Geography

Demography

• Chennai
• Chidambaram
• coimbatore
• Kanchipuram
• Kaniyakumari
• Kodaikanal
• Madurai
• Mamallapuram
• Ooty
• Rameswaram
• Thanjvaur
• Yercaud

Demography

The climate of Tamil Nadu is tropical in nature with little variation in summer and winter temperatures. While April-June is the hottest summer period with the temperature rising up to the 40�C mark, November-February is the coolest winter period with temperature hovering around 20�C, making the climate quite pleasant. Surprisingly, Tamil Nadu gets all its rains from the North-east Monsoons between October and December, when the rest of Tamil Nadu remains dry. The average annual rainfalls in Tamil Nadu range between 25 and 75 inches (635 and 1,905 mm) a year.

During summers (April- June), the coastal regions of Tamil Nadu become uncomfortably warm and humid, but the cool sea breezes in the afternoon make nights cool and pleasant. In this period the enchanting hill stations of the state provide much needed respite from heat and humidity of the plains.

The education in Tamil Nadu is highly respected. The state has what are considered some of the best Universities in India. Tamil Nadu prides itself in the fact that the first engineering institution to come into India was the Survey School which was founded in Chennai in 1974. Out of this grew the reputed College of Engineering. Today Tamil Nadu has over 250 engineering institutes. It is one of the leaders in India in education in technology education.

The State Government has undertaken several programs to overcome the problem of rural illiteracy and they provide free elementary education in the villages. Tamil is the language of instruction and study in the rural schools of Tamil Nadu. The State has a literacy rate of 74%, which is satisfactory as compared to the average literacy rate of the country. Literature has always held a great importance to the people of Tamil Nadu. Children learn to read at a very early age. All through history, Tamil literature has been entertaining and educating those in this region. Tamil poetry has universal appeal for both adults and children alike.

Tamil Nadu is also known for a wide variety of delicious food both for the vegetarians as well as the non-vegetarians. Grains, lentils, rice and vegetables are the main ingredients of the traditional foods of Tamil Nadu. Spices add flavor and give a distinctive taste to the Tamil cuisines. Some of the most common and popular dishes of the region are idly, dosai, vada, pongal and Uppuma. Coconut chutney and sambhar invariably form a part of most of the Tamil dishes.

For lunch and the main course, the food consists of boiled rice, which is served with an assortment of vegetable dishes, sambar, chutneys, rasam (a hot broth prepared from tamarind juice and pepper) and curd. On the other hand, the non-vegetarian lunch and dinner include curries and dishes cooked with chicken, mutton or fish.

The cultural Heritage of Tamil Nadu goes way back to ancient times. The contribution of Tamil Nadu to literature, music and arts of Indian heritage is exemplary.

Music and dance are the essence of Tamil Nadu. Rowing bands travel from village to village singing ballads and rendering entertainment to the common folks. Some of the important folk dance forms are Bharatha Natyam, Karagam Dance, KavadiAttam, Poikkal, Kuthirai Attam.

The History of Tamil Nadu begins with the 3 kingdoms, chera, chola and pandiyan, which are referred to in documents of the 3rd century BC. Some of the kings of these dynasties are mentioned in Sangam literature and the age between the 3rd century BC and the 2nd century AD is called the Sangam Age. At the beginning of the 4th century AD the Pallavas established their rule with kanchipuram as their capital...In the middle of the 9th century a Chola ruler established what was to become one of India's most outstanding empires on account of its administrative achievements (irrigation, village development) and its contributions to art and literature. The Age of the Cholas is considered the golden age of Tamil history.

Tamil is the official language of Tamil Nadu state and one of the 18 languages mentioned in the eighth schedule of the Indian constitution. Tamil is one of the classical languages of the world, with a rich heritage of literature. It is the most widely spoken language in Tamil Nadu. Besides Tamil Nadu, Tamil is also spoken by a number of people in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Mauritius and Malaysia. The antiquity of Tamil is comparable to Sanskrit. Tamil is written in a derivative of the southern 'Brahmi' script. The alphabet of Tamil is unique (phonetic). That is, in Tamil language letters represent sounds, rather than ideas, as is the case in the 'Mandarin' language of China.

Tamil is one of the two classical languages of India. It is the only language in that country which has continued to exist for over two thousand years. It is spoken today by approximately 65 million people living mainly in southern India, Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, Africa, Fiji, the West Indies, Mauritius and Reunion Islands, United Kingdom, United States and Canada. Tamil is the pre-eminent member of the Dravidian Language family and has one of the longest unbroken literary traditions of any living language in the world.

The main religions in Tamilnadu are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity and Jainism. Hinduism, along with its various sects, is the oldest religion in the state. Hindus are followers of number of sectarian monastic institutions (called mathas).