Delving into multiple layers of Tamil identity

The rich repository of Tamil heritage and culture has largely remained invisible to the wider world, said Nirmala Lakshman, Publisher and Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications, speaking at a discussion on her book The Tamils, at the Bangalore International Centre here.Ms.

- Nirmala Lakshman, Publisher and Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications, Ramachandra Guha, writer and historian, and Ranvir Shah, cultural activist, philanthropist and businessman, after the discussion on her book The Tamils, in Bengaluru on June 17.Nirmala Lakshman, Publisher and Chairperson of The Hindu Group of Publications, Ramachandra Guha, writer and historian, and Ranvir Shah, cultural activist, philanthropist and businessman, after the discussion on her book The Tamils, in Bengaluru on June 17. | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar

Lakshman described how it took her four years of multiple journeys across Tamil Nadu, studying, researching and listening to stories of people, to come up with the book."I spoke to epigraphists, historians, experts as well as ordinary people who generously shared their experiences, their sense of culture and tradition, and I discovered that multiple narratives coexisted," she noted.It was during this journey, Ms. Lakshman said, that she realised how a large part of it still remained unknown to the larger world. "Many expert voices had not been heard outside of Tamil Nadu and Tamil world which led me to realise that the wealth of knowledge of the rich repository of Tamil heritage and culture has