Interesting Facts about Tamil Nadu

This article is all about historical, geographical, social, religious, cultural, amazing, rare, unknown interesting facts about Tamil Nadu.

Quick Basic Facts about Tamil Nadu

• Capital – Chennai
• Official Language – Tamil
• Area – 1,30,058 Sq Km
• Area Rank – 11th
• Population – 7,21,47,030
• Population Rank – 6th
• Sex Ratio – 996 females per 1000 male
• Literacy Rate – 80.3 %
• No of districts – 32
• Assembly seats – 235 (Unicameral)
• Lok Sabha seats – 39
• Rajya sabha seats – 18
• Created on – 26 Jan 1950
• First Chief Minister – A Subbarayalu Reddiar
• First Governor –  Archibald Edward Nye
• Highest peak – Dodabetta

State Symbols of Tamil Nadu

• State Tree – Palm tree
• State Flower – Gloriosa lily
• State Animal – Nilgiri Tahr
• State Bird – Emeral Dove
• State Sport – Kabaddi

Historical Facts about Tamil Nadu

• 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. Sangam period corresponds to 3rd century BC to 3rd century AD.
• The literature works developed in the Sangam Period is called as Sangam Literature. Sangam literature is considered as set of thousands of poems developed by hundreds of contemporary poets many of whom are still unknown.
• Ancient Tamil history is marked by the kingdoms of Chera, Chola and Pandya. Sangam literature is known to flourish under the patronage of these kingdoms.
• 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. Pallavs were later replaced by Chola dynasty in 9th century. Chola dynasty was in-turn replaced by Pandyan dynasty in 13th century.
• 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.
• Vijaynagar kingdom ruled with a glorious heritage for two centuries and is also called as the richest empire ever of Indian history. Vijaynagar kingdom came to end after defeat from Deccan sultanates in Battle of Talikota in 1565.
• During British period Tamil Nadu was called as Madras presidency.
• After Indian independence Madras presidency was renamed as Madras state. Madras state comprised of the present areas of Tamil Nadu including parts of karnataka, kerala and coastal Andhra.
• After State Reorganization Act of 1956, many regions of Madras state were separated out. Tamil Nadu state eventually came to existence on 14 Jan 1969.
• The legislative council was abolished in 1986 and Tamil Nadu became unicameral state.

Geographical Facts about Tamil Nadu

• Tamil Nadu borders with 3 states – Karnataka in northwest, Andhra Pradesh in north, Kerala in West.
• The Nilgiris and the Anamalai are hill groups with max height. The highest peak of Nilgiris is Dodabetta which stands at 2640 m above sea level.
• Western ghat comes on the whole length of western part. The Palghat gap about 25 Km in width is the only marked break in western ghat range. Western ghats in the south of Palghat is known as Anamali range or Elephant Hills.
• Eastern part of Tamil Nadu contains Palani Hills. Famous hill station Kodaikanal is situated on Palani Hills.
• It is 11th largest state by area and sixth by population.
• Kanchipuram is the largest district of Tamil Nadu by area. Chennai is largest by population.
• The major rivers are Kaveri, Palar, Cheyyar, Ponnaiyar, Meyar, Bhavani, Amravati, Vaigal, Chittar and Tamaraparni. The 760 Km long kaveri is the biggest river of this state.

Social and Cultural Facts about Tamil Nadu

• Tamil language is one of the oldest and longest surviving classical languages of world which is still in use in its original form.
• Literacy of Tamil Nadu is 80.3 % which is much higher than national average of 74.04 %. Tamil Nadu is 8th most literate state of India.
• M S Swaminathan who is called as Father of Green Revolution of India belonged to this state.
• Rameshwaram is of extreme religious importance. Ramanathswamy temple, located on Rameswaram island is a temple dedicated to Shiva. It is one of the 12 jyotirlingas of Shiva. It has a set of corridors which together measure 3,850 feet making it longest corridor in world. Rameshwaram is also one of four pilgrimage centers of Char Dham. Other three are Kedarnath, Dwarka and Puri.
• Bhakti movement started from Tamil Nadu and spread towards north India.
• Bharat Natyam is the popular traditional dance of state.
• Kolattam, Karagam and Mayilattam are the famous folk dances of this state.
• Pongal is the main festival of this state which is marked with harvest season. Jallikattu is the festival of bull fight. Other festivals include Adipperukku, Mahamangam, Mamalapuram  etc.
• Main festivals of Tamil Nadu are Pongal which is a harvest festival. Chitirai-Madurai, Adipperukku are other festivals meant for sowing season on banks of river. Mahamangam is a fest while Mamalapuram is dance festival.

• Tamil Nadu is famous for its Jallikattu festival. It is similar to famous European sport of Bull Fight. Although Supreme Court has banned this festival due to raising concerns of animal welfare.

• Vivekanand Rock memorial is the most famous tourist destination of Tamil Nadu. It is located about 500 mt off the coast of Kanyakumari in Indian Ocean. Vivekand Rock Memorial is the southern most point of mainland India. It is believed that Swami Vivekanand got enlightenment here.
• Thiruvalluvar was the greatest tamil poet and saint of all times in the history of Tamil Nadu. He belonged to a period of 3rd century BC contemporary to Nand Dynasty of north India. He created the famous tamil literature Thirukkural.

• Meenakshi Sundareshwar temple of Madurai is devoted to Parvati (Meenakshi) and Shiva (Sundareswar). This temple is also the iconic symbol of Tamil Nadu. It consists of 14 gopurams (gateways) and centered garbhgriha. This temple in the current form was built by Vishwanath Nayak of Nayak Dynasty in late 16th century.

 Economic Facts about Tamil Nadu

• Tamil Nadu holds sixth ranks in terms of Human Development Index among all Indian states.
• With GDP figures of Rs 9,76,703 crores, Tamil Nadu holds the second rank among all Indian states. (as per GDP figures of year 2014-15).
• Tamil Nadu produces 60 % of match sticks and 77 % of finished rubber.
• Major ports of this state are Madras and Tuticorin.
• Mineral Resources of Tamil Nadu – Lignite, limestone, magnesite, mica, quartz, felspar, bauxite, gypsum
• Main Agriculture products – Rice, maize, jowar, bajra, ragi, pulses, sugarcane, oilseed, cotton, chillies, coffee, tea, rubber, cardamom.
• This state is largest producer of banana, turmeric, tapioca and second largest producer of mango, coconut, ground nut.