Tamiḻakam (Tamil தமிழகம்) is a Tamil word meaning the Tamil country or the Tamil home. The term was first used in the Purananuru 168.18 as "Thamizhakam". The term has several different connotations:
- In Old Tamil, the term referred to the whole of the Ancient Tamil country, as distinct from the many kingdoms that existed within its boundaries.[1]
- In modern Tamil usage, the word is generally another name for the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
- In an academic context, the word is sometimes used to refer to a cultural area comprising of the two southern Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala[2] , and the northeast of Sri Lanka, all of which are, culturally speaking, descendants of the ancient Tamil people.
References
- ^ Kanakasabhai, V (1997). The Tamils Eighteen Hundred Years Ago. Asian Educational Services, 10. ISBN ISBN 8120601505.
- ^ Abraham, Shinu (2003). "Chera, Chola, Pandya: using archaeological evidence to identify the Tamil kingdoms of early historic South India.". Asian Perspectives: the Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific 42.
