Tamil New Year

Ethnic problems

In India

After independence, Tamilians felt they and their dravidian race were ignored by the North Indians. Their major complaints were: Freedom fighters from what is now Tamilnadu were not sufficiently recognized by the ruling Indian government, Hindi was widely promoted at the expense of the regional languages, Tamilians were given less importance by the Indian government

These and other incidents prompted many Tamilians to seek a separate Dravidian identity. They fought for separate dravidian land and Dravidian independence under the leadership of Annadurai. However, Annadurai and others later felt the impracticality of secession and decided to take the political route by starting the DMK, with an objective to bring about a more federal constitutional structure for India. Many of those who fought for a separate Dravidian land still feel proud for their participation.

Tamilians complain of hostility in other places of India with a large Tamil expatriate population.

Some conspiracy theories say the legends such as Sivaji Ganesan, Ilayaraaja were not recognised because of their Tamilian identity.

Ethnic slurs against Tamilians

• Kali Madharasee - (Hindi) Black Tamilians
• Pandikaran - (Malayalam) Man belongs to Pandi land (the land name is used in disgracing tone).

In Sri Lanka

See: Ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka

Famous Tamilians

See also: List of people from Tamil Nadu

• Abdul Kalam - Present President of India
• S.R. Nathan - Present President of Singapore
• Velupillai Prabhakaran - LTTE Leader
• M. Karunanidhi - Former chief minister of Tamilnadu and a Politician
• A. R. Rahman - Musician
• Kamal Haasan - Actor
• Illayaraja - Musician
• Srinivasa Aiyangar Ramanujan - Brilliant twentieth century mathematician.
• P. Chidambaram - Present Finance Minister of India
• Shiv Nadar - Chairman and CEO HCL and ranked 330 in Forbes List of billionaires
• M.S. Subbulakshmi - Respected Carnatic singer
• Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman - 1930 Nobel Prize Winner in Physics for his studies on the scattering of light
• Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar - Nephew of Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, won the nobel prize for physics in 1983 for his theoretical studies on the structure and evolution of stars.
• S. R. Ranganathan - Eminent librarian who devised the five laws of library science

External links

• Tamil Heritage (http://www.tamilnation.org/heritage/) - The Tamils are an Ancient People
• One Hundred Tamils of the 20th Century (http://www.tamilnation.org/hundredtamils/) - List of famous Tamilians at a pro-LTTE webpage
• [http://www.jaffnaroyalfamily.org Raja Jerry Remigius Kanagarajah Of The

 Arya Chakravati Dynasty Jaffna (Sri Lanka)]