Tamil Culture- Religion Culture and Literature

At a time when the Tamils have forgotten their glorious past, the heights of their achievements in political, social, cultural and civilizational fields, when they have lost even their sense of self respect, this book apart from being a treasure on culture, I consider, is one that awakens them, reminds them and rekindles their interest to know about their past and implores them to create a greater feature. I Fervently hope that the vision of the author is realized and all our wishes fulfilled. I am sure that the sincere and enlightened work serves the purpose and the society.

Dr. A. KRISHNAN, M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D., born in 1948 has made his presence felt in the field of epigraphy and literature by comparing the two primary sources. He had three books to his credit. The first book Kalaveṭṭil Valviyal (1991) received the Tamil Nadu Government State Award and the second book Tamilar Panpattiyal (Vols. 1992 and 1994) received the best book award of the Bharathi Tamil Sangam. Third book is Literature and epigraphy of Tamil Nadu. These awards stand as a testimony for his involvement in this field. He has published many research articles in leading dailies to argument his study further, he got his diploma in Telugu from Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore. His multifaceted interest is reflected in his approach by the training at Centre for Cultural Re source Training, New Delhi.

The time honored experiment with charity is the sum and substance of the Tamil culture. It is the summum bonum of the social values collectively cherished and commonly shared by the Tamils as a family, the wisdom they attained through the ages as a faculty, their spiritual strength dispensing with the orgies of time and tide as a congregation and their never dying grace of genius outwitting the marvels of the mortality of the life cycle as a saintly order.

Virtue is the central idea of Tamil culture. St. Valluvar proclaims that the proprietary of the world belongs only to those that are well-cultured. Culture is virtuous behaviour as defined by Kalittokai.

**Contents and Sample Pages**