page_title: Tamils
section_title: Visual art and architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Tamils / Culture / Visual art and architecture
caption_attribution_description: Detail of the main Vimanam (Tower) of the Great Temple at en:Thanjavur Source: http://indevoyage.free.fr/ The image has been released to the public domain by the website owner. the license text is as follows: "Les photos incluses sont mes photos scannées que je laisse libre de droits.") License info In French&#160;: Les photos incluses sont mes photos scannées que je laisse libre de droits. In English&#160;: These photos are scans of my own photos and I release all rights to them. - 'Pompous' Parthi talk/contribs 22:53, 3 May 2007 (UTC)
context_page_description: The Tamil people, also known as Tamilar, Thamizhar or simply Tamils, are speakers of the Tamil language and trace their ancestry to the Indian state of Tamil Nadu or Sri Lanka. Tamils constitute 5.9% of the population in India, 15% in Sri Lanka, 6% in Mauritius, 7% in Malaysia and 5% in Singapore. Tamils, with a population of around 76 million and with a documented history stretching back over 2,000 years, are one of the largest and oldest extant ethnolinguistic groups in the modern world.
  From the 4th century BC onwards, urbanisation and mercantile activity along the western and eastern coasts of what is today Kerala and Tamil Nadu led to the development of four large Tamil political states, the Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas and Pallavas and a number of smaller states, all of whom were warring amongst themselves for dominance. The Jaffna Kingdom, inhabited by Sri Lankan Tamils, was once one of the strongest kingdoms of Sri Lanka, and controlled much of the north of the island.
  Tamils were noted for their influence on regional trade throughout the Indian Ocean.
context_section_description: Most traditional art is religious in some form and usually centres on Hinduism, although the religious element is often only a means to represent universal—and, occasionally, humanist—themes. 
  The most important form of Tamil painting is Tanjore painting, which originated in Thanjavur in the 9th century. The painting's base is made of cloth and coated with zinc oxide, over which the image is painted using dyes; it is then decorated with semi-precious stones, as well as silver or gold thread. A style which is related in origin, but which exhibits significant differences in execution, is used for painting murals on temple walls; the most notable example are the murals on the Koodal Azhagar temple and Meenakshi temple of Madurai, and the Brihadeeswarar temple of Tanjore.
  Tamil sculpture ranges from elegant stone sculptures in temples, to bronze icons with exquisite details. The medieval Chola bronzes are considered to be one of India's greatest contributions to world art. Unlike most Western art, the material in Tamil sculpture does not influence the form taken by the sculpture; instead, the artist imposes his/her vision of the form on the material. As a result, one often sees in stone sculptures flowing forms that are usually reserved for metal.
caption: The Brihadeshswara Temple at Thanjavur, also known as the Great Temple, built by Rajaraja Chola I
exif: {}