Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical Tamil

This project has been formed to broaden Wikipedia's coverage in topics related to Classical Tamil, also known as Sangam Tamil. This page and its subpages contain their suggestions; it is hoped that this project will help to focus the efforts of other Wikipedians. If you would like to help, please inquire on the talk page and see the to-do list there.

For more information on WikiProjects, please see WikiProjects and WikiProject best practices.

Scope
The main aim of this WikiProject is to cover as much as we can on the Classical Tamil period, also known as the Sangam period. This includes the language (Sangathamil), the literature, the poets, as well as Tamil history, society and culture from the Sangam period. The aim is to write new articles on the (many) areas that aren't covered at present, and to expand and improving the articles that do exist.

Participants

 * Sundar
 * Kris→ Talk
 * R.MUTHUSAMY Talk
 * Rasnaboy


 * Inactive
 * Parthi
 * Kingsley Joseph
 * Masatran
 * Sudharsansn
 * Lotlil
 * Arvind
 * Karthik
 * Natkeeran
 * Wiki Raja

Goals

 * 1) Achieving good coverage of the Classical Tamil language, along the lines of the article on Ancient Greek, only better.  Our coverage should include the "high" literary form one finds in the anthologies and the form one finds in the inscriptions, and the changes that occurred in it over time.
 * 2) Having good, detailed articles on the most important works of classical Tamil literature.  This should, at a minimum, include:
 * 3) Individual articles on each of the works included in the Ettuthokai, Pattupattu, and Pathinenkilkanakku.
 * 4) High-quality articles on the epics, particularly the Cilappatikaram, Manimekalai and Jivaka-chintamani.  The article on the Iliad can serve as a model.
 * 5) Classical Tamil prosody (or poetics), with articles on:
 * 6) Important poetical concepts (cir, acai, etc.)
 * 7) The thinai system, and each of the thinais (and perhaps the more important thurais?)
 * 8) Grammatical works, such as the Tolkappiyam and Iraiyanar Akapporul (although I'm not sure if the latter belongs to the classical period).
 * 9) Increasing the coverage of that period of Tamil history, including individual articles on important kings and velir, as well as on the most important poets (Kapilar, for example, should certainly have an article, as should Pisiranthaiyar).
 * 10) A general background to the Ancient Tamil country (Ancient Tamilakam), covering origins, history, and society (Ancient Greece might lend some inspiration).
 * 11) Once all this is done, setting up a WikiPortal!

Transliteration conventions
The project shall use a scheme based on ISO 15919 for Indic scripts. A simplified transliteration scheme is used to produce a Latinised version of the Tamil name, for ease of use and because it is closer to common usage in Roman script. The simplified transliteration is preferred in place of the formal or ISO15919 in order to enable easy reading of Tamil names and words for people with little or no knowledge of Tamil. All transliteration should be from the written form in Tamil script. The original text in Tamil script should also be included near the start of the article for reference, and if possible the IPA and ISO15919 notations.

The simplified transliteration differs from the formal transliteration in the following:
 * all diacritics are removed,
 * long vowels are not separately indicated, and are not distinguished from the short vowels,
 * retroflex consonants are not separately indicated, and are not distinguished from the dentals,
 * a plain 'n' is used instead of 'ṁ' for nasalisation,
 * 'ch' and 'chh' are used instead of 'c' and 'ch', respectively,
 * the sibilants 'ś' and 'ş' are not separately indicated, and both are written 'sh',

Naming conventions
Each Classical Tamil article should be named according to its simplified transliteration. If the title differs from the formal transliteration of the name, then the formal transliteration should also be given in the introductory sentences. This transliteration should be made from the names as written in the original script of the original language. A copy of the name written in its original script should also be included near the start of the article for reference.

Informal transliterations should not be used for article titles, unless they can be justified as being the primary transliteration used in English. If a transliteration's status as primary cannot be justified or verified, then it should be corrected and replaced by a simplified transliteration. A redirect should then be left in its place. Redirects should also be created for the more common alternative spelling forms.

Where alternative spellings or informal transliterations are in widespread use, a limited number of the most common ones should be listed at the top of the main article.


 * Naming conventions (Indic)

Infoboxes

 * Infobox Classical Tamil
 * Sangam literature



Stub templates

 * India-lit-stub

User box
Wikiproject Classical Tamil userbox

Categories

 * Category:Classical Tamil
 * Category:Wikipedia:WikiProject Classical Tamil
 * Category:WikiProject Classical Tamil Members

Parentage
There is no direct parent to this Wikiproject, but large sections are a descendant of WikiProject History of India and, more generally, WikiProject Culture

Related Wikiportals

 * Portal:Tamil
 * Portal:India

Related Regional notice boards
Notice board for India-related topics