Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is a state in southern India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai (formerly known as Madras). Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Puducherry and the South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. It is bounded by the Eastern Ghats on the north, by the Nilgiri, the Anamalai Hills, and Kerala on the west, by the Bay of Bengal in the east, by the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait on the southeast, and by the Indian Ocean on the south. The state shares a maritime border with the nation of Sri Lanka. Its official language is Tamil and its most common religion is Hinduism.

The state had been controlled by the Madras Presidency under the British Raj. The state's Legislative Assembly is currently controlled by the Indian National Congress-led Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (I.N.D.I.A.), with the Dravidian party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam as the largest party. Its current governor is R. N. Ravi and its current Chief Minister is M. K. Stalin.

Quotes

 * One of the greatest losses of the so-called Dravidian discourse in Tamil Nadu is the loss of a number of Hindu Devatas or deities in the civilizational consciousness of the Tamil people. More pointedly, the cultural-heritage-loss that accompanied this Devata loss has in many cases become irreversible. To restate the obvious, most ancient and medieval era temples in Tamil Nadu today have become dens of corruption, squalor, and pettiness at all levels. This rampant degradation continues unchecked as we speak. The Government-appointed administrative heads of these temples are not only ignorant of even something as basic as the temple’s kshetra or sthala puranas – oral and even written history – but dismiss it with a contempt that has to be seen to be believed. This is the visible, physical aspect of this deity loss in the people’s collective cultural consciousness. That which nobody cares about will be ignored, and this ignorance will lead to stagnation, decay, and eventual disappearance. Government control of temples is only one of the causes—the real loss has really occurred at the level of the atman or soul.
 * S. Balakrishna, Seventy years of secularism. Chapter: A Brief Survey of the Tradition of Rama and Ramayana in Tamil Nadu


 * In many ways, South India is to North India as Ireland is to England. South India has been dominated politically and culturally by North India for many centuries. Tamils in particular, the most populous of South Indian ethnic groups (defined by the language they speak) take pride in their identity and more than once in this century have attempted to establish a separate Tamil nation. Also like the Irish, Tamils believe in strong sentiment: rage, grief, compassion, affection, desire, laughter, and ecstasy are openly and frequently displayed in the streets and courtyards of Tamil Nadu. And like the Irish, Tamils value the gift of gab: fabulous conversationalists, storytellers, singers, and poets abound among them.


 * “From the very beginning of historical times, Tamilnadu was the land of Vedic traditions in every field of life. The Vedic concepts, gods, customs and manners ruled Tamil life : be it the kings, merchants, cultivators, brahmins, hunters, hill tribes, fishermen, chiefs and soldiers, cowherds, artists, musicians, dancers. They followed the Vedic ideology, worshipped Vedic Gods and propitiated their ancestors are shown abundantly in the data available”.
 * R. Nagaswamy, From Tamil Nadu, Land of Vedas) also quoted in


 * Today, Tamil Nadu has become the largest manufacturing hub, both for electronic hardware, consumer durables and automobiles.
 * M K Stalin, in Chennai has emerged as India's Detroit (20 April 2014)