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Nadar (also referred as Nadan,Shanar,Gramani ) is one of the prominent castes of Tamil Nadu, South India. The term, Nadar, in Tamil literally means "one who rules the land"[2] The Nadars are also commonly called as Annachi (meaning elder brother). They are a modern enterprising community and constitute 12% of Tamil Nadu's population.[1] The Nadar community was not a singular caste, but an assortment of sub-castes and classes of different origins, which in course of time, came under the single banner Nadar.[3] Nadar climber (or palmrya climber) is the largest subsect of today’s Nadar community.[4] A few subsects of the Nadar community were wealthy landlords and money lenders. Nadars are predominant in the southern districts of Virudhunagar, Srivaikuntam, Tiruchendur, Tuticorin and Kaniyakumari. Historically, majority of the Nadars were humble cultivators of palmyra trees and jaggery and a few also involved in toddy trade. The small endogamanous group of aristocratic Nadars called Nelamaikkarars who live south of Thamirabarani River had served as tax collecters under the Nayak and Pandya rulers. Some Nadar climbers ,who lived mostly as minorities, in a few localities had even faced discrimination. The martial art Southern kalaripayattu was historically practiced by the Nadars.[5] In post independent India, Nadars have made significant strides through their emphasis on education and entrepreneurship. The socio-economical upliftment of Nadars in southern India has elicited international academic interest and appreciation.[6][7][8] Shiv Nadar,[9] a billionaire businessman, ranked as 15th richest man in India by Forbe's magazine in 2009 is one of the examples of successful Nadar entrepreneurs.[10] The Nadars today are a powerful community.[11] They are financially very strong and are also politically influential in the Southern districts of Tamil Nadu.[12]
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Etymology

The community which was previously known as Shanars,[13] till the 19th century, came to be known as the Nadars. The title Nadar is believed to be derived from the Nelamaikkarars, the aristocrats and highest of the old Shanar community. The title Nadar was exclusively used by the Nelamaikkarars. Nadars claim that the original name of the community was Shantror or Shandrar (which means noble one) which, in course of time, was corrupted to Shanar. However, there are very little evidences to support the claims of the Nadars.[4][14]
[edit] History

The origin of Nadars as a social group is unknown. However Hardgrave states that the Teri palmrya forests of today’s Tiruchendur district must have been the origin of the Nadars.[15] The renowned Nadar historian,Samuel Sarugunar, claimed that the Nadars are the descendants of the ancient rulers of Cheran,Cholan and Pandyan kingdoms and that when Nayak rulers captured the Pandya country, they divided the country into several Palayams(divisions) and appointed Palaiyakkars as rulers. The Nayaks rulers of Tamil Nadu ,as per the claims of Sargunar, imposed Deshaprashtam (ostracism) on the ancient Pandyas (Nadars),to ensure that their rise wouldn't ever happen.[2][4][14][16][17] These claims are ,however, not baseless. The traditions followed by the Nelamaikkarars and the existence of the ruins beneath the Teri palmrya forests of Tiruchendur and ancient Pandyan capital city of Korkai, where the Nadar population is predominant, suggest they could very well be the heir of the Early Pandyas.[18][19] The two incriptions at Kalladaikurichi suggest that in medieval times the Nadars served as administrators and accountants both in Chera and Pandya countries.[16][17] However, there is little evidence to suggest that the Nadars could also be the descendants of the later Pandya rulers, as per the Nadars' claim.[19] The identity or caste of the Pandyan kings remains a mystery[20]. This belief, that the Nadars had been the kings of Tamilnadu, became the dogma of the Nadar community in the 19thcentury.[18]
[edit] Nadars of the 19th century
See also: Nadan (Nadar subcaste) and Nadar climber

The Nadars were a community mostly engaged in the palmyra industry, including the production of toddy in the early 19th century. A few subsects of the Nadar community were traditionally wealthy landlords and money lenders.[21][22] Majority of the Nadars lived south of Thamiraparani river. Nadars living in south of Thamirabarani River till the tip of Cape Comorin constituted 80 to 90% of the population and had various living conditions.[23] While majority of the Nadar population,of Southern Tirunelveli, consisted of landless,poor laborers(Nadar climbers), a small portion of the community called Nelamaikkarars or Nadans owned vast tracts of land. Historical records and accounts indicate they possibly worked as tax collectors under the Pandyas. These Nadans or lords of the land either held their position directly under Nayak ruler in the region of Tiruchendur or as petty lords under the poligars. They commanded high respect in these regions from the rest of the population. Nadar climbers, the minority Vellalars and Brahmins showed deference to these Nadans. Nadan men rode horses and their women rode in covered palanquins.[24] The position held by these Nadans was unchallenged by their dependent climbers. In these regions the Nadars were the most dominant caste and their interaction with other communities was minimal. However these Nadars were seperated by various subcastes and lacked integrity.[25]

Nadar climbers also populated other regions of Tamil Nadu where a few palmyra trees grew. In areas of Tamil nadu where the Nadar climber population was not more than a few families in a village, they faced descrimination from the majority caste.[26] Due to their association with toddy, the Nadars were considered lower than other middle castes, but relatively higher than the low castes, and were also prohibited to enter temples built by castes above them in the caste system.[27] Even though associated with toddy, the Nadars abstinently avoided to consume it as the most punctilious Brahmins.[28] The Nadars were schismatic about their position in the caste hierarchy and firmly claimed that they were wrongly placed in the caste system due to the Nayak invasion. They were also very caste conscious.[29]
[edit] Nadars of Travancore
See also: Upper cloth controversy

Presumably the Nadars of Southern Travancore migrated to Travancore from Tirunelveli in the 16th century after the invasion of Tirunelveli by the Raja of Travancore. Like their Tirunelveli counterparts, the Nadars of Travancore were mostly palmrya climbers. However a significant number of Nadars in Travancore were subtenants to Nair landlords or Vellalar landlords. These Nadar tenants called themselves Nadans and a score of these Nadans also directly had control over the lands. The Nadans enjoyed special privileges under the Raja and claimed that they were superior to the climbers.[30] The climbers of Travancore fared a little better than their Tirunelveli counterparts, but, however, suffered severe social disabilities ,unlike their Tirunelveli counterparts, under the rigid caste hierarchy of Travancore. As Swami Vivekananda stated, Kerala was like a mad asylum of castes. The Nadar climber women were not allowed to cover their bosoms, as most of the non- Brahmin women of Kerala, to punctuate their low status. However the aristocratic Nadan women, their counterparts, had the rights to cover their bosom. Uneasy with their social status, a large number of Nadar climbers embraced Christianity and became upwardly mobile. Though they improved their status with the aid of Christian missionaries, the outcome of the conversion was not according to the point of view of the missionaries. The Christian Nadar climber women, along with the Hindu Nadar climber women, wore the upper jacket in the manner of upper class women and also their Tamil counterparts, inorder to improve their social status. In turn they were discriminated and even abused by upper class men. One of the Nadan families of Agastheeswaram, instead of supporting their depressed counterparts, supported the upper class men and claimed that only their women had the right to wear a uppercloth. However after a brutal struggle (Upper cloth revolt) with the powerful authorities of Travancore and also with the aid of the British Christian Missionaries and Vaikunta Swamy, the depressed Nadar women won themselves the right to wear their upper cloth, as their Nadan counterparts.[31][32]
[edit] Northern Nadars
See also: Sivakasi riots of 1899

Some Nadar traders migrated from southern Tirunelveli to northern Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar and began to settle down in these regions. In course of time, these Nadars became commercially skilled and therefore became upwardly mobile in the late 19th century. Mercantilism played crucial roles in facilitating their upward mobility. Part of this change in the Nadar community resulted in some of them converting to Christianity , both Catholicism and Protestantism. However, a majority of almost 90% remained Hindus.[33] The British rule then in the southern districts introduced new frontiers of trade and commerce.The Nadars took this opportunity and made it their greatest advantage. They established sophisticated pettais (fortified compounds) and Urvinmurais(Local Nadar association) to ensure safety for their goods. The member of Uravinmurai,the muraikkarar, would contribute a portion of his income to the association as common good funds or mahimai(means to glorify oneself) to use the facilties of the pettais in order to improve the association and also in turn aid the Nadar community.[26] As the wealth of the Northern Nadars increased, they gradually began to adopt the customs of the North Indian Kshtriyas inorder to improve their social status as well. This process is known as Sanskritisation. Many tried to disassociate themselves from their Nadar climber counterparts and the term Shanar(the term generally used to call a Tamil palmrya climber). The title ‘Nadan’ , a title which was before only used by the aristocratic Nelamaikkarars, was universally adopted by the Northern Nadars. To punctuate their wealthy and powerful position in the society, the Nadars of Sivakasi even hired Maravars as their palanquin bearers.[34] The upward mobility and kshatriya pretensions of the Nadars of Six towns of Ramanad caused resentment among, castes above them, the Vellalars and especially the Maravars, the miltary caste just above the Nadars.[35] As a result, a series of conflicts, such as the Sivakasi riots of 1899, happened between the Nadars and the Maravars. However, the Sankritisation movement was a failure initially and the Nadar climbers ,who lived as minorities, were still discriminated by the majority castes.[36] However these confrontations aided the community to protest for the required rights and privileges, with integrity, and also test how much other communities were willing to buy the claims of the Nadars' high status. The Northern Nadar leaders then sought to unite their community by encouraging intermarriages within the five major Nadar subcastes and also uplift the depressed palmrya Nadar climbers. They also sought to maintain amiable relationships with other communities. This led to the formation of the Nadar Mahajana sagham in 1910.
[edit] Nadars of the 20th century
Rao Bahadur T. Rattinasami Nadar, founder of the Nadar Mahajana Sagham
[edit] Formation of the Nadar Mahajana Sagham

The local Nadar associations of the six towns was not adequate enough to back up the widely spread Nadars. Many Nadars began to migrate to other parts of Madras Presidency. This situation demanded a new Nadar association which would support the Nadars faraway from the six towns of Ramanad. This expansion,however, would not be possible until the rise of Rao Bahadur T.Rattinasami Nadar, a wealthy Nadar of Poraiyar, Thanjavur district. He was politically ambitious and sought to become a member of the legislative assembly , representing the Nadar community.[37] As there was no organization to represent the whole Nadar community, Rattinasami Nadar invited prominent leaders of the Nadar community for a plenary session in February 1910. Rattinasami Nadar's uncle, V. Ponnusami Nadar, was elected to become the first president of the association, Nadar Mahajana Sagham. The association was open to any Nadar male of any subcaste or religion. The general purpose of the association was to uplift the entire Nadar community. The conferences intially held were dominated by the Northern Nadars.[38][39]
[edit] Against toddy

The campaign against toddy was one of the first steps taken by the Nadar Mahajana Sagham to enhance the social advancement of the entire Nadar community. Though majority of the Nadar climbers were engaged in the production of jaggery, a significant number of Nadar climbers were also involved in the production of toddy. The Sagham urged the Nadar climbers to abandon their traditional occupation of toddy tapping and not to sell hard toddy. However many Nadar climbers were reluctant to give up their profitable occupation. The situation got out of hand when Nadar leaders tried to intimidate the climbers, by using tenets of their cult, to give up their occupation as toddy tappers. To ease the situation the district magistrate issued a proclamation restricting the climbers to sell hard toddy only in specific regions, where toddy can be legally drawn. However the Sagham's campaign was effective for only about a year.[40]
[edit] Prohibition of toddy act

The Sagham then in order to aid the depressed climbers, sought to abolish the tax levied on palmrya trees. After the establishment of the Prohibition(of toddy) act in the Northern districts of Madras Presidency, the Nadar Mahajana Sagham along with its sister association,Dakshina Mara Nadar Sagham of Tirunelveli, sought to remove it to aid the depressed climbers. The British advisor government in turn suspended the act. However, the prohibition act was reintroduced after the independence. Under the rules of the act, the climbers could only tap between 4am to 2pm and sell sweet toddy between 6am and 2pm. These procedures can also only be practiced by climbers who have license. The rigid government rules pressurized the depressed climbers. The two prominent Nadars saghams constantly pressurized the government and eventually the enforcement of these regulations gradually eased. By mid 1950's, the government assigned cooperative societies to promote jaggery production.[41]
[edit] Nadar educational institutions

The Nadar community did not completely rely on the Backward Class Commision for educational advancement. The Nadars realized the importantance of education more than any other community.In 1885, the Northern Nadars established the Kshatriya Vidhyasala High School in Virudhunagar by using the mahimai funds from the Nadar uravinmurai. Education was also the primary concern of the Nadar Mahajana Sagham ever since its inception. In 1921, the Sagham began to provide scholarship loans to the needy students of the community. By 1964, loans were offered to more than 3000 students. These loans were awarded to qualified Nadar students and were supposed to be repaid. Some students were also assisted to study abroad. The Sagham also aided villages, faraway from educational institutions, to establish their own schools. These expenses represented the largest expenditure of the Nadar Mahajana Sagham. The Nadar bank along with other cooperative societies gave 5 percent of their profit to the scholarship fund. The Nadar Mahajana Sagham also established a college, Senthilkumara Nadar College, in 1947.[42]
[edit] Resolution to inter-caste conflicts

In villages where the Nadar climbers numbered very few, they were oppressed by the majority caste of the region. The Nadar Mahajana Sagham backed these oppressed Nadars with the strength and influence of the larger community. The oppressed Nadars could ask the Sagham to intervene into issues which involves members of other communities. In turn the Sagham would investigate the issue and confirm that it is true. Then ,if necessary, the Sagham would ask the police to intervene or take the issue to the court. The Sagham however would not back the oppressed Nadar claimant financially to contest the case, but would rather see that Nadars' case is properly heard by the court. After the independence, the Sagham was very well aware of the secular caste less society and used its advantages. The Sagham also cooperated with the government to establish a caste less society and urged the Nadars to allow other communities to use their schools, tanks, temples and wells. Even the name of the Nadar bank was changed to Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank. These activities earned the Nadar community respect and recognition.[43][44]
Most of the shops in Ranganathan Street,Tamil Nadu's premier high street, are owned by the Nadars.[11]
[edit] Success in Business

Nadars' success in business played a pivotal role in the community's rise. Nadar grocery stores can be found today in almost every corner of Tamil Nadu. The Nadars' success in business is mainly due to their frugality and strong determination to rise. Many Nadar businessman can reveal their rise from poverty. It is difficult to determine the wealth of a Nadar merchant for a very wealthy Nadar may sit simply in his tiny shop.[45]
[edit] Nadars today
Saravana Bhavan in New Jersey, United States, International chain restaurant founded by Nadar businessman
Further information: List of Nadars

The social and economical development achieved by Nadars in Independent India have evoked academic interest and appreciation across the world.[6] The Nadar caste entered many professions in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, from "high-tech entreprenuer" to owner of a large dairy company.[6] Nadar businessmen and Professor Varshney all pointed to educational opportunities that allowed Nadars to enter high-class professions.[6]. The Nadars who were once not allowed to enter Hindu temples, built by castes above them, now occupy respected positions as Trustees in many Hindu temples of Tamilnadu.[8][46] The Nadars today are a powerful community[11]. They are financially very strong and are also politically influential in the Southern Tirunelveli districts of Nanguneri, Srivaikuntam,Tiruchendur,Tuticorin and Kaniyakumari. There is a Nadar in every political party. The community also has influential Tamil media houses like Dina Thanthi in its fold.[12]

Crawford Young, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, in his book The politics of cultural pluralism writes,

Today, the Nadars are recognized as an "advanced" community - a status reversal accomplished over the past century through caste horizontal mobilization of caste solidarity, challenge to servile traditional ascription through ritual transformations, effective utilization of modern opportunity through education and commerce, and skilful communal exploitation of the political arena.[47]

[edit] Subcastes

The legend of the origin of the Nadars tell of the birth of seven sons; with the death of two, the remaining five father the separate divisions of the community. There were five divisions among the Nadars.[48]
[edit] Karukkupattaiyathar
Palmrya climber in Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu

They are supposed to be the original inhabitants of the country around Manadu. This is sub-division was later known as Mara Nadar. They claim to be the descendants of the Pandyans. It is the largest of the five subcastes and constitutes about 80 percent of the entire community,including the aristocratic Nelamaikkarars as well as the climbers beneath them. The Nelamaikarrars and the Nadar climbers beneath them are two endogamanous groups, forming sub-subcastes each marrying only among themselves. The Nelamaikkarars were the highest of the five Nadar subcastes.
[edit] Mel-nattar

The term mel-nattar comes from Mel-nadu(western country). Mel-Nattars lived traditionally in Southern Travancore and Western Tirunelveli districts. The Nadars claim that after the fall of the Chera dynasty, the descendants of the Chera kings,the Mel-Nattars, settled down in the Western Ghats of the Pandya country. They can be found today concentrated in Ambasamudram, Sankarankoil, Srivaikuntam, Nanguneri and a few can also be found in Tenkasi.
Tiruvarudi Vaihunda Nadan, the last Zamindar of Nattathi.
[edit] Nattathi

They are predominant in the village of Nattathi near Sawyerpuram, Tuticorin district. They are traditionally cultivators, traders and money lenders. Legendary accounts claim that the Nattathis are descendants born of the Pandyas and Cholas. The community is today predominantly Christian and remains a endogamanous unit. The overlord of Nattathi was a retainer of the Kattabomma Nayaka. The Nattathi overlord was invested with Zamindari rights under the British. The last of the Nattathi zamindars, Tiruvarudi Vaihunda Nadan, died in 1892. The properties of the Zamindar were eventually divided among a number of claimants.
[edit] Kodikal

They are found in Ambasamudram and Tenkasi taluqs and traditionally palmrya climbers. They are supposed to have migrated to the Pandyan country from the banks of the Cauvery River in Tanjore to serve the Pandyan kings as their flag bearers.
[edit] Kalla

The Kalla shanars,were considered as the lowest division of the Nadar community. They are also known as Servai(not Kallar).The term kalla means ‘false’. Originally believed to have been palanquin bearers of the Pandyan kings or as menial slaves of the Nelamaikkarar family. They are traditionally toddy tappers. They are believed to be the descendants of the illegal unions within the Nadar community.[48]

The subsect culture is not present today among the Nadars north of Tirunelveli. However the subsect culture still exists among the Nadars of southern Tirunelveli. The Karkuppatayathars, the endogamaous Nelamaikkarars and the Nadar climbers beneath them, are today known as A group or Mara Nadar and the remaining four sub castes are known as B group.[49][50]
[edit] Christian Nadars

In 1680, the first congregation of Nadars was started at Vaddakankulam with the conversion of Nadar women and a church was built accordingly in 1685. A permanent mission was established in 1701. Some Nadars accepted Christianity through will and some accepted it due to their aversion to local beliefs. [51][52]
[edit] Orthodox customs

The Nadars, like other Tamil castes, perform a number of rituals and ceremonies according to their customs. Birth ceremony, initiation ceremony, marriage ceremonies and death ceremonies are the most important of all the ceremonies.
[edit] Birth ceremony

The Nadar birth ceremony is very similar to other Tamil castes. These rituals usually begin when a woman is taken to her parents' home for her confinement and end when she returns to her husband's house after the birth of the baby. Ceremonies like seventh month ceremony, (a ceremony held for a pregnant woman who is pregnant for 7 months), is commonly practiced by a Hindu Nadar. Due to modernization, some Nadars have stopped these practices.
[edit] Initiation ceremony
The socio-religious movement of Ayyavazhi was pioneered and patronized by the Nadar community[53]

This sort of ceremonies occur after the birth of a child. A baby's ears are pierced when the infant reaches the age of 6 months. Some Hindu Nadar boys have to go through the rituals in order to wear the sacred thread at the age of 12 years and must also attend rituals accordingly for the annual renewal of the sacred thread. Christian Nadar boys are initially baptized and are made to join the church association when the time is appropriate. Like other Tamil castes, the Nadars also conduct a ceremony for girls who have just attained puberty. Some Christian Nadars follow some of the orthodox customs of the Hindu nadars. For example the puberty ceremony is also followed by some Christian Nadars.
[edit] Marriage ceremony

The Nadars marry according to their clan. For instance an aristocratic Nadar should marry a Nadar of his status and clan. There are various endogamous clans among the Nadars. An orthodox marriage is usually based on the clan a Nadar belongs to. However some Nadars neglect the ways of endogamy and marry Nadars not of their clan. Usually, a Nadar would marry his sister's daughter or his cross cousin. This practice is quite common in Nadar villages. The Nadars prefer joint or extended families.
[edit] Death ceremony

The local Nadar association is usually informed when a Nadar dies. The corpse is bathed and carried in a palanquin in an upright chair-like position. The body of a widow is usually laid down flat. Women don't accompany the men to the cemetery. After the third day of the death, another ritual is held for the widow (if the dead person is a male) in order to remove all her jewelry and most importantly her thali. However these old customs are not practiced by all the Nadars; especially the educated Nadars.[54]
[edit] Kalaripayattu/Varma Kalai/Marma Ati
See also: Southern Kalaripayattu

Marma Ati was a great warfare practised by the Royal Thiruppad Nadans to defeat/kill the enemy without any external injuries. The art was practiced exclusively by the Nadars of Tamil Nadu and by the Nairs and Ezhavas of Kerala. [55][56]
[edit] Genetic study

Recent genetic studies on the antigenic variations among south Indian populations suggest Nadars share several genotypic characters with East Asian populations, consistent with the demographic history of South India, and also revealed that there are several genetic markers unique to the Nadars, which are rare or absent in other populations of India and the world. The study suggested a distinct evolutionary lineage with lesser admixture in the gene pool among groups of Tamil Nadu. The gene pool of nadars show more similarity to the East Asian populations. The study reveals that a relatively lesser degree of genetic admixture occurred between the South Indian and North Indian racial groups than that between South Indian and East Asian groups.[57] Also the presence of shared HLA genome between the Nadar and Fulani peoples indicates that a genetic relationship may have existed between them. This finding supported also the linguistic and archaeological evidence.[58]

Tamil (தமிழ், tamiḻ, [t̪ɐmɨɻ] ?) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Puducherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore. It is one of the twenty-two scheduled languages of India and the first Indian language to be declared as a classical language by the government of India in 2004. Tamil is also spoken by significant minorities in Malaysia and Mauritius as well as emigrant communities around the world.[1]

Tamil literature has existed for over two thousand years.[7] The earliest epigraphic records found on rock edicts and hero stones date from around the 3rd century BCE.[8] The earliest period of Tamil literature, Sangam literature, is dated from the 300 BCE – 300 CE.[9][10] Tamil language inscriptions written circa 1st century BCE and 2nd century CE have been discovered in Egypt, Sri Lanka and Thailand.[11] The two earliest manuscripts from India,[12][13] to be acknowledged and registered by UNESCO Memory of the World register in 1997 & 2005 were in Tamil.[14] More than 55% of the epigraphical inscriptions – about 55,000 – found by the Archaeological Survey of India are in the Tamil language.[15] According to a 2001 survey, there were 1,863 newspapers published in Tamil, of which 353 were dailies.[16] The variety and quality of classical Tamil literature has led it to being described as "one of the great classical traditions and literatures of the world”
Tamil belongs to southern branch of the Dravidian languages, a family of around twenty-six languages native to the Indian subcontinent.[18] It is also classified as being part of a Tamil language family, which alongside Tamil proper, also includes the languages of about 35 ethno-linguistic groups[19] such as the Irula, and Yerukula languages (see SIL Ethnologue).

The closest major relative of Tamil is Malayalam. Until about the 9th century, Malayalam was a dialect of Tamil.[20] Although many of the differences between Tamil and Malayalam demonstrate a pre-historic split of the western dialect,[21] the process of separation into a distinct language, Malayalam was not completed until sometime in the 13th or 14th century.
HISTORY
Silver coin of king Vashishtiputra Sātakarni (c. 160 CE).
Obv: Bust of king. Prakrit legend in the Brahmi script: "Siri Satakanisa Rano ... Vasithiputasa": "King Vasishtiputra Sri Satakarni"
Rev: Ujjain/Sātavāhana symbol left. Crescented six-arch chaitya hill right. River below. Early Tamil legend in the Brahmi script: "Arah(s)anaku Vah(s)itti makanaku Tiru H(S)atakani ko" - which means "The ruler, Vasitti's son, Highness Satakani" - -ko being the royal name suffix.

As a Dravidian language, Tamil descends from Proto-Dravidian. Linguistic reconstruction suggests that Proto-Dravidian was spoken around the third millennium BC, possibly in the region around the lower Godavari river basin in peninsular India. The material evidence suggests that the speakers of Proto-Dravidian were the culture associated with the Neolithic complexes of South India.[27] The next phase in the reconstructed proto-history of Tamil is Proto-South Dravidian. The linguistic evidence suggests that Proto-South Dravidian was spoken around the middle of the second millennium BC, and that proto-Tamil emerged around the 3rd century BC. The earliest epigraphic attestations of Tamil are generally taken to have been written shortly thereafter.

Scholars categorise the attested history of the language into three periods, Old Tamil (300 BCE – 700 CE), Middle Tamil (700–1600) and Modern Tamil (1600–present).
Etymology

The exact period when the name "Tamil" came to be applied to the language is unclear, as is the precise etymology of the name. The earliest attested use of the name is in a text that is perhaps as early as the 1st century BCE.[30]

Southworth suggests that the name comes from tam-miḻ > tam-iḻ 'self-speak', or 'one's own speech'.[31] Kamil Zvelebil suggests an etymology of tam-iḻ, with tam meaning "self" or "one's self", and "-iḻ" having the connotation of "unfolding sound". Alternately, he suggests a derivation of tamiḻ < tam-iḻ < *tav-iḻ < *tak-iḻ, meaning in origin "the proper process (of speaking)
Old Tamil

The earliest records in Old Tamil are short inscriptions from around the 2nd century BCE in caves and on pottery. These inscriptions are written in a variant of the Brahmi script called Tamil Brahmi.[33] The earliest long text in Old Tamil is the Tolkāppiyam, an early work on Tamil grammar and poetics, whose oldest layers could be as old as the 1st century BC.[29] A large number of literary works in Old Tamil have also survived. These include a corpus of 2,381 poems collectively known as Sangam literature. These poems are usually dated to between the 1st and 5th centuries AD,[34] which makes them the oldest extant body of secular literature in India.[35] Other literary works in Old Tamil include two long epics, Cilappatikāram and Maṇimēkalai, and a number of ethical and didactic texts, written between the 5th and 8th centuries.[36]

Old Tamil preserved many features of Proto-Dravidian, including the inventory of consonants,[37] the syllable structure,[38] and various grammatical features.[39] Amongst these was the absence of a distinct present tense – like Proto-Dravidian, Old Tamil only had two tenses, the past and the "non-past". Old Tamil verbs also had a distinct negative conjugation (e.g. kāṇēṉ "I do not see", kāṇōm "we do not see")[40] Nouns could take pronominal suffixes like verbs to express ideas: e.g. peṇṭirēm "we are women" formed from peṇṭir "women" + -ēm and the first person plural marker.[41]

Despite the significant amount of grammatical and syntactical change between Old, Middle and Modern Tamil, Tamil demonstrates grammatical continuity across these stages: many characteristics of the later stages of the language have their roots in features of Old Tamil.[29]
[edit] Middle Tamil

The evolution of Old Tamil into Middle Tamil, which is generally taken to have been completed by the 8th century,[29] was characterised by a number of phonological and grammatical changes. In phonological terms, the most important shifts were the virtual disappearance of the aytam, an old phoneme,[42] the coalescence of the alveolar and dental nasals,[43] and the transformation of the alveolar plosive into a rhotic.[44] In grammar, the most important change was the emergence of the present tense. The present tense evolved out of the verb kil, meaning "to be possible" or "to befall". In Old Tamil, this verb was used as an aspect marker to indicate that an action was micro-durative, non-sustained or non-lasting, usually in combination with a time marker such as ṉ. In Middle Tamil, this usage evolved into a present tense marker – kiṉṟ – which combined the old aspect and time markers.[45]

Middle Tamil also saw a significant increase in the Sanskritisation of Tamil. From the period of the Pallava dynasty onwards, a number of Sanskrit loan-words entered Tamil, particularly in relation to political, religious and philosophical concepts.[46] Sanskrit also influenced Tamil grammar, in the increased use of cases and in declined nouns becoming adjuncts of verbs,[47] and phonology.[48] The Tamil script also changed in the period of Middle Tamil. Tamil Brahmi and Vaṭṭeḻuttu, into which it evolved, were the main scripts used in Old Tamil inscriptions. From the 8th century onwards, however, the Pallavas began using a new script, derived from the Pallava Grantha script which was used to write Sanskrit, which eventually replaced Vaṭṭeḻuttu.[49]

Middle Tamil is attested in a large number of inscriptions, and in a significant body of secular and religious literature.[50] These include the religious poems and songs of the Bhakthi poets, such as the Tēvāram verses on Saivism and Nālāyira Tivya Pirapantam on Vaishnavism,[51] and adaptations of religious legends such as the 12th century Tamil Ramayana composed by Kamban and the story of 63 shaivite devotees known as Periyapurāṇam.[52] Iraiyaṉār Akapporuḷ, an early treatise on love poetics, and Naṉṉūl, a 12th century grammar that became the standard grammar of literary Tamil, are also from the Middle Tamil period.[53]
[edit] Modern Tamil

The Nannul remains the standard normative grammar for modern literary Tamil, which therefore continues to based on Middle Tamil of the 13th century rather than on Modern Tamil.[54] Colloquial spoken Tamil, in contrast, shows a number of changes. The negative conjugation of verbs, for example, has fallen out of use in Modern Tamil[55] – negation is, instead, expressed either morphologically or syntactically.[56] Modern spoken Tamil also shows a number of sound changes, in particular, a tendency to lower high vowels in initial and medial positions,[57] and the disappearance of vowels between plosives and between a plosive and rhotic.[58]

Contact with European languages also affected both written and spoken Tamil. Changes in written Tamil include the use of European-style punctuation and the use of consonant clusters that were not permitted in Middle Tamil. The syntax of written Tamil has also changed, with the introduction of new aspectual auxiliaries and more complex sentence structures, and with the emergence of a more rigid word order that resembles the syntactic argument structure of English.[59] Simultaneously, a strong strain of linguistic purism emerged in the early 20th century, culminating in the Pure Tamil Movement which called for removal of all Sanskritic and other foreign elements from Tamil.[60] It received some support from Dravidian parties and nationalists who supported Tamil independence.[61] This led to the replacement of a significant number of Sanskrit loanwords by Tamil equivalents.[62]
[edit] Geographic distribution
Distribution of Tamil speakers in South India and Sri Lanka (1961).

Tamil is the first language of the majority in Tamil Nadu, India and Northern Province, Eastern Province, Sri Lanka. The language is spoken by small groups of minorities in other parts of these two countries such as Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra in case of India and Colombo, the hill country, in case of Sri Lanka.

There are currently sizable Tamil-speaking populations descended from colonial-era migrants in Malaysia, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Indonesia,[63] Thailand,[64] Burma, and Vietnam. Many in Guyana, Fiji, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago have Tamil origins,[65] but only a small number speak the language. Groups of more recent migrants from Sri Lanka and India exist in Canada (especially Toronto), USA(especially New Jersey), European Union, United Kingdom, Australia, many Middle Eastern countries, and most of the western European countries.
[edit] Legal status

Tamil is the official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and one of the 22 languages under schedule 8 of the constitution of India. It is also one of the official languages of the union territories of Puducherry and the Andaman & Nicobar Islands.[66][67] Tamil is also one of the official languages of Sri Lanka and Singapore. In Malaysia, 543 primary education government schools are available fully in Tamil medium.[68]

In addition, with the creation in 2004 of a legal status for classical languages by the government of India and following a political campaign supported by several Tamil associations[69][70] Tamil became the first legally recognised Classical language of India. The recognition was announced by the then President of India, Dr. Abdul Kalam, who himself is a native Tamil speaker, in a joint sitting of both houses of the Indian Parliament on June 6, 2004.[71][72][73]
See also: States of India by Tamil speakers
[edit] Dialects
[edit] Region specific variations

The socio-linguistic situation of Tamil is characterised by diglossia, there are two separate registers varying by social status, a high register and a low one.[74][75] Tamil dialects are primarily differentiated from each other by the fact that they have undergone different phonological changes and sound shifts in evolving from Old Tamil. For example, the word for "here"—iṅku in Centamil (the classic variety)—has evolved into iṅkū in the Kongu dialect of Coimbatore, inga in the dialect of Thanjavur, and iṅkai in some dialects of Sri Lanka. Old Tamil's iṅkaṇ (where kaṇ means place) is the source of iṅkane in the dialect of Tirunelveli, Old Tamil iṅkaṭṭu is the source of iṅkuṭṭu in the dialect of Madurai, and iṅkaṭe in various northern dialects. Even now in Coimbatore area it is common to hear "akkaṭṭa" meaning "that place". Although Tamil dialects do not differ significantly in their vocabulary, there are a few exceptions. The dialects spoken in Sri Lanka retain many words and grammatical forms that are not in everyday use in India,[76] and use many other words slightly differently.[77]
[edit] Loanword variations
See also: Indo-Aryan loanwords in Tamil and Loan words in Sri Lankan Tamil

The dialect of the district of Palakkad in Kerala has a large number of Malayalam loanwords, has also been influenced by Malayalam syntax and also has a distinct Malayalam accent. Similarly, Tamil spoken in Kanyakumari District has unique words and phonetic style than Tamil spoken at other parts of Tamil Nadu. The uniqueness of words and phonetics is such that, someone from Kanyakumari district is easily identified by the spoken Tamil. Hebbar and Mandyam dialects, spoken by groups of Tamil Vaishnavites who migrated to Karnataka in the 11th century, retain many features of the Vaishnava paribasai, a special form of Tamil developed in the 9th and 10th centuries that reflect Vaishnavite religious and spiritual values.[78] Several castes have their own sociolects which most members of that caste traditionally used regardless of where they come from. It is often possible to identify a person's caste by their speech. Tamil in Sri Lanka incorporates loan words from Portuguese, Dutch and English also.
[edit] Spoken and literary variants

In addition to its various dialects, Tamil exhibits different forms: a classical literary style modelled on the ancient language (sankattamiḻ), a modern literary and formal style (centamiḻ), and a modern colloquial form (koṭuntamiḻ). These styles shade into each other, forming a stylistic continuum. For example, it is possible to write centamiḻ with a vocabulary drawn from caṅkattamiḻ, or to use forms associated with one of the other variants while speaking koṭuntamiḻ.

In modern times, centamiḻ is generally used in formal writing and speech. For instance, it is the language of textbooks, of much of Tamil literature and of public speaking and debate. In recent times, however, koṭuntamiḻ has been making inroads into areas that have traditionally been considered the province of centamiḻ. Most contemporary cinema, theatre and popular entertainment on television and radio, for example, is in koṭuntamiḻ, and many politicians use it to bring themselves closer to their audience. The increasing use of koṭuntamiḻ in modern times has led to the emergence of unofficial ‘standard' spoken dialects. In India, the ‘standard' koṭuntamiḻ is based on ‘educated non-brahmin speech', rather than on any one dialect,[81] but has been significantly influenced by the dialects of Thanjavur and Madurai. In Sri Lanka the standard is based on the dialect of Jaffna.
[edit] Writing system
Main article: Tamil script
See also: Vatteluttu and Grantha script
An 11th century Tamil inscription, from the Brihadisvara temple in Thanjavur

After Tamil Brahmi fell out of use, Tamil was written using a script called the vaṭṭeḻuttu amongst others such as Grantha and Pallava script. The current Tamil script consists of 12 vowels, 18 consonants and one special character, the āytam. The vowels and consonants combine to form 216 compound characters, giving a total of 247 characters. All consonants have an inherent vowel a, as with other Indic scripts. This inherency is removed by adding an overdot called a puḷḷi, to the consonantal sign. For example, ன is ṉa (with the inherent a) and ன் is ṉ (without a vowel). Many Indic scripts have a similar sign, generically called virama, but the Tamil script is somewhat different in that it nearly always uses a visible puḷḷi to indicate a dead consonant (a consonant without a vowel). In other Indic scripts, it is generally preferred to use a ligature or a half form to write a syllable or a cluster containing a dead consonant, although writing it with a visible virama is also possible. The Tamil script does not differentiate voiced and unvoiced plosives. Instead, plosives are articulated with voice depending on their position in a word, in accordance with the rules of Tamil phonology.

In addition to the standard characters, six characters taken from the Grantha script, which was used in the Tamil region to write Sanskrit, are sometimes used to represent sounds not native to Tamil, that is, words adopted from Sanskrit, Prakrit and other languages. The traditional system prescribed by classical grammars for writing loan-words, which involves respelling them in accordance with Tamil phonology, remains, but is not always consistently applied.
[edit] Sounds
Main article: Tamil phonology

Tamil phonology is characterised by the presence of retroflex consonants and multiple rhotics. Tamil does not distinguish phonologically between voiced and unvoiced consonants; phonetically, voice is assigned depending on a consonant's position in a word.[83] Tamil phonology permits few consonant clusters, which can never be word initial. Native grammarians classify Tamil phonemes into vowels, consonants, and a "secondary character", the āytam.
[edit] Vowels

Tamil vowels are called uyireḻuttu (uyir – life, eḻuttu – letter). The vowels are classified into short (kuṟil) and long (neṭil) (with five of each type) and two diphthongs, /ai/ and /au/, and three "shortened" (kuṟṟiyl) vowels.

The long vowels are about twice as long as the short vowels. The diphthongs are usually pronounced about 1.5 times as long as the short vowels, though most grammatical texts place them with the long vowels.
Short Long
Front Central Back Front Central Back
Close i u iː uː
இ உ ஈ ஊ
Mid e o eː oː
எ ஒ ஏ ஓ
Open a (ai) aː (aw)
அ ஐ ஆ ஒள
[edit] Consonants

Tamil consonants are known as meyyeḻuttu (mey—body, eḻuttu—letters). The consonants are classified into three categories with six in each category: valliṉam—hard, melliṉam—soft or Nasal, and iṭayiṉam—medium.

Unlike most Indian languages, Tamil does not distinguish aspirated and unaspirated consonants. In addition, the voicing of plosives is governed by strict rules in centamiḻ. Plosives are unvoiced if they occur word-initially or doubled. Elsewhere they are voiced, with a few becoming fricatives intervocalically. Nasals and approximants are always voiced.[84]

As commonplace in languages of India, Tamil is characterised by its use of more than one type of coronal consonants. Retroflex consonants include the retroflex approximant /ɻ/ (ழ) (example Tamil), which among the Dravidian languages is also found in Malayalam (example Kozhikode), disappeared from Kannada in pronunciation at around 1000 AD (the dedicated letter is still found in Unicode), and was never present in Telugu.[85] Dental and alveolar consonants also contrast with each other, a typically Dravidian trait not found in the neighboring Indo-Aryan languages. In spoken Tamil, however, this contrast has been largely lost, and even in literary Tamil, ந and ன may be seen as allophonic.[86]

A chart of the Tamil consonant phonemes in the International Phonetic Alphabet follows:[87]
Labial Dental Alveolar Retroflex Palatal Velar
Plosives p (b) t̪ (d̪) ʈ (ɖ) tʃ (dʒ) k (ɡ)
ப த ட ச க
Nasals m n̪ n ɳ ɲ ŋ
ம ந ன ண ஞ ங
Tap ɾ̪
ர
Trill r
ற
Central approximants ʋ ɻ j
வ ழ ய
Lateral approximants l̪ ɭ
ல ள

Phonemes in brackets are voiced equivalents. Both voiceless and voiced forms are represented by the same character in Tamil, and voicing is determined by context. The sounds /f/ and /ʂ/ are peripheral to the phonology of Tamil, being found only in loanwords and frequently replaced by native sounds. There are well-defined rules for elision in Tamil categorised into different classes based on the phoneme which undergoes elision.
[edit] Āytam

Classical Tamil also had a phoneme called the Āytam, written as ‘ஃ'. Tamil grammarians of the time classified it as a dependent phoneme (or restricted phoneme[88] ) (cārpeḻuttu), but it is very rare in modern Tamil. The rules of pronunciation given in the Tolkāppiyam, a text on the grammar of Classical Tamil, suggest that the āytam could have glottalised the sounds it was combined with. It has also been suggested that the āytam was used to represent the voiced implosive (or closing part or the first half) of geminated voiced plosives inside a word.[89] The Āytam, in modern Tamil, is also used to convert pa to fa (not the retroflex zha [ɻ]) when writing English words using the Tamil script.
[edit] Numerals & Symbols

Apart from the usual numerals, Tamil also has numerals for 10, 100 and 1000. Symbols for day, month, year, debit, credit, as above, rupee, and numeral are present as well.
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 100 1000
௦ ௧ ௨ ௩ ௪ ௫ ௬ ௭ ௮ ௯ ௰ ௱ ௲
day month year debit credit as above rupee numeral
௳ ௴ ௵ ௶ ௷ ௸ ௹ ௺
[edit] Grammar
Main article: Tamil grammar

Tamil employs agglutinative grammar, where suffixes are used to mark noun class, number, and case, verb tense and other grammatical categories. Tamil's standard metalinguistic terminology and scholarly vocabularly is itself Tamil, as opposed to the Sanskrit that is standard for most other Dravidian language

Much of Tamil grammar is extensively described in the oldest known grammar book for Tamil, the Tolkāppiyam. Modern Tamil writing is largely based on the 13th century grammar Naṉṉūl which restated and clarified the rules of the Tolkāppiyam, with some modifications. Traditional Tamil grammar consists of five parts, namely eḻuttu, col, poruḷ, yāppu, aṇi. Of these, the last two are mostly applied in poetry.

Tamil words consist of a lexical root to which one or more affixes are attached. Most Tamil affixes are suffixes. Tamil suffixes can be derivational suffixes, which either change the part of speech of the word or its meaning, or inflectional suffixes, which mark categories such as person, number, mood, tense, etc. There is no absolute limit on the length and extent of agglutination, which can lead to long words with a large number of suffixes.
Morphology

Tamil nouns (and pronouns) are classified into two super-classes (tiṇai)—the "rational" (uyartiṇai), and the "irrational" (akṟiṇai)—which include a total of five classes (pāl, which literally means ‘gender'). Humans and deities are classified as "rational", and all other nouns (animals, objects, abstract nouns) are classified as irrational. The "rational" nouns and pronouns belong to one of three classes (pāl)—masculine singular, feminine singular, and rational plural. The "irrational" nouns and pronouns belong to one of two classes – irrational singular and irrational plural. The pāl is often indicated through suffixes. The plural form for rational nouns may be used as an honorific, gender-neutral, singular form.

Suffixes are used to perform the functions of cases or postpositions. Traditional grammarians tried to group the various suffixes into eight cases corresponding to the cases used in Sanskrit. These were the nominative, accusative, dative, sociative, genitive, instrumental, locative, and ablative. Modern grammarians argue that this classification is artificial,[94] and that Tamil usage is best understood if each suffix or combination of suffixes is seen as marking a separate case.[95] Tamil nouns can take one of four prefixes, i, a, u, and e which are functionally equivalent to the demonstratives in English.

Tamil verbs are also inflected through the use of suffixes. A typical Tamil verb form will have a number of suffixes, which show person, number, mood, tense, and voice.

* Person and number are indicated by suffixing the oblique case of the relevant pronoun. The suffixes to indicate tenses and voice are formed from grammatical particles, which are added to the stem.
* Tamil has two voices. The first indicates that the subject of the sentence undergoes or is the object of the action named by the verb stem, and the second indicates that the subject of the sentence directs the action referred to by the verb stem.
* Tamil has three simple tenses—past, present, and future—indicated by the suffixes, as well as a series of perfects indicated by compound suffixes. Mood is implicit in Tamil, and is normally reflected by the same morphemes which mark tense categories. Tamil verbs also mark evidentiality, through the addition of the hearsay clitic ām.

Traditional grammars of Tamil do not distinguish between adjectives and adverbs, including both of them under the category uriccol, although modern grammarians tend to distinguish between them on morphological and syntactical grounds.[97] Tamil has a large number of ideophones that act as adverbs indicating the way the object in a given state "says" or "sounds".

Tamil does not have articles. Definiteness and indefiniteness are either indicated by special grammatical devices, such as using the number "one" as an indefinite article, or by the context.In the first person plural, Tamil makes a distinction between inclusive pronouns நாம் nām (we), நமது namatu (our) that include the addressee and exclusive pronouns நாங்கள் nāṅkaḷ (we), எமது ematu (our) that do not.
[edit] Syntax

Tamil is a consistently head-final language. The verb comes at the end of the clause, with a typical word order of Subject Object Verb (SOV). However, word order in Tamil is also flexible, so that surface permutations of the SOV order are possible with different pragmatic effects. Tamil has postpositions rather than prepositions. Demonstratives and modifiers precede the noun within the noun phrase. Subordinate clauses precede the verb of the matrix clause.

Tamil is a null subject language. Not all Tamil sentences have subjects, verbs, and objects. It is possible to construct grammatically valid and meaningful sentences which lack one or more of the three. For example, a sentence may only have a verb—such as muṭintuviṭṭatu ("completed")—or only a subject and object, without a verb such as atu eṉ vīṭu ("That [is] my house"). Tamil does not have a copula (a linking verb equivalent to the word is). The word is included in the translations only to convey the meaning more easily.
[edit] Vocabulary
See also: Wiktionary:Category:Tamil language and Wiktionary:Category:Tamil derivations

The vocabulary of Tamil is mainly Dravidian. A strong sense of linguistic purism is found in Modern Tamil,[102] which opposes the use of foreign loan-words.[103] Nonetheless, a number of words used in classical and modern Tamil indicate copying from languages of neighbouring groups, or with whom the Tamils had trading links, including Munda (e.g. tavaḷai "frog" from Munda tabeg), Malay (e.g. cavvarici "sago" from Malay sāgu), Chinese (e.g. campān "skiff" from Chinese san-pan) and Greek (e.g. ora from Greek ὥρα). In more modern times, Tamil has imported words from Arabic, Persian, Urdu and Marathi, reflecting groups that have influenced the Tamil area at various points of time, and from neighbouring languages such as Telugu, Kannada, and Sinhala. During the modern period, words have also been adapted from European languages, such as Portuguese, French, and English.

The strongest impact of purism in Tamil has been on words taken from Sanskrit. During its history, Tamil, along with other Dravidian languages like Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam etc., was influenced by Sanskrit in terms of vocabulary, grammar and literary styles,reflecting the increased trend of Sanskritisation in the Tamil country. Tamil vocabulary never became quite as heavily Sanskritised as that of the other Dravidian languages, and unlike in those languages, it was and remains possible to express complex ideas – including in science, art, religion and law – without the use of Sanskrit loan words. In addition, Sanskritisation was actively resisted by a number of authors of the late medieval period, culminating in the 20th century in a movement called taṉit tamiḻ iyakkam (meaning pure Tamil movement), led by Parithimaar Kalaignar and Maraimalai Adigal, which sought to remove the accumulated influence of Sanskrit on Tamil. As a result of this, Tamil in formal documents, literature and public speeches has seen a marked decline in the use Sanskrit loan words in the past few decades,[under some estimates having fallen from 40–50% to about 20%. As a result, the Prakrit and Sanskrit loan words used in modern Tamil are, unlike in some other Dravidian languages, restricted mainly to some spiritual terminology and abstract nouns

In the 20th century, institutions and learned bodies have, with government support, generated technical dictionaries for Tamil containing neologisms and words derived from Tamil roots to replace loan words from English and other languages.

Words of Tamil origin occur in other languages. Popular examples in English are cheroot (curuṭṭu meaning "rolled up"),[115] mango (from mangai),[115] mulligatawny (from miḷaku taṉṉir meaning pepper water), pariah (from paraiyar), curry (from kari),[116] and catamaran (from kaṭṭu maram, கட்டு மரம், meaning "bundled logs"),[115] pandal (shed, shelter, booth),[115] tyer (curd),[115] coir (rope).Tamil words are also found in Sinhala and Malay.

To check Noka nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnNNNNNNnNnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnr (International Mobile Equipment Identity) On the main screen type *#06#

Information you get from the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
XXXXXX XX XXXXXX X
TAC FAC SNR SP

TAC = Type approval code of your nokia Mobile
FAC = Final assembly code of your cellphone
SNR = Serial number of your nokia Phone
SP = Spare Other secret tricks for Nokia mobile or cellphone To check the phones Software revision for Nokia Mobile.
On the main screen type *#0000#

To enter in the secret menu in Nokia Phone.
On the main screen type *#92702689# [*#war0anty#]
It will take you to a secret menu where you may find some of the information below:
1. Displays Serial Number.
2. Displays the Month and Year of Manufacture
3. Displays (if there) the date where the phone was purchased (MMYY)
4. Displays the date of the last repair - if found (0000)
5. Shows life timer of phone (time passes since last start)

To restore Factory Settings for Nokia mobile
*#7780# reset to factory settings.

Taking picture without getting noticed.
Turn on/off the "click" sound made by the camera by selecting the 'Silent' profile or by turning warning tones on/off.

Hiding your Mobile/ Cellphone Number
Go to: Menu > Tools > Settings > Call > Send My Caller ID >
'Yes', 'No' or 'Set By Network' to follow the default settings of your home network.
It works only with very few network who provide you facility of “Private Number”

Speed Dialing From Simcard contact (not stored in mobile phonebook)
Type number followed by # then call.
Example: 1# or 2# or 21#SECURITY PRANK

PRANK Change closed caller group (settings >security settings>user groups) to 00000 and your phone will sound the message tone when you are near a radar speed trap.
Setting it to 500 will cause your phone 2 set off security alarms at shop exits.
Try this secret trick if you can handle the unexpected.
THESSSSSSPYING SSDETECTIVE TRICK (Mobile SpyinSP g) Now you can spy on anyone using your cellphone. Just do the following.

1. Activate the "Automatic Answer" in the headset profile of your cellphone and set the ringing volume to "Mute"
2. Short-circuit the left middle and right pins on the bottom of the mobile phone with all connections touching each other this will activate profile "Headset".
   If you cant do this just keep your earphone connected to mobile.
3. Now place it under a table in a room and call it. Now you can use your phone for checking out what people are talking about in a room. Just call on your phone.
4. The phone receives the call without ringing and you can listen to what people are saying.

LG TRICK

To check LG mobile or cellphones IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) On the main screen type *#06#

Information you get from the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
XXXXXX XX XXXXXX X
TAC FAC SNR SP

TAC = Type approval code of your LG Mobile
FAC = Final assembly code of your cellphone
SNR = Serial number of your LG Phone
SP = Spare Other secret tricks for LG mobile or cellphone LG all models test mode:
Type 2945#*# on the main screen.
2945*#01*# Secret menu for LG
IMEI and SW (LG 510): *#07#
Software version (LG B1200): *8375#
Recount cheksum (LG B1200): *6861#
Factory test (B1200): #PWR 668
Simlock menu (LG B1200): 1945#*5101#
Simlock menu (LG 510W, 5200): 2945#*5101#
Simlock menu (LG 7020, 7010): 2945#*70001#
Simlock menu (LG 500, 600): 2947#*

LG-U81XX SPECIAL CODES
Code to read phone version :
- Phone without SIM
- Enter 277634#*# or 47328545454#
- Select 'SW Ver.info'
Code to reset phone :
- Phone without SIM

- Enter 277634#*# or 47328545454#
- Select 'Factory Reset'

Code to enter UNLOCK MENU :
- Phone wit SIM inside
- Enter 2945#*88110#
Test Menu 8330 : 637664#*#
Test Menu 8180 V10a: 49857465454#
Test Menu 8180 V11a: 492662464663#
Test Menu 8130-8138: 47328545454#
Test Menu 8110-8120: 277634#*

SAMSUNG TRICK

To check Samsung mobile or cellphones IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity) On the main screen type *#06#

Information you get from the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
XXXXXX XX XXXXXX X
TAC FAC SNR SP

TAC = Type approval code of your samsung Mobile
FAC = Final assembly code of your cellphone
SNR = Serial number of your samsung Phone
SP = Spare Other secret tricks for samsung mobile or cellphone If you have downloaded corrupted or incompatible Java midlets or other media,
which are causing problems with the phone, try this
*2767*JAVA# Java Reset and (Deletes all Java Midlets)
*2767*MEDIA# Reset Media (Deletes All Sounds and Pics)
*2767*WAP# Wap Reset
*2767*CUST# Reset Custom EEPR0M
*2767*FULL# Reset Full EEPR0M (Caution)
For example : *2767*JAVA# would be keyed in as *2767*5282#
Note : Not all codes will work with SGH-C100.

The master reset code is:
#*7728#
This will not delete anything from your
mobile phone, but set each and eveything to its
default/standard setting as it was on the time of purchase.

To unlock your phone put a sim from another company,
now type *#9998*3323# it will reset your phone. Push exit and then push 7,
it will reset again. Put your other sim in and it will say sim lock,
type in 00000000 then it should be unlocked. Type in *0141# then
the green call batton and it's unlocked to all networks.
This code may not work on the older phones and some of the newer phones.
If it doesn't work you will have to reset your phone without a sim in it
by typing *#2767*2878# or *#9998*3855# (not tested)

Other Samsung Codes
*#9998*4357# Help Menu
*#9998*5282# Java menu (GRPS/CSD settings for JAVA server)
*#9999#0# Monitor Mode
*#9999# or *#9998*9999# Software Version
*#8888# or *#9998*8888# Hardware Version
*#9998*746# or *#9998*0746# or *#0746# Sim Infos
*#9998*523# or *#9998*0523# or *#0523# Display Contrast
*#9998*842# or *#9998*0842# or *#0842# Vibration On (until you push OK)
*#9998*289# or *#9998*0289# or *#0289# Buzzer On (until you push OK)
*#9998*288# or *#9998*0288# or *#0288# Battery & Field Infos
*#9998*377# or *#9998*0377# Error log
*#9998*778# or *#9998*0778# or *#0778# Sim Service table
*#9998*782# show date and alarm clock
*#8999*638# show network information
*#9998*5646# change operator logo at startup
*#9998*76# production number
*#9998*968# view melody for alarm
*#9998*585# Non-Volatile Memory (NVM)
*#3243948# Digital Audio Interference Off
*#32436837# Digital Audio Interference On

SECURITY PRANK

SECRET PRANK Change closed caller group (settings >security settings>user groups) to 00000 and your phone will sound the message tone when you are near a radar speed trap.
Setting it to 500 will cause your phone 2 set off security alarms at shop exits.
Try this secret trick if you can handle the unexpected.
Note: This secret trick wont work with all phones Models. THE DETECTIVE TRICK (Mobile Spying) SPYING Now you can spy on anyone using your cellphone. Just do the following.

1. Activate the "Automatic Answer" in the headset profile of your cellphone and set the ringing volume to "Mute"
2. Short-circuit the left middle and right pins on the bottom of the mobile phone with all connections touching each other this will activate profile "Headset".
   If you cant do this just keep your earphone connected to mobile.
3. Now place it under a table in a room and call it. Now you can use your phone for checking out what people are talking about in a room. Just call on your phone.
4. The phone receives the call without ringing and you can listen to what people are saying.

MOTROLA

On the main screen type *#06#

Information you get from the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
XXXXXX XX XXXXXX X
TAC FAC SNR SP

TAC = Type approval code of your motorola Mobile
FAC = Final assembly code of your cellphone
SNR = Serial number of your motorola Phone
SP = Spare Other secret tricks for motorola mobile or cellphone Code to lock keys. Press together *7

Note: [] (pause) means the * key held in until box appears.
Select phone line - (use this to write things below the provider name):
[] [] [] 0 0 8 [] 1 []

Add phonebook to main menu:
[] [] [] 1 0 5 [] 1 []
Add messages to main menu:
[] [] [] 1 0 7 [] 1 []

Copy SIM memory (phonebook menu):
[] [] [] 1 0 8 [] 1 []

Eng Field options (main menu):
[] [] [] 1 1 3 [] 1 []

Slow (Frequency of search menu):
[] [] [] 1 0 1 [] 1 []

Medium (Frequency of search menu):
[] [] [] 1 0 2 [] 1 []

Fast (Frequency of search menu):
[] [] [] 1 0 3 [] 1 []

Enable EFR:
[] [] [] 1 1 9 [] 1 []

Function :
[] [] [] # # # [] 1 []

Change pin:
[] [] [] 0 0 4 [] 1 []

Unblocking using the "puk" number:
[] [] [] 0 0 5 [] 1 []


You can change GSM frequencies to 900/1800 by entering the enginnering model.
Following the below steps:
enter menu and press 048263* quickly,
then you will enter the secret engineering menu under "Opcode"
input 10*0*3 for GSM 900
10*0*4 for GSM 1800
10*0*5 for GSM 1900
10*0*6 for dual band GSM 900/1800
10*0*7 for dual band GSM 850/1900

To add extra message space 4 your Motorola C350 C450 C550 or C650,
press menu button, press 048263* quickly, then on the popup menu enter 47 press ok.
press 50 and ok.press 1 ok.press 64 ok.press 1 ok.press 186 and ok.
You will receive an extra 50 msgs memory space.Switch phone off and back on.

SECURITY PRANK

Change closed caller group (settings >security settings>user groups) to 00000 and your phone will sound the message tone when you are near a radar speed trap.
Setting it to 500 will cause your phone 2 set off security alarms at shop exits.
Try this secret trick if you can handle the unexpected.
Note: This secret trick wont work with all phones Models.

SPYING

Now you can spy on anyone using your cellphone. Just do the following.

1. Activate the "Automatic Answer" in the headset profile of your cellphone and set the ringing volume to "Mute"
2. Short-circuit the left middle and right pins on the bottom of the mobile phone with all connections touching each other this will activate profile "Headset".
   If you cant do this just keep your earphone connected to mobile.
3. Now place it under a table in a room and call it. Now you can use your phone for checking out what people are talking about in a room. Just call on your phone.
4. The phone receives the call without ringing and you can listen to what people are saying.

SONY

On the main screen type *#06#

Information you get from the IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
XXXXXX XX XXXXXX X
TAC FAC SNR SP

TAC = Type approval code of your sony ericsson Mobile
FAC = Final assembly code of your cellphone
SNR = Serial number of your sony ericsson Phone
SP = Spare Other secret tricks for sony ericsson mobile or cellphone Sony Ericsson Secret Menu:
> * < < * < *
> means press joystick or arrow keys to right
< means press joystick or arrow keys to left
1. push joy stick to RIGHT once
2. press *
3. push joy stick to LEFT twice
4. press *
5. push joy stick to LEFT once
6. press *

The Service Menu will appears containing following information !
1. Service Info
a. Software Version
b. SIMlock
c. Configuration
2. Service Setting
a. Contrast
3. Service Test
a. Display
b. LED/Illumination - *This test is very cool
c. Keyboard
d. Buzzer
e. Vibrator
f. Earphone
g. Microphone
h. Real Time Clock
i. Joystick Counter*

Lockstatus: < * * <

Shortcut to last dialed numbers: 0#

Shortcut to sim numbers: On main menu type a number and press #

If you change the language from default to any other language, then it may be difficult to switch to default language.
The shortcut is very simple. Just press <>
<> stands for right arrow button or joystick.

Secret Games: Snake on the T68
Go to Erix and then on the main screen press 123 and you will be taken to the game.

Secret Message:
On Tetris on the main screen when the blocks are falling press 397 and a message will appear.

SECURITY PRANK

Change closed caller group (settings >security settings>user groups) to 00000 and your phone will sound the message tone when you are near a radar speed trap.
Setting it to 500 will cause your phone 2 set off security alarms at shop exits.
Try this secret trick if you can handle the unexpected.
Note: This secret trick wont work with all phones Models

MOBILESPYING.

Now you can spy on anyone using your cellphone. Just do the following.

1. Activate the "Automatic Answer" in the headset profile of your cellphone and set the ringing volume to "Mute"
2. Short-circuit the left middle and right pins on the bottom of the mobile phone with all connections touching each other this will activate profile "Headset".
   If you cant do this just keep your earphone connected to mobile.
3. Now place it under a table in a room and call it. Now you can use your phone for checking out what people are talking about in a room. Just call on your phone.
4. The phone receives the call without ringing and you can listen to what people are saying.