Tamil Nadu, the Land of the Tamils-a land with a hoary heritage-is spread on the eastern part of the southern region of India. To its east is the Bay of Bengal; to its west is the Arabian Sea and Kerala and Karnataka; to its north are Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Area of the state is 1,30,357 sq kms and the population of the state as per the census of 2011 is 71,147,030. Civilization flourished in Tamil Nadu long before the beginning of the Christian era. Despite vicissitudes of time, much of the pristine Indian culture is preserved in the region. While the temples of the northern and western India were destroyed by invading Muslim vandals repeatedly most of the southern temples were saved from them. The huge temples of Tamil Nadu are artistic, sacred, historically eventful and wonderous in sculptures. They draw immense veneration of the people.
Of the three great ruling dynasties of the south, the Cheras ruled a great part of Kerala. Parts of the modern Tamil Nadu were ruled by the Cholas and the Pandyas. Thanjavur and Tiruchirapalli are particularly identified with the Cholas and Madurai and Tirunelveii are particularly identified with the Pandyas. While the Cholas (their domain's name, Cholamandel, survives in Coromandel) first ruled from Uraiyur and then from Kaveripattinam, the Pandyas ruled from Madurai. A third great dynasty of Tamil Nadu was the Pallava dynasty of Kanchi that came to prominence in the 4th century A.D.
Prosperous ports extended Tamil Nadu's commerce to distant countries. The Kural by Thiruvalluvar, one of the greatest works of Indian literature, written 2,000 years ago, shows the maturity the Tamil language had achieved even in that remote past. Other old works like Ilang Adigal's Shilappadikaram bear fluent testimony to a highly developed and conscientious society that laid great emphasis upon truth and justice.