Nearly 90 million people around the world identify as Tamil, a proud and ancient community with a unique language, history, and culture. The Tamil people have given India and the world some of its most iconic revolutionaries and political leaders, industrialists, philosophers, sportspeople, scientists, and mathematicians (including winners of the Nobel Prize), and celebrated writers, poets, dancers, musicians, and actors. The influence of the community on science, culture, religion, philosophy, art, architecture, literature, film, and politics has endured across millennia. While the majority of Tamils live in South India, the diaspora is to be found in countries around the world—especially in Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, the UK, and USA, where Tamil traditions thrive and assume new and interesting forms. A people of immense resilience, intellect, and creativity, the Tamils continue to leave an indelible mark on the world.

But who are the Tamils, really? How have they preserved a distinct cultural heritage while evolving across time and geographies? And what is the Tamil ‘gunam’ or identity? How has Tamil culture endured even as it has evolved and mutated over centuries?

In The Tamils, author Nirmala Lakshman draws from a wealth of historical information, original research, and her own keen observations of the community that she is part of to craft a rich and expansive exploration of Tamil history, society, and culture. The book has been published by Aleph Book Company.

Today’s Tamil Nadu largely corresponds to ancient Tamilakam and is bound by the mountain ranges of the Western Ghats and the Bay of Bengal, with tracts of dry red earth, green paddy fields, and pebbled riverbeds in between. This book traces the remarkable journey of the people of this land, starting from the Stone Age (1.7 million years ago) all the way up to the epic Sangam era (300 BCE to 300 CE), whose literature highlights the influential role of dynasties like the Pallavas, Pandyas, Cholas, and Cheras, and the thriving Jain community of that time; it then examines the evolution and spread of Tamil culture through the Bhakti movement, and the arrival of Christianity and Islam. In parallel to the cultural, philosophical, and religious influences that shaped Tamil society, the book examines the medieval and modern political history of the region, and describes the setting up of the sultanates of the south, the rule of the Nayaks, the Vijayanagar dynasty, the Marathas, and the coming of the British. Thereafter, it goes deep into the freedom struggle, and the Non-Brahmin movement before describing the distinctive attributes of the Tamils in the modern era, especially the changes that are taking place in the twenty-first century.

Through incontestable scholarship and lucid analysis, the book delves into the complex intersections of politics, religion, caste, economics, and gender in Tamil society, while also capturing the spirit of Tamil creativity in art, architecture, handicrafts, dance, music, sports, mathematics, IT, and more. It studies the opposites that mark the community—the refinement and heights of Tamil culture, but also the violence stemming from centuries of prejudice. It explores the ways in which Tamil culture continues to evolve—through migration, debate, acculturation, and social upheavals. Accessible and comprehensive, The Tamils is a compelling portrait of one of the world’s oldest continuous cultures—in an ever-globalizing world, it reflects on what it means to be Tamil today.

Nirmala Lakshman has been steeped in Tamil culture by virtue of being Tamil and observing Tamil society through her years in journalism. She is currently Publisher and Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications and was earlier Joint Editor of the paper. She founded and edited The Hindu Literary Review, conceptualized and created Young World, India’s only children’s newspaper supplement, and developed several other feature sections of The Hindu. She launched The Hindu’s annual literature festival and continues to curate it. Nirmala has a PhD in postmodern fiction, and has written a book on Chennai, Degree Coffee by the Yard, and edited an anthology of contemporary Indian journalism, Writing a Nation.

Read an extract from the book published on Moneycontrol.

10 May 2025