The Hon. Sivagnanam Shritharan

¶ 01 Hon. Prime Minister, thank you for your lengthy explanation. I would like to make a small correction. The Tamil historical periods comprise four phases: the Sangam period, the Post-Sangam period, the Chola period, and the Nayakar period. Within that, the Sangam period is the time of the Pandya kings; the history of Raja Raja Cholan belongs to the Chola period. The periods when Tamil kings ruled—such as Kulakkottan, Pararajasekaran, Cankiliyan, and Pandara Vanniyan—are part of our historical identity, but these histories have been removed.

¶ 02 Even the memorial stone of that king has been uprooted and discarded. The title “Pandara Vanniyan” was conferred by the British. When I was in the third year in 1977, there was a lesson on Pandara Vanniyan. There was a separate lesson on Cankiliyan in the Tamil curriculum. These histories that have now been removed should be reinstated. Therefore, I urge that a portion of these, as markers of Tamil history, be reintroduced into the curriculum.