A list of new Union Cabinet ministers issued in Tamil Nadu has triggered a debate in political circles, by referring to ‘Kongu Nadu’, the informal name for a region in the western part of the state.
Where is Kongu Nadu?
‘Kongu Nadu’ is neither a place with a PIN code nor a name given formally to any region.
It is a commonly used name for part of western Tamil Nadu.
In Tamil literature, it was referred to as one of the five regions of ancient Tamil Nadu.
There were mentions of ‘Kongu Nadu’ in Sangam literature as a separate territory.
The name derives from Kongu Vellala Gounder, an OBC community with a significant presence in these districts.
The region includes prominent businesses and industrial hubs at Namakkal, Salem, Tirupur and Coimbatore.
Sangam Age
The ‘Sangam’ describes a period from the sixth century BC to the third century AD encompassing today’s Tamil Nadu, Kerala, the southern parts of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and northern Sri Lanka.
The Tamil Sangams or Cankams were assemblies of Tamil scholars and poets that, according to traditional Tamil accounts, occurred in the remote past.
It is named for scholarly congregations in and around the city of Madurai, located about 400 km southwest of Chennai.
It generally refers to a collection of poems, composed by Tamil poets, both men and women developed in the ancient Southern state of India.
It mostly deals with emotional and material topics such as love, war, governance, trade and bereavement.