Tamil Calendar based on Thiruvalluvar Day

Maraimalai Adigal did extensive research on the date of Thiruvalluvar. While presiding over the Thiruvalluvar Day conference of Thiruvalluvar Kazhagam held on 18 Jan 1935, he declared that Thiruvalluvar was born 30 years before the birth of Jesus and suggested Tamils to keep the Tamil Calender with this as the reference. His suggestion that the Tamil Thiruvalluvar year can be obtained by adding 31 years to the Christian Calender is being followed since then.

"There is no doubt that the culture of the Tamils belongs to the great and immortal treasures of the world's civilisation..." Czech Professor Dr. Kamil.V. Zvelebil

Tamil culture is a culture of great antiquity and it has made, and will continue to make, a rich contribution to world civilisation. That is not to say, Tamils have not gained, and continue to gain, by their interaction with other peoples and other cultures - particularly those of the Indian sub continent. No people are an island unto themselves. The Tamil people are not chauvinists and the words of the Tamil poet Kanniyan Poongundran in Purananuru (Poem 196), written two thousand years, continue to direct and influence: