Andaman Tamils

The Andaman Tamils are Tamil-speaking people of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, commonly known as the Madrasi (after Madras, erstwhile name of Chennai). There are three groups. The first are those who migrated from Tamil Nadu in search of livelihood and are found in almost all the islands where human beings are settled. The second are Tamil-speaking repatriates from Myanmar who migrated after the military junta came to power in the then Burma. The third group are Tamil-speaking repatriates from Sri Lanka who migrated after ethnic clashes began there. The population of the first group is largest and is still swelling as the migration continues.

Detailed map of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Andaman Tamils speak Tamil at home and use Tamil script when writing. With non-Tamils, they speak in a sort of local Hindi, often referred to as Andaman Hindi. Educated Tamils speak in English too. Most Andaman Tamils enjoy privileges under the category of "local" residents. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands have about 100,000 Tamils.

Chola empire

From 800 to 1200 CE, the Tamil Chola dynasty created an empire that eventually extended from southeastern peninsular India to parts of Malaysia.[1] Rajendra Chola II took over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and maintained them as a strategic naval base to launch a naval expedition against the Srivijaya empire (a Buddhist-Malay empire based on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia).

Census

According to the information furnished by the Andaman and Nicobar Administration, the population of different linguistic groups recorded in the census of 1971 was as under:[2]

  • Bengali 28114
  • Nicobarese 17955
  • Tamil 14518
  • Hindi 13982
  • Malayalam 13916
  • Telugu 9361
  • Urdu 2588
  • Punjabi 1024
  • Oriya 250
  • Kannada 201
  • Marathi 115
  • Gujarati 159
  • Assamese 17
  • Sindhi 7
  • Kashmiri 8
  • Others 12918

See also

References
  1. Woodbridge Bingham; Hilary Conroy; Frank William Iklé (1964). "A History of Asia". Allyn and Bacon. ... Maldives, Nicobar, and Andaman islands all were brought under the sway of its navy. In the Tamil peninsula itself Chola subdued the kingdoms of Pandya ... {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. "WRITTEN ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS: Tamil Medium Schools in Andaman and Nicobar Islands". LOK SABHA DEBATES (Seventh Session) (PDF). Vol. 23. Lok Sabha Secretariat. 1979-03-12. pp. 80–81. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-05-18. Retrieved 2021-07-18.

Sources

The dictionary definition of andaman tamils at Wiktionary

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