Tamil Nadu

Key concepts

How Tamil Nadu connects to the ideas, people and events around it.

1. States and union territories of India

   India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories in turn are each subdivided into districts, of which a total of around 800 exist.

2. Tamils

   The Tamils, also known by their demonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.

3. Tamil language

   Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia where they are concentrated in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry in India and the Northern and Eastern Provinces in Sri Lanka.

4. Classical languages of India

   The Indian classical languages are the languages of India perceived as having high antiquity, and valuable, original and distinct literary heritage.

5. Chennai

   Chennai, also known as Madras, is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal.

6. Indian subcontinent

   The Indian subcontinent is a physiographic region of Asia south of the Himalayas which projects into the Indian Ocean between the Bay of Bengal to the east and the Arabian Sea to the west.

7. Western Ghats

   The Western Ghats, also known as the Sahyadri, is a mountain range that stretches 1,600 km (1,000 mi) along the west coast of India.

8. Deccan Plateau

   The Deccan Plateau or Peninsular Plateau, is a plateau that extends over an area of 422,000 km2 (163,000 sq mi) on the southern part of the Indian subcontinent.

Questions about Tamil Nadu