The Andaman Tamils are

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

-speaking people of the

Andaman and Nicobar Islands The Andaman and Nicobar Islands is a union territory of India consisting of 572 islands, of which 37 are inhabited, at the junction of the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea. The territory is about north of Aceh in Indonesia and separated f ...

, commonly known as the

Madrasi Madrasi, also spelled as Madrassi, is a term used as a demonym and a regional slur for people from southern India. In earlier usage it was a demonym to refer to the people of Madras Presidency; however this use of the term is now outdated. S ...

(after Madras, erstwhile name of

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

). 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 Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

who migrated after the military junta came to power in the then Burma. The third group are Tamil-speaking repatriates from

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

who migrated after ethnic clashes began there. The population of the first group is largest and is still swelling as the migration continues. Andaman Tamils speak Tamil at home and use

Tamil script The Tamil script ( , ) is an abugida script that is used by Tamils and Tamil language, Tamil speakers in India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and elsewhere to write the Tamil language. Certain minority languages such as Saurasht ...

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

Chola dynasty The Chola dynasty was a Tamils, Tamil thalassocratic Tamil Dynasties, empire of southern India and one of the longest-ruling dynasties in the history of the world. The earliest datable references to the Chola are from inscriptions dated ...

created an empire that eventually extended from southeastern peninsular India to parts of

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

Rajendra Chola II Rajendra Chola II (997 CE - 1064 CE) often referred to as Rajendradeva Chola was a Chola emperor who reigned from 1052 CE to 1064 CE. He was made Rajendra succeeded his brother Rajadhiraja I after his death at the Battle of Koppam.''The H ...

took over the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and maintained them as a strategic naval base to launch a naval expedition against the

Srivijaya empire Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th ...

(a Hindu-

Malay Malay may refer to: Languages * Malay language or Bahasa Melayu, a major Austronesian language spoken in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore ** History of the Malay language, the Malay language from the 4th to the 14th century ** Indonesi ...

empire based on the island of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, 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: * 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

References

Sources

*
History & Culture. The Andaman Islands with destination quide
*India Home Department. The Andaman Islands: with notes on Barren Island. C.B. Lewis, Baptist Mission Press, 185
read online or download

External links

Official Andaman and Nicobar Tourism website

Official Andaman District website
{{Portal bar, India, Tamils Culture of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands A A

Chola empire

Census

See also

References

Sources

External links