KEELADI.
SANGAM.
ARIKAMEDU.JAFFNA.வரலாறு
A buried city, five landscapes of poetry, a port at the edge of the Roman world and a library that could not be erased. Wear history worth knowing.
A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME
2,600 YEARS.
FOUR CHAPTERS.
From potsherds with engraved names to a library that was rebuilt: Tamil history is a story of knowledge, trade and resilience.
எப்பொருள் யார்யார்வாய்க் கேட்பினும் அப்பொருள் மெய்ப்பொருள் காண்ப தறிவு
YĀTUM ŪRĒ YĀVARUM KĒḶIR
“Whatever you hear, from whomever – to find the truth in it is wisdom.”
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6TH C. BCE
KEELADI – THE BURIED CITY
On the Vaigai river near Madurai, archaeologists have been excavating an ancient city since 2015: houses of fired brick, wells, workshops. Potsherds carry names in Tamil-Brahmi. The Tamil Nadu archaeology department dates the oldest layers to the 6th century BCE.
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2,000 YEARS AGO
SANGAM – FIVE LANDSCAPES
The oldest surviving poems in Tamil divide the world into five landscapes: mountains, forests, fields, coast and barren land. Each stands for a feeling – nature became the language of love and life.
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2,000 YEARS AGO
ARIKAMEDU – TRADE WITH ROME
At the port of Arikamedu near Puducherry, Tamil merchants traded with the Roman Empire – beads, textiles and spices for wine and pottery. Tamils were global long before there was a word for it.
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1981
JAFFNA – THE LIBRARY
Started in 1933 as a small collection, opened as a magnificent building in 1959 – one of the most important libraries in South Asia. On the night of 1 June 1981 it was burned down; over 97,000 books and manuscripts were lost. It was rebuilt. Knowledge is our wealth.
(04) SANGAM · KEELADI
FIVE LANDS.
ONE HEART.
குறிஞ்சி · முல்லை · மருதம் · நெய்தல் · பாலை
Kurinji – the mountains. Mullai – forests and pastures. Marutham – fertile land. Neithal – the coast. Palai – the barren land. The Sangam poets gave each landscape a feeling.
And in Keeladi, potsherds inscribed in Tamil-Brahmi show: people were reading and writing here thousands of years ago.
(05) ARIKAMEDU
ACROSS OCEANS.
THROUGH TIME.
கடல் கடந்த தமிழ்
Roman amphorae, pottery and glass beads in the sand of Puducherry tell of a port that connected Tamil Nadu with the Mediterranean. The coast was never the end of the world – it was the beginning.