1.
Sanskrit
–
Sanskrit is the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, a philosophical language of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and a literary language and lingua franca of ancient and medieval South Asia. As a result of transmission of Hindu and Buddhist culture to Southeast Asia and parts of Central Asia, as one of the oldest Indo-European languages for which substantial written documentation exists, Sanskrit holds a prominent position in Indo-European studies. The body of Sanskrit literature encompasses a rich tradition of poetry and drama as well as scientific, technical, philosophical, the compositions of Sanskrit were orally transmitted for much of its early history by methods of memorization of exceptional complexity, rigor, and fidelity. Thereafter, variants and derivatives of the Brahmi script came to be used, Sanskrit is today one of the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India, which mandates the Indian government to develop the language. It continues to be used as a ceremonial language in Hindu religious rituals and Buddhist practice in the form of hymns. The Sanskrit verbal adjective sáṃskṛta- may be translated as refined, elaborated, as a term for refined or elaborated speech, the adjective appears only in Epic and Classical Sanskrit in the Manusmṛti and the Mahabharata. The pre-Classical form of Sanskrit is known as Vedic Sanskrit, with the language of the Rigveda being the oldest and most archaic stage preserved, Classical Sanskrit is the standard register as laid out in the grammar of Pāṇini, around the fourth century BCE. Sanskrit, as defined by Pāṇini, evolved out of the earlier Vedic form, the present form of Vedic Sanskrit can be traced back to as early as the second millennium BCE. Scholars often distinguish Vedic Sanskrit and Classical or Pāṇinian Sanskrit as separate dialects, although they are quite similar, they differ in a number of essential points of phonology, vocabulary, grammar and syntax. Vedic Sanskrit is the language of the Vedas, a collection of hymns, incantations and theological and religio-philosophical discussions in the Brahmanas. Modern linguists consider the metrical hymns of the Rigveda Samhita to be the earliest, for nearly 2000 years, Sanskrit was the language of a cultural order that exerted influence across South Asia, Inner Asia, Southeast Asia, and to a certain extent East Asia. A significant form of post-Vedic Sanskrit is found in the Sanskrit of Indian epic poetry—the Ramayana, the deviations from Pāṇini in the epics are generally considered to be on account of interference from Prakrits, or innovations, and not because they are pre-Paninian. Traditional Sanskrit scholars call such deviations ārṣa, meaning of the ṛṣis, in some contexts, there are also more prakritisms than in Classical Sanskrit proper. There were four principal dialects of classical Sanskrit, paścimottarī, madhyadeśī, pūrvi, the predecessors of the first three dialects are attested in Vedic Brāhmaṇas, of which the first one was regarded as the purest. In the 2001 Census of India,14,035 Indians reported Sanskrit to be their first language, in India, Sanskrit is among the 14 original languages of the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution. The state of Uttarakhand in India has ruled Sanskrit as its official language. In October 2012 social activist Hemant Goswami filed a petition in the Punjab. More than 3,000 Sanskrit works have been composed since Indias independence in 1947, much of this work has been judged of high quality, in comparison to both classical Sanskrit literature and modern literature in other Indian languages
Sanskrit
–
Rigveda (
padapatha) manuscript in
Devanagari, early 19th century
Sanskrit
–
Devi Mahatmya palm-leaf manuscript in an early
Bhujimol script,
Bihar or
Nepal, 11th century
Sanskrit
–
A poem by the ancient Indian poet Vallana (ca. 900 – 1100 CE) on the side wall of a building at the Haagweg 14 in Leiden, Netherlands
Sanskrit
–
Kashmir Shaiva manuscript in the
Śāradā script (c. 17th century)
2.
Dravidian languages
–
The Dravidian languages with the most speakers are Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam. There are also groups of Dravidian-speaking scheduled tribes, who live beyond the mainstream communities, such as the Kurukh. Epigraphically the Dravidian languages have been attested since the 2nd century BCE, only two Dravidian languages are exclusively spoken outside India, Brahui in Pakistan and Dhangar, a dialect of Kurukh, in Nepal. Caldwell coined the term Dravidian for this family of languages, based on the usage of the Sanskrit word drāviḍa in the work Tantravārttika by Kumārila Bhaṭṭa. In his own words, Caldwell says, The word I have chosen is Dravidian, from Drāviḍa, I have, therefore, no doubt of the propriety of adopting it. The 1961 publication of the Dravidian etymological dictionary by T, emeneau proved a notable event in the study of Dravidian linguistics. As for the origin of the Sanskrit word drāviḍa itself, researchers have proposed various theories, basically the theories deal with the direction of derivation between tamiẓ and drāviḍa. There is no definite philological and linguistic basis for asserting unilaterally that the name Dravida also forms the origin of the word Tamil, Kamil Zvelebil cites the forms such as dramila damiḷa and then goes on to say, The forms damiḷa/damila almost certainly provide a connection of drviḍa and. Tamiḷ < tamiẓ. whereby the further development might have been *tamiẓ > *damiḷ > damiḷa- / damila- and further, with the intrusive, hypercorrect -r-, an analogical case of DED1033 Ta. kamuku, Tu. kangu areca nut, Skt. kramu. Sinhala BCE inscriptions cite dameḍa-, damela- denoting Tamil merchants and it appears that damiḷa- was older than draviḍa- which could be its Sanskritization. Based on what Krishnamurti states, the Sanskrit word draviḍa itself is later than damiḷa since the dates for the forms with -r- are centuries later than the dates for the forms without -r-. The Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary lists for the Sanskrit word draviḍa a meaning of collective Name for 5 peoples, viz. the Āndhras, Karṇāṭakas, Gurjaras, Tailaṅgas, the Dravidian languages form a close-knit family. They are descended from the Proto-Dravidian language, there is reasonable agreement on how they are related to each other. Most scholars agree on four groups, North, Central, South-Central, earlier classifications grouped Central and South-Central Dravidian in a single branch. The classification below follows Krishnamurti in grouping South-Central and South Dravidian, languages recognized as official languages of India appear here in boldface. Some authors deny that North Dravidian forms a subgroup, splitting it into Northeast and Northwest. In some words, *c is retracted to /k/ and this development is however also found in several other Dravidian languages, including Kannada, Kodagu and Tulu. A few morphological parallels between Brahui and Kurukh-Malto are also known, but according to McAlpin they are analyzable as shared archaisms rather than shared innovations, approximately 29% of Indias population spoke Dravidian languages in 1981
Dravidian languages
–
Language families in South Asia
Dravidian languages
–
North
Dravidian languages
–
Jambai Tamil Brahmi inscription dated to the early Sangam age
3.
Pali
–
Pali is a Prakrit language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of much of the earliest extant literature of Buddhism as collected in the Pāli Canon or Tipiṭaka and is the language of Theravāda Buddhism. The word Pali is used as a name for the language of the Theravada canon, Childers translates the word as series and states that the language bears the epithet in consequence of the perfection of its grammatical structure. However, modern scholarship has regarded Pali as a mix of several Prakrit languages from around the 3rd century BCE, combined together and partially Sanskritized. The closest artifacts to Pali that have found in India are Edicts of Ashoka found at Gujarat, in the west of India. There is persistent confusion as to the relation of Pāḷi to the vernacular spoken in the ancient kingdom of Magadha, Pali, as a Middle Indo-Aryan language, is different from Sanskrit more with regard to its dialectal base than the time of its origin. A number of its morphological and lexical features show that it is not a continuation of Ṛgvedic Vedic Sanskrit. Instead it descends from one or more dialects that were, despite many similarities, however, this view is not shared by all scholars. Some, like A. C. Woolner, believe that Pali is derived from Vedic Sanskrit, Paiśācī is a largely unattested literary language of classical India that is mentioned in Prakrit and Sanskrit grammars of antiquity. e. Evidence which lends support to this interpretation is that literature in Paiśācī is fragmentary and extremely rare, many Theravada sources refer to the Pali language as Magadhan or the language of Magadha. This identification first appears in the commentaries, and may have been an attempt by Buddhists to associate more closely with the Maurya Empire. The Buddha taught in Magadha, but the four most important places in his life are all outside of it and it is likely that he taught in several closely related dialects of Middle Indo-Aryan, which had a high degree of mutual intelligibility. There is no attested dialect of Middle Indo-Aryan with all the features of Pali, Pali has some commonalities with both the western Ashokan Edicts at Girnar in Saurashtra, and the Central-Western Prakrit found in the eastern Hathigumpha inscription. In Sri Lanka, Pali is thought to have entered into a period of decline ending around the 4th or 5th century, the work of Buddhaghosa was largely responsible for its reemergence as an important scholarly language in Buddhist thought. Another scholar states that at time it was a refined. Modern scholarship has not arrived at a consensus on the issue, after the death of the Buddha, Pali may have evolved among Buddhists out of the language of the Buddha as a new artificial language. According to K. R. Norman, it is likely that the viharas in North India had separate collections of material, in the early period it is likely that no degree of translation was necessary in communicating this material to other areas. Around the time of Ashoka there had been more linguistic divergence, following this period, the language underwent a small degree of Sanskritisation
Pali
–
The upper half shows a text in
Sanskrit (praise of
Vishnu) written in
devanagari while the lower half shows a text in Pali from a Buddhist ceremonial scripture called "Kammuwa" from
Burma, probably in the
Mon script.
4.
Pondicherry
–
Pondicherry is the capital city and the largest city of the Indian union territory of Puducherry. The city of Pondicherry is situated in Puducherry district of the union territory and it is affectionately known as Pondy, and has been officially known by the alternative name Puducherry in Tamil since 2006. Pondicherry city consists of 42 wards, wards 1-10 are located in north of the city. Wards 11-19 are located in Boulevard Town and remaining wards are located in the southwest of the downtown, the history of the city of Pondicherry is recorded only after the arrival of Dutch, Portuguese, British and French colonialists. A marketplace named Poduke or Poduca is recorded as a Roman trading destination from the mid 1st century, the area was part of the Pallava Kingdom of Kanchipuram in the 4th century. The Cholas of Thanjavur held it from the 10th to 13th centuries, the Vijayanagar Empire took control of almost all of the South of India in the 14th century and maintained control until 1638 when they were supplanted by the Sultan of Bijapur. The French East India Company established this town as their headquarters in 1674, five trading posts were established along the south Indian coast between 1668 and 1674. The town was separated by a canal into the French Quarter, during the Anglo-French wars, Puducherry changed hands frequently. On January 16,1761, the British captured Puducherry from the French, the British took control of the area again in 1793 at the Siege of Pondicherry amid the Wars of the French Revolution, and returned it to France in 1814. When the British gained control of the whole of India in the late 1850s, Pondicherry, Mahe, Yanam, Karaikal and Chandernagar remained a part of French India until 1954 when it was incorporated into the Indian Union along with the rest of French India. On 18 October 1954 in an election involving 178 people in Pondicherry Municipal and Commune Panchayat,170 people were in favour of independence. The de facto transfer of the French India territories form French governance to the Indian union took place on 1 November 1954, however, the formal de jure transfer of territory agreement between France and India was signed on 16 August 1962. The topography of Pondicherry is the same as that of coastal Tamil Nadu, pondicherrys average elevation is at sea level, and a number of sea inlets, referred to as backwaters can be found. Pondicherry experiences extreme coastal erosion as a result of a constructed in 1989. Where there was once a broad, sandy beach, now the city is protected against the sea by a 2-km-long seawall.5 m above sea level, today, the seawall consists of rows of granite boulders which are reinforced every year in an attempt to stop erosion. As a consequence of the seawall, Pondicherry experiences severe seabed erosion and turbulence at the coastal margin, whenever gaps appear as the stones fall into the continually eroding seabed, the government of Puducherry adds more boulders. Pondicherrys seawall has also caused beach erosion to migrate further up the coast, to the villages in Puducherry. In 2012, the Ministry of Power inaugurated the Smart Grid project in Puducherry, farming around Pondicherry include crops such as rice, pulses, sugarcane, coconuts, and cotton
Pondicherry
–
Clockwise from top right: Gandhi Statue,
Promenade Beach,
Matrimandir,
Sri Aurobindo Ashram,
Immaculate Conception Cathedral, Park Monument,
Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus,
Manakula Vinayagar Temple
Pondicherry
–
Pondicherry waterfront circa 1900
Pondicherry
–
Panoramic view of Pondicherry town
Pondicherry
–
A PRTC deluxe bus.
5.
Kshatriya
–
Kshatriya is one of the four varna of the Hindu society. The Sanskrit term kshatriya is used in the context of Vedic society wherein members organised themselves into four classes, brahmin, kshatriya, vaishya, traditionally, the kshatriya constituted the ruling and military elite. Their role was to protect society by fighting in wartime and governing in peacetime, the Prakrit derivative of Kshatriya is Khatri. The administrative machinery in the Rig Vedic period functioned with a chief called Rajan whose position was not hereditary. The king was elected in an assembly, which included women. The Rajan protected the tribe and cattle, was assisted by a priest, the concept of fourfold varna system was non-existent. The hymn Purusha Sukta to the Rigveda describes the history of the four varna. Since not all dark-skinned Indians was fully regulated under the varna in the vedic society, the term rajanya unlike the word kshatriya essentially denoted the status within a lineage. Whereas kshatra, means ruling, one of the ruling order, jaiswal points out the term Brahman rarely occurs in the Rig-veda with the exception of the Purusha Sukta and may not have been used for the priestly class. Based on the authority of Panini, Patanjali, Katyayana and the Mahabharata, Jayaswal believes that Rajanya was the name of a people and that the Rajanyas were, therefore. Some examples were the Andhaka and Vrsni Rajanyas who followed the system of elected rulers and this later gave rise to the idea of kingship. In the period of the Brahmanas there was ambiguity in the position of the varna, in the Panchavimsha Brahmana, the Rajanya are placed first, followed by Brahmana then Vaishya. In Shatapatha Brahmana 13.8.3.11, the Kshatriya are placed second, in Shatapatha Brahmana 1.1.4.12 the order is—Brahmana, Vaishya, Rajanya, Shudra. The order of the brahmanical tradition—Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya, Shudra—became fixed from the time of dharmasutras, the kshatriya were often considered pre-eminent in Buddhist circles. Even among Hindu societies they were sometimes at rivalry with the Brahmins, the kshatriya caste constituted an aristocracy but were not always necessarily wealthy. Kings usually belonged to this caste and it was considered their duty to acquire a knowledge of weapons in addition to cultivating their aptitude for command, the science of weaponry was one of the 13 branches of learning which every educated kshatriya male was expected to study. Both the kings suite and the army were recruited from among this caste. Many kshatriya were authorised to take up a craft or trade rather than gaining their living as professional warriors and these families still retained the privileges accorded to their caste however, which included special forms of marriage which were their prerogative
Kshatriya
–
Gautama Buddha was born into a kshatriya family.
6.
Chennai
–
Chennai /ˈtʃɛnnaɪ/, formerly known as Madras /məˈdrɑːs/ or /-ˈdræs/) is the capital of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the Coromandel Coast off the Bay of Bengal, it is one of the biggest cultural, economic, according to the 2011 Indian census, it is the sixth-largest city and fourth-most populous urban agglomeration in India. The city together with the adjoining regions constitute the Chennai Metropolitan Area, Chennai is among the most visited Indian cities by foreign tourists. It was ranked 43rd most visited city in the world for year 2015, the Quality of Living Survey rated Chennai as the safest city in India. Chennai attracts 45 percent of tourists visiting India, and 30 to 40 percent of domestic health tourists. As such, it is termed Indias health capital, as a growing metropolitan city in a developing country, Chennai confronts substantial pollution and other logistical and socio-economic problems. Chennai has the third-largest expatriate population in India at 35,000 in 2009,82,790 in 2011, tourism guide publisher Lonely Planet named Chennai as one of the top ten cities in the world to visit in 2015. Chennai is ranked as a city in the Global Cities Index and was ranked the best city in India by India Today in the 2014 annual Indian city survey. In 2015 Chennai was named the hottest city by the BBC, National Geographic ranked Chennais food as second best in the world, it was the only Indian city to feature in the list. Chennai was also named the ninth-best cosmopolitan city in the world by Lonely Planet, the Chennai Metropolitan Area is one of the largest city economies of India. Chennai is nicknamed The Detroit of India, with more than one-third of Indias automobile industry being based in the city, in January 2015, it was ranked third in terms of per capita GDP. Chennai has been selected as one of the 100 Indian cities to be developed as a city under PM Narendra Modis flagship Smart Cities Mission. The name Madras originated even before the British presence was established in India, the name Madras is said to have originated from a Portuguese phrase mae de Deus which means mother of god, due to Portuguese influence on the port city. According to some sources, Madras was derived from Madraspattinam, a north of Fort St George. However, it is whether the name was in use before the arrival of Europeans. The British military mapmakers believed Madras was originally Mundir-raj or Mundiraj, Madras might have also been derived from the word Madhuras meaning juice of honey or sugarcane in Sanskrit. The nativity of name Chennai, being of Telugu origin is clearly proved by the historians. The first official use of the name Chennai is said to be in a deed, dated 8 August 1639
Chennai
–
Clockwise from top right:
Chennai Central,
Marina Beach,
Madras High Court,
TIDEL Park,
Ripon Building,
San Thome Basilica,
Kapaleeshwarar Temple,
Classical dance Bharata Natyam and
Valluvar Kottam.
Chennai
–
Clive House at
Fort St. George, Madras said to be the first English settlement in
India during 1609
Chennai
–
Surrender of the City of Madras in 1746 to de La Bourdonnais, by Jacques François Joseph Swebach
7.
Other Backward Class
–
Other Backward Class is a collective term used by the Government of India to classify castes which are socially and educationally disadvantaged. It is one of official classifications of the population of India, along with Scheduled Castes. RTI data showed in 2015 that in spite of these 27% reservations in jobs, until 1985, the affairs of the Backward Classes were looked after by the Backward Classes Cell in the Ministry of Home Affairs. A separate Ministry of Welfare was established in 1985 to attend to matters relating to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, a 1992 decision of the Supreme Court of India resulted in a requirement that 27% of civil service positions be reserved for members of OBCs. In August 2010 the Times of India reported that at most 7% of eligible positions in government jobs had been filled by OBCs and this difference between proportion of different communities in higher educational institutions is mainly because of difference in primary school enrollment. Political parties in India have attempted to use these communities as votebanks and it had prepared a list of 2,399 backward castes or communities for the entire country, of which 837 had been classified as the most backward. Reservation of vacancies in all government services and local bodies for other backward classes, the commission in its final report recommended caste as the criteria to determine backwardness. The decision to set up a second backward classes commission was made official by the president on 1 January 1979, the commission popularly known as the Mandal Commission, its chairman being B. P. The number of castes and communities was 3,743 in the initial list of Mandal Commission set up in 1979-80. The number of castes in Central list of OBCs has now increased to 5,013 in 2006 as per National Commission for Backward Classes. Mandal Commission developed 11 indicators or criteria to identify OBCs, of four were economic. However, this finding was criticized as based on fictitious data, the National Sample Survey puts the figure at 32%. There is substantial debate over the number of OBCs in India. It is generally estimated to be sizable, but lower than the figures quoted by either the Mandal Commission or,27 percent of reservation was recommended owing to the legal constraint that the total quantum of reservation should not exceed 50 percent. States which have already introduced reservation for OBC exceeding 27 per cent will not be affected by this recommendation, the above reservation should also be made applicable to promotion quota at all levels. Reserved quota remaining unfilled should be carried forward for a period of three years and de-reserved thereafter, relaxation in the upper age limit for direct recruitment should be extended to the candidates of OBC in the same manner as done in the case of scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. A roster system for each category of posts should be adopted by the authorities in the same manner as presently done in respect of scheduled caste. These recommendations in total are applicable to all recruitment to public sector undertakings, all private sector undertakings which have received financial assistance from the government in one form or other should also be obliged to recruit personnel on the aforesaid basis
Other Backward Class
–
**NFHS Survey estimated only Hindu OBC population. Total OBC population derived by assuming Muslim OBC population in same proportion as Hindu OBC population.
8.
Vannimai
–
The Vannimai, or Vanni chieftaincies, were feudal land divisions ruled by chiefs south of the Jaffna peninsula in northern Sri Lanka. These chieftaincies arose in the 12th century, with the rise of the medieval Tamil kingdoms golden age, the chieftaincies developed in sparsely settled areas, and were ruled by Vanniars. An extension of the Jaffna kingdoms territory, the chiefs of the Vannimais were, for most of their existence, at 1621, the Jaffna Kingdom was conquered by the Portuguese and the Vanni chiefs became tributaries of the Portuguese Ceylon. The Portuguese colony in Sri Lanka was later taken over by the Dutch, during the Dutch rule it came to Vannian resistances against the colonial rule, one of these was the rebellion of Pandara Vanniyan. Allied with the Kingdom of Kandy, Pandara Vanniyan fought with guerrilla tactics against the Dutch, at 1803, he was defeated by Lt. von Driberg and Vanni fell into hands of the British. Vanni had been reincorporated with Jaffna Peninsula to form the Malabar Coylot Vanni country which became the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Vanniar or Vannia was a used by tribute-paying feudal chiefs in medieval Sri Lanka. It was also recorded as the name of a caste amongst Sri Lankan Tamils in the Vanni District of northern Sri Lanka during the early 1900s, the Vannimai ruling class arose from a multi-ethnic and multi-caste background. According to primary sources such as the Yalpana Vaipava Malai, some were descended from Vanniar caste immigrants from modern Tamil Nadu, there were also number of Vannia chiefs of Sinhalese ancestry. Kankan visited the Munneswaram temple on the west coast of Sri Lanka, according to the chronicles, he extensively renovated and expanded the shrine, he was crowned with the ephitet Kulakottan, meaning Builder of Tank and Temple. As a result of his policies, the Vanni region flourished, the Vanniar claim descent from this chief. Others cite poetic and inscriptional evidence to date his renovations to as early as 1589 BC and these petty chefs paid tribute to the Jaffna Kingdom. Sometimes they were independent of any control, or were subdued by the southern kingdoms for strategic advantages. Many kings and chiefs with titles such as Vannian or Vannia ruled in areas of modern Sri Lanka during the Jaffna era. Some of the Vanni chieftains were immigrants from southern India, the Vanni chieftains ruled following local custom, supported by a coterie of local officials. Their rule had a influence on the language of the local populace. Hence Vannimais just south of the Jaffna peninsula and in the eastern Trincomalee district usually paid a tribute to the northern kingdom instead of taxes. The tribute was in cash, grains, honey, elephants, the annual tribute system was enforced due to the greater distance from Jaffna
Vannimai
–
Historical
states in present-day
Sri Lanka
Vannimai
–
Sri Lanka in the 1520s
Vannimai
–
1692 engraving by Wilhem Broedelet of
Robert Knox 's 1681 map of northern Sri Lanka.
9.
Sri Lanka
–
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an island country in South Asia near south-east India. Sri Lanka has maritime borders with India to the northwest and the Maldives to the southwest, Sri Lankas documented history spans 3,000 years, with evidence of pre-historic human settlements dating back to at least 125,000 years. Its geographic location and deep harbours made it of strategic importance from the time of the ancient Silk Road through to World War II. Sri Lanka was known from the beginning of British colonial rule until 1972 as Ceylon, Sri Lankas recent history has been marred by a thirty-year civil war which decisively ended when the Sri Lankan military defeated the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 2009. A diverse and multicultural country, Sri Lanka is home to many religions, ethnic groups, in addition to the majority Sinhalese, it is home to large groups of Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils, Moors, Burghers, Malays, Kaffirs and the aboriginal Vedda. Sri Lanka has a rich Buddhist heritage, and the first known Buddhist writings of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka is a republic and a unitary state governed by a semi-presidential system. The legislative capital, Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte, is a suburb of the capital and largest city. Along with the Maldives, Sri Lanka is one of the two countries in South Asia that are rated among high human development on the Human Development Index. In antiquity, Sri Lanka was known to travellers by a variety of names, according to the Mahavamsa, the legendary Prince Vijaya named the land Tambapanni, because his followers hands were reddened by the red soil of the area. In Hindu mythology, such as the Mahabharata, the island was referred to as Lankā, in Tamil, the island is referred to as Eelam. Ancient Greek geographers called it Taprobanā or Taprobanē from the word Tambapanni, as a British crown colony, the island was known as Ceylon, it achieved independence as the Dominion of Ceylon in 1948. The country is known in Sinhalese as Śrī Laṃkā and in Tamil as Ilaṅkai, in 1972, its formal name was changed to Free, Sovereign and Independent Republic of Sri Lanka. Later in 1978 it was changed to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, as the name Ceylon still appears in the names of a number of organisations, the Sri Lankan government announced in 2011 a plan to rename all those over which it has authority. The pre-history of Sri Lanka goes back 125,000 years, the era spans the Palaeolithic, Mesolithic and early Iron Ages. Among the Paleolithic human settlements discovered in Sri Lanka, Pahiyangala and it is said that Kubera was overthrown by his demon stepbrother Ravana, the powerful emperor who built a mythical flying machine named Dandu Monara. The modern city of Wariyapola is described as Ravanas airport, early inhabitants of Sri Lanka were probably ancestors of the Vedda people, an indigenous people numbering approximately 2,500 living in modern-day Sri Lanka. According to the Mahāvamsa, a written in Pāḷi, the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka are the Yakshas and Nagas. Ancient cemeteries that were used before 600BC and other signs of advanced civilization has also discovered in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
–
Avukana Buddha statue, a 12 metres (39 ft) standing Buddha statue belongs to the reign of
Dhatusena of Anuradhapura, 5th century
Sri Lanka
–
Flag
Sri Lanka
–
Ptolemy's world map of Ceylon, first century CE, in a 1535 publication.
Sri Lanka
–
The
Sigiriya rock fortress
10.
Primary source
–
It serves as an original source of information about the topic. Similar definitions can be used in science, and other areas of scholarship. In journalism, a source can be a person with direct knowledge of a situation. Primary sources are distinguished from secondary sources, which cite, comment on, generally, accounts written after the fact with the benefit of hindsight are secondary. A secondary source may also be a primary source depending on how it is used, Primary and secondary should be understood as relative terms, with sources categorized according to specific historical contexts and what is being studied. In scholarly writing, an important objective of classifying sources is to determine their independence, sreedharan believes that primary sources have the most direct connection to the past and that they speak for themselves in ways that cannot be captured through the filter of secondary sources. In scholarly writing, the objective of classifying sources is to determine the independence, though the terms primary source and secondary source originated in historiography as a way to trace the history of historical ideas, they have been applied to many other fields. For example, these ideas may be used to trace the history of theories, literary elements. In scientific literature, a source is the original publication of a scientists new data, results. In political history, primary sources are documents such as reports, speeches, pamphlets, posters, or letters by participants, official election returns. In religious history, the sources are religious texts and descriptions of religious ceremonies. A study of history could include fictional sources such as novels or plays. In a broader sense primary sources also include artifacts like photographs, newsreels, coins, historians may also take archaeological artifacts and oral reports and interviews into consideration. Written sources may be divided into three types, narrative sources or literary sources tell a story or message. They are not limited to fictional sources but include diaries, films, biographies, leading philosophical works, diplomatic sources include charters and other legal documents which usually follow a set format. Social documents are created by organizations, such as registers of births. In historiography, when the study of history is subject to historical scrutiny, for a biography of a historian, that historians publications would be primary sources. Documentary films can be considered a source or primary source
Primary source
–
This wall painting found in the Roman city of
Pompeii is an example of a primary source about people in Pompeii in Roman times. (
Portrait of Paquius Proculo)
Primary source
–
From a letter of Philip II, King of Spain, 16th century
11.
Tamil Nadu
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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
Tamil Nadu
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Location of Tamil Nadu (marked in red) in
India
Tamil Nadu
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Sage
Agastya father of Tamil literature,
Sangam period
Tamil Nadu
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Megalithic Sarcophagus burial from Tamil Nadu.
12.
Tamil language
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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
Tamil language
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Silver coin of king
Vashishtiputra Sātakarni (c. AD 160). Obv: Bust of king; Rev: Ujjain/Sātavāhana symbol, crescented six-arch chaitya hill and river with
Tamil Brahmi script
Tamil language
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Tamil
Tamil language
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Agastya, Chairman of first Tamil
Sangam,
Madurai,
Pandiya Kingdom
Tamil language
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Mangulam Tamil Brahmi inscription
13.
Pattali Makkal Katchi
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Pattali Makkal Katchi is a political party in Tamil Nadu, India founded by Dr. S. Ramadoss in 1989 for the upliftment of Vanniyar Community, which in Tamil language called as பாட்டாளி - Pattali. PMK was founded by Dr S Ramadoss an activist on 16 July 1989, following the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the PMK joined United Progressive Alliance led by the Congress. However, the DMK did not press for the removal from the UPA Government at the Centre. On 26 March 2009, PMK declared that, it would join the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam led front and left the United Progressive Alliance. The leaders of Pattali Makkal Katchi, who are also the national executives of the party are listed below, S. Ramadoss, mani, President of PMK Anbumani Ramadoss, Former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He is the son of S. Ramadoss and former Union Minister of Health and his important contributions include his leadership in the பசுமை தாயகம் -Pasumai Thayagam movement, which has found wide acceptance among the people of the land. He is the partys Chief Minister Candidate for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election,2016, shanmugam, Former Minister of State for Food Processing Industries. He has remained a member of the Lok Sabha from the Vellore constituency in Tamil Nadu in the 1998-99 elections, as a Member of Parliament of the 14th Lok Sabha, Moorthy represented the Chengalpattu constituency of Tamil Nadu. Mohamed Amukurajuddin, Leader of minority wing of PMK Rangasamy Velu and he was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha, representing the Arakkonam constituency of Tamil Nadu. He remained in the Railway Ministry from 2004 to 2009, one of the most phenomenal contributions of the PMK is in its Union Minister’s efforts to improve the rural healthcare facilities of people across the country, especially women and children. It was to end that Anbumani Ramadoss as a Health Minister established the famous National Rural Health Mission in 2005. This government initiation brought massive development to the poor, in terms of better medical facilities. Ramadoss has been an advocate of the anti-tobacco campaigns. As a Health Minister, he implemented measures to control sale of tobacco. His strong advocacy banned the drinking and smoking of alcohol and tobacco, or their respective advertisements in, founded Pasumai Thaayagam, which primarily works for the preservation of the environment and ecologically sustainable development
Pattali Makkal Katchi
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Paattali Makkal Katchi பாட்டாளி மக்கள் கட்சி
14.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
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A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
15.
OCLC
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The Online Computer Library Center is a US-based nonprofit cooperative organization dedicated to the public purposes of furthering access to the worlds information and reducing information costs. It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries have to pay for its services, the group first met on July 5,1967 on the campus of the Ohio State University to sign the articles of incorporation for the nonprofit organization. The group hired Frederick G. Kilgour, a former Yale University medical school librarian, Kilgour wished to merge the latest information storage and retrieval system of the time, the computer, with the oldest, the library. The goal of network and database was to bring libraries together to cooperatively keep track of the worlds information in order to best serve researchers and scholars. The first library to do online cataloging through OCLC was the Alden Library at Ohio University on August 26,1971 and this was the first occurrence of online cataloging by any library worldwide. Membership in OCLC is based on use of services and contribution of data, between 1967 and 1977, OCLC membership was limited to institutions in Ohio, but in 1978, a new governance structure was established that allowed institutions from other states to join. In 2002, the structure was again modified to accommodate participation from outside the United States. As OCLC expanded services in the United States outside of Ohio, it relied on establishing strategic partnerships with networks, organizations that provided training, support, by 2008, there were 15 independent United States regional service providers. OCLC networks played a key role in OCLC governance, with networks electing delegates to serve on OCLC Members Council, in early 2009, OCLC negotiated new contracts with the former networks and opened a centralized support center. OCLC provides bibliographic, abstract and full-text information to anyone, OCLC and its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat—the OCLC Online Union Catalog, the largest online public access catalog in the world. WorldCat has holding records from public and private libraries worldwide. org, in October 2005, the OCLC technical staff began a wiki project, WikiD, allowing readers to add commentary and structured-field information associated with any WorldCat record. The Online Computer Library Center acquired the trademark and copyrights associated with the Dewey Decimal Classification System when it bought Forest Press in 1988, a browser for books with their Dewey Decimal Classifications was available until July 2013, it was replaced by the Classify Service. S. The reference management service QuestionPoint provides libraries with tools to communicate with users and this around-the-clock reference service is provided by a cooperative of participating global libraries. OCLC has produced cards for members since 1971 with its shared online catalog. OCLC commercially sells software, e. g. CONTENTdm for managing digital collections, OCLC has been conducting research for the library community for more than 30 years. In accordance with its mission, OCLC makes its research outcomes known through various publications and these publications, including journal articles, reports, newsletters, and presentations, are available through the organizations website. The most recent publications are displayed first, and all archived resources, membership Reports – A number of significant reports on topics ranging from virtual reference in libraries to perceptions about library funding
OCLC
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Fred Kilgour (1st director of OCLC)
OCLC
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Online Computer Library Center (OCLC)
OCLC
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OCLC headquarters (Ohio)
OCLC
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OCLC offices in Leiden (the Netherlands)
