ABSTRACT
Ponnaivar. In the north, also on the coast, is the capital city of Chennai, which, under its previous name of Madras, was the capital of a much larger entity (originally one of the three presidencies of British India) until the reorganization of the states along linguistic lines in 1956. In that year the state was dismembered, losing a number of districts and, to a lesser extent, gaining others, re-forming Madras as a state for Tamil-speakers. It was this ‘rump’ Madras state that was renamed the ‘Tamil land’ on 14 January 1969. Tamil Nadu has an area of 130,058 sq km (50,202 sq miles).
