power before
the 2nd century.[55] It has been widely accepted by scholars that they were originally executive
officers under the Satavahana kings.[56] After the fall of the Satavahanas, they began to get
control over parts of Andhra and the Tamil country. Later they had marital ties with
the Vishnukundina who ruled over the Deccan. It was around 550 CE under
King Simhavishnu that the Pallavas emerged into prominence. They subjugated the Cholas and
reigned as far south as the Kaveri River. The Pallavas were at their finest during the reigns of
Narasimhavarman I and Pallavamalla Nandivarman II. Pallavas ruled a large portion of South
India with Kanchipuram as their capital. Dravidian architecture during the Pallava rule includes
the Shore Temple, built for Narasimhavarman II, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Many sources describe Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen school of Buddhism in China, as a
prince of the Pallava dynasty.

During the 6th and the 7th centuries, the western Deccan saw the rise of
the Chalukyas based in Vatapi. Pulakeshin II (c.610–642) invaded the Pallava kingdom in the
reign of Mahendravarman I. Narasimhavarman who succeeded Mahendravarman mounted a
counter invasion of the Chalukya country and captured the Chalukyan capital Vatapi and ruled it
for 12 years. The rivalry between the Chalukyas and the Pallavas continued for another 100
years until the demise of the Chalukyas around 750. The Chalukyas and Pallavas fought
numerous battles and the Pallava capital Kanchipuram was occupied by Vikramaditya II during
the reign of Nandivarman II Nandivarman II had a very long reign (732–796). He led an
expedition to the Ganga kingdom (south Mysore) in 760. Pallavas were also in constant conflict
with the Pandyas and their frontier shifted along the river Kaveri. The Pallavas had the more
difficult existence of the two as they had to fight on two fronts—against the Pandyas as wells as
the Chalukyas.

Pandyas

Pandya Kadungon (560–590) is credited with the overthrow of the Kalabhras in the
[59]
south. Kadungon and his son Maravarman Avanisulamani revived the Pandya power. Pandya
Cendan extended their rule to the Chera country. His son Arikesari Parantaka Maravarman (c.
650–700) had a long and prosperous rule. He fought many battles and extended the Pandya
power. Pandya was well known since ancient times, with contacts, even diplomatic, reaching
the Roman Empire; during the 13th century, Marco Polo mentioned it as the richest empire in
existence.

The Pandyan Empire was large enough to pose a serious threat to the Pallava power.
Pandya Maravarman Rajasimha aligned with the Chalukya Vikramaditya II and attacked the
Pallava king Nandivarman II.[61] Varagunan I defeated the Pallavas in a battle on the banks of
the Kaveri. The Pallava king Nandivarman sought to restrain the growing power of the Pandyas
and went into an alliance with the feudal chieftains of Kongu and Chera countries. The armies
met in several battles and the Pandya forces scored decisive victories in them. Pandyas under
Srimara Srivallaba also invaded Sri Lanka and devastated the northern provinces in 840.

The Pandya power continued to grow under Srimara and encroached further into the
Pallava territories. The Pallavas were now facing a new threat in the form of
the Rashtrakutas who had replaced the Chalukyas in the western Deccan. However, the Pallavas
found an able monarch in Nandivarman III, who with the help of his Ganga and Chola allies
defeated Srimara at the Battle of Tellaru. The Pallava kingdom again extended up to the
river Vaigai. The Pandyas suffered further defeats in the hands of the Pallava Nripatunga at
Arisil (c. 848). From then the Pandyas had to accept the overlordship of the Pallavas.

Cholas

Around 850, out of obscurity rose Vijayalaya, made use of an opportunity arising out of
a conflict between Pandyas and Pallavas, captured Thanjavur from Mutharaiyar dynasty and
eventually established the imperial line of the medieval Cholas. Vijayalaya revived the Chola
dynasty and his son Aditya I helped establish their independence. He invaded Pallava kingdom
in 903 and killed the Pallava king Aparajita in battle, ending the Pallava reign. [64] The Chola
kingdom under Parantaka I expanded to cover the entire Pandya country. However, towards the
end of his reign, he suffered several reverses by the Rashtrakutas who had extended their
territories well into the Chola kingdom.

The Cholas went into a temporary decline during the next few years due to weak kings,
palace intrigues and succession disputes. Despite a number of attempts, the Pandya country
could not be completely subdued and the Rashtrakutas were still a powerful enemy in the north.
However, the Chola revival began with the accession of Rajaraja Chola I in 985. Cholas rose as
a notable military, economic and cultural power in Asia under Rajaraja and his son Rajendra
Chola I. The Chola territories stretched from the islands of Maldives in the south to as far north
as the banks of the river Ganges in Bengal. Rajaraja Chola conquered peninsular South India,
annexed parts of Sri Lanka and occupied the islands of Maldives. Rajendra Chola extended the
Chola conquests to the Malayan archipelago by defeating the Srivijaya kingdom. [65] He
defeated Mahipala, the king of Bihar and Bengal, and to commemorate his victory he built a
new capital called Gangaikonda Cholapuram (the town of Cholas who conquered the Ganges).
At its peak, the Chola Empire extended from the island of Sri Lanka in the south to
the Godavari basin in the north. The kingdoms along the east coast of India up to the river
Ganges acknowledged Chola suzerainty. Chola navies invaded and conquered Srivijaya in the
Malayan archipelago.[66] Chola armies exacted tribute from Thailand and the Khmer kingdom
of Cambodia.[67] During the reign of Rajaraja and Rajendra, the administration of the Chola
empire matured considerably. The empire was divided into a number of self-governing local
government units, and the officials were selected through a system of popular elections. [68]

Throughout this period, the Cholas were constantly troubled by the ever-
resilient Sinhalas trying to overthrow the Chola occupation of Lanka, Pandya princes trying to
win independence for their traditional territories, and by the growing ambitions of the Chalukyas
in the western Deccan. The history of this period was one of constant warfare between the
Cholas and of these antagonists. A balance of power existed between the Chalukyas and the
Cholas and there was a tacit acceptance of the Tungabhadra river as the boundary between the
two empires. However, the bone of contention between these two powers was the growing
Chola influence in the Vengi kingdom. The Cholas and Chalukyas fought many battles and both
kingdoms were exhausted by the endless battles and a stalemate existed.
Marital and political alliances between the Eastern Chalukya kings based around Vengi located
on the south banks of the river Godavari began during the reign of Rajaraja following his
invasion of Vengi. Virarajendra Chola's son Athirajendra Chola was assassinated in a civil
disturbance in 1070 and Kulothunga Chola I ascended the Chola throne starting the Chalukya
Chola dynasty. Kulothunga was a son of the Vengi king Rajaraja Narendra. The Chalukya Chola
dynasty saw very capable rulers in Kulothunga Chola I and Vikrama Chola, however, the
eventual decline of the Chola power practically started during this period. The Cholas lost
control of the island of Lanka and were driven out by the revival of Sinhala power. [69] Around
1118 they also lost the control of Vengi to Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI and
Gangavadi (southern Mysore districts) to the growing power of Hoysala Vishnuvardhana, a
Chalukya feudatory. In the Pandya territories, the lack of a controlling central administration
caused a number of claimants to the Pandya throne to cause a civil war in which the Sinhalas
and the Cholas were involved by proxy. During the last century of the Chola existence, a
permanent Hoysala army was stationed in Kanchipuram to protect them from the growing
influence of the Pandyas. Rajendra Chola III was the last Chola king.
The Kadava chieftain Kopperunchinga I even captured Rajendra and held him prisoner. At the
close of Rajendra's reign (1279), the Pandyan empire was at the height of prosperity and had
completely absorbed the Chola kingdom.[70] The Cholas also found a place in the very famous
novel by Kalki title Ponniyin Selvan which portrays the whole Chola history with Rajaraja
Cholan ( Ponniyin Selvan, Arul Mozhi Varman, Vallavarayan Vanthiyaththevan, Karikalar,
Nandhini, Kundhavi) as the characters of the novel.

Cheras

The Cheras were an ancient Dravidian royal dynasty of Tamil origin who ruled in
regions of Tamil Nadu and Kerala in India. Together with the Chola and the Pandyas, it formed
the three principal warring Iron Age kingdoms of southern India in the early centuries of the
Common Era. over a wide area comprising Venad, Kuttanad, Kudanad, Pazhinad, and more. In
other words, they governed the area between Alappuzha in the south to Kasargod in the north.
This included Palghat, Coimbatore, Salem, and Kollimalai. The capital was Vanchi, which the
Romans who actively traded with the Cheras knew as Muzris.
By the early centuries of the Common Era, civil society and statehood under the Cheras were
developed in present-day western Tamil Nadu. The location of the Chera capital is generally
assumed to be at modern Karur (identified with the Korra of Ptolemy). The Chera kingdom later
extended to the plains of Kerala, the Palghat gap, along the river Perar and occupied land
between the river Perar and river Periyar, creating two harbour towns, Tondi (Tyndis) and
Muciri (Muziris), where the Roman trade settlements flourished.

The Cheras were in continuous conflict with the neighboring Cholas and Pandyas. The Cheras
are said to have defeated the combined armies of the Pandyas and the Cholas and their ally
states. They also made battles with the Kadambās of Banavasi and the Yavanas (the Greeks) on
the Indian coast. After the 2nd century AD, the Cheras' power decayed rapidly with the decline
of the lucrative trade with the Romans.

The Tamil poetic collection called Sangam literature describes a long line of Chera rulers dated
to the first few centuries AD. It records the names of the kings, the princes, and the court poets
who extolled them. The internal chronology of this literature is still far from settled, and at
present, a connected account of the history of the period cannot be derived. Uthiyan
Cheralathan, Nedum Cheralathan and Senguttuvan Chera are some of the rulers referred to in
the Sangam poems. Senguttuvan Chera, the most celebrated Chera king, is famous for the
legends surrounding Kannagi, the heroine of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram.

The Chera kingdom owed its importance to trade with West Asia, Greece, and Rome. Its
geographical advantages, like the abundance of exotic spices, the navigability of the rivers
connecting the Ghat mountains with the Arabian Sea, and the discovery of favorable Monsoon
winds which carried sailing ships directly from the Arabian coast to Chera kingdom, combined
to produce a veritable boom in the Chera foreign trade.

The Later Cheras ruled from the 9th century. Little is known about the Cheras between the two
dynasties. The second dynasty, Kulasekharas ruled from a city on the banks of River Periyar
called Mahodayapuram (Kodungallur). Though never regained the old status in the Peninsula,
Kulasekharas fought numerous wars with their powerful neighbors and diminished to history in
the 12th century as a result of continuous Chola and Rashtrakuta invasions. The Chera Dynasty
was supported by Tamil warriors such as Villavar, Vanavar and Malayar clans.[citation needed]
The Chera rulers of Venadu, based at the port Quilon in southern Kerala, trace their relations
back to the later/second Cheras. Ravi Varma Kulasekhara, ruler of Venadu from 1299 to 1314,
is known for his ambitious military campaigns to former Pandya and Chola territories.

Pandya revival

After being overshadowed by the Pallavas and Cholas for centuries, the Pandiyas revived
their fortunes in the 13th century and the Pandya power extended from the Telugu territories
along the banks of the Godavari river to the northern half of Sri Lanka. When Kulasekara
Pandyan I died in 1308, a conflict stemming from succession disputes arose amongst his sons –
the legitimate Sundara Pandya and the illegitimate Vira Pandya (who was favoured by the king)
fought each other for the throne. Soon Madurai fell into the hands of the invading armies of
the Delhi Sultanate (which initially gave protection to the vanquished Sundara Pandyan).

Delhi Sultanate

Malik Kafur, a general of the Delhi Sultan Alauddin Khalji invaded and sacked Madurai
in 1311. Pandyas and their descendants were confined to a small region around Thirunelveli for
a few more years. Ravivarman Kulasekara (r. 1299–1314), a Chera (Perumal) feudatory of
Kulasekara Pandya, staked his claim to the Pandya throne. Ravivarman, utilising the unsettled
nature of the country, quickly overran the southern Tamil Nadu and brought the entire region
from Kanyakumari to Kanchipuram, under the Chera kingdom. His inscription was found in
Punaamalli, a suburb of Madras.[72] But, Ravivarman's hold over Kānci was only short-lived and
his aggressive activities were arrested by the Kākatiya ruler, Pratāparudra II. The Kākatiya army
under the command of Muppidi Nāyaka marched to Kanci, and captured the city.

Vijayanagar and Nayak period (1300–1650)

The 14th-century invasion by the Delhi Sultans caused a retaliatory reaction from the
Hindus, who rallied to build a new kingdom, called the Vijayanagara Empire. Bukka, with his
brother Harihara, founded the Vijayanagara Empire based in the city
[75]
of Vijayanagara in Karnataka. Under Bukka the empire prospered and continued to expand
towards the south. Bukka and his son Kampana conquered most of the kingdoms of southern
India. In 1371 the Vijayanagar empire defeated the short-lived Madurai Sultanate, which had
been established by the remnants of the invading Khalji army. [76] Eventually the empire covered
the entire south India. Vijayanagara empire established local governors called Nayaks to rule in
the various territories of the empire.

The Vijayanagar Empire declined in 1565 defeated by the Deccan sultans in the Battle of
Talikota. The local Nayak governors declared their independence and started their rule.
The Nayaks of Madurai and Thanjavur were the most prominent of them. Ragunatha Nayak
(1600–1645) was the greatest of the Tanjavur Nayaks.[78] Raghunatha Nayak encouraged trade
and permitted a Danish settlement in 1620 at Tarangambadi. [79] This laid the foundation of
future European involvement in the affairs of the country. The success of the Dutch inspired the
English to seek trade with Thanjavur, which was to lead to far-reaching repercussions. Vijaya
Raghava (1631–1676) was the last of the Thanjavur Nayaks. Nayaks reconstructed some of the
oldest temples in the country and their contributions can be seen even today. Nayaks expanded
the existing temples with large pillared halls, and tall gateway towers, which is representative of
the religious architecture of this period.

In Madurai, Thirumalai Nayak was the most famous Nayak ruler. He patronised art and
architecture creating new structures and expanding the existing landmarks in and around
Madurai. On Thirumalai Nayak's death in 1659, the Madurai Nayak kingdom began to break up.
His successors were weak rulers and invasions of Madurai recommenced.

Tondaiman period (1680-1948)

Pudukkottai was a kingdom and later a princely state in British India, which existed from
1680 until 1948. The Kingdom of Pudukkottai was founded in about 1680 as a feudatory of
Ramnad and grew with subsequent additions from Tanjore, Sivaganga and Ramnad. One of the
staunch allies of the British East India Company in the Carnatic, Anglo-Mysore and Polygar
Wars, the kingdom was brought under the Company's protection in 1800 as per the system of
Subsidiary Alliance. The state was placed under the control of the Madras Presidency from 1800
until 1 October 1923, when the Madras States Agency was abolished, and until 1948 it was
under the political control of the Government of India.
Pudukkottai State covered a total area of 1,178 square miles (3,050 km2) and had a population
of 438,648 in 1941. It extended over the whole of the present-day Pudukkottai district of Tamil
Nadu (with the exception of Aranthangi taluk which was then a part of Tanjore district). The
town of Pudukkottai was its capital.

List of kings of PudukkottaiRaghunatha Raya Tondaiman (1686–1730)

 Vijaya Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman I (1730–1769)

 Raya Raghunatha Tondaiman (1769– December 1789)
 Vijaya Raghunatha Tondaiman (December 1789 – 1 February 1807)
 Vijaya Raghunatha Raya Tondaiman II (1 February 1807 – June 1825)
 Raghunatha Tondaiman (June 1825 – 13 July 1839)
 Ramachandra Tondaiman (13 July 1839 – 15 April 1886)
 Martanda Bhairava Tondaiman (15 April 1886 – 28 May 1928)
 Rajagopala Tondaiman (28 October 1928 – 1 March 1948)

Maratha influence

Shivaji Bhonsle, the Maratha ruler, invaded the south, as did Chikka Deva Raya of
Mysore and other Muslim Rulers, resulting in chaos and instability. Rani Mangammal,
the Nayak ruler of Madurai, resisted these invasions showing great courage. [80] Shivaji had
conquered important forts like Gingee and Vellore by 1678. On the other hand, Ekoji, half
brother of Shivaji had established his own rule in Thanjavur.

Gingee served as the Maratha capital for nine years during the 27-year Mughal-Maratha war.
The Mughals captured Gingee in 1698.

Rule of Poligars, Nizams and Nawabs

European settlements began to appear in the Tamil country during the Vijayanagara
Empire. In 1605, the Dutch established trading posts in the Coromandel Coast near Gingee and
in Pulicat. The British East India Company built a 'factory' (warehouse) at Armagaon
(Durgarazpatnam), a village around 35 miles (56 km) North of Pulicat, as the site in 1626. In
1639, Francis Day, one of the officers of the company, secured the rights over a three-mile
(5 km) long strip of land a fishing village called Madraspatnam from the Damarla Venkatadri
Nayakudu, the Nayak of Vandavasi. The East India Company built Fort St George and castle on
an approximate five square kilometre sand strip.[81] This was the start of the town of Madras.
The coromandel coast was ruled by the Vijayanagara King (Aravidu Dynasty), Peda Venkata
Raya, based in Chandragiri and Vellore Fort. With his approval the English began to exercise
sovereign rights over their strip of land

During the Maratha rule of Thanjavur. After Ekoji, his three sons namely Shaji, Serfoji I,
Thukkoji alias Thulaja I ruled Thanjavur. The greatest of the Maratha rulers was Serfoji
II (1798–1832 ). Serfoji devoted his life to the pursuit of culture and Thanjavur became
renowned as a seat of learning. Serfoji's patronised art and literature and built the Saraswati
Mahal Library at his palace. The incursion of the Muslim armies from the north forced a
southward migration of Hindus from the central Deccan and the Andhra countries to seek shelter
under the Nayak and the Maratha kings. The famous Carnatic music composer Tyagaraja (1767–
1847), along with the Trinity of Carnatic music flourished in the Thanjavur district during this
time

European colonisation (1801–1858)

The French were relative newcomers to India. The French East India Company was formed in
1664 and in 1666 the French representatives obtained Aurangzeb's permission to trade in India.
The French soon set up trading posts at Pondicherry on the Coromandel coast. They
occupied Karaikal in 1739 and Joseph François Dupleix was appointed Governor of Pondichéry.
In Europe the War of the Austrian Succession began in 1740 and eventually the British and the
French forces in India were caught up in the conflict. There were numerous naval battles
between the two navies along the Coromandel coast. The French led by La
Bourdonnais attacked the poorly defended Fort St. George in Madras in 1746 and occupied
it. Robert Clive was one of the prisoners of war from this battle. The war in Europe ended in
1748 and with the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle Madras was restored to the British. [85]
 The conflict between the British and the French continued, this time in political rather
than military terms. Both the Nawab of the Carnatic and Nizam of Hyderabad positions were
taken by rulers who were strongly sympathetic to the French. Chanda Sahib had been made
Nawab of the Carnatic with Dupleix's assistance, while the British had taken up the cause of the
previous incumbent, Mohammed Ali Khan Walajah. In the resultant battle between the rivals,
Clive assisted Mohammed Ali by attacking Chanda Sahib's fort in Arcot and took possession of
it in 1751. The French assisted Chanda Sahib in his attempts to drive Clive out of Arcot.
However, the large Arcot army assisted by the French was defeated by the British. The Treaty of
Paris (1763) formally confirmed Mahommed Ali as the Nawab of the Carnatic. It was a result of
this action and the increased British influence that in 1765 the Emperor of Delhi issued
a firman (decree) recognising the British possessions in southern India. [86]

British Government control

from 1750-1830, the East India Company started The Anglo-Mysore Wars of 1766 to
1799 and the Anglo-Maratha Wars of 1772 to 1818 put the Company in control of most of
India.[87] In a sign of the early resistance against the English control, the Palayakkarar chieftains
of the old Madurai Kingdom, who had independent authority over their territories, ran into a
conflict with the Company officials over tax collection. Kattabomman, a local Palayakkarar
chieftain in the Tirunelveli district, rebelled against the taxes imposed by the Company
administration in the 1790s. After the First Polygar War (1799–1802), he was captured and
hanged in 1799. A year later, the Second Polygar War was fought by Oomaithurai was involved
in the Polygar Wars against the East India Company. In the first Poligar war, he was captured
and imprisoned in Palayamkottai prison. In February 1801, he escaped from Palayamkottai and
rebuilt the Panchalankurichi fort which had been razed in the first war. In the second Poligar war
that followed, Oomaithurai allied himself with Maruthu brothers (who ruled Sivagangai) and
was part of a grand alliance against the Company which included Dheeran Chinnamalai and
Kerala Verma. The Company forces led by Lt. Colonel Agnew laid siege to the
Panchalankurichi fort and captured it in May 1801 after a prolonged siege and artillery
bombardment. Oomaithurai escaped the fall of the fort and joined Marudu brothers at their
jungle fort at Kalayar Kovil. The Company forces pursued him there and eventually captured
Kalayar Kovil in October 1801. Oomaithurai along with the Marudu brothers was hanged on 16
November 1801.[88][89]

In 1798 Lord Wellesley became the Governor-General. In the course of the next six years,
Wellesley made vast conquests and doubled the Company's territory. He shut out the French
from further acquisitions in India, destroyed several ruling powers in the Deccan and the
Carnatic, took the Mughal Emperor under the company's protection and compelled Serfoji, the
king of Thanjavur to cede control of his kingdom. The Madras Presidency was established so
that the territory under direct Company control could be administered effectively.

In 1801, the Nawab of Arcot, Azim-ud-Daula signed the Carnatic Treaty making the Nawab of
Carnatic a british protectorate. In return, Azim-ud-Daula was entitled to one-fifth of the total
revenue of the state and the honour of a 21-gun salute. [86]

The direct administration began to cause resentment among the people. In 1806 a group
of sepoys of the Vellore cantonment rebelled when William Bentinck, the Governor of Madras
decreed that sepoys should abandon all caste marks. Fearing this act to be an attempt of forceful
conversion to Christianity, the soldiers mutinied. The rebellion was suppressed but 114 British
officers were killed and several hundred mutineers executed. Bentinck was recalled in
disgrace.[90][91]

End of Company rule[edit]

The simmering discontent in the various districts of the company territories exploded in 1857
into the Sepoy war. Although the rebellion had a huge impact on the state of the colonial power
in India, Tamil Nadu was mostly unaffected by it. In consequence of the war, the British
Government enacted the Act of 1858 to abolish the powers of the Company and transfer the
government to the Crown.

Independence struggle

The growing desire for independence began to gradually gather pace in the country and
its influence in Tamil Nadu generated a number of volunteers to the fight against the British
colonial power in the struggle for Independence. Notable amongst these are Tiruppur Kumaran,
who was born in 1904 in a small village near Erode. Kumaran lost his life during a protest
march against the British. The location of the French colony of Pondichéry, offered a place of
refuge for the fugitives freedom fighters trying to flee the British Police. Aurobindo was one
such living in Pondicherry in 1910. The poet Subramania Bharati was a contemporary of
Aurobindo.[95] Bharathi wrote numerous poems in Tamil extolling the revolutionary cause. He
also published the journal India from Pondicherry. Both Aurobindo and Bharathi were
associated with other Tamil revolutionaries like V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. [95] Tamils formed a
significant percentage of the members of the Indian National Army (INA), founded by Subhas
Chandra Bose to fight the British occupation in India. [96][97] Lakshmi Sahgal from Tamil Nadu
was a prominent leader in the INA's Rani of Jhansi Regiment.

In 1916 Dr. T. M. Nair and Rao Bahadur Thygaraya Chetty released the Non-Brahmin
Manifesto sowing the seeds for the Dravidian movements.[98] During the 1920s, two movements
focused mainly on regional politics began in Tamil Nadu. One was the Justice Party, which won
the local legislative elections held in 1921. The Justice Party was not focused on the Indian
independence movement, rather on the local issues such as affirmative action for socially
backward groups. The other main movement was the anti-religious, anti-Brahmin reformist
movement led by E. V. Ramasami.[98] Further steps towards eventual self-rule were taken in
1935 when the British Government passed the All-India Federation Act of 1935. Fresh local
elections were held and in Tamil Nadu the Congress party captured power defeating the Justice
party. In 1938, Ramasami with C. N. Annadurai launched an agitation against the Congress
ministry's decision to introduce the teaching of Hindi in schools. [99]

Post Independence period

The trauma of the partition did not impact Tamil Nadu when India was granted
Independence in 1947. There was no sectarian violence against various religions. There had
always been an atmosphere of mutual respect and peaceful coexistence between all religions in
Tamil Nadu. Congress formed the first ministry in the Madras Presidency. C.
Rajagopalachari (Rajaji) was the first Chief Minister. Madras Presidency was eventually
reconstituted as Madras State. Following agitations for a separate Andhra state comprising the
Telugu speaking regions of the Madras state by Potti Sriramalu, the Indian Government decided
to partition the Madras state.[100] In 1953 Rayalaseema and the coastal Andhra regions became
the new state of Andhra Pradesh and the Bellary district became part of the Mysore state. In
1956 south Kanara district was transferred to Mysore, the Malabar coastal districts became part
of the new state of Kerala, and the Madras state assumed its present shape. The Madras state
was named Tamil Nadu (literally The Land of Tamils or Tamil Country) in 1969. [101][102]

The Sri Lankan Civil War during the 1970s and the 80s saw large numbers of Sri Lankan
Tamils fleeing to Tamil Nadu. The plight of Tamil refugees caused a surge of support from most
of the Tamil political parties.[103] They exerted pressure on the Indian government to intercede
with the Sri Lankan government on behalf of the Sri Lankan Tamilians. However, LTTE lost
much of its support from Tamil Nadu following the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi on 21 May
1991 by an operative from Sri Lanka for the former prime minister's role in sending Indian
peacekeepers to Sri Lanka to disarm the LTTE.

The east coast of Tamil Nadu was one of the areas affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean
Tsunami, during which almost 8000 people died in the disaster. [106] The sixth most populous
state in the Indian Union, Tamil Nadu was the seventh-largest economy in 2005 among the
states of India.[107] The growing demands for skilled labour has caused increased number of
educational institutions in Tamil Nadu. The widespread application of caste based affirmative
action caused the state to have 69% of all educational and employment vacancies to be reserved
to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes. Such caste-based
reservations have huge public support in Tamil Nadu, with no popular protests organised against
its implementation.[108]

Since the 1990s, Tamil Nadu has experienced significant economic growth, especially in the
service sector, and has had significant increases in development indicators. Kalaiyarasan (2014)
attributes this to the strong welfare measures implemented by successive state governments and
a two-track focus on economic growth and grassroots development. [109]

Evolution of regional politics

The politics of Tamil Nadu have gone through three distinct phases since independence.
The domination of the Congress Party after 1947 gave way to the Dravidian populist
mobilisation in the 1960s. This phase lasted until towards the end of the 1990s. The most recent
phase saw the fragmentation of the Dravidian political parties and led to the advent of political
alliances and coalition governments.[110] Annadurai formed the Dravida Munnetra
[111]
Kazhagam (DMK) in 1949 after splitting from Dravidar Kazhagam. DMK also decided to
oppose the 'expansion of the Hindi culture' in Tamil Nadu and started the demand for a separate
homeland for the Dravidians in the South. The demand was for an Independent state
called Dravida Nadu (country of Dravidians) comprising Tamil Nadu and parts of Andhra,
Karnataka and Kerala.[112] The increased involvement of the Indian National Congress party in
Madras during the late 1950s and the strong pan-Indian emotions whipped up by the Sino-Indian
War in 1962 led to the demand for Dravida Nadu losing some of its immediacy. Consequently,
in 1963, when the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution of India, precluded secessionist
parties from contesting elections, the DMK chose to formally drop its demand for an
independent Dravida Nadu, focusing instead on securing greater functional autonomy within the
framework of the Indian Constitution.

The Congress party, riding on the wave of public support stemming from the
independence struggle, formed the first post-independence government in Tamil Nadu and
continued to govern until 1967. In 1965 and 1968, DMK led widespread anti-Hindi agitations in
the state against the plans of the Union Government to introduce Hindi in the state
schools. Affirmative action in employment and educational institutions were pioneered in Tamil
Nadu based on the demands of the Dravidian movement. [114] The leadership of the Dravidian
movement had very capable authors and literati in Annadurai and Karunanidhi, who assiduously
utilised the popular media of stage plays and movies to spread its political messages. [115] MG
Ramachandran (MGR) who later became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, was one such stage
and movie actor.[116]

In 1967 DMK won the state election. DMK split into two in 1971, with MGR forming
the splinter All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK). Since then these two
parties have dominated the politics of Tamil Nadu.[117] AIADMK, under MGR, retained control
of the State Government over three consecutive assembly elections in 1977, 1980 and 1984.
After MGR's death, AIADMK was split over the succession between various contenders.
Eventually J. Jayalalithaa took over the leadership of AIADMK.
 Several changes to the political balance in Tamil Nadu took place during the later half of
the 1990s, eventually leading to the end of the duopoly of DMK and AIADMK in the politics of
Tamil Nadu. In 1996, a split in the Congress party in Tamil Nadu eventuated in the formation
of Tamil Maanila Congress (TMC). TMC aligned with the DMK, while another
party Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), which split from DMK aligned
with the AIADMK. These and several smaller political parties began to gain popular support.
The first instance of a 'grand alliance' was during the 1996 elections for the National parliament,
during which the AIADMK formed a large coalition of a number smaller parties to counter the
electoral threat posed by the alliance between the DMK and TMC. Since then the formation of
alliances of a large number of political parties has become an electoral practice in Tamil
Nadu. The electoral decline of Congress party at the national level, which started during early
1990, forced the Congress to seek coalition partners from various states including Tamil Nadu.
This paved the way for the Dravidian parties to be part of the Central Government. [119]

In the 2001 elections, Jaylalithaa became Chief Minister again, but due to legal cases
against her, the Chief Ministership was taken up by loyalist O. Paneerselvam until she returned
6 months later. In the 2006 assembly elections however, the DMK won a majority and
Karunanidhi became chief minister. During the 2011 election however, the DMK was beset by
anti-incumbency and anger over the 2G scam, and Jaylalithaa became Chief Minister again.
Unlike the rest of India, the 2014 Lok Sabha elections resulted in no significant increase in
support for the Bharatiya Janata Party in Tamil Nadu and the AIADMK swept the state. In 2016,
Jaylalithaa won another term, but soon after taking office died of a heart attack. After her death,
Paneerselvam served again as caretaker Chief Minister until he was expelled from the party by
general secretary V. K. Sasikala.[120] Then Edappadi Palaniswami, the newly-elected leader of
the AIADMK legislature party, reached an agreement on chief ministership, and Palaniswami
became chief minister in February 2017 with Paneerselvam as his deputy. [121] In 2018,
Karunanidhi died and was succeeded by his son M.K. Stalin as DMK leader and leader of the
opposition.[122] In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the DMK-led alliance swept the state winning
37 out of 38 seats.[123] The alliance also won the 2021 Legislative Assembly election, with 159
out of 234 seats. As a result, M.K. Stalin became the Chief Minister for the first time.
COIMBATORE
Kovai is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the
Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbatore is the secord largest city (by
area and population) in the state (after Chennai) and the 16th largest urban agglomeration in
India. It is administered by the Coimbatore Municipal Corporation and is the administrative
capital of Coimbatore district. It is one of the fastest growing tier-11 cities in India and a major
industrial hub in South India. It is often referred to as the ‘‘Manchester of South India** due to
its cotton production and textile industries. Coimbatore is also referred to as the “Pump City’*
and it supplies nearly half of India’s requirements of motors and pumps. The city is one of the
largest exporters of jewellery, wet grinders, poultry and auto components: the “Coimbatore Wet
Grinder” and the “Kovai Cora Cotton” are recognised as Geographical Indications by the
Government of India.

Coimbatore was part of Kongu Nadu during the Sangam period between c. 1st and the 4th
centuries CE and was ruled by the Cheras as it served as the eastern entrance to the Palakkad
Gap. the principal trade route between the west coast and Tamil Nadu). Coimbatore was located
along the ancient Roman trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu in South India.
The medieval Cholas conquered the Kongu Nadu in the 10th century CE. The region was ruled
by Vijayanagara Empire in the 15th century followed by the Nayaks who introduced the
Palayakkarar system under which Kongu Nadu region was divided into 24 Palayams. In the later
part of the 18th century, the Coimbatore region came under the Kingdom of Mysore and
following the defeat of Tippu Sultan in the Anglo- Mysore Wars, the British East India
Company annexed Coimbatore to the Madras in 1799.1 he Coimbatore region played a
prominent role in the Second poligar War (1801) when it was the area of operations of Dheeran
Chinnamalai.

In 1804. Coimbatore was established as the capital of the newly formed Coimbatore
district and in 1866 it was accorded municipality status with Robert Stanes as its Chairman.
November 24 is being observed as Coimbatore Day. say those familiar with the history of
Coimbatore. The city experienced a textile boom in the early 19th century' due to the decline of
the cotton industry in Mumbai. Postindependence. Coimbatore has seen rapid growth due to
industrialisation. Coimbatore was ranked the best emerging city in India by India Today in the
2014 annual Indian city survey. The city was ranked fourth among Indian cities in investment
climate by Confederation of Indian Industry and 17th among the top global outsourcing cities by
Tholons. Coimbatore has been selected as one of the hundred Indian cities to be developed as a
smart city under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship Smart Cities Mission. Coimbatore
was rated as the safest city in India for women according to National Crime Records Bureau
report in 2015.

Blocks in Coimbatore District

There are twelve blocks in Coimbatore district. The details of the blocks are as Follows:
 Anamalai
 Annur
 Karamadai
 Kinathukadavu
 Madukkarai
 Periyanaickanpalayam
 Pollachi (North)
 Pollachi (South)

 Sultanpet
 Sulur
 Thondamulhur

As mentioned in the above order. Anamali block includes 19 villages. Annurblock includes
21 villages. 17 villages are there in Karamadai block, Kinathukadavublock consists of 34
villages; nine villages are in Madukkarai block, nine villages inPeriyanaickanpalayam block.
Pollachi (North) block includes 39 villages. Pollachi(South) block includes 26 villages.
Sarcarsamakulam consists of eight villages.Sultanpet includes 20 villages, Sulur consists of 17
villages and Thondamuthurblockconsists of 10 villages. In total, there are 12 blocks and 229
villages.

Taluks in Coimbatore District

Coimbatore district consists of nine Taluks. The details are as follows:

1. Coimbatore (North)

2. Coimbatore (South)

3. Mettupalayam

4. Pollachi

5. Sulur

6. Valparai

Demographic Details of Coimbatore District

The total population of Coimbatore district is 2916620 out of which 1482228are males
and 1434392 are females. The total rural population of the district is 854489 and urban
population is 2062131. As far as education is concerned, out of the total population. 2056377
(71%) are literates. Out of the total literates. 1140737 (77%) are males and 915640 (64%) are
females.

The district includes labour from various parts of the country. The population of workers
totals to 937314 out of which 627693 are male 309621 are female workers. The workers from
rural areas total to 436831 and that of urban areas are 500483. Agriculture is the primary sector
of the district. Most of the people depend on agriculture. The district comprises of 98364
cultivators and 211056 agricultural labourers. The house hold industry consists of 30381
workers.
 Major languages spoken in the district are Tamil. Malayalam. Telugu. Kannada, English
and Hindi.

Education
Coimbatore is one among the top most educational hubs in India. It includes seven
universities, 46 arts and science colleges and 67 colleges for professional education which
include two for allopathy, two for homeopathy, two for Indian medicine, 59 engineering
colleges, one for agriculture, and one for law'. The educational institutions of Coimbatore
district are equipped with state-of-the- art infrastructure, industry institution interaction and
practical way of teaching methodology. The colleges arrange frequent job fairs where the
students of other colleges are invited to participate and make use of the employment
opportunity. This helps many students in Coimbatore district to get them placed in reputed
companies.

The Coimbatore district is also famous for institutions in the field of medicine
engineering and agriculture. There are five institutions teaching medicine. 59 engineering
colleges, one agriculture university, one law college and twenty colleges for special education.

In Coimbatore district, equal importance is also given to children's education. There are
many famous schools in Coimbatore district offering excellent education at the school level.
Coimbatore district consists of 278 pre-schools. 853 primary schools. 290 middle schools. 103
high schools. 140 secondary schools.

Medical and Health

Coimbatore district is famous not only for educational and industry sector, but also for its
medical and health sector. There are many hospitals providing treatment for local, national and
international patients. Patients from abroad regularly visit hospitals in Coimbatore to get
treatment.
 There are 114 hospitals and 117 dispensaries. There are 47 primary' health centres. 328
health sub centres and 107 other medical institutions. Beds in hospitals and dispensaries are
1607 in number. There are 465 doctors and 478 nurses.

Transport
The speedy transportation in the district is one among the major reasons for the growth of
industries in and around the district. The city is connected to various business destinations
through national highways. The road length in kilo meters is given as follows:
a. National highways
b. State highways = 105.400
c. Corporation and municipality road = 1162.960
d. Panchayat union and panchayat road = 2375.891
e. Town panchayat and township road = 7399.797
= 1663.361
As far as lhe motor vehicles are concerned.
86273 commercial and 1828352 noncommercial vehicles are plying in the district. The railway
route length in broad gauge is 141.21 kms. and meter gauge is 27.6 kms. The railway track
length of broad gauge is 249.903 kms and that of meter gauge is 28.08 kms. There are 13
railway stations andtwo airports. The Civil airport at Peelamcdu and the Air Force Station al
Sulur are the two air ports available.
Industries in Coimbatore

Textiles are the major industries in Coimbatore district: it is one of the .^portant textile
hubs of India. Coimbatore is also called the “Manchester of golJth India" because it houses many
textile industries. India's leading textile machinery manufacturer. Lakshmi Machine Works Ltd.
produces machinery for textile mills in India and abroad. LMW is the pride of Coimbatore.

There are many electric pump manufacturing companies in and around Coimbatore, such
as Deccan. CRL Texmo. KSB. Sharp. Coimbatore houses some autocomponent manufacturing
brands, such as Roots, Pricol and LGB. German auto component major Robert Bosch started
their R & D facility in Coimbatore. Rowsons Trans formers supply their electrical transformers
to these companies. Coimbatore houses many Information Technology and Business Process
Outsourcing companies such as Cognizant Technology Solutions and Perot Systems. The district
is home to almost 50% of the poultry population of Tamil Nadu. The products manufactured in
Coimbatore industries are exported to various countries. The major commodities that are
exported are as follows:

1. Pumps and Motors

2. Yam
3. Castings
4. Textile Spares
5. Jasmine
6. Arecanut
7. Jewels
8. Software
9. Tea
10- Readymade Garments
 CHAPTER III

MARUDAMALAI TEMPLE

Marudamalai Temple is located about 52 km west of Coimbatore and is famous for

being considered as the seven house of Lord Murugun. the presidingof the south. This temple
is classified under 'Kunrulhoradal" as one of the six jnain abodes of the God. The others are
Thiruvavinankudi. Thiruparangunram. yiiirucheeralavai. Thiriveragam and Pazhamudhirsolai.
This temple is beautiful as it is a sight set against the backdrop of blue hills and amid lush
greenery. The origins of the temple date back to the age of Surapadama. the demon destroyed
by LOrd Subramanya. According to the inscriptions that have been found in
fhirumuruganathaswami Temple, the origin of Marudamalai is placed in the 12th centuty A.D.
A fairly crowded flight of stairs lead you to the temple which is at the top of a hill. It is a
lovely trek up that might leave you a little exhausted.

Especially if you are not used to climbing high. But the beauty of the temple and the
views around are worth it. Those who want to avoid the stairs can take a cab right up to the
top. The temple premises stay clean, like most south Indian temples. There is an Idumba
shrine here,, which houses an image of the deity caned on a huge rock. Couples often come
here to offer toys and cradles. It is believed that couples who donate here are blessed with a
progeny. A beautiful mandapam enshrines the 'KudiraiKulambu\ which are the supposed to be
the hoof marks that the horse of Lord Muruga left while fighting the demon Surapadma. Come
here at the time of the Lord Mugugan and Thaipusam festivals, when the temple is at its most
vibrant.

ARULMIGU SUBRAMANIYASWAMI TEMPLE MARUDAMALAI

Subramaniyaswami Temple. Marudamalai is a popular hill temple dedicated to Hindu

god Murugan, situated near Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, and India. Like most Murugan temples,
the temple is situated upon a hillock, part of the Western Ghats about 15 km west from the
city of Coimbatore. Near the foothill, there is a temple for Pillayar known as the
“Thaanthondri Vinaayakar”.

HISTORY
Lord Muruga is glorified as the God of mountain and mountainous regions in THIRU
MUGURUGATRUPADI, a noted work of the Tamil Literature of the SangamAge.The word
Muruga is a comprehensive term, connoting several meanings such as sweetness,
youthfulness, beauty, divinity and honey and therefore it is but natural for the Lord to have
His abode amidst scenic beauty among hills and mountains. Situated at a height of about 500
feet in a plateau on the western Ghats, fifteen kilometres north west of Coimbatore, amidst
lush vegetation and salubrious climate, Marudhamaiai Hills, dedicated to Lord Muruga
(Maruthachalamoorthy) is classified under KUNRUTHORADAL, one of the six main abodes
of the God. the others being THIRU VAVINANKUDI (PALAN1).
TH1RUPARANGUNRAM, (NEAR MADURAI). TH1RUCHEERALAVA1-Thiruchendur).
THIRUV1 RAGAM (Swamimalai) and PAZHAMUDH1RS01 Al ^zhagarkoil near Madurai).
THIRUTHANL Set against the backdrop of hazy blue hills dotted with shrubs and bushes of
varied hues, the sacred shrine verily ^fleets the picture of Lord Muruga. magnificently
mounted on his vehicle peacock, flaunting and swaying its feathers and plume in full bloom.

ORIGIN
The hoary past of the temple can be traced in such ancient works as Sage Kachyapar’s
PERUR PURANAM. The origin of the temple is rooted in legendary antiquity and dates back
to the age of Surapadama. the demon destroyed by Lord Subramanya referred to in
SKANDAPURNAM. The inscriptions found in Thirumuruganathaswami Temple.
Thirumurganpoondi places the origin of the temple in the 12th century A.D.According to
Perurpuranam. Soorapadama, the scourge of the gods aided by his mighty' brothers.
Singamukha and Tharaka arrayed against them and struck terror in their already agitated
minds by his sudden and surprising charges and depredations. Unable to bear the agony and
anguish, the gods approached Lord Siva and sought His succour.

Lord Siva comforted the Gods that Lord Muruga would come to their rescue, root out
and destroy Surapadama and his retinue enmasse. The gods should hasten to the
Marudhamaiai Hills and await the advent of Lord Muruga, their Saviour! Perurpuranam also
alludes to a king called Kusathvajan. who, it is said, was blessed with a male issue, only after
worshipping Marudhamaiai Muruga.

The Divine Cow Kamadhenu is reported to have grazed in the pastures of the hills of
Marudhamaiai. Perurpuranam lists the three neighbouring hills, veliingiri. Nili and
Marudhamaiai as the veiy manifestations of Lord Siva, Parvathi and Subramanya respectively
and the three hills taken together as the very symbol of Somaskanda.
 CHAPTER IV
POOJAS AND BELIFS IN MARUDHAMALAI TEMPLE

POOJA DETAILS

TEMPLE WORSHIP TIMINGS

S.No Details
1 Morning 5:30 A.M to 01:00 P.M
2 Evening 2:00 P.M to 08:30 P.M

TEMPLE POOJA TIMINGS

S.No Details
1 Visw'aroopa Dharsanam (Ushakkalam) 5.30 A.M
2 Kalasandhi Pooja 8.30 A.M
3 Uchikkalam Pooja 11.30 A.M
4 Thirukkappiduthal in day time 1.00 P.M to 2.00 P.M
5 Say'aralchai Pooja 4.30 P.M
6 ArdhaJama Pooja (Rakkalam) 7.30 P.M
DAILY POOJAS AND ARCHANAS

Daily Poojas and Archanas are performed for the presiding deity. There are schemes
enabling the devotees to perform Abhishegam and Archana for the deity every' day. An
endowment investment of Rs.8000/- under ‘Nitya Pooja Kattalar

An offering of Rs.250/- and Rs.2.000/- for 15 years to the temple will fetch prasadam of
the deity of the Archana performed in the devotee's name on Krithigai for one full year.
Prasadam is sent to the devotee concerned by post. Mention may be made here that several
devotees from abroad have joined these schemes and are blessed by Lord Muruga.

POOJA TICKETS
POOJA PRICE
ARCHANA 1 TICKET 5.00
SPECIAL ENTRANCE TICKET 10.00
SPECIAL ENTRANCE TICKET DURING FESTIVAL DAY 100 & 50
KALASANDHI POOJA 25.00
KALASANDHI POOJA DURING FESTIVAL DAY 50.00
MUDIKANNIKKAI 10.00
EARPOORING 10.00
MARRIAGE 250.00
UTHIRAVU 25.00
AB1SHEGAM WITHOUT MATERIALS 50.00
AB1SHEGAM WITH MATERIALS 1200.00
MILK ABISHEGAM 25.00
SANDHANAKAAPU 50.00
KAVAD1 10.00
SAGASARANAMAM 100.00
TWO WHEELER POOJA 10.00
CAR POOJA 20.00
MAERAVANA] 300.00
THANGA KAVASAM 250.00
GOLDEN CAR 1500.00
ANNADHANAM PER DAY -100 PERSONS 2500.00
BALS

Apart from the daily Poojas. special auspicious festivals are also conducted in the temples
annual)', almost every month, starting from the Tamil calendar month of Chitrai. which is
from middle of April to the middle of the folloxving month May. consequently every month
tih end of each Tamil year. This monthly festivals is conducted on the day jn which the
particular star occurs in that month. These special festivals begin early in the morning, with
special abishegams followed by poojas and offerings throughout the day, and culminate xvilh
a procession al! over the toxvn with the Lord in a charriot illuminated with colorful lights,
accompanied by
 Various types of musical instruments played by experts.
 Priests chanting Vedas.
 Othuvars (reciters) reciting devotional songs in Tamil and
 Multitude of devotees, the chan iot returning to the Temple in the midnight or at
dusk.
Sacared ash and theertham (scared fragrant waler) and flowers are offered by lhe
priests xvilh the Lord's blessings to the devotees all through this occasion. Such special
festivals are conducted as hereunder:

CHITTIRA POURNAMI

This is a Full moon day festix'al in the first Tamil month Chittirai(betwcen April 14th
to May 13th). Dexotees observe fasting, xvorship God Murugan and breakfast the next
morning. This light [brilliance of the Poorna Chandra (full moon)] helps dispelling darkness to
the souls. So Murugan worship and festival start on this day in the first Tamil month of the
Tamil year. Similar celebrations as stated abox e take place in many Murugan temples.

39
VAIGASI VISAGAM

Vaigasi is the second Tamil month in the year Vaigasi is the 16" star.

AADI KRITIGAI
Aadi is the fourth month in the Tamil year (16th July to 16th August). Krithigai is the
third star. After pooja and prayer, devotees are provided lunch in the noon.

IPPASI SASHTI
Ippasi is the seventh month in the Tamil year (17th October to 15th November). Sashli
is the sixth day after the new moon day (Amavasai Day). It is on this Sashti day the six faced
Lord Subramaniyam annihilated Soorabanman the most atrocious Asuran. who imprisoned the
Devas, and the Devas were liberated by the Lord. So this festival is celebrated in all Murugan
Temples in the world and especially in a very grand manner at Thiruchenthur Temple beside
the seaside in Thiruchenthur. Tamil Nadu. Multitude of devotees attend this festival taking
place there for seven days, culminating with the sangaram (destruction of ail evils) and
bestowing of the Lord's grace and blessing to liberated souls.

THAI PUSAM
Thai is the tenth month in the Tamil year. (14th January' to 13th February). Pusam is
the eighth star in the Tamil month. This festival is celebrated in all Murugan temples all over
the world and especially in a very grand manner at Palani Hill Temple in Tamil Nadu, Penang
Hill and Waterfall Temple at Penang. Batu Caves Temple in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia and
Singapore Temple. In this festival also Lord Subramaniyam comes in procession in silver
charriot. Multitude of devotees attend this festival observing fasting and penance and carrying
out special prayers, offering Abishega materials, garlands, fruits etc to Lord Subramaniyam
and carrying Kavadiesin their shoulders, to the Lord up the hill to obtain the Lord’s Grace and
blessings and become cured of their disabilities, ill health, diseases, troubles etc.

40
THIRU KARTH1GAI

Karthigai is the eighth month in the Tamil year (16th November to 15th December).
Thirukarthigai is the third star in the Tamil month. This festhal is celebrated in al! Murugan
Temples all over the world and especially in a very grand manner at Thiruannamalai Hill
Temple in Tamil Nadu. Multitude of devotees including the heads of the cared Mutts of Tamil
Nadu which spread spiritualism among people in India and abroad witness this grand festival
al Thiruvannamalai and attain the Grace and blessings of Lord Siva. At that night series of
small lamps are lit in all Murugan Temples, and Bon Fire (called Sockappanai) is lit in the
compound of each temple celebrating the victory' of the Lord.

41
 CHAPTER V
BENEFITS & SIGNIFICANCE OF MARUDHAMALAI TEMPLE

BENEFITS OF ABISHEAM AT MARUDHAMALAI:

 The devotee who perform this special Abishegam to the Sri Thandayuthapani Swamy
will get rid of from their diseases.
 Very powerful Abishegam, It will give the devotee a turning point in life.
 This Abishegam will give the devotee, power and happiness.
 By performing Abisheka, to this Sri Thandayuthapani Swamy, the devotee will also
have peacefulness in mind and body , blessings of Lord Muruga , a happy marriage
life, a consisitent improvement in career .
 It makes the devotee to lead a loan free life.
 Gives quick recovery from pandemic diseases.
 It avoids and saves the devotee from his sins and bad planets effects.
 Provides sound health and Ashta Aishwaryam.

42
SIGNIFICANCE OF MARUDHAMALAI - SUBRAMANIYASWAMY TEMPLE :
 This place Maruthamalai also recognized in the name Maruthachalam.
 There are two ways to reach this hilltop temple. One route is by road. Mini buses are
operated by the devasthanam(Managing body) of this temple.
 Another way, devotees can reach this temple by stepping up through a 837 steps route.
 At the foothills there is a shrine for Sri Ganapathi called here as “Thaan Tondri
Vinayagar” and “Pancha virutcha vinayagar”.
 Behind to this shrine , there is tree with 5 different leaves. This tree is called as
“Pancha virutcha”. Though this tree is looking like one tree , it is a combination of five
different trees.Those are vanni, arasu, vembu , atthi, korakkattai trees.
 The Sri Idumban shrine is also significant in this temple. People pray for child boon in
this shrine.
 The Pambatti Siddhar (one of the 18 Siddhars) Shrine is in the cave called as Pambatti
Siddhar cave.
 In a cave called “Aadhi Moola Sthanam” is the shrine for Sri Muruga and his consort
Goddesses Valli and Deivannai.
 The main deity Lord Sri Muruga is in the “Moolasthanam”.
 There are separate shrines for deities Lord Siva (Patteswarar), Goddes Parvathi
(Maragatha ambigai),Varatharaja Perumal and Nava Graha.
 The importance of this temple is praised in the Tamil books “Perur Puranam”, “Kanchi
Puranam” and also in the great Tamil Poet and Saint Sri Arunagiri Natha Swamigal’s
Thirupugazh.
 The “Thai Poosam” festivel is celebrated in this temple in a grand manner.

43
 CHAPTER VI
CONCLUSION

The following conclusions emerge from the study:

Regarding the management of the selected pilgrimage sites, different management patterns
were adopted for different sites. Further, in many cases, the functioning was not transparent and it was
very difficult to comment on their functioning. Moreover, the pilgrims who have visited these places
have limited knowledge about this aspect.

Some common problems related to basic tourism infrastructure facilities like accommodation,
food, drinking water, sanitation, parking, medical facilities, shopping, and shelter have been faced by
the respondents at marudhamalai sites. Other common problems faced by the pilgrims the
Maruthamalai pilgrimage sites are lack of cleanliness, a large number of beggars, non-availability of
tourist guides, over-crowding in buses during festivals, availability of non-vegetarian food hear
religious sites and high incidents of theft during the festivals.

People face difficulty to gel accommodation in Maruthamalai while visiting Maruthamalai

temple. A large number of respondents are satisfied with the attitude of local people at these sites and
they have shown their satisfaction with their visit at the Palani pilgrimage places and want to visit
these sites again.

44