Tamil nationalism versus Dravidian identity

There is a subtle but influential intersection of the debate between Tamil nationalism and Dravidian identity in Tamil Nadu politics for over a decade.

- Ramu Manivannan

There are curious and interesting dimensions to this debate, with the Tamil nationalists seeking separate identity based on language, culture, and politics, while advocates of Dravidian identity emphasize that Tamil nationalism is intrinsic to Dravidian politics without forfeiting language, culture, and identity within the plural, multicultural, and multinational state system like India.

Although the polarization appears to be real and raging, the debate itself is a camouflage of the long-drawn power rivalry and a mask for political competition as a response to the century-old influence and impact of Dravidian politics.

At the same time, it is equally important to identify, acknowledge, and classify the sources of Tamil nationalism as party and non-party movement-based entities articulating their claims and rights with their definitions of Tamil identity and legitimacy for power. The Tamil nationalists argue that Tamil and Dravidian identity are mutually exclusive and therefore need not reinforce each other.

There are two historical but conflicting interpretations of the term "Dravidian," with the common reference to the majority of people living in Southern India (south of Vindhyas) and the other with the location of Brahmans in the south, which later became an indication at large for all, including the indigenous people.

In cultural-anthropological terms, the Dravidians are an ethnolinguistic family of people with a unique culture, ethnicity, and history who largely live in the south Indian states and speak one of several Dravidian languages, including Tamil, which alone retains eighty percent of Dravidian linguistic characteristics. Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam are known as the great league within the Dravidian family of languages.