By the beginning of the nineteenth century the Europeans were reordering Indian society. Educated Indians responded by seeking their socio-cultural identity from the past, while accepting some merits in the colonial arguments – this is the Indian renaissance. In Tamil Nadu, the printing press, research on Dravidian languages and the recovery of the Sangam classics led to the Tamil renaissance, which in turn fed the Dravidian movement, the Justice Party, the Self-Respect Movement and movements of labour and women.
1. Tamil Renaissance and the Printing Press
- Renaissance is an ideological and cultural phenomenon tied to modernity, rationalism and critical thinking.
- Tamil was the first non-European language that went into print. In 1578, the Tamil book Thambiran Vanakkam was published from Goa.
- In 1709, a full-fledged printing press was established by Ziegenbalg at Tranquebar.
- Thirukkural was one of the earliest Tamil literary texts to be published, in 1812.