Ethnic groups of Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu is one of the 29 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai (formerly known as Madras). Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the States of Puducherry, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. It is the eleventh largest state in India and the seventh most-populous state.

As of 2001 census, Tamil is spoken as the first language by 88.43% of the population followed by Telugu by 8.65 percent, Kannada by 2.68 percent, Urdu by 1.51 per cent, Malayalam by 0.89 percent and Marathi by 0.1 percent.^[1][2]

Tamil people

The Tamils are an ethnolinguist group of Dravidian origin who inhabit Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka, South-East Asia, Canada, UK and the USA. According to the 2001 census, they number 100 million.^[3]

Tamils are native to Tamil Nadu and Puducherry in South India, and northern Sri Lanka.

Native speakers of Tamil make up 88.43% of the total population of Tamil Nadu and 6.32% of the total population of India making it the fifth-most spoken language in the country.

Telugu people

The Telugu people or Telugus are also a Dravidian ethnic group of India. They are the native speakers of the Telugu language. According to Census of India, Telugu language has 74 million speakers making it as the third largest spoken language in India after Hindi and Bengali.^[3] They are native to the South Indian states of Andhra Pradesh & Telangana. Telugu is also the most widely spoken language in South India .

According to the 2001 census, Telugu is the spoken by 8.65% of the population of Tamil Nadu, making it the second-most spoken language in the state.^[4]

Kannada people

Kannada is a language belonging to the Dravidian family. Kannada-speakers are native to Karnataka, located north-west of Tamil Nadu.

Kannada is the third-most spoken language in Tamil Nadu. There are more than 15 lakhs Kannadigas in Tamilnadu.

^[1][5]

District level literacy (2011 data)

They are largely found in the districts of Krishnagiri, Salem, and Erode. According to the 1971 census, among metropolitan areas, Salem had the largest Kannada-speaking population.^[4]

Malayali people

Malayalikal are the native speakers of Malayalam language, which has official status in the state of Kerala, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.^[6][7]

According to the 2001 census, Malayalam is spoken by 0.89% of the total population of Tamil Nadu. Native speakers of Malayalam are mostly concentrated in Chennai city and the western districts of Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli, Coimbatore, Nilgiris and Theni. In 1971, among metropolitan areas, Coimbatore had the largest Malayalam-speaking population.

Badaga people

The Badagas are the speakers of the Badagu language. They are referred to as the first amongst the primitive tribes of the Nilgiris District by the colonial British rulers. The Nilgiris and the Badagas have a uniqueness. The Badaga language has no script of its own, similar to other non-lettered languages spoken in the Nilgiris by other tribal groups such as the Todas, Kotas and Kurumbas. The Badaga language was the language of communication between these tribal groups. The Badagas are the dominant tribal group and dominant land owners of the Nilgiris and possess a unique culture and attire. Almost all places in the Nilgiris District derive their name from the Badaga language. The Badgas worship Hethaiamman and Hiriyodiyya.

Marathi people

Marathis or Maharashtrians are an ethnolinguistic group who speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. They are native to the state of Maharashtra in western India.

As per the 2001 census, Marathi-speakers constitute a little over 0.1% of the total population of Tamil Nadu. They consist mostly of the Thanjavur Marathi people who inhabit the Cauvery Delta region and immigrants who settled in northern Tamil Nadu during the Maratha occupation of Gingee. Native-speakers of Marathi are mainly found in Thanjavur, Kumbakonam, Tiruchirapalli, Chennai, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Salem and Vellore. Having left for centuries in Tamil Nadu, Thanjavur Marathi people are proficient in Tamil.

Other ethnic groups

Some of the smaller ethnic groups who reside in Tamil Nadu are the Saurashtrians, Marwaris, Gujaratis, Sindhis, Punjabis and Biharis. Sikhs from the Punjab and Jains from Rajasthan are found in fairly appreciable numbers in the cities of Chennai, Coimbatore, Salem, Tiruchirapalli and Madurai. The city of Coimbatore has a significant population of Konkani-speaking Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB)s who had migrated from Karnataka. Tamil Nadu also has a population of about 300 Zoroastrians most of whom reside in the neighbourhood of Royapuram in Chennai.

Notes