Along with Kannada, Telegu, and Malayalam, it is one of the four Dravidian languages spoken largely in southern India. Tamil is the most...

  Swami Malai is a Hindu sage who lives in India. Temple and holy location (tirtha) atop a hill in Tamil Nadu's Tanjore district, clos...

  (“noose”) One of the weapons carried by several of the divinities in Indian mythology, including Ganesh and Yama. The noose represents...

    (“beast”) The name for an unenlightened individual, who is considered to have a human body but is no better than an animal, in the phi...

  Murugan ("fragrant, lovely") Primarily revered Hindu god in southern India. Murugan first appears in Tamil Sangam literature ...

  (9th c.) Tamil poet-saint and creator of the Tiruvachakam ("holy words"), who was a devotee (bhakta) of the deity Shiva. Along...