About the Department
The Department of Comparative Philology, Oriental Research Institute, University of Madras first began its research in Tamil in 1914. To perpetuate the memory of Rev. Father John Lazarus, his daughter instituted the endowment Chair in Tamil in his name in 1927 and a separate Tamil Department was established in the Institute. In 1930, the provision was made for one Reader, one Senior Lecturer and one Junior Lecturer. The Readership was converted into Professorship in 1948.
Dr. R.P. Sethu Pillai was appointed as the first Professor in Tamil in the Department. The renowned team of faculty members like Prof. K.N.Sivaraja Pillai, Prof. EV. Anantharama Iyer, Prof. V. Venkatarajulu Reddiar, Prof. S. Anavarata Vinayagam Pillai, Prof. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, Dr. Mu. Varadarajan, Prof. B.R. Purushothama Naidu, Prof. M.A. Dorairangaswamy, Prof. M. Rajamanickam, Prof. N. Sanjeevi, Prof. C. Balasubramanian and Prof.P on.Kothandaraman (Portko) were rendered service in the Department.
The Rao Bhadur title was conferred on Prof. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai for his yeoman service in bringing out the Tamil Lexicon, the first of its kind among Indian Languages.
Prof. Mu. Varadarajan (Madurai Kamaraj University), Prof. C. Balasubramanian (Tamil University), Prof. Pon. Kothandaraman(University of Madras), Prof. E. Sundaramoorthy (Tamil University) were appointed as Vice-Chancellors for various Universities.
In the academic year 1980-81, the Department of Tamil was bifurcated into two independent departments, viz., Department of Tamil Language and Department of Tamil Literature.
Prof. C. Balasubramanian, was the first Head of the Department of Tamil Language. He was succeeded by Prof. A.A. Manavalan, Prof. E. Sundaramoorthy, Prof. V. Jayadevan, Prof. N. Deivasundaram, Prof. R. Ramalingam, and Prof. A. Balu.
At present Prof. Y. Manikandan is heading the Dept. of Tamil Language.
Mission
To provide value-added education and training to students in Tamil Language. To encourage research for the development of Tamil Language to cope up with the modern social needs.
To train the Tamil students and researchers in the developmental activities of Tamil language to cater the needs of the Tamil speech community.
