It consists of 14 gopurams (gateways) and centered garbhgriha. This temple is also the iconic symbol of Tamil Nadu.
Meenakshi Sundareshwar temple of Madurai is devoted to Parvati (Meenakshi) and Shiva (Sundareswar).
Mahamangam is a fest while Mamalapuram is dance festival. Chitirai-Madurai, Adipperukku are other festivals meant for sowing season on banks of river.
Main festivals of Tamil Nadu are Pongal which is a harvest festival.
Other festivals include Adipperukku, Mahamangam, Mamalapuram etc. Jallikattu is the festival of bull fight.
Pongal is the main festival of this state which is marked with harvest season.
Kolattam, Karagam and Mayilattam are the famous folk dances of this state.
Bharat Natyam is the popular traditional dance of state.
Bhakti movement started from Tamil Nadu and spread towards north India.
Other three are Kedarnath, Dwarka and Puri. Rameshwaram is also one of four pilgrimage centers of Char Dham. It has a set of corridors which together measure 3,850 feet making it longest corridor in world. It is one of the 12 jyotirlingas of Shiva. Ramanathswamy temple, located on Rameswaram island is a temple dedicated to Shiva.
Rameshwaram is of extreme religious importance.
M S Swaminathan who is called as Father of Green Revolution of India belonged to this state.
Tamil Nadu is 8th most literate state of India.
Literacy of Tamil Nadu is 80.3 % which is much higher than national average of 74.04 %.
Tamil language is one of the oldest and longest surviving classical languages of world which is still in use in its original form.
Social and Cultural Facts about Tamil Nadu The 760 Km long kaveri is the biggest river of this state.
The major rivers are Kaveri, Palar, Cheyyar, Ponnaiyar, Meyar, Bhavani, Amravati, Vaigal, Chittar and Tamaraparni.
Kanchipuram is the largest district of Tamil Nadu by area.
It is 11th largest state by area and sixth by population.
Famous hill station Kodaikanal is situated on Palani Hills.
Eastern part of Tamil Nadu contains Palani Hills.
Western ghats in the south of Palghat is known as Anamali range or Elephant Hills. The Palghat gap about 25 Km in width is the only marked break in western ghat range.
Western ghat comes on the whole length of western part.
The highest peak of Nilgiris is Dodabetta which stands at 2640 m above sea level.
The Nilgiris and the Anamalai are hill groups with max height.
Tamil Nadu borders with 3 states – Karnataka in northwest, Andhra Pradesh in north, Kerala in West.
The legislative council was abolished in 1986 and Tamil Nadu became unicameral state.
After State Reorganization Act of 1956, many regions of Madras state were separated out. Tamil Nadu state eventually came to existence on.
Madras state comprised of the present areas of Tamil Nadu including parts of karnataka, kerala and coastal Andhra.
After Indian independence Madras presidency was renamed as Madras state.
During British period Tamil Nadu was called as Madras presidency.
Vijaynagar kingdom came to end after defeat from Deccan sultanates in Battle of Talikota in 1565.
Vijaynagar kingdom ruled with a glorious heritage for two centuries and is also called as the richest empire ever of Indian history.
The last phase of medieval Tamil history witnessed the rising of a rich, powerful and extremely prosperous hindu empire called Vijaynagar empire (1336-1646) established by Harihar and Bukka Rai.
Chola dynasty was in-turn replaced by Pandyan dynasty in 13th century. Pallavs were later replaced by Chola dynasty in 9th century.
The medieval period of Tamil Nadu is marked by Pallav Dynasty under Mahendravarman who ruled Tamil Nadu with Kanchipuram as their capital from 4th to 8th century.
Sangam literature is known to flourish under the patronage of these kingdoms.
Ancient Tamil history is marked by the kingdoms of Chera, Chola and Pandya.
Sangam literature is considered as set of thousands of poems developed by hundreds of contemporary poets many of whom are still unknown.
The literature works developed in the Sangam Period is called as Sangam Literature.
Sangam period corresponds to 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD.
Sangam Period is the glorious pride and rich cultural heritage of ancient south India spanning the present region of Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
First Chief Minister – A Subbarayalu Reddiar.
Map of Tamil Nadu Quick Basic Facts about Tamil Nadu