Historical Dictionary of the Tamils

449 Pages·2009·4.16 MB·English

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HISTORICALDICTIONARIES OFPEOPLES AND CULTURES
Jon Woronoff, Series Editor
1. TheKurds, by Michael M. Gunter, 2004.
2. TheInuit, by Pamela R. Stern, 2004.
3. TheDruzes, by Samy Swayd, 2006.
4. SoutheastAsianMassif, by Jean Michaud, 2006.
5. Berbers(Imazighen), by Hsain Ilahiane, 2006.
6. Tamils, by Vijaya Ramaswamy, 2007.
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Historical Dictionary
of the Tamils
Vijaya Ramaswamy
Historical Dictionaries of Peoples and
Cultures, No. 6
The Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Lanham, Maryland • Toronto • Plymouth, UK
2007
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SCARECROWPRESS, INC.
Published in the United States of America
by Scarecrow Press, Inc.
Awholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706
www.scarecrowpress.com
Estover Road
Plymouth PL6 7PY
United Kingdom
Copyright ©2007 by Vijaya Ramaswamy
Allrightsreserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Vijaya Ramaswamy.
Historical dictionary of the Tamils / Vijaya Ramaswamy.
p. cm.—(Historical dictionaries of peoples and cultures ; no. 6)
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN-13: 978-0-8108-5379-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 0-8108-5379-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Tamil (Indic people)–History–Dictionaries. I. Title.
DS432.T3V53 2007
909'.0494811003–dc22 2006032034
(cid:2)™
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of
American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper
for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America.
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For my guru, Sri Bharati Theertha Swamigal
And also for:
Amma, who at 82 still proofreads
my manuscripts and hones them
Krish for coming into my life
as husband, friend, and helpmate
My baby, Vijay Krishna Ram,
the sweetest Tamil I know
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Contents
Editor’s Foreword JonWoronoff xiii
Acknowledgments xv
Reader’s Note xvii
Abbreviations and Acronyms xxi
Chronology xxiii
Maps xxxvi
Introduction xxxix
The Dictionary 1
Bibliography 319
General 324
History 329
Politics 336
Economic Survey 344
Society 351
Culture 358
Tamil Writings 366
About the Author 381
vii
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Cattle fair at Devanur, 20 kilometers from Tiruvannamalai.
Madurai Veeran—folk deity at Tiruvannamalai outskirts.
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Traditional folk dance: Karaga Attam—dancing with pots.
Nagore Dargah, AMuslim pilgrimage center housing the tomb of
the Sufi saint Hazrat Saiyed Shahul Hameedi Qadir Gunjasavoy,
14th century, who protected ships and sailors on the seas.