Tamilism

English

Etymology

Tamil +‎ -ism

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtamilɪzəm/

Proper noun

Tamilism (countable and uncountable, plural Tamilisms)

1. A religion, philosophy and/or culture native to Tamil Nadu, characterized by the worship of ancestors and nature
   • 1992, Sumathi Ramaswamy, En/gendering Language, page 75:

     The modern Shaivism shows clear vestiges of difference from the original Tamilism; for the cause of which we need not go far to look, its corruption being chiefly due to the intermixture of Aryanism so widely given birth to in their works of the Puranic period by the Brahmans who had an excessive love of fiction over truth. As the present Tamilism has been swollen by the flowing in of impure streams of thought, it has lost its native clearness and purity, with which it set forth, and betrays itself by showing many inconsistencies and improbabilities.

   • 1998, G. Aloysius, Religion as Emancipatory Identity, page 176:

     The fusion of 'Tamilism' and Buddhism is completed here: the genuine way of being a Tamil is to be Buddhist, that is, casteless, in every sense of the term.

   • 2002, JCAS Symposium Series - Issue 13, page 187:

     This newly constructed Tamilism is formed from the different elements of the Little and Great Traditions, and of Christianity. Strictly speaking, the Little and Great Traditions are not defined by deities alone but also include the devotees.

2. Tamil nationalism.
   • 1969, Govind Sadashiv Ghurye, Caste and Race in India, page 364:

     It is symptomatic of inward alienation and militant Tamilism.

   • 1998, Andrew Clinton Willford, Cage of Freedom: The Politics of Tamil and Hindu Identity in Malaysia and Bangalore, South India, page 566:

     But when we consider the following Sarvakar statement we see the essential tension between Hindu nationalism and Tamilism: By an admirable process of assimilation, elimination and consolidation, political, racial and cultural, they welded all other non-Aryan peoples whom they came in contact with or conflict with through this process of their expansion in this land from the Indus to the Eastern sea and from Himalayas to the Southern sea into a National unity (qtd. in McKean 1996:80)

   • 2003, Bhikhu Parekh, Gurharpal Singh, Steven Vertovec, Culture and Economy in the Indian Diaspora, page 75:

     The latter is slightly reconciled though the former has had sallies in politics and in religion but continues to have an uneasy relationship with aggressive Dravidian Tamilism.

Coordinate terms

• (religions) religion; agnosticism,‎ Asatru,‎ atheism,‎ Ayyavazhi,‎ Baháʼí Faith,‎ Bon,‎ Buddhism,‎ Cao Dai,‎ Cheondoism,‎ Christianity,‎ deism,‎ Druidry,‎ Druze,‎ Eckankar,‎ Heathenry,‎ Hinduism,‎ Islam,‎ Jainism,‎ Jediism,‎ Judaism,‎ Kimbanguism,‎ Odinism,‎ paganism,‎ Pastafarianism,‎ Raëlism,‎ Rastafarianism,‎ Rodnovery,‎ Romuva,‎ Samaritanism,‎ Sanamahism,‎ Shinto,‎ Sikhism,‎ Taoism,‎ Tengrism,‎ Thelema,‎ Unitarian Universalism,‎ Wicca,‎ Yahwism,‎ Yazidism,‎ Yoruba,‎ Zoroastrianism ^{(Category: en:Religion) [edit]}