Unit - Social Transformation in Tamil Nadu Advent of the Printing Technology Tamil was the first non- European language that went into print. As early as in , Tamil book, ThambiranVanakkam , was published from Goa. In , a full-fledged printing press had been established thanks to Ziegenbalg in Tranquebar. Thirukkural was one of the earliest Tamil literary texts to be published in .
This led the resurgence of interest among Tamil scholars in publishing the more ancient Tamil classics around that period. In the nineteenth century, Tamil scholars like C.W. Damotharanar ( – ), and U.V. Swaminathar ( – ) spent their lifetime in the rediscovery of the Tamil classics.
C. W. Damotharanar collected and edited different palm-leaf manuscripts of the Tamil grammar and literature. His editions included such texts as Tolkappiyam , Viracholiyam , Iraiyanar-Akapporul , IlakkanaVilakkam , Kaliththokai and Chulamani .
U.V. Swaminathar, a student of Meenakshisundaranar, took efforts to publish the classical texts such as Civakachinthamani ( ), Paththupattu ( ), Chilapathikaram ( ), Purananuru ( ), Purapporul-Venpa-Malai ( ), Manimekalai ( ), Ainkurunuru ( ) and Pathitrupathu ( ). C.W. Damotharanar U.V.
Swaminathar The publication of these ancient literary texts created an awareness among the Tamil people about their historical tradition, language, literature and religion. Modern Tamils found Ziegenbalg their social and cultural identity on the ancient Tamil classics, collectively called the Sangam literature. In , F.W. Ellis ( – ) who founded the College of Fort St George, formulated the theory that the south Indian languages belonged to a separate family which was unrelated to the Indo-Aryan family of languages.
Robert Caldwell ( – ) expanded this argument in a book titled, A Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian or South Indian Family of Languages , in . He established the close affinity between the Dravidian languages in contrast with Sanskrit and also established the antiquity of Tamil. Tamil intellectuals of this period identified the fundamental differences between Tamil/Dravidian/ Egalitarian and Sanskrit/ Aryan/Brahmanism. They argued that Tamil was a language of Dravidian people, who are non-Brahmin and their social life was casteless, gender-sensitised and egalitarian.
Tamil renaissance contributed