1.
British Malaya
–
The term British Malaya loosely describes a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries. Before the formation of Malayan Union in 1946, the territories were not placed under a unified administration. Instead, British Malaya comprised the Straits Settlements, the Federated Malay States, under British rule, Malaya was one of the most profitable territories of the Empire, being the worlds largest producer of tin and later rubber. The Malayan Union was dissolved and replaced by the Federation of Malaya in 1948, on 16 September 1963, the federation, along with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore, formed into a larger federation of Malaysia. The British first became involved with Malay politics formally in 1771, the British colonised Singapore in 1819 and were in complete control of the state at that time. In the mid-18th century, British firms could be found trading in the Malay Peninsula, Light was also a captain in the service of the East India Company. The Sultan faced multiple external threats during this period, Siam, which was at war with Burma and which saw Kedah as its vassal state, frequently demanded that Kedah send reinforcements. Kedah, in cases, was a reluctant ally to Siam. Through negotiation between the Sultan and Light, the Sultan agreed to allow the firm to build a trading post and to operate in Kedah, Light conveyed this message to his superiors in India. The British, however, decided against the proposal, two years later, Sultan Muhammad Jiwa died and was succeeded by Sultan Abdullah Mahrum Shah. The new Sultan offered Light the island of Penang in return for assistance for Kedah. Light informed the East India Company of the Sultans offer, the Company, however, ordered Light to take over Penang and gave him no guarantee of the military aid that the Sultan had asked for earlier. Light later took over Penang and assured the Sultan of military assistance, soon the Company made up its mind and told Light that they would not give any military aid to Kedah. In June 1788, Light informed the Sultan of the Companys decision, feeling cheated, the Sultan ordered Light to leave Penang, but Light refused. Lights refusal caused the Sultan to strengthen Kedahs military forces and to fortify Prai, recognising this threat, the British moved in and razed the fort in Prai. The British thereby forced the Sultan to sign an agreement that gave the British the right to occupy Penang, in return, on 1 May 1791 the Union Flag was officially raised in Penang for the first time. In 1800, Kedah ceded Prai to the British and the Sultan received an increase of 4,000 pesos in his annual rent, Penang was later named Prince of Wales Island, while Perai was renamed Province Wellesley. In 1821, Siam invaded Kedah, sacked the capital of Alor Star, before the late 19th century, the British largely practised a non-interventionist policy
2.
Malaysia
–
Malaysia is a federal constitutional monarchy located in Southeast Asia. Peninsular Malaysia shares a land and maritime border with Thailand and maritime borders with Singapore, Vietnam, East Malaysia shares land and maritime borders with Brunei and Indonesia and a maritime border with the Philippines and Vietnam. The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government, with a population of over 30 million, Malaysia is the 44th most populous country. The southernmost point of continental Eurasia, Tanjung Piai, is in Malaysia, located in the tropics, Malaysia is one of 17 megadiverse countries on earth, with large numbers of endemic species. Malaysia has its origins in the Malay kingdoms present in the area which, from the 18th century, the first British territories were known as the Straits Settlements, whose establishment was followed by the Malay kingdoms becoming British protectorates. The territories on Peninsular Malaysia were first unified as the Malayan Union in 1946, Malaya was restructured as the Federation of Malaya in 1948, and achieved independence on 31 August 1957. Malaya united with North Borneo, Sarawak, and Singapore on 16 September 1963 to become Malaysia, less than two years later in 1965, Singapore was expelled from the federation. The country is multi-ethnic and multi-cultural, which plays a role in politics. About half the population is ethnically Malay, with minorities of Malaysian Chinese, Malaysian Indians. The constitution declares Islam the state religion while allowing freedom of religion for non-Muslims, the government system is closely modelled on the Westminster parliamentary system and the legal system is based on common law. The head of state is the king, known as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and he is an elected monarch chosen from the hereditary rulers of the nine Malay states every five years. The head of government is the prime minister, since its independence, Malaysia has had one of the best economic records in Asia, with its GDP growing at an average of 6. 5% per annum for almost 50 years. The economy has traditionally been fuelled by its resources, but is expanding in the sectors of science, tourism, commerce. Today, Malaysia has a newly industrialised market economy, ranked third largest in Southeast Asia, the name Malaysia is a combination of the word Malay and the Latin-Greek suffix -sia/-σία. The word melayu in Malay may derive from the Tamil words malai and ur meaning mountain and city, land, malayadvipa was the word used by ancient Indian traders when referring to the Malay Peninsula. Whether or not it originated from these roots, the word melayu or mlayu may have used in early Malay/Javanese to mean to steadily accelerate or run. This term was applied to describe the current of the river Melayu in Sumatra. The name was adopted by the Melayu Kingdom that existed in the seventh century on Sumatra
3.
Peninsular Malaysia
–
Peninsular Malaysia, also known as West Malaysia, is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula and surrounding islands. Its area is 130,598 square kilometres and it shares a land border with Thailand in the north. To the south is the island of Singapore, across the Strait of Malacca to the west lies the island of Sumatra. East Malaysia is to the east across the South China Sea, Peninsular Malaysia accounts for the majority of Malaysias population and economy, as of 2015 its population is roughly 25 million. In 1963, the name Malaysia was adopted by the new federation uniting the Federation of Malaya, North Borneo, Sarawak, at the time, the Philippines had also contemplated adopting the name. Peninsular Malaysia is also known as West Malaysia or Malaya, in current everyday usage the word Malaya is almost always used jocularly, e. g. Gempar satu Malaya. Which roughly means shakes the whole of Malaya, the term Malaya generally included Singapore until 1946, when Singapore was excluded from the formation of Malayan Union. In Singapore law, Malaya includes Singapore, whereas the term States of Malaya does not, the majority of people on Peninsular Malaysia are ethnic Malays, predominantly Muslim. Large Chinese and Indian populations exist, the Orang Asli are the indigenous people of Peninsular Malaysia, they numbered around 140,000 and mostly lived in inland parts of the region. Unlike the East Coast, the West Coast is partitioned further into three regions, including, The Northern Region, Perlis, Kedah, Penang and Perak, the Central Region, Selangor and the federal territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya. The Southern Region, Negeri Sembilan, Malacca and Johor Even though Johor has a coastline facing the South China Sea and these rights were granted as part of Sarawaks 18-point agreement and Sabahs 20-point agreement with Federation of Malaya in forming the Federation of Malaysia. Malaya Malayan dollar Peninsular Malaysia travel guide from Wikivoyage
4.
Tamil language
–
Tamil is a Dravidian language predominantly spoken by the Tamil people of India and Sri Lanka, and also by the Tamil diaspora, Sri Lankan Moors, Burghers, Douglas, and Chindians. Tamil is a language of two countries, Singapore and Sri Lanka. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and it is also used as one of the languages of education in Malaysia, along with English, Malay and Mandarin. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in the four other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India. Tamil is one of the classical languages in the world. Tamil-Brahmi inscriptions from 500 BC have been found on Adichanallur and 2 and it has been described as the only language of contemporary India which is recognizably continuous with a classical past. The variety and quality of classical Tamil literature has led to it being described as one of the classical traditions. A recorded Tamil literature has been documented for over 2000 years, the earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from ca.300 BC – AD300. It has the oldest extant literature among other Dravidian languages, the earliest epigraphic records found on rock edicts and hero stones date from around the 3rd century BC. More than 55% of the inscriptions found by the Archaeological Survey of India are in the Tamil language. Tamil language inscriptions written in Brahmi script have been discovered in Sri Lanka, the two earliest manuscripts from India, acknowledged and registered by the UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 and 2005, were written in Tamil. In 1578, Portuguese Christian missionaries published a Tamil prayer book in old Tamil script named Thambiraan Vanakkam, the Tamil Lexicon, published by the University of Madras, was one of the earliest dictionaries published in the Indian languages. According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, Tamil belongs to the southern branch of the Dravidian languages, a family of around 26 languages native to the Indian subcontinent. It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family, the closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam, the two began diverging around the 9th century CE. According to linguists like Bhadriraju Krishnamurti, Tamil, as a Dravidian language, descends from Proto-Dravidian, linguistic reconstruction suggests that Proto-Dravidian was spoken around the third millennium BC, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin in peninsular India. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were of the associated with the Neolithic complexes of South India. The next phase in the reconstructed proto-history of Tamil is Proto-South Dravidian, the linguistic evidence suggests that Proto-South Dravidian was spoken around the middle of the second millennium BC, and that proto-Tamil emerged around the 3rd century BC. The earliest epigraphic attestations of Tamil are generally taken to have been shortly thereafter
5.
Malaysian language
–
The Malaysian language, or Standard Malay is the name regularly applied to the Malay language used in Malaysia. Constitutionally, however, the language of Malaysia is Malay. Malaysian is a register of the Johore-Riau dialect of Malay. It is spoken by much of the Malaysian population as a second language and it is a compulsory subject in primary and secondary schools. Article 152 of the Federation designates Malay as the official language, between 1986 and 2007, the official term Bahasa Malaysia was replaced by Bahasa Melayu. The language is simply referred to as Bahasa or BM. English continues, however, to be used in professional and commercial fields. The Malaysian language is written using a Latin alphabet called Rumi. Rumi is official while efforts are currently being undertaken to preserve Jawi script, the Latin alphabet, however, is still the most commonly used script in Malaysia, both for official and informal purposes. The Malaysian language has most of its words borrowed from Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi, Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, certain Chinese dialects, Arabic and more recently, English. Modern Malaysian is also influenced by Indonesian, largely through the popularity of Indonesian dramas, soap operas, songs. Malay modern vocabulary, which may not be familiar to the generation, such as awek. New plural pronouns have also formed out of the original pronouns. Code-switching between English and Malaysian and the use of loanwords is widespread, forming Bahasa Rojak. Consequently, this phenomenon has raised the displeasure of language purists in Malaysia, differences between the Malaysian and Indonesian languages Indonesian language Jawi, an Arabic alphabet for Malay Language politics Malaysian English, English language used formally in Malaysia. A. Rott, N. V. Kamus Bahasa Russia – Bahasa Malaysia
6.
Hinduism
–
Hinduism is a religion, or a way of life, found most notably in India and Nepal. Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, and some practitioners and scholars refer to it as Sanātana Dharma, scholars regard Hinduism as a fusion or synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no founder. This Hindu synthesis started to develop between 500 BCE and 300 CE following the Vedic period, although Hinduism contains a broad range of philosophies, it is linked by shared concepts, recognisable rituals, cosmology, shared textual resources, and pilgrimage to sacred sites. Hindu texts are classified into Shruti and Smriti and these texts discuss theology, philosophy, mythology, Vedic yajna, Yoga, agamic rituals, and temple building, among other topics. Major scriptures include the Vedas and Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, prominent themes in Hindu beliefs include the four Puruṣārthas, the proper goals or aims of human life, namely Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha, karma, samsara, and the various Yogas. Hindu practices include such as puja and recitations, meditation, family-oriented rites of passage, annual festivals. Some Hindus leave their world and material possessions, then engage in lifelong Sannyasa to achieve Moksha. Hinduism prescribes the eternal duties, such as honesty, refraining from injuring living beings, patience, forbearance, self-restraint, Hinduism is the worlds third largest religion, with over one billion followers or 15% of the global population, known as Hindus. The majority of Hindus reside in India, Nepal, Mauritius, the Caribbean, the word Hindu is derived from the Indo-Aryan/Sanskrit word Sindhu, the Indo-Aryan name for the Indus River in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent. The term Hindu in these ancient records is a geographical term, the Arabic term al-Hind referred to the people who live across the River Indus. This Arabic term was taken from the pre-Islamic Persian term Hindū. By the 13th century, Hindustan emerged as an alternative name of India. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that European merchants and colonists began to refer to the followers of Indian religions collectively as Hindus. The term Hinduism, then spelled Hindooism, was introduced into the English language in the 18th-century to denote the religious, philosophical, because of the wide range of traditions and ideas covered by the term Hinduism, arriving at a comprehensive definition is difficult. The religion defies our desire to define and categorize it, Hinduism has been variously defined as a religion, a religious tradition, a set of religious beliefs, and a way of life. From a Western lexical standpoint, Hinduism like other faiths is appropriately referred to as a religion, in India the term dharma is preferred, which is broader than the western term religion. Hindu traditionalists prefer to call it Sanatana Dharma, the study of India and its cultures and religions, and the definition of Hinduism, has been shaped by the interests of colonialism and by Western notions of religion. Since the 1990s, those influences and its outcomes have been the topic of debate among scholars of Hinduism, Hinduism as it is commonly known can be subdivided into a number of major currents
7.
Christianity
–
Christianity is a Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, who serves as the focal point for the religion. It is the worlds largest religion, with over 2.4 billion followers, or 33% of the global population, Christians believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the savior of humanity whose coming as the Messiah was prophesied in the Old Testament. Christian theology is summarized in creeds such as the Apostles Creed and his incarnation, earthly ministry, crucifixion, and resurrection are often referred to as the gospel, meaning good news. The term gospel also refers to accounts of Jesuss life and teaching, four of which—Matthew, Mark, Luke. Christianity is an Abrahamic religion that began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the mid-1st century, following the Age of Discovery, Christianity spread to the Americas, Australasia, sub-Saharan Africa, and the rest of the world through missionary work and colonization. Christianity has played a prominent role in the shaping of Western civilization, throughout its history, Christianity has weathered schisms and theological disputes that have resulted in many distinct churches and denominations. Worldwide, the three largest branches of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the denominations of Protestantism. There are many important differences of interpretation and opinion of the Bible, concise doctrinal statements or confessions of religious beliefs are known as creeds. They began as baptismal formulae and were expanded during the Christological controversies of the 4th and 5th centuries to become statements of faith. Many evangelical Protestants reject creeds as definitive statements of faith, even agreeing with some or all of the substance of the creeds. The Baptists have been non-creedal in that they have not sought to establish binding authoritative confessions of faith on one another. Also rejecting creeds are groups with roots in the Restoration Movement, such as the Christian Church, the Evangelical Christian Church in Canada, the Apostles Creed is the most widely accepted statement of the articles of Christian faith. It is also used by Presbyterians, Methodists, and Congregationalists and this particular creed was developed between the 2nd and 9th centuries. Its central doctrines are those of the Trinity and God the Creator, each of the doctrines found in this creed can be traced to statements current in the apostolic period. The creed was used as a summary of Christian doctrine for baptismal candidates in the churches of Rome. Most Christians accept the use of creeds, and subscribe to at least one of the mentioned above. The central tenet of Christianity is the belief in Jesus as the Son of God, Christians believe that Jesus, as the Messiah, was anointed by God as savior of humanity, and hold that Jesus coming was the fulfillment of messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. The Christian concept of the Messiah differs significantly from the contemporary Jewish concept, Jesus, having become fully human, suffered the pains and temptations of a mortal man, but did not sin
8.
Buddhism
–
Buddhism is a religion and dharma that encompasses a variety of traditions, beliefs and spiritual practices largely based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. Buddhism originated in India sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries BCE, from where it spread through much of Asia, two major extant branches of Buddhism are generally recognized by scholars, Theravada and Mahayana. Buddhism is the worlds fourth-largest religion, with over 500 million followers or 7% of the global population, Buddhist schools vary on the exact nature of the path to liberation, the importance and canonicity of various teachings and scriptures, and especially their respective practices. In Theravada the ultimate goal is the attainment of the state of Nirvana, achieved by practicing the Noble Eightfold Path, thus escaping what is seen as a cycle of suffering. Theravada has a following in Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. Mahayana, which includes the traditions of Pure Land, Zen, Nichiren Buddhism, Shingon, rather than Nirvana, Mahayana instead aspires to Buddhahood via the bodhisattva path, a state wherein one remains in the cycle of rebirth to help other beings reach awakening. Vajrayana, a body of teachings attributed to Indian siddhas, may be viewed as a branch or merely a part of Mahayana. Tibetan Buddhism, which preserves the Vajrayana teachings of eighth century India, is practiced in regions surrounding the Himalayas, Tibetan Buddhism aspires to Buddhahood or rainbow body. Buddhism is an Indian religion attributed to the teachings of Buddha, the details of Buddhas life are mentioned in many early Buddhist texts but are inconsistent, his social background and life details are difficult to prove, the precise dates uncertain. Some hagiographic legends state that his father was a king named Suddhodana, his mother queen Maya, and he was born in Lumbini gardens. Some of the stories about Buddha, his life, his teachings, Buddha was moved by the innate suffering of humanity. He meditated on this alone for a period of time, in various ways including asceticism, on the nature of suffering. He famously sat in meditation under a Ficus religiosa tree now called the Bodhi Tree in the town of Bodh Gaya in Gangetic plains region of South Asia. He reached enlightenment, discovering what Buddhists call the Middle Way, as an enlightened being, he attracted followers and founded a Sangha. Now, as the Buddha, he spent the rest of his teaching the Dharma he had discovered. Dukkha is a concept of Buddhism and part of its Four Noble Truths doctrine. It can be translated as incapable of satisfying, the unsatisfactory nature, the Four Truths express the basic orientation of Buddhism, we crave and cling to impermanent states and things, which is dukkha, incapable of satisfying and painful. This keeps us caught in saṃsāra, the cycle of repeated rebirth, dukkha
9.
Islam
–
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion
10.
Tamils
–
Tamil people with a population of approximately 76 million living around the world are one of the largest and oldest of the existing ethno-linguistic cultural groups of people in the modern world. Tamils comprise 24. 87% of the population in Sri Lanka,5. 91% in India,10. 83% in Mauritius, 5% in Singapore, among languages spoken today, the Tamil language is the oldest written language. Between the 3rd century BCE and the 3rd century AD, Tamil people produced native literature that came to be called Sangam literature, Tamils were noted for their martial, religious and mercantile activities beyond their native borders. Pandyas and Cholas were historically active in Sri Lanka, the Chola dynasty successfully invaded parts of Southeast Asia like Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Indonesia. Medieval Tamil guilds and trading organizations like the Ayyavole and Manigramam played an important role in the Southeast Asia trade, Pallava traders and religious leaders travelled to Southeast Asia and played an important role in the cultural Indianisation of the region. Locally developed scripts such as Grantha and Pallava script induced the development of many scripts such as Khmer, Javanese Kawi script, Baybayin. Tamil visual art is dominated by stylised Temple architecture in major centres, Chola bronzes, especially the Nataraja sculpture of the Chola period, have become notable as a symbol of Hinduism. Tamil performing arts are divided into popular and classical, classical form is Bharatanatyam, whereas the popular forms are known as Koothu and performed in village temples and on street corners. Tamil cinema, known as Kollywood, is an important part of the Indian cinema industry, music too is divided into classical Carnatic form and many popular genres. Although most Tamils are Hindus, most practice what is considered to be folk Hinduism, a sizeable number are Christians and Muslims. A small Jain community survives from the period as well. Tamil cuisine is informed by varied vegetarian and non-vegetarian items usually spiced with locally available spices, the music, the temple architecture and the stylised sculptures favoured by the Tamil people as in their ancient nation are still being learnt and practised. It is unknown as to whether the term Thamizhar and its equivalents in Prakrit such as Damela, Dameda, the well-known Hathigumpha inscription of the Kalinga ruler Kharavela refers to a Tmira samghata dated to 150 BC. It also mentions that the league of Tamil kingdoms had been in existence 113 years before then, in Amaravati in present-day Andhra Pradesh there is an inscription referring to a Dhamila-vaniya datable to the 3rd century AD. Another inscription of about the time in Nagarjunakonda seems to refer to a Damila. A third inscription in Kanheri Caves refers to a Dhamila-gharini, in the Buddhist Jataka story known as Akiti Jataka there is a mention to Damila-rattha. There were trade relationship between the Roman Empire and Pandyan Empire, as recorded by Strabo, Emperor Augustus of Rome received at Antioch an ambassador from a king called Pandyan of Dramira. Hence, it is clear that by at least 300 BC, Thamizhar is etymologically related to Tamil, the language spoken by Tamil people
11.
Tamil Muslim
–
Tamil Muslims are Tamil-speaking people with Islam as their faith. There are 3 –4 million Tamil Muslims in India mostly in Tamil Nadu state and also in neighbouring Kerala, a significant Tamil-speaking Muslim population numbering 1. There are around 500,000 in Malaysia and 20,000 in Singapore, Tamil Muslims are largely urban traders rather than farmers. There is a diaspora of Tamil Muslims, particularly in South East Asia. In the late 20th century, the diaspora expanded to North America and they are called Cholias in Myanmar, Mamak in Malaysia and Rathas in South Africa. The term Tamil Muslims refers to Muslims who are linked to the Tamil-speaking areas of South India, specifically modern day Tamil Nadu state. As such, this refers not only to ethnic Tamils who are Muslim. Members of these groups can have ancestries and historical connections to a range of geographic regions including South India, Southeast Asia, hence, their complexions range from fair to dark, facial bone structures range from sharp/oval to rounded. Tamil Muslims have historically been money changers throughout South and South East Asia especially in Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Tamil Muslims are also involved in various trades like retail, mutton shops, foreign bazaars, etc. They are also involved in trade and leather industry. The coloured stone business which Sri Lanka is famous for is in the hands of Tamil Muslims, other than Gujarati and Marwaris, the only community doing wholesale diamond business in ASEAN is Tamil Muslim from Ramanathapuram district. Semiprecious stones like peridot, rubilite, amethyst, or moonstone are led by Tamil Muslims from Thanjavur district in ASEAN, paper business is run by entrepreneurs from Erwadi. Department store and textile showrooms are run by businessmen from Pallapatti, the largest exporters of leather products are from Ambur, Vaniyambadi, Pernambettu, Ranipet and Melvisharam. Independent shops in Burma Bazaar market of Chennai is led by entrepreneurs from Ramanathapuram district, due to new emerging opportunities, lot of Tamil Muslims went to the Persian Gulf and ASEAN. He owned over 70 ocean-going vessels, periya Thambi Nainar of the 17th century was widely regarded as the first millionaire from the Tamil Muslim community. After independence, Tamil Muslim entrepreneurs began to build schools and colleges, in the mid 1980s, scores of Tamil Muslim self-financing educational institutions were started. Crescent Engineering College was upgraded to BS Abdur Rahman University, in Tamil Nadu, the school education of the Tamil Muslims is above-average compared to general literacy level. But in higher and technical education Tamil Muslims lag behind, due to commitments and jobs in the Persian Gulf
12.
Indian Singaporeans
–
Indian Singaporeans or Singaporean Indians – defined as persons of South Asian ancestry – constitute 7. 4% of the countrys citizens, making them the third largest ethnic group in Singapore. Initially, the Indian population was transient, mainly comprising young men who came as workers, soldiers, by the mid-20th century, a settled community had emerged, with a more balanced gender ratio and a better spread of age groups. Singapores Indian population is notable for its class stratification, with large elite and this has grown more visible since the 1990s with an influx of both well-educated and unskilled migrants from India, which has created new contradictions. Singapore Indians are linguistically and religiously diverse, with ethnic Tamils, the local Indian culture has endured and evolved over almost 200 years. By the 1990s, it had grown somewhat distinct from contemporary South Asian cultures, since then, new immigrants have increased the size and complexity of the local Indian population. Low-cost carriers, cable television and the Internet now connect the local Indian community with the culture of India, prominent Indian individuals have long made a mark in Singapore as leaders of various fields in national life. Indians are also well represented, in areas such as politics, education, diplomacy. In Singapore, a race is deemed that of his or her father. As Indians have adopted or married people of other races, the race of their children can fail to reflect their actual culture. Examples include Chindians, Eurasians and Jawi Peranakans, and Chinese girls adopted by Indian families, for instance, while a man with an Indian father and Chinese mother is officially Indian, the person himself, and others around him, might consider him Chindian or mixed race instead. Indians in Singapore may be defined in terms of nationality. Most ethnic Indians are Singapore citizens, known as Singaporean Indians and they are usually the locally born second, third, fourth or even fifth generation descendants of immigrants from the Indian subcontinent. In addition, there are many ethnic Indian immigrant workers in Singapore, citizens of the Republic of India are called Indian nationals, or even Indian Indians. Foreign Indians may be distinguished in terms of residency status, well educated professionals or entrepreneurs with a high earning capacity are granted renewable Employment Passes. These entitle the holder’s spouse, children and parents to Dependents Passes, Students may enter on Students Passes. Pass holders may apply for Permanent Residence, which lets them live in Singapore on a long term-basis, as part of Singaporean nationality law, they are also eligible to apply for Singapore Citizenship. In contrast, unskilled foreign workers enter Singapore with Work Permits and they are rarely allowed to stay in Singapore for more than two years and are never allowed to bring dependents with them. Nor are they eligible to apply for either Permanent Residence or Citizenship, demographic statistics are generally restricted to Singapore residents, defined as both Singapore citizens and Permanent Residents
13.
Sri Lankan Tamils
–
Sri Lankan Tamils or Ceylon Tamils, also known as Eelam Tamils in Tamil, are members of the Tamil ethnic group native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. According to anthropological and archaeological evidence, Sri Lankan Tamils have a long history in Sri Lanka and have lived on the island since at least around the 2nd century BCE. Most modern Sri Lankan Tamils claim descent from residents of Jaffna Kingdom and they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Province, and are in the minority throughout the rest of the country. 70% of Sri Lankan Tamils in Sri Lanka live in the Northern and Eastern provinces, although Sri Lankan Tamils are culturally and linguistically distinct, genetic studies indicate that they are closely related to Sinhalese ethnic group in the island. The Sri Lankan Tamils are mostly Hindus with a significant Christian population, Sri Lankan Tamil literature on topics including religion and the sciences flourished during the medieval period in the court of the Jaffna Kingdom. Since the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War in the 1980s, Sri Lankan Tamil dialects are noted for their archaism and retention of words not in everyday use in the Tamil Nadu state in India. Since Sri Lanka gained independence from Britain in 1948, relations between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil communities have been strained. Rising ethnic and political tensions, along with ethnic riots in 1956,1958,1977,1981 and 1983, led to the formation, the ensuing civil war resulted in the deaths of more than 100,000 people and the forced disappearance of thousands of others. The civil war ended in 2009 but there are continuing allegations of atrocities being committed by the Sri Lankan Military, a United Nations panel found that as many as 40,000 civilians may have been killed in the final months of the civil war. The end of the war has not improved conditions in Sri Lanka, with press freedom not being restored. One-third of Sri Lankan Tamils now live outside Sri Lanka, there is little scholarly consensus over the presence of the Sri Lankan Tamil people in Sri Lanka, also known as Eelam in Sangam literature. Theories about Tamil peoples presence in Sri Lanka feed into the cycle of ethnic conflict, another theory states that the Sri Lankan Tamils are descendant of the Nagas, who started to assimilate to Tamil culture and language around 3rd BCE. The indigenous Veddhas are physically related to people in South India and it is not possible to ascertain what languages that they originally spoke as Vedda language is considered diverged from its original source. Tamil Brahmi and Tamil-Prakrit scripts were used to write the Tamil language during this period on the island, bearing a remarkable resemblance to burials in the Early Pandyan Kingdom, these sites were established between the 5th century BCE and 2nd century CE. Excavated ceramic sequences similar to that of Arikamedu were found in Kandarodai on the north coast, cultural similarities in burial practices in South India and Sri Lanka were dated by archaeologists to 10th century BCE. However, Indian history and archaeology have pushed the back to 15th century BCE. In Sri Lanka, there is evidence from Anuradhapura that the non-Brahmi symbol-bearing black. The skeletal remains of an Early Iron Age chief were excavated in Anaikoddai, the name Ko Veta is engraved in Brahmi script on a seal buried with the skeleton and is assigned by the excavators to the 3rd century BCE
14.
Dravidian people
–
Dravidians are native speakers of any of the Dravidian languages. There are around 200 million native speakers of Dravidian languages and they form the majority of the population of South India. Dravidian-speaking people are found in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh. Historically the word drāviḍa is used to denote the region of South India. In Prakrit, words such as Damela, Dameda, Dhamila and Damila evolved from Tamila could have used to denote an ethnic identity. Tamil has a tradition dating back to the 3rd century BCE. The third century BCE onwards saw the development of large Dravidian political states, Chola dynasty, Pandyan dynasty, Chera Dynasty and a number of smaller states. The Satavahana dynasty, Rashtrakuta dynasty, Western Chalukya Empire, Kakatiya dynasty, Hoysala Empire, the Vijayanagara Empire, the Chola Empire was one of the biggest maritime empires in medieval India, stretching from Southern India to Southeast Asia including Philippines, Malaysia, Southern Thailand and Indonesia. Medieval Tamil guilds and trading organizations like the Ayyavole and Manigramam played an important role in the Southeast Asia trade, traders and religious leaders travelled to Southeast Asia and played an important role in the cultural Indianisation of the region. Locally developed scripts such as Grantha and Pallava script induced the development of many scripts such as Khmer, Javanese Kawi script, Baybayin. Certain communities of Marathis from Maharashtra are considered as Scytho-Dravidians, Dravidian visual art is dominated by stylised Temple architecture in major centres, and the production of images of stone and bronze sculptures. The Nataraja sculpture from the Chola period, has become notable as a symbol of Hinduism, the Sanskrit word drāviḍa is used to denote the geographical region of South India. Southern Brahmins are known as Pancha Dravida while northern Brahmins are known as Pancha Gauda, in Prakrit, words such as Damela, Dameda, Dhamila and Damila, which later evolved into Tamila, could have been used to denote an ethnic identity. The Hathigumpha inscription of the Kalinga ruler Kharavela refers to a Tmira samghata dated to 150 BCE and it also mentions that the league of Tamil kingdoms had been in existence for 113 years by that time. In Amaravati in present-day Andhra Pradesh there is an inscription referring to a Dhamila-vaniya datable to the 3rd century CE, another inscription of about the same time in Nagarjunakonda seems to refer to a Damila. A third inscription in Kanheri Caves refers to a Dhamila-gharini, in the Buddhist Jataka story known as Akiti Jataka there is a mention to Damila-rattha. Thamizhar is etymologically related to Tamil, the language spoken by Tamil people, southworth suggests that the name comes from tam-miz > tam-iz self-speak, or ones own speech. Zvelebil suggests an etymology of tam-iz, with tam meaning self or ones self, alternatively, he suggests a derivation of tamiz < tam-iz < *tav-iz < *tak-iz, meaning in origin the proper process
15.
British Raj
–
The British Raj was the rule by the British Crown in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947. The rule is also called Crown rule in India, or direct rule in India, the resulting political union was also called the Indian Empire and after 1876 issued passports under that name. It lasted until 1947, when the British Indian Empire was partitioned into two sovereign states, the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan. The British Raj extended over almost all present-day India, Pakistan and this area is very diverse, containing the Himalayan mountains, fertile floodplains, the Indo-Gangetic Plain, a long coastline, tropical dry forests, arid uplands, and the Thar desert. In addition, at times, it included Aden, Lower Burma, Upper Burma, British Somaliland. Burma was separated from India and directly administered by the British Crown from 1937 until its independence in 1948, among other countries in the region, Ceylon was ceded to Britain in 1802 under the Treaty of Amiens. Ceylon was part of Madras Presidency between 1793 and 1798, the kingdoms of Nepal and Bhutan, having fought wars with the British, subsequently signed treaties with them and were recognised by the British as independent states. The Kingdom of Sikkim was established as a state after the Anglo-Sikkimese Treaty of 1861, however. The Maldive Islands were a British protectorate from 1887 to 1965, India during the British Raj was made up of two types of territory, British India and the Native States. In general, the term British India had been used to also to the regions under the rule of the British East India Company in India from 1600 to 1858. The term has also used to refer to the British in India. The terms Indian Empire and Empire of India were not used in legislation, the monarch was known as Empress or Emperor of India and the term was often used in Queen Victorias Queens Speeches and Prorogation Speeches. The passports issued by the British Indian government had the words Indian Empire on the cover, in addition, an order of knighthood, the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, was set up in 1878. At the turn of the 20th century, British India consisted of eight provinces that were administered either by a Governor or a Lieutenant-Governor, during the partition of Bengal the new provinces of Assam and East Bengal were created as a Lieutenant-Governorship. In 1911, East Bengal was reunited with Bengal, and the new provinces in the east became, Assam, Bengal, Bihar, there were 565 princely states when India and Pakistan became independent from Britain in August 1947. The princely states did not form a part of British India, the larger ones had treaties with Britain that specified which rights the princes had, in the smaller ones the princes had few rights. Within the princely states external affairs, defence and most communications were under British control, the British also exercised a general influence over the states internal politics, in part through the granting or withholding of recognition of individual rulers. Although there were nearly 600 princely states, the majority were very small
16.
British Empire
–
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It originated with the possessions and trading posts established by England between the late 16th and early 18th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1913, the British Empire held sway over 412 million people, 23% of the population at the time. As a result, its political, legal, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread, during the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires generated, England, France, the independence of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after the American War of Independence caused Britain to lose some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Asia, Africa, and the Pacific, after the defeat of France in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Britain emerged as the principal naval and imperial power of the 19th century. In the early 19th century, the Industrial Revolution began to transform Britain, the British Empire expanded to include India, large parts of Africa and many other territories throughout the world. In Britain, political attitudes favoured free trade and laissez-faire policies, during the 19th Century, Britains population increased at a dramatic rate, accompanied by rapid urbanisation, which caused significant social and economic stresses. To seek new markets and sources of raw materials, the Conservative Party under Benjamin Disraeli launched a period of imperialist expansion in Egypt, South Africa, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand became self-governing dominions. By the start of the 20th century, Germany and the United States had begun to challenge Britains economic lead, subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous strain on the military, financial and manpower resources of Britain, although the British Empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after World War I, Britain was no longer the worlds pre-eminent industrial or military power. In the Second World War, Britains colonies in Southeast Asia were occupied by Imperial Japan, despite the final victory of Britain and its allies, the damage to British prestige helped to accelerate the decline of the empire. India, Britains most valuable and populous possession, achieved independence as part of a larger movement in which Britain granted independence to most territories of the empire. The transfer of Hong Kong to China in 1997 marked for many the end of the British Empire, fourteen overseas territories remain under British sovereignty. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, the United Kingdom is now one of 16 Commonwealth nations, a grouping known informally as the Commonwealth realms, that share a monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. The foundations of the British Empire were laid when England and Scotland were separate kingdoms. In 1496, King Henry VII of England, following the successes of Spain and Portugal in overseas exploration, Cabot led another voyage to the Americas the following year but nothing was ever heard of his ships again
17.
Malay Peninsula
–
The Malay Peninsula is a peninsula in Southeast Asia. The land mass runs approximately north-south and, at its terminus, is the southernmost point of the Asian mainland, the area contains the southernmost tip of Myanmar, Peninsular Malaysia, and Southern Thailand. The Titiwangsa Mountains are part of the Tenasserim Hills system, and they form the southernmost section of the central cordillera which runs from Tibet through the Kra Isthmus into the Malay Peninsula. The Strait of Malacca separates the Malay Peninsula from the Indonesian island of Sumatra while the south coast is separated from the island of Singapore by the Straits of Johor, the Malay term Tanah Melayu is derived from the word Tanah and Melayu, thus it means the Malay land. The term can be found in various pre-modern Malay texts, of which the oldest dating back to the early 17th century and it is frequently mentioned in the Hikayat Hang Tuah, a well known classical work that began as oral tales associated with the legendary heroes of Malacca Sultanate. Tanah Melayu in the text is consistently employed to refer to the area under Melakan dominance, prior to the foundation of Melaka, reference to Malay peninsula was made in different terms from various foreign sources. According to several Indian scholars, the word Malayadvipa, mentioned in the ancient Indian text, Vayu Purana, may possibly refer to the Malay peninsula. Another Indian source, an inscription on the wall of the Brihadeeswarar Temple, recorded the word Malaiur. The Greek source, Geographia, written by Ptolemy, labelled a geographical part of Golden Chersonese as Maleu-kolon, a term thought to derive from Sanskrit malayakolam or malaikurram. During the same era, Marco Polo made a reference to Malauir in his travelogue, as a kingdom located in the Malay peninsula, possibly similar to the one mentioned in Yuan chronicle
18.
Malaysian Indians
–
The Malaysian Indians or Indian Malaysians consists of people of full or partial Indian descent who were born in or immigrated to Malaysia. In 2015, there were around 2 million people self-identifying as Indian who hold Malaysian nationality, most are descendants from those who migrated from India during the British colonisation of Malaya. There is a possibility that the first wave of Indians migration towards Southeast Asia happened when the Asokas invasion towards Kalinga, today, they form the third largest ethnic group in Malaysia after the Malays and the Chinese. Malaysia is home to one of the largest populations of Overseas Indians, Malaysias Indian population is notable for its class stratification, with large elite and lower income groups and diverse racial differences even within its fold. Ancient India exerted an influence over Southeast Asia through trade, religious missions, wars. Pre-colonial Malaysia was part of Indianised Kingdoms like Chola, Srivijaya, Malacca, Kadaram and the Majapahit, the kings welcomed Buddhist missionaries from India, accepting their teaching of the Mahayana sect, which spread through their territories. The ancient Indian Kalinga was located in southeastern India occupying modern day Orissa, in the 7th century an Indonesian kingdom was named Kalingga after the aforementioned Kalinga in India. Chinese sources mention this kingdom as a center for Buddhist scholars around 604 before it was overshadowed by the Sanjaya or Mataram Kingdom, the most famous Kalingga ruler is Ratu Sima. There is evidence of the existence of Indianised kingdoms such as Gangga Negara, Old Kedah, early contact between the kingdoms of Tamilakkam and the Malay peninsula had been very close during the reigns of the Pallava dynasty and Chola dynasty. The trade relations the Tamil merchants had with the ports of Malaya led to the emergence of Indianised kingdoms like Kadaram and Langkasugam, the Cholas had a powerful merchant and naval fleet in the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal. These people were Goan Catholics and East Indians, kuparis who were of mixed Samvedic Brahmin, Goan and Portuguese descent also arrived. Sinhalese and their children from Portuguese that include Portuguese Burghers from Portuguese Ceylon also came later and their children already intermarried with Malay population, losing their ethnic identities. British acquisition of Penang, Melaka, and Singapore - the Straits Settlements from 1786 to 1824 started a steady inflow of Indian labour and this consisted of traders, policemen, plantation labourers and colonial soldiers. Apart from this there was substantial migration of Indians to work in the British colonial government. The Indian population in pre-independence Malaya and Singapore was predominantly adult males who were single with family back in India, hence the population fluctuated frequently with the immigration and exodus of people. As early as 1901 the Indian population in the Straits Settlements, by 1931 there were 640,000 Indians in Malaya and Singapore and interestingly they even outnumbered the native Malays in the state of Selangor that year. However, during World War II many Indian men and women left for Burma as part of the Indian National Army with thousands thought to have perished, as a result, the population of Indians in 1957 had only increased to 820,000. Today, Malaysian Indians account for approximately 7 per cent of the population of Malaysia and 9 per cent in Singapore
19.
Kedah
–
Kedah also known by its honorific, Darul Aman, or Abode of Peace is a state of Malaysia, located in the northwestern part of Peninsular Malaysia. The state covers a area of over 9,000 km². The mainland has a flat terrain, which is used to grow rice. Langkawi is an archipelago of islands, most of which are uninhabited, Kedah was called Kadaram by ancient and medieval Tamil people and Syburi by the Siamese when it was under their influence. To the north, Kedah borders the state of Perlis and shares a boundary with the Songkhla and Yala provinces of Thailand. It borders the states of Perak to the south and Penang to the southwest, the states capital is Alor Setar and the royal seat is in Anak Bukit. Other major towns include Sungai Petani, and Kulim on the mainland, archaeological evidence found in Bujang Valley reveals that a Hindu–Buddhist kingdom ruled ancient Kedah possibly as early as 110 A. D. The discoveries in Bujang Valley also made the ancient Kedah as the oldest civilisation of Southeast Asia, reference to ancient Kedah was first mentioned in a Tamil poem Paṭṭiṉappālai written at the end of the 2nd century A. D. It described goods from Kadaram heaped together in the streets of Chola capital. Other than Kadaram, Kedah was known with different names at varying times in Indian literature, Kataha-Nagara, Anda-Kataha, Kataha-Dvipa, according to Hikayat Merong Mahawangsa or the Kedah Annals, Kedah was founded by a Hindu king named Merong Mahawangsa. According to the further, the Sultanate of Kedah started in year 1136 when King Phra Ong Mahawangsa converted to Islam. In the 7th and 8th centuries, Kedah was under the control of Srivijaya. In 1025, the city was conquered by Rajendra Chola, the Chola king from Coromandel in South India, a second invasion was led by Virarajendra Chola of the Chola dynasty who conquered Kedah in the late 11th century. During the reign of Kulothunga Chola I Chola overlordship was established over the Sri Vijaya province Kedah in the late 11th century and it was later under Siam, until it was conquered by the Malay sultanate of Malacca in the 15th century. In the 17th century, Kedah was attacked by the Portuguese after their conquest of Malacca, in the hope that Great Britain would protect what remained of Kedah from Siam, the sultan handed over Penang and then Province Wellesley to the British at the end of the 18th century. The Siamese nevertheless invaded Kedah in 1821, and it remained under Siamese control under the name of Syburi, in 1896, Kedah along with Perlis and Satun was combined into the Siamese province of Monthon Syburi which lasted until transferred to the British by the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909. In World War II, Kedah was the first part of Malaya to be invaded by Japan, the Japanese returned Kedah to their Thai allies who had it renamed Syburi, but it returned to British rule after the end of the war. Kedah was a reluctant addition to the Federation of Malaya in 1948, since 1958, the hereditary Sultan of Kedah has been Tuanku Abdul Halim Muadzam Shah
20.
Archipelago
–
An archipelago, sometimes called an island group or island chain, is a chain, cluster or collection of islands. The word archipelago is derived from the Greek ἄρχι- – arkhi-, in Italian, possibly following a tradition of antiquity, the Archipelago was the proper name for the Aegean Sea and, later, usage shifted to refer to the Aegean Islands. It is now used to refer to any group or, sometimes. Archipelagos may be isolated in large amounts of water or neighbouring a large land mass. For example, Scotland has more than 700 islands surrounding its mainland which form an archipelago, archipelagos are often volcanic, forming along island arcs generated by subduction zones or hotspots, but may also be the result of erosion, deposition, and land elevation. Depending on their origin, islands forming archipelagos can be referred to as oceanic islands, continental fragments. Oceanic islands are mainly of volcanic origin, continental fragments correspond to land masses that have separated from a continental mass due to tectonic displacement. Indonesia, Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, New Zealand, Maldives, the Bahamas, Greece, Hawaii, the largest archipelagic state in the world by area and population is Indonesia. Island arc List of landforms List of archipelagos by number of islands List of archipelagos List of islands Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Archipelago
21.
South India
–
The region occupies 19. 31% of Indias land area. Covering the southern part of the peninsular Deccan Plateau, South India is bounded by the Bay of Bengal in the east, the Arabian Sea in the west, and the Indian Ocean in the south. The geography of the region is diverse, with two ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats, bordering the plateau heartland. The Godavari River, Krishna River, Kaveri, Tungabhadra and Vaigai rivers are important non-perennial sources of water, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Coimbatore and Kochi are the largest urban areas. Majority of the people in South India speak one of the four major Dravidian languages, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. During its history, a number of kingdoms ruled over parts of South India whose invasions across southern and southeastern Asia impacted the history. Major dynasties that were established in South India include the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas, Pallavas, Satavahanas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, european countries entered India through Kerala and the region was colonised by Britain and other nations. HDI in the states is high and the economy has undergone growth at a faster rate than most northern states. Literacy rates in the states are higher than the national average with approximately 80% of the population capable of reading and writing. The fertility rate in South India is 1.9, the lowest of all regions in India, South India also known as Peninsular India has been known by several other names. Carnatic derived from Karnād or Karunād meaning high country has also associated with South India. Carbon dating on ash mounds associated with Neolithic cultures in South India date back to 8000 BCE, artefacts such as ground stone axes, and minor copper objects have been found in the region. Towards the beginning of 1000 BCE, iron technology spread through the region, however, the region was in the middle of a trade route that extended from Muziris to Arikamedu linking the Mediterranean and East Asia. Trade with Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Syrians, Jews, the region was part of the ancient Silk Road connecting the Asian continent in the East and the West. C. to 14th century A. D. The Vijayanagara Empire, founded in 14th century A. D. was the last Indian dynasty that ruled over the region. The Europeans arrived in the 15th century and by the middle of the 18th century, the French, the British Empire took control of the region from the British East India Company in 1857. During the British colonial rule, the region was divided into the Madras Presidency, Hyderabad state, Mysore, Travancore, Kochi, Vizianagaram and a number of other minor princely states. After the independence of India in 1947, the region was organised into four states, Madras State, Mysore State, Hyderabad State and Travancore-Cochin
22.
Chola dynasty
–
The Chola dynasty was one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of southern India. The earliest datable references to this Tamil dynasty are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE left by Ashoka, as one of the Three Crowned Kings of Tamilakam, the dynasty continued to govern over varying territory until the 13th century CE. The whole country south of the Tungabhadra was united and held as one state for a period of two centuries and more, the Chola fleet represented the zenith of ancient Indian sea power. During the period 1010–1200, the Chola territories stretched from the islands of the Maldives in the south to as far north as the banks of the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh. Rajaraja Chola conquered peninsular South India, annexed parts of which is now Sri Lanka, Rajendra Chola sent a victorious expedition to North India that touched the river Ganges and defeated the Pala ruler of Pataliputra, Mahipala. He also successfully invaded cities of Srivijaya of Malaysia and Indonesia, the Chola dynasty went into decline at the beginning of the 13th century with the rise of the Pandyan Dynasty, which ultimately caused their downfall. The Cholas left a lasting legacy and their patronage of Tamil literature and their zeal in the building of temples has resulted in some great works of Tamil literature and architecture. The Chola kings were avid builders and envisioned the temples in their kingdoms not only as places of worship and they pioneered a centralised form of government and established a disciplined bureaucracy. The Chola school of art spread to Southeast Asia and influenced the architecture, the Cholas are also known as the Choda. There is very little available in regarding their origin. Its antiquity is evident from the mentions in ancient Tamil literature, Later medieval Cholas also claimed a long and ancient lineage. Mentions in the early Sangam literature indicate that the earliest kings of the dynasty antedated 100 CE, Cholas were mentioned in Ashokan Edicts of 3rd Century BCE as one of the neighboring countries existing in the South. A commonly held view is that Chola is, like Chera and Pandya, the annotator Parimelazhagar said, The charity of people with ancient lineage are forever generous in spite of their reduced means. Other names in use for the Cholas are Killi, Valavan and Sembiyan. Killi perhaps comes from the Tamil kil meaning dig or cleave and this word often forms an integral part of early Chola names like Nedunkilli, Nalankilli and so on, but almost drops out of use in later times. Valavan is most probably connected with valam – fertility and means owner or ruler of a fertile country, in Tamil lexicon Chola means Soazhi or Saei denoting a newly formed kingdom, in the lines of Pandya or the old country. There is very little evidence available of the Cholas prior to the 7th century. Historic records exist thereafter, including inscriptions on temples, the main source for the available information of the early Cholas is the early Tamil literature of the Sangam Period
23.
Pallava dynasty
–
The Pallava dynasty was a South Indian dynasty that existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a portion of what is today southern India. They gained prominence after the eclipse of the Satavahana dynasty, whom the Pallavas served as feudatories, Pallavas are most noted for their patronage of architecture, the finest example being the Shore Temple, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Mahabalipuram. The Pallavas, who left behind magnificent sculptures and temples, established the foundations of medieval South Indian architecture and they developed the Pallava script from which Grantha ultimately descended. The Pallava script gave rise to other southeast Asian scripts. Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang visited Kanchipuram during Pallava rule and extolled their benign rule, the Pallavas themselves claimed to descend from Brahma and Ashvatthama. Though Manimekalai posits Ilam Tiriyan as a Chola, not a Pallava, thence, came into existence the race of Pallavas. Vīrakūrcha, of celebrated name, who simultaneously with the daughter of the chief of serpents grasped also the insignia of royalty. The Proceedings of the First Annual Conference of South Indian History Congress also notes, The word Tondai means a creeper, historian K. R. Subramanian says the Pallavas were originally a Telugu power rather than a Tamil one. Telugu sources know of a Trilochana Pallava as the earliest Telugu king, the first Chalukya king is said to have been met, repulsed and killed by the same Trilochana near Mudivemu. A Buddhist story describes Kala the Nagaraja, resembling the Pallava Kalabhartar as a king of the region near Krishna district, the Pallava Bogga may be identified with the kingdom of Kala in Andhra which had close and early maritime and cultural relations with Ceylon. K. A. K. P. Jayaswal also proposed a North Indian origin, the Pallavas captured Kanchi from the Cholas as recorded in the Velurpalaiyam Plates, around the reign of the fifth king of the Pallava line Kumaravishnu I. Thereafter Kanchi figures in inscriptions as the capital of the Pallavas, the Cholas drove the Pallavas away from Kanchi in the mid-4th century, in the reign of Vishugopa, the tenth king of the Pallava line. The Pallavas re-captured Kanchi in the century, possibly in the reign of Simhavishnu, the fourteenth king of the Pallava line. Thereafter the Pallavas held on to Kanchi until the 9th century, until the reign of their last king, the Pallavas were in conflict with major kingdoms at various periods of time. A contest for political supremacy existed between the early Pallavas and the Kadambas, numerous Kadamba inscriptions provide details of Pallava-Kadamba hostlities. During the reign of Vishnugopavarman II, political convulsion engulfed the Pallavas due to the Kalabhra invasion of the Tamil country, towards the close of the 6th century, the Pallava Simhavishnu stuck a blow against the Kalabhras. Thereafter the Tamil country was divided between the Pallavas in the north with Kanchipuram as their capital, and Pandyas in the south with Madurai as their capital, the royal custom of using a series of descriptive honorific titles, Birudas, was particularly prevalent among the Pallavas. The birudas of Mahendravarman I are in Sanskrit, Tamil and Telugu, the Telugu birudas show Mahendravarmans involvement with the Andhra region continued to be strong at the time he was creating his cave-temples in the Tamil region
24.
Tamil Nadu
–
Tamil Nadu is one of the 29 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai, 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. The state shares a border with the nation of Sri Lanka. Tamil Nadu is the eleventh-largest state in India by area and the sixth-most populous, the state was ranked sixth among states in India according to the Human Development Index in 2011, with the second-largest state economy after Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu is the second largest state economy in India with ₹13,842 billion in gross domestic product after Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu was ranked as one of the top seven developed states in India based on a Multidimensional Development Index in a 2013 report published by the Reserve Bank of India and its official language is Tamil, which is one of the longest-surviving classical languages in the world. Tamil Nadu is home to natural resources. In addition, its people have developed and continue classical arts, classical music, historic buildings and religious sites include Hindu temples of Tamil architecture, hill stations, beach resorts, multi-religious pilgrimage sites, and eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Archaeological evidence points to this area being one of the longest continuous habitations in the Indian peninsula, the ASI archaeologists have proposed that the script used at that site is very rudimentary Tamil Brahmi. Adichanallur has been announced as a site for further excavation. About 60 per cent of the epigraphical inscriptions found by the ASI in India are from Tamil Nadu. A Neolithic stone celt with the Indus script on it was discovered at Sembian-Kandiyur near Mayiladuthurai in Tamil Nadu, according to epigraphist Iravatham Mahadevan, this was the first datable artefact bearing the Indus script to be found in Tamil Nadu. Mahadevan claimed that the find was evidence of the use of the Harappan language, the date of the celt was estimated at between 1500 BCE and 2000 BCE. The early history of the people and rulers of Tamil Nadu is a topic in Tamil literary sources known as Sangam literature, numismatic, archaeological and literary sources corroborate that the Sangam period lasted for about six centuries, from 300 BC to AD300. Three dynasties, namely the Chera, Chola and Pandya, ruled the area of present-day Tamil Nadu, the Chera ruled the whole of present-day Kerala and parts of western Tamil Nadu comprising Coimbatore, Dharmapuri, Karur, Salem and Erode districts from the capital of Vanchi Muthur. The Chola dynasty ruled the northern and central parts of Tamil Nadu from their capital, Uraiyur, All three dynasties had extensive trade relationships with Rome, Greece, Egypt, Ceylon, Phoenicia, Arabia, Mesopotamia and Persia. Trade flourished in commodities such as spices, ivory, pearls, beads, Chera traded extensively from Muziris on the west coast, Chola from Arikamedu and Puhar and Pandya through Korkai port. A Greco-Roman trade and travel document, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea gives a description of the Tamil country, besides these three dynasties, the Sangam era Tamilakam was also divided into various provinces named nadu, meaning country
25.
Rajendra Chola I
–
Rajendra Chola I or Rajendra I was a Chola emperor who is considered one of the greatest rulers and military generals of India. He succeeded his father Rajaraja Chola I in 1014 CE, the Cholas exacted tribute from Thailand and the Khmer kingdom of Cambodia. He defeated Mahipala, the Pala king of Bengal and Bihar, Rajendra Chola I was the son of Rajaraja Chola and Thiripuvana Madeviyar, princess of Kodumbalur. He was born on Thiruvathirai in the Tamil month of Aadi and he spent most of his childhood in Palayarai and was brought up by his aunt Kundavai and great-grandmother Sembian Madevi. He was made the co-regent in 1012 CE, Rajendra formally ascended the Chola throne in 1014 CE. In 1018 CE, he installed his eldest son Rajadhiraja Chola I as the crown prince, Rajendra led Chola campaigns from 1002 CE. These include the conquest of the Rashtrakutas and the campaigns against the Western Chalukyas and he conquered the Chalukyan territories of Yedatore, Banavasi in the north-west of Mysore and capital Manyakheta. Rajendra erected a Siva temple at Bhatkal, in 1004 CE, he captured Talakad and overthrew the Western Ganga dynasty which had ruled over Mysore for almost 1000 years. He also conquered Kollipakkai, located to the north of Hyderabad in present-day Telangana, Raja Raja Chola I conquered the northern half of Sri Lanka during his reign. Rajendra invaded Ceylon in 1017 CE and annexed the entire island, as a result of the campaign, Rajendra captured the regal jewels of the Pandyas, which Parantaka I tried to capture and the crown of the Sinhala king. The Sinhala king Mahinda V was taken prisoner and transported to the Chola country, in 1018 CE, Rajendra marched across the Pandya and Chera kingdoms referred in the Tamil Copper-plate inscriptions. The territories were conquered during the reign of Raja Raja I. Rajendra appointed one of his sons as viceroy with the title Jatavarman Sundara Chola-Pandya with Madurai as the headquarters, in 1015 CE, Jayasimha II became the king of Western Chalukyas. He tried to recover the losses suffered by his predecessor Satyashraya, initially, Jayasimha II was successful as Rajendra was busy with his campaigns in Sri Lanka. In 1021 CE, after the demise of the Eastern Chalukyan king Vimaladitya of Vengi, Rajaraja Narendra was the son of Vimaladitya and Chola princess Kundavai. Rajendra helped his nephew Rajaraja defeat Vijayaditya and his armies defeated Vijayadiya in Vengi and Jayasimha in the battle of Maski. In 1019 CE, Rajendra’s forces marched through Kalinga towards the river Ganga, the Chola army eventually reached the Pala kingdom of Bengal where they defeated Mahipala. The Chola army also defeated the last ruler of the Kamboja Pala dynasty Dharmapala of Dandabhukti, the Chola army went on to raid East Bengal and defeated Govindachandra of the Chandra dynasty and invaded Bastar region
26.
Southeast Asia
–
Southeast Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies near the intersection of geological plates, with seismic and volcanic activity. Southeast Asia consists of two regions, Mainland Southeast Asia, also known historically as Indochina, comprising Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Myanmar. Maritime Southeast Asia, comprising Indonesia, East Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, East Timor, Brunei, Cocos Islands, definitions of Southeast Asia vary, but most definitions include the area represented by the countries listed below. All of the states are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the area, together with part of South Asia, was widely known as the East Indies or simply the Indies until the 20th century. Sovereignty issues exist over some territories in the South China Sea, Papua New Guinea has stated that it might join ASEAN, and is currently an observer. Southeast Asia is geographically divided into two subregions, namely Mainland Southeast Asia and Maritime Southeast Asia, Mainland Southeast Asia includes, Maritime Southeast Asia includes, The Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India are geographically considered part of Southeast Asia. Eastern Bangladesh and the Seven Sister States of India are culturally part of Southeast Asia, the eastern half of Indonesia and East Timor are considered to be biogeographically part of Oceania. Homo sapiens reached the region by around 45,000 years ago, homo floresiensis also lived in the area up until 12,000 years ago, when they became extinct. Austronesian people, who form the majority of the population in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, East Timor. Solheim and others have shown evidence for a Nusantao maritime trading network ranging from Vietnam to the rest of the archipelago as early as 5000 BC to 1 AD. The peoples of Southeast Asia, especially those of Austronesian descent, have been seafarers for thousands of years and their vessels, such as the vinta, were ocean-worthy. Magellans voyage records how much more manoeuvrable their vessels were, as compared to the European ships, Passage through the Indian Ocean aided the colonisation of Madagascar by the Austronesian people, as well as commerce between West Asia and Southeast Asia. Gold from Sumatra is thought to have reached as far west as Rome and this was later replaced by Hinduism. Theravada Buddhism soon followed in 525, in the 15th century, Islamic influences began to enter. This forced the last Hindu court in Indonesia to retreat to Bali, in Mainland Southeast Asia, Burma, Cambodia and Thailand retained the Theravada form of Buddhism, brought to them from Sri Lanka. This type of Buddhism was fused with the Hindu-influenced Khmer culture, very little is known about Southeast Asian religious beliefs and practices before the advent of Indian merchants and religious influences from the 2nd century BCE onwards. Prior to the 13th century CE, Hinduism and Buddhism were the religions in Southeast Asia
27.
Malays (ethnic group)
–
These locations today are part of the modern nations of Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei, and southern Thailand. In literature, architecture, culinary traditions, traditional dress, performing arts, martial arts, throughout their history, the Malays have been known as a coastal-trading community with fluid cultural characteristics. The epic literature, the Malay Annals, associates the etymological origin of Melayu to Sungai Melayu in Sumatra, the English term Malay was adopted via the Dutch word Malayo, itself derived from Portuguese, Malaio, which originates from the original Malay word, Melayu. Prior to the 15th century, the term Melayu and its variants appear to apply as an old toponym to the Strait of Malacca region in general. Malaya Dwipa, Malaya Dvipa, is described in chapter 48, Vayu Purana as one of the provinces in the sea that was full of gold. Some scholars equate the term with Sumatra, but several Indian scholars believe the term should refer to the mountainous Malay peninsula, maleu-kolon - appeared in Ptolemys work, Geographia. Mo-lo-yu - mentioned by Yijing, a Tang dynasty Chinese Buddhist monk who visited the Southeast Asia in 688–695, according to Yijing, the Mo-Lo-Yu kingdom was located in a distance of 15 day sail from Bogha, the capital of Sribhoga. It took a 15-day sail as well to reach Ka-Cha from Mo-lo-yu, therefore, a popular theory relates Mo-Lo-Yu with the Jambi in Sumatra, however the geographical location of Jambi contradicts with Yi Jings description of a half way sail between Ka-Cha and Bogha. Among the terms used was Bok-la-yu, Mok-la-yu, Ma-li-yu-er, Oo-lai-yu - traced from the source of monk Xuanzang). Malayur - inscribed on the wall of the Brihadeeswarar Temple in Tamil Nadu. It was described as a kingdom that had a mountain for its rampart in Malay peninsula. Bhūmi Mālayu -, a transcription from Padang Roco Inscription dated 1286 CE by Slamet Muljana, the term is associated with Dharmasraya kingdom. Ma-li-yu-er - mentioned in the chronicle of Yuan Dynasty, referring to a nation of Malay peninsula that faced the southward expansion of Sukhothai Kingdom, the chronicle stated. Animosity occurred between Siam and Ma-li-yu-er with both killing each other. In response to the Sukhothais action, a Chinese envoy went to the Ram Khamhaengs court in 1295 bearing an imperial decree, Keep your promise and do no evil to Ma-li-yu-er. Malauir - mentioned in Marco Polos account as a kingdom located in the Malay peninsula, malayapura -, inscribed on the Amoghapasa inscription dated 1347 CE. The term was used by Adityawarman to refer to Dharmasraya. The word Malay refer to Mountain, other evidence that supports this theory include, stone tools found in the Malay Archipelago are analogous to Central Asian tools, the similarity of Malay customs and Assam customs. The New Guinea theory - The proto-Malays are believed to be knowledgeable in oceanography. Over the years they settled at places and adopted various cultures
28.
Chitty
–
The Chitty are a distinctive group of Tamil people found mainly in Malacca and Singapore, who are also known as the Indian Peranakans. As of today, their stands at 2,000. In ancient days all south Indians are generally called Tamil, but Chitti/Chetty community is from Kalinga Coast of Andhra. Their festivals are also support this view and they celebrate Bhogi a day before Pongal of Tamil people. This is specific festival celebrated in Andhra, like the Peranakans, the Chitty speak a Malay patois, which is mixed with many Tamil loan words. Many of the Chitty are unable to communicate in Tamil fluently, historical records stated that the Tamil traders from Panai in Tamil Nadu settled down in Malacca during the sovereignty of the Sultanate of Malacca. Like the Peranakans, they settled down and freely intermingled with the local Malays. However, with the fall of the Malacca Sultanate after 1511, under the administration of the Portuguese, Dutch and British colonizers, the Chitty eventually began simplifying their culture and customs by adopting local customs. The traditional Chitty settlement is located at Kampung Tujuh along Jalan Gajah Berang, many of the Chitty have since found jobs in Singapore and other parts of Malaysia. The ethnic identity of the Chitty is nearly lost, exhibition of Peranakan Chitty history, antiques and culture can be seen at the Chitty Museum in Kampung Chitty, Malacca, Malaysia. Recently in 2013, there were controversies of development at the expense of demolishing part of Kampung Chitty, a proposal to construct a condominium, a hotel and a road cutting through the village are seen as a threat affecting the residents and a temple built in 1827. The Chitty are a mixed people, although they ethnically consider themselves to be Tamil, of Southern Indian origin and mostly of dark complexion, the Chitty appear to have varying degrees of Southeast Asian and Indian appearance. This resulted from the fact that the first Tamil settlers took in local wives, over time, the Chitty gathered physical features that were less Indian and more Malay-looking. Some Nairs from Kerala region of South-western India are classified as a sub category of Chittys even though they are skinned with features that are distinctive to the Tamils. The Chitty are a tightly knit community of Saivite Hindus, worshipping in their three temples, gods such as Ganesh and Shiva are worshipped in full gaiety. Hints of Taoist and Islamic influences are evident in their religious rituals. As staunch believers of the Hindu faith, the Malaccan Chitty community still upholds their religious ceremonies and they observe Deepavali, Ponggal, the Hindu New Year, Navratri and other traditional Hindu festivals that are celebrated by Hindu groups in Malaysia. However, the Chitty do not participate in Thaipusam in at a level like most Hindu groups
29.
Great Britain
–
Great Britain, also known as Britain, is a large island in the north Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of 209,331 km2, Great Britain is the largest European island, in 2011 the island had a population of about 61 million people, making it the worlds third-most populous island after Java in Indonesia and Honshu in Japan. The island of Ireland is situated to the west of it, the island is dominated by a maritime climate with quite narrow temperature differences between seasons. Politically, the island is part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island. The term Great Britain often extends to surrounding islands that form part of England, Scotland, and Wales. A single Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the union of the Kingdom of England, the archipelago has been referred to by a single name for over 2000 years, the term British Isles derives from terms used by classical geographers to describe this island group. By 50 BC Greek geographers were using equivalents of Prettanikē as a name for the British Isles. However, with the Roman conquest of Britain the Latin term Britannia was used for the island of Great Britain, the oldest mention of terms related to Great Britain was by Aristotle, or possibly by Pseudo-Aristotle, in his text On the Universe, Vol. III. To quote his works, There are two large islands in it, called the British Isles, Albion and Ierne. The name Britain descends from the Latin name for Britain, Britannia or Brittānia, Old French Bretaigne and Middle English Bretayne, Breteyne. The French form replaced the Old English Breoton, Breoten, Bryten, Breten, Britannia was used by the Romans from the 1st century BC for the British Isles taken together. It is derived from the writings of the Pytheas around 320 BC. Marcian of Heraclea, in his Periplus maris exteri, described the group as αἱ Πρεττανικαὶ νῆσοι. The peoples of these islands of Prettanike were called the Πρεττανοί, Priteni is the source of the Welsh language term Prydain, Britain, which has the same source as the Goidelic term Cruithne used to refer to the early Brythonic-speaking inhabitants of Ireland. The latter were later called Picts or Caledonians by the Romans, the Greco-Egyptian scientist Ptolemy referred to the larger island as great Britain and to Ireland as little Britain in his work Almagest. The name Albion appears to have out of use sometime after the Roman conquest of Britain. After the Anglo-Saxon period, Britain was used as a term only. It was used again in 1604, when King James VI and I styled himself King of Great Brittaine, France, Great Britain refers geographically to the island of Great Britain, politically to England, Scotland and Wales in combination
30.
Madras Presidency
–
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India. The city of Madras was the capital of the Presidency and Ootacamund or Ooty. The island of Ceylon was a part of Madras Presidency from 1793 to 1798 when it was created a Crown colony, the agency was upgraded to a Presidency in 1652 before once more reverting to its previous status in 1655. In 1684, it was re-elevated to a Presidency and Elihu Yale was appointed as president, in 1785, under the provisions of Pitts India Act, Madras became one of three provinces established by the East India Company. Thereafter, the head of the area was styled Governor rather than President and became subordinate to the Governor-General in Calcutta, a title that would persist until 1947. Judicial, legislative and executive powers rested with the Governor who was assisted by a Council whose constitution was modified by reforms enacted in 1861,1909,1919 and 1935, regular elections were conducted in Madras up to the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. Following the Montague-Chelmsford reforms of 1919, Madras was the first province of British India to implement a system of dyarchy, in the early decades of the 20th century, many significant contributors to the Indian independence movement came from Madras. With the advent of Indian independence on 15 August 1947, the Presidency became the Madras Province. Madras was later admitted as Madras State, a state of the Indian Union at the inauguration of the Republic of India on 26 January 1950, the discovery of dolmens from this portion of the subcontinent shows inhabitation as early as the Stone Age. The first prominent rulers of the part of the future Presidency were the Tamil pandya dynasty. Following the decline of the pandyas of Tamil Nadu and the Cholas in Tamil Nadu, the country recovered under the subsequent Pallava dynasty and its civilisation attained a peak under the later where the telugu period when telugu kings started accquiring vast places in Tamil Nadu. Following the conquest of Madurai by Malik Kafur in 1311, there was a brief lull when both culture and civilisation began to deteriorate, the Tamil and Telugu territories recovered under the Vijayanagar Empire, founded in 1336. Following the empires demise, the country was split amongst numerous sultans, polygars, between 1685 and 1947, a number of kings ruled the areas that became part of the Madras Presidency. On 31 December 1600, Queen Elizabeth I of England granted a group of English merchants a charter to establish a company which became known as the East India Company. The first of these were built at Surat on the west coast, Masulipatam is thus the oldest English trading post on Indias east coast, dating back to 1611. In 1625, another factory was established at Armagon, a few miles to the south, the English authorities decided to relocate these factories farther south, due to a shortage of cotton cloth, the main trade item of the east coast at the time. The problem was compounded when the Sultan of Golconda started harassing the local officers, an agency was created to govern the new settlement, and the factor Andrew Cogan of Masulipatnam was appointed as its first Agent. All the agencies along Indias east coast were subordinated to the East India Company presidency of Bantam in Java, by 1641, Fort St George became the Companys headquarters on the Coromandel Coast
31.
Penang
–
Penang is a Malaysian state located on the northwest coast of Peninsular Malaysia, by the Malacca Strait. It has two parts, Penang Island, where the city, George Town, is located. Penang is bordered by Kedah to the north and the east, known as the Silicon Valley of the East for its industries, Penang is also one of the most urbanised and economically-important states in the country. George Town, which was founded by the British in 1786, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Penang has the third highest Human Development Index in Malaysia, after the State of Selangor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur. Its heterogeneous population is diverse in ethnicity, culture, language. A resident of Penang is colloquially known as a Penangite, Penang Lang or Penangkaran, the name of Penang comes from the modern Malay name Pulau Pinang, which means the island of the areca nut palm. The name Penang may refer either to Penang Island or the state of Penang, Penang is also known as the Pearl of the Orient, 东方之珠 and Pulau Pinang Pulau Mutiara. Penang is shortened as PG in English, or PP in Malay, early Malays called Penang Island Pulau Ka-Satu, meaning The First Island, because it was the largest island encountered on the trading sea-route between Lingga and Kedah. The Siamese, then the overlord of the Kedah Sultanate, referred to the island as Koh Maak, in the 15th century, Penang Island was referred to as Bīnláng Yù in the navigational drawings used by Admiral Zheng He of Ming China in his expeditions to the South Seas. The 16th-century Portuguese historian Emanuel Godinho de Eredias map of the Malay Peninsula in his Description of Malacca in 1613 referred to the island as Pulo Pinaom, archaeological evidence shows that Penang was inhabited by the Semang-Pangan of the Juru and Yen lineage. Both of these are now considered extinct cultures and they were hunter-gatherers of the Negrito stock having short stature and dark complexion, and were dispersed by the Malays as far back as 900 years ago. The last recorded aboriginal settlement in Penang was in the 1920s in Kubang Semang, the first evidence of prehistoric human settlement in what is now Penang were found in Guar Kepah, a cave in Seberang Perai in 1860. Based on mounds of sea shells with human skeletons, stone implements, broken ceramics, and food leftovers inside, other stone tools found in various places on Penang Island pointed to the existence of Neolithic settlements dating to 5,000 years ago. One of the first Englishmen to reach Penang was the navigator, sailing from Plymouth for the East Indies, James reached Batu Ferringhi in June 1592, remaining on Penang Island until September of the same year and pillaging every vessel he encountered. In the early 18th century, ethnic Minangkabaus from Sumatra opened up a settlement on Penang Island, Haji Muhammad Salleh, known as Nakhoda Intan, anchored at Batu Uban and built a seaside settlement in 1734. Later, the Arabs arrived and settled mainly at Jelutong, the Arabs then intermarried with the Minangkabau, this gave rise to the Arab-Minangkabau admixture now described as Malay, as they have assimilated into the local Malay community. However, the history of Penang only began in 1786. On 17 July that year, Captain Francis Light, an English trader-adventurer of the British East India Company, landed on Penang Island, Fort Cornwallis was later built at the site where he first set foot
32.
Burma Railway
–
This railway completed the rail link between Bangkok, Thailand and Rangoon, Burma. The line was closed in 1947, but the section between Nong Pla Duk and Nam Tok was reopened ten years later in 1957, forced labour was used in its construction. More than 180, 000—possibly many more—Southeast Asian civilian labourers and 60,000 Allied prisoners of war worked on the railway,12,621 Allied POWs died during the construction. The dead POWs included 6,904 British personnel,2,802 Australians,2,782 Dutch, no compensation or reparations have been provided to Southeast Asian victims. In early 1942, Japanese forces invaded Burma and seized control of the colony from the United Kingdom. To supply their forces in Burma, the Japanese depended upon the sea, bringing supplies and troops to Burma around the Malay peninsula and through the Strait of Malacca and the Andaman Sea. This route was vulnerable to attack by Allied submarines, especially after the Japanese defeat at the Battle of Midway in June 1942. To avoid a hazardous 2,000 miles sea journey around the Malay peninsula, the Japanese began this project in June 1942. The project aimed to connect Ban Pong in Thailand with Thanbyuzayat in Burma and its route was through Three Pagodas Pass on the border of Thailand and Burma. 69 miles of the railway were in Burma and the remaining 189 miles were in Thailand, the movement of POWs northward from Changi prison in Singapore and other prison camps in Southeast Asia began in May 1942. After preliminary work of airfields and infrastructure, construction of the began in Burma on 15 September 1942. The projected completion date was December 1943, most of the construction materials, including tracks and sleepers, were brought from dismantled branches of Malayas Federated Malay States Railway network and the East Indies various rail networks. The railway was completed ahead of schedule, on 17 October 1943, construction gangs originating in Burma and working south met up with construction gangs originating in Thailand and working north. The two sections of the line met at kilometre 263, about 18 km south of the Three Pagodas Pass at Konkuita, the Burma railway was an impressive accomplishment. As an American engineer said after viewing the project, What makes this an engineering feat is the totality of it, all of that makes this railway an extraordinary accomplishment. The total freight carried during the war was 500,000 tonnes,12,000 Japanese soldiers, including 800 Koreans, were employed on the railway as engineers, guards, and supervisors of the POW and rōmusha labourers. Although working conditions were far better for the Japanese than the POW and rōmusha workers, Japanese soldiers are widely remembered as being cruel and indifferent to the fate of Allied prisoners of war and the Asian rōmusha. Many men in the railway workforce bore the brunt of pitiless or uncaring guards, cruelty could take different forms, from extreme violence and torture to minor acts of physical punishment, humiliation and neglect
33.
History of Tamil Nadu
–
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. Throughout its history, spanning the early Upper Paleolithic age to modern times, the Tamil region has remained independent of external occupation. The three ancient Tamil empires of 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. They had extensive trade contacts with the Roman empire. These three dynasties were in constant struggle with each vying for hegemony over the land. Invasion by the Kalabhras is said to be during the 3rd century disturbed the traditional order of the land by displacing the three ruling kingdoms and 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, at its height the Chola empire spanned almost 3,600,000 km² straddling the Bay of Bengal. The Chola navy held sway over the Sri Vijaya kingdom in Southeast Asia, the Madras Presidency, comprising most of southern India, was created in the 18th century and was ruled directly by the British. The prehistoric period during which Lower Paleolithic settlements existed in the Tamil Nadu region has estimated to span the period from about 1,510,000 BCE until around 3000 BCE. For most part of the lower Paleolithic stage, 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. Archaeological research has uncovered evidence of remains of animals and primitive stone implements around the northern Tamil Nadu that could be dated to belong to around 3,000,000 BCE. A discovery of a rare fossilized baby brain in Viluppuram district, by a team of archeologists was reported in April 2003, It is estimated to be about 187,000 years -200,000 years or older. The ancestor of humans who appeared around 50,000 years ago was more developed and could make thinner flake tools. 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. 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 found in Tamil Nadu. The Neolithic humans lived mostly on small hills or on the foothills in small, more or less permanent settlements
34.
History of Sri Lanka
–
The earliest human remains found on the island of Sri Lanka date to about 35,000 years ago. The proto-historical period begins roughly in the 3rd century, based on chronicles like the Mahavamsa, Dipavamsa, Silappatikaram, Manimekalai, the earliest documents of settlement in the Island are found in these chronicles. These chronicles cover the period since the establishment of the Kingdom of Tambapanni in the 6th century BCE, the first Sri Lankan ruler of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Pandukabhaya, is recorded for the 4th century BCE. Buddhism was introduced in the 3rd century BCE by Arhath Mahinda, the first Tamil ruler of the Anuradhapura Kingdom, Elara, an invader, is recorded for the 2nd century BCE. The island was divided into numerous kingdoms over the following centuries, Sri Lanka was ruled by 181 monarchs from the Anuradhapura to Kandy periods. From the 16th century, some areas of the country were also controlled by the Portuguese, Dutch. Between 1597 and 1658, a part of the island was under Portuguese rule. The Portuguese lost their possessions in Ceylon due to Dutch intervention in the Eighty Years War, following the Kandyan Wars, the island was united under British rule in 1815. Armed uprisings against the British took place in the 1818 Uva Rebellion, independence was finally granted in 1948 but the country remained a Dominion of the British Empire until 1972. In 1972 Sri Lanka assumed the status of a Republic, a constitution was introduced in 1978 which made the Executive President the head of state. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983, including an armed uprising in 1987–1989. Evidence of human colonization in Sri Lanka appears at the site of Balangoda, Balangoda Man arrived on the island about 34,000 years ago and have been identified as Mesolithic hunter gatherers who lived in caves. Several of these caves, including the well known Batadombalena and the Fa-Hien Rock cave, have yielded artifacts from these people who are currently the first known inhabitants of the island. Balangoda Man probably created Horton Plains, in the central hills, however, the discovery of oats and barley on the plains at about 15,000 BCE suggests that agriculture had already developed at this early date. Several minute granite tools, earthenware, remnants of charred timber, human remains dating to 6000 BCE have been discovered during recent excavations around a cave at Varana Raja Maha vihara and in the Kalatuwawa area. Cinnamon is native to Sri Lanka and has found in Ancient Egypt as early as 1500 BCE. It is possible that Biblical Tarshish was located on the island, james Emerson Tennent identified Tarshish with Galle. The protohistoric Early Iron Age appears to have established itself in South India by at least as early as 1200 BCE, the earliest manifestation of this in Sri Lanka is radiocarbon-dated to c
35.
Sources of ancient Tamil history
–
There are literary, archaeological, epigraphic and numismatic sources of ancient Tamil history. The foremost among these sources is the Sangam literature, generally dated to the last centuries BCE to early centuries CE, techniques such as stratigraphy and paleography have helped establish the date of these items to the Sangam era. Inscriptions found on caves and pottery are another source for studying the history of Tamilakam, writings in Tamil-Brahmi script have been found in many locations in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka and also in Egypt and Thailand. Mostly recording grants made by the kings and chieftains, references are also made to other aspects of the Sangam society. Coins issued by the Tamil kings of this age have been recovered from river beds and it consists of 2,381 known poems, with a total of over 50,000 lines, written by 473 poets. Each poem belongs to one of two types, Akam and Puram, the akam poems deal with inner human emotions such as love and the puram poems deal with outer experiences such as society, culture and warfare. They contain descriptions of various aspects of life in the ancient Tamil country, the Maduraikkanci by Mankudi Maruthanaar contains a full-length description of Madurai and the Pandyan country under the rule of Nedunj Cheliyan III. The Netunalvatai by Nakkirar contains a description of the king’s palace, the Purananuru and Akanaṉūṟu collections contain poems sung in praise of various kings and also poems that were composed by the kings themselves. The Sangam age anthology Pathirruppaththu provides the genealogy of two lines for three or four generations of the Cheras, along with describing the Chera country, in general. The Pattinappaalai describes the Chola port city of Kaveripumpattinam in great detail and it mentions Eelattu-unavu – food from Eelam – arriving at the port. The historical value of the Sangam poems has been analysed by scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries. He feels that the Sangam literature is, for the most part, scholars like Dr. Venkata Subramanian, Dr. N. Subrahmanian, Dr. Sundararajan and J. K. Pillay concur with this view. Sastri dates the presently available Sangam corpus to the centuries of the Christian Era. Her reasoning is that they have been supported by archaeological and numismatic evidence, Dr. Tiekens methodology of dating Sangam works has been criticized by Hart, Ferro-Luzzi, and Monius. Kamil Zvelebil, a Czech indologist, considers this date quite impossible, according to Encyclopædia Britannica, the Sangam poems were created between the 1st century and 4th century and many of them are free from literary conceits. The Macropaedia mentions that the authenticity of sections of Sangam literature has been confirmed by archaeological evidence. Kautilya, in his Sanskrit work Arthashastra, mentions the “easy to travel trade route to the South and he refers to the city of Madurai and the river Tamaraparani in the Pandya kingdom. The Sinhalese chronicle Mahawamsa claims that King Vijaya married a daughter of the Pandyan king Kulasekaran, the famous Greek traveler Megasthenes mentions the “Pandae kingdom and refers to it as “that portion of India which lies to the southward and extends to the sea
36.
Sangam period
–
Sangam period is the period in the history of ancient Tamil Nadu spanning from c. 4th century BC to c. It is named after the famous Sangam academies of poets and scholars centered in the city of Madurai, according to Tamil legends, there were three Sangam periods, namely Head Sangam, Middle Sangam and Last Sangam period. Historians use the term Sangam period to refer the last of these, so it is also called Last Sangam period, or Third Sangam period. The Sangam literature is thought to have produced in three Sangam academies of each period. The evidence on the history of the Tamil kingdoms consists of the epigraphs of the region, the Sangam literature. Approximately during the period between 400 BC to AD200, Tamilakam was ruled by the three Tamil dynasties of Pandya, Chola and Chera, and a few independent chieftains, the Velir. There is a wealth of sources detailing the history, socio-political environment and cultural practices of ancient Tamilakam, including volumes of literature, tamilakams history is split into three periods, prehistoric, classical and medieval. A vast array of literary, epigraphical and inscribed sources from around the world provide insight into the socio-political and cultural occurrences in the Tamil nation. The religion of the ancient Tamils closely follow roots of nature worship, in the ancient Sangam literature, Sivan was the supreme God, and Murugan was the one celebrated by the masses, both of them were sung as deified Tamil poets ascending the Koodal academy. The Tamil landscape was classified into five categories, thinais, based on the mood, the season, other ancient works refer to Maayon and Vaali. The most popular deity was Murugan, who has from an early date been identified with Karthikeya. Kannagi, the heroine of the Silappatikaram, was worshiped as Pathini by many Tamils, there were also many temples and devotees of Thirumaal, Siva, Ganapathi, and the other common Hindu deities. The year was made up of twelve months and every two months constituted a season, with the popularity of Mazhai vizhavu, traditionally commencement of Tamil year was clubbed on April 14, deviating from the astronomical date of vadavazhi vizhavu. Pongal, பொங்கல் the festival of harvest and spring, thanking Lord Indiran and Lord El and this day comes on April 14/15. Mazhai Vizhavu, aka Indhira Vizha, the festival for want of rain, celebrated for one month starting from the full moon in Ootrai சித்திரை. It is epitomised in the epic Cilapatikaram in detail, soornavai Vizha, the slaying of legendary Kadamba Asura king Surabadma, by Lord, comes on the sixth day after new moon in Itrai. It is sung about in Thirumurugatrupadai and Purananuru anthology, vaadai Vizha or Vadavazhi Vizha, the festival of welcoming the Lord Surya back to home, as He turns northward, celebrated on December 21/22. It is sung about in Akanauru anthology, aathi Irai min means the star of the God on the Bull
37.
Tamilakam
–
Tamiḻakam, refers to the geographical region inhabited by the ancient Tamil people. Tamilakam covered today Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and southern parts of Andhra Pradesh, traditional accounts and Tholkāppiyam referred these territories as a single cultural area, where Tamil was the natural language and culture of all people. The ancient Tamil country was divided into kingdoms, the best known among them were the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyans and Pallavas. Archaeological data from protohistoric Kerala and Tamil Nadu appears to challenge the notion of a culture region. During the Sangam period, Tamil culture began to spread outside Tamilakam, ancient Tamil settlements were also found in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Tamiḻakam is a portmanteau of a word and suffix from the Tamil language, namely Tamiḻ and it can be roughly translated as the homeland of the Tamils. According to Kamil Zvelebil, the term seems to be the most ancient term used to designate Tamil territory in the Indian subcontinent, the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea referred it as Damirica. The word Tamilakam is today used as synonym for Tamil Nadu, until recently, the interpretation and understanding of Indias past has largely been based on textual sources. According to the Tholkāppiyam, the limits of Tamiḻakam were between the hills of Venkatam in the north and Kanyakumari in the south, tholkappiar, the writer of the Tholkāppiyam, doesnt mention a Tamil part of Sri Lanka. Approximately during the period between 350 BCE to 200 CE, Tamiḻakam was ruled by the three Tamil dynasties, the Chola dynasty, the Pandyan dynasty and the Chera dynasty, there were also a few independent chieftains, the Velirs. During the time of the Maurya Empire in North India the Cheras, the Pandyas, the earliest datable references to the Tamil kingdoms are in inscriptions from the 3rd century BCE during the time of the Maurya Empire. The Pandyan dynasty ruled parts of South India until the early 17th century, the heartland of the Pandyas was the fertile valley of the Vaigai River. They initially ruled their country from Korkai, a seaport on the southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, the Chola dynasty ruled from before the Sangam period until the 13th century in central Tamil Nadu. The heartland of the Cholas was the valley of the Kaveri. The Chera dynasty ruled from before the Sangam period until the 12th century over an area corresponding to modern-day western Tamil Nadu, the Vealirs were minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamiḻakam in the early historic period of South India. Tamiḻakam was divided into regions called Perunadu or Great country. There were three important political regions which were Chera Nadu, Chola Nadu and Pandya Nadu, along these three there were two more political regions of Athiyaman Nadu and Thamirabharani Nadu which were later on absorbed into Chera resp. Pandya Nadu by 3rd century BCE, thondai Nadu which was under Chola Nadu, later emerged as independent Pallava Nadu by 6th century ADE
38.
Agriculture in ancient Tamil country
–
During the Sangam age,200 BCE –200 CE, agriculture was the main vocation of the Tamils. It was considered a necessity for life, and hence was treated as the foremost among all occupations, the farmers or the Ulavar were placed right at the top of the social classification. As they were the producers of grains, they lived with self-respect. Agriculture during the stages of Sangam period was primitive, but it progressively got more efficient with improvements in irrigation, ploughing, manuring, storage. Among the five divisions of the Tamil country in Sangam literature. The prosperity of a farmer depended on getting the necessary sunlight, seasonal rains and they differentiated the lands on the basis of fertility and accordingly cultivated the crops that were best suited for the kind of soil. They were Vanpulam, Menpulam, Pinpulam and Kalarnilam or Uvarnilam, Vanpulam in Mullai and Kurinji regions did not yield rich produce, whereas in Menpulam the yield was very good. Dry crops were cultivated on Pinpulam, because of the irrigation facilities. The Kalarnilam was unfit for cultivation, some of the types of soil known to the people of this age were the alluvial soil, red soil, black soil, laterite soil and sandy soil and they knew what crops could be grown on each type of soil. The king owned a lot of land, but was not the landlord, as he had donated lands to poets, brahmins, schools, hospitals. The bulk of the agriculturists were cultivators of their own plots of land, among the Vellalars, the higher class people subsisted on the produce from the lands they owned whereas the lower-class people had to work on the lands to earn their livelihood. Apart from the landlords and cultivators, there were absentee landlords too. There are various instances in which the kings donated tax-free lands to poets, brahmins, educational institutions, lands given to brahmins was known Brahmateya. When lands were given to brahmins and poets, these donees quite often left the lands in the hands of tenants or farm laborers. The terms of tenancy in respect of such cultivation are not known, sometimes independent laborers were engaged for specific purposes and were known as Adiyor. Land, the property, and its produce were both taxable, as the king was owed a share for being the administrator of the land. Landlords and Peasants paid the tax - the land tax was known as Irai or Karai and it is believed that one-sixth of the produce was collected as tax. During times of floods and famines, cultivation was much affected, taxes were collected by revenue officials known as Variya and Kavidi and they were assisted by accountants called Ayakanakkar
39.
Economy of ancient Tamil country
–
The economy of the ancient Tamil country describes the ancient economy of a region in southern India that mostly covers the present-day states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. The main economic activities were agriculture, weaving, pearl fishery, manufacturing, paddy was the most important crop, it was the staple cereal and served as a medium of exchange for inland trade. Pepper, millets, grams and sugarcane were other commonly grown crops, Madurai and Urayur were important centers for the textile industry, Korkai was the center of the pearl trade. Inland trading was conducted primarily through barter in busy market places by merchant associations, merchants formed associations that operated autonomously, without interference from the state. Pepper, pearls, ivory, textiles and gold ornaments were exported from Tamilakam, foreign trade brought in a large amount of internationally convertible Roman currency. The state played an important role in building and maintaining infrastructure such as roads and ports—funded through taxation—to meet the needs of economic, wealth was unequally divided among the people, giving rise to distinct economic classes. Agriculture was the occupation of the ancient Tamils and the most respected. Farmers were aware of different soil types, the best crops to grow, in the five geographical divisions of the Tamil country in Sangam literature, the Marutam region was the most fit for cultivation, as it had the most fertile lands. Land was classified, according to its fertility, as Menpulam, Pinpulam, Vanpulam and Kalarnilam or Uvarnilam, Menpulam yielded rich produce on a variety of crops, but Pinpulam was cultivated only with dry crops due to limited irrigation facilities. The yield from Vanpulam was limited, while Kalarnilam was unfit for cultivation, some of the well known types of soil were alluvial soil, red soil, black soil, laterite soil and sandy soil. The Tamils cultivated paddy, sugarcane, millets, pepper, various pulses, coconuts, beans, cotton, plantain, tamarind, paddy was the main crop, with different varieties grown in the wetland of Marutam, such as Vennel, Sennel, Pudunel, Aivananel and Torai. The peasants lived in groves of trees close to the farmlands and each house had jack, coconut, palm, areca, peasants grew turmeric plants in front of their houses and laid flower gardens in between the houses. Farmers believed that ploughing, manuring, weeding, irrigation and the protection of crops must be according to a specific method in order to obtain a good yield. A wide range of tools needed for agriculture, from ploughing to harvesting, were manufactured, the basic tool was the plough also known as meli, nanchil and kalappai. Palliyadutal referred to the process of removing weeds using a toothed implement attached to a plank, lower-class peasants used stone sling devices to scare animals and birds away from the standing crops. Sickles were used for harvesting mature rice paddies, since the rivers of the region were not perennial, several irrigation techniques were developed to ensure an adequate and continuous supply of water. Farmers used a device called Kapilai for bailing out water from deep wells. Tanks, lakes and dams were used as storage systems
40.
Industry in ancient Tamil country
–
During the Sangam age, industrial activity was considered ancillary to agriculture and was mostly domestic, not factory-based. Simple workshops where the blacksmith made the wheel or the carpenter his wooden wares could be called factories of a sort, weaving, pearl fishing, smithy and ship building were some of the prominent industries of the ancient Tamil country. Cotton and silk fabrics from Madurai and Urayur were in great demand, Korkai was the center of pearl trade and produced pearls that were sought after not only in Tamilakam, but in the kingdoms of north India and Rome. Smithy was an industry, because the blacksmith manufactured many of the tools. The flourishing overseas trade was supported by the industry that produced a variety of ocean. There were several industries such as carpentry, fishing, salt manufacture and construction that supported the trade. Weaving was the most important industry, spinning and weaving were widely practised crafts, next only to agriculture. In addition to being the occupation of many people, weaving was practised part-time by the farmers in rural areas. Women spent their spare time spinning cotton threads and continued to spin during the night, Madurai and Urayur were the important centers of the industry and were well known for their cotton textiles. The muslins carried very fine work of different colors and were compared to the slough of the cobra. Silk cloth was manufactured with its threads gathered in small knots at its ends, the art of embroidery was also known, with the nobles and aristocrats being the main customers for embroidered clothing. Dyeing was an ancillary industry to weaving. The blue dye for the cloth was a favorite color among the masses. In addition to silk and cotton fabrics, cloth made of wood fibre called Sirai Maravuri, silk, wool and other fabrics are referred to as cloths of natural origin. In the markets of Madurai, woollen goods were sold alongside the cotton, the cloth manufacturers wove long pieces of cloth at a time and delivered it to the dealers. The textile dealers then scissored off bits of required length, called aruvai or tuni, the dealers themselves were called aruvai vanigar and the localities where they lived aruvai vidi. Stitched garments were worn by the people and there were tailors called tunnagarar in Madurai, weaving was not associated with the hilly regions, as the descriptions of life in such regions do not indicate any use of cotton garments. Pearl fishing was another industry that flourished during the Sangam age, the Pandyan port city of Korkai was the center of pearl trade
41.
Eelam
–
Eelam is the native Tamil name for the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Eelam is also a name for the spurge, toddy and gold, the exact etymology and the original meaning of the word are not clearly known, and there are number of conflicting theories. The Retroflex approximant l in Eelam is a characteristic phoneme for Dravidian languages, retained in closely related Tamil, conventionally it has been represented in the Latin script with the digraph zh. The Tamil meaning of Eelam is homeland. The word ஈழம் has similarities with the Tamil word இல்லம், the earliest use of the word is found in a Tamil-Brahmi inscription as well as in the Sangam literature. The Tirupparankunram inscription found near Madurai in Tamil Nadu and dated on palaeographical grounds to the 1st century BCE, the inscription reads, erukatur eelakutumpikan polalaiyan Polalaiyan, Erukatur, the husbandman from Eelam. The Sangam literature Paṭṭiṉappālai, mentions Eelattu-unavu, one of the prominent Sangam Tamil poets is known as Eelattu Poothanthevanar meaning Poothan-thevan hailing from Eelam. The Tamil inscriptions from the Pallava & Chola period dating from 9th century CE link the word with toddy, toddy tappers quarters, tax on toddy tapping, Eelavar is a caste of toddy tappers found in the southern parts of Kerala. The Tamil lexicons Thivaakaram, Pingkalam and Choodaamani, dating from c. 8th century CE, equate the word with the Sinhala language, eela-kaasu and Eela-karung-kaasu are refers to coinages found in the medieval inscriptions of Tamil Nadu. Since the 1980s the words Eelam and Eelavar have been taken up by the Sri Lankan Tamil resistance movement, in this usage, Eelam refers to Tamil Eelam, an area covering what has been reconstructed by historians as the former Jaffna Kingdom. Eelavar now refers to the citizens of Tamil Eelam. Late 19th century linguists took the view that the name Eelam was derived from the Pali form Sihala for Sri Lanka, robert Caldwell, following Hermann Gundert, cites the word as an example of the omission of initial sibilants in the adoption of Indo-Aryan words into Dravidian languages. The University of Madras Tamil Lexicon, compiled between 1924 and 1936, follows this view and he concludes that Eelam is attested well before Sihala in India and Sri Lanka, in inscriptions and literature in the 1st century BCE. Whereas Sihala is attested for the first time in present day Andhra Pradesh to refer to a Buddhist temple meant for monks from Sri Lanka in the 3rd century CE. He further concludes that it is a word used exclusively for toddy beginning from the common era up until the medieval period. He suggests that the name Eelam came from the Dravidian word Eelam meaning toddy, referring to the trees in Sri Lanka. This, he says, is likely to have been the source for the Pali Sihala. The Dravidian Etymological Dictionary, which was edited by Thomas Burrow and Murray Emeneau. He also believes that the name of the island was applied to the coconut tree or vice versa in Tamil
42.
Tamil culture
–
Tamil culture is the culture of the Tamil people. Tamil culture is rooted in the arts and ways of life of Tamils in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Tamils have strong attachment to the Tamil language, which is often venerated in literature as Tamil̲an̲n̲ai, the Tamil mother. It has historically been, and to large extent still is, like the other languages of South India, it is a Dravidian language, unrelated to the Indo-European languages of northern India. The Tamil language preserves many features of Proto-Dravidian, though modern-day spoken Tamil in Tamil Nadu freely uses loanwords from Sanskrit and English, Tamil literature is of considerable antiquity, and is recognised as a classical language by the government of India. Ancient Tamil grammatical works Tolkappiyam, the ten anthologies Pattuppāṭṭu, the eight anthologies Eṭṭuttokai sheds light on early religion of ancient Dravidian people. Seyyon was glorified as, the red god seated on the blue peacock, Sivan was also seen as the supreme God. Early iconography of Seyyon and Sivan and their association with native flora, the Sangam landscape was classified into five categories, thinais, based on the mood, the season and the land. Other gods mentioned were Mayyon and Vaali who were all assimilated into Hinduism over time, christians and Muslims account for 6% and 5. 5% respectively. The majority of Muslims in Tamil Nadu speak Tamil, with less than 15% of them reporting Urdu as their mother tongue, Tamil Jains number only a few thousand now. The most popular deity is Murugan, he is known as the god of the Tamils and is also called Tamil Kadavul. In Tamil tradition, Murugan is the youngest son and Ganesha/Pillayar is the eldest son of Shiva/Sivan, and it is different from the North Indian tradition, the goddess Parvati is often depicted as a goddess with green skin complexion in Tamil Hindu tradition. The worship of Amman, also called Mariamman, is thought to have derived from an ancient mother goddess, is also very common. Kan̲n̲agi, the heroine of the Cilappatikār̲am, is worshipped as Pattin̲i by many Tamils, there are also many followers of Ayyavazhi in Tamil Nadu, mainly in the southern districts. In addition, there are temples and devotees of Vishnu, Siva, Ganapathi. Muslims across Tamil Nadu follow Hanafi and Shafii schools, erwadi in Ramanathapuram district and Nagore in Nagapattinam district are the major pilgrimage centres for Muslims in Tamil Nadu. The most important Tamil festivals are Pongal, a harvest festival that occurs in mid-January, and Varudapirappu, the Tamil New Year, both are celebrated by almost all Tamils, regardless of religion. The Hindu festival Deepavali is celebrated with fanfare, other local Hindu festivals include Thaipusam, Panguni Uttiram, in rural Tamil Nadu, many local deities, called aiyyan̲ārs, are thought to be the spirits of local heroes who protect the village from harm. Their worship often centres around nadukkal, stones erected in memory of heroes who died in battle and this form of worship is mentioned frequently in classical literature and appears to be the surviving remnants of an ancient Tamil tradition
43.
Tamil literature
–
Tamil literature refers to the literature in the Tamil language. Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years, the oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from Tamil people from South India, including the land now comprising Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Sri Lankan Tamils from Sri Lanka, and from Tamil diaspora. The history of Tamil literature follows the history of Tamil Nadu, the early Sangam literature, starting from the period of 2nd century BCE, contain anthologies of various poets dealing with many aspects of life, including love, war, social values and religion. This was followed by the early epics and moral literature, authored by Hindu, Jain and Buddhist authors, from the 6th to 12th century CE, the Tamil devotional poems written by Nayanmars and Azhvars, heralded the great Bhakti movement which later engulfed the entire Indian subcontinent. The later medieval period saw many assorted minor literary works and also contributions by a few Muslim and European authors. A revival of Tamil literature took place from the late 19th century when works of religious, with growth of literacy, Tamil prose began to blossom and mature. Short stories and novels began to appear, modern Tamil Literary criticism also evolved. The popularity of Tamil cinema has also interacted with Tamil literature in some mutually enriching ways, Sangam literature comprises some of the oldest extant Tamil literature, and deals with love, war, governance, trade and bereavement. Unfortunately much of the Tamil literature belonging to the Sangam period has been lost, the literature currently available from this period is perhaps just a fraction of the wealth of material produced during this golden age of Tamil civilization. The available literature from this period has been divided in antiquity into three categories based roughly on chronology. These are, the Major Eighteen Anthology Series comprising the Eight Anthologies and the Ten Idylls, Tolkaappiyam, a commentary on grammar, phonetics, rhetoric and poetics is dated from this period. Tamil legends hold that these were composed in three successive poetic assemblies that were held in ancient times on a now vanished continent far to the south of India. A significant amount of literature could have preceded Tolkappiyam as grammar books are written after the existence of literature over long periods. Tamil tradition holds the earliest Sangam poetry to be over twelve millennia old, modern linguistic scholarship places the poems between the 1st century BC and the 3rd century AD. Sangam age is considered by the Tamil people as the era of Tamil language. This was the period when the Tamil country was ruled by the three crowned kings the Cheras, Pandyas and the Cholas, the land was at peace with no major external threats. Asokas conquests did not impact on the Tamil land and the people were able to indulge in literary pursuits, the poets had a much more casual relationship with their rulers than can be imagined in later times
.jpg)
Malaysia (Peninsular Malaysia)
