It was an amazing experience for me, as a Tamilian born and brought up in Chennai (but cut adrift from the soil, the comforting embrace of Tamilakam, since early adulthood), to read Nirmala Lakshman’s ‘The Tamils: A Portrait of a Community’ – a veritable tour de force of political and cultural history.
@muk22 sums it up with characteristic precision in his superb review of the book in today’s @the_hindu, where he describes it as “a layered, multi-dimensional effort that is awash in archaeological and epigraphical detail, and is shot through with breezy dashes of sociolinguistics, numismatics, architecture, poetry and other aspects of culture.” (link to the review in reply below).
I was lucky enough to get an opportunity to quiz the author about the book and her experience of writing it. It was an extremely engrossing conversation, one that offered a glimpse of the staggering amount of research and leg work, and sheer passion, that has gone into the making of this fabulous book. Do check it out.
Every Tamilian curious about their land, civilisation, history, geography, culture, language, identity should pick up this volume. And for non-Tamils, especially if you are from the North, this genre-bender is the ideal ‘boarding point’ for a wonderful journey of discovery and appreciation of all things Tamil.