Tamil Thai

Tamil Thai (Tamil: தமிழ்த்தாய், Tamiḻ Tāy, Tamizh Thai) denotes the deified personification of the Tamil language as a mother. This deification of Tamil language in the persona of a mother got established during the Tamil renaissance movement of the later half of the nineteenth century. The phrase became popular in the Tamil speaking world after the publication of a song invoking and praising Tamil mother in a play titled "Manonmaniyam" written by Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai (1855 – 1897) and published in 1891. The song with music composed by M.S. Viswanathan has since been adopted as the state song of Government of Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Thai Kovil is a temple in which the presiding deity is Tamil Thai representing Tamil language. This temple, located in Karaikudi in Sivaganga district in Tamil Nadu, is the only temple in the world for worshiping a language as a god or goddess. The temple is situated inside the Kamban Mani Mandabam and the street in which the temple is located has been named Tamil Thai Kovil Street.

The idea of establishing such a temple was conceived by Kamban Adippodi Saw. Ganesan the founder of Kamban Vizha Kazhagam. The Tamil Thai temple was declared open in 1993, by Mu. Karunanidhi. The main shrine is for Tamil Thai. On either side of the idol of Tamil Thai, there are smaller idols of Agastyar and Tholkappiyar. Outside the main shrine are icons of Oli Thai (the Goddess of Sound) and Vari Thai (the Goddess of Letters). There are separate enclosures for Kamban, Ilango Adigal and Thiruvalluvar. V. Ganapati Sthapati, temple architect and builder from Karaikudi, designed, constructed and did the sculpturing work of the temple.

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