Central Institute of Classical Tamil

  • With the recognition of Tamil as a ‘Classical language’ through an official notification of the Government of India on12.10.2004, a Centre of Excellence for Classical Tamil was established under the 10th Plan at the CIIL and a Tamil Language Development Board was created. This marked the beginning of according Tamil tradition the status that had been long overdue.
  • Later, a Central Institute for Classical Tamil at Chennai was established by Singh in the subsequent years with the following aims and objectives:
  • To organize and offer educational and research programmes at postgraduate level in classical Tamil leading to Ph.D. and Post Doctoral Awards.
  • To support research projects received from universities and established institutions and also support such field studies as may be relevant to the disciplines mentioned
  • To organize national and international conferences, seminars and Workshops and support similar efforts in universities and established academic institutions
  • To support publication of research studies.
  • To support publication of ancient Tamil works in original and in translation in English and Indian languages.
  • To promote and encourage studies in the composite nature of Indian culture and Dravidian component in Indian civilization and heritage.
  • To provide fellowships for doctoral and post-doctoral research in classical Tamil.
  • To institute awards for outstanding contributions in area of classical Tamil.
  • To promote Classical Tamil education in India and abroad.
  • To serve as a clearing house of information pertaining to classical Tamil.