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Smiling man in a checked shirt and brown scarf holds out a garland of yellow and red flowers during the Pongal festival in Madurai, India, with a crowd in the background.
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Smiling man in a checked shirt and brown scarf holds out a garland of yellow and red flowers during the Pongal festival in Madurai, India, with a crowd in the background.
Pongal Man offering a garland during the Pongal festival in Tamil Nadu, India.

Tamil

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History

Tamil, people originally of southern India who speak Tamil, one of the principal languages of the Dravidian family. Numbering about 64 million in the early 21st century (including about 3 million speakers in northern and eastern Sri Lanka), Tamil speakers make up the majority of the population of Tamil Nadu state and also inhabit parts of Keralam, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh states, all situated in the southernmost third of India. Emigrant Tamils may be found...

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