Release of the Critical Anthology on Sahitya Akademi Award-Winning Works
▪ The event was organised by the Department of Tamil, D.G. Vaishnav College, Arumbakkam, Chennai.
▪ The works of 28 writers who had received the Sahitya Akademi Award were critically analysed by 28 professors 27 from the Tamil Department and one from the Sanskrit Department — and compiled into a collection of critical essays.
Sahitya Akademi Award
▪ It is a prestigious award presented annually by the Government of India at both the national and state levels.
▪ The award is given for outstanding literary works such as short stories, novels, literary criticism, and other forms of writing in twenty-four Indian languages.
▪ The award was first instituted and presented in the year 1954.
Mukurthi National Park (MNP)
▪ A radio-collared Nilgiri tahr fitted in December 2024 was killed by a tiger in Mukurthi National Park (MNP).
▪ The radio-collaring and monitoring is one of the nine components of the Project Nilgiri Tahr.
Mukurthi National Park (MNP)
▪ It is located in the western corner of the Nilgiris Plateau in the northwest corner of Tamil Nadu.
▪ The park was created to protect its keystone species, the Nilgiri tahr.
▪ Pykara and Kundah rivers flow through the park along with several perennial streams that originate in the park and drain into the Bhavani Puzha.
▪ It is designated as the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
▪ The Park is characterised by montane grasslands and shrublands interspersed with sholas in a high altitude area of high rainfall.
Iron Age culture near the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu
▪ The excavations confirm the presence of an Iron Age culture near the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu.
▪ The culture is considered akin to those found at Adichanallur and Sivagalai.
▪ Tentative estimates place the site’s date in the early to mid-third millennium BCE, similar to the dating
of Adichanallur and Sivagalai (e.g., between 3,345 BCE and 2,513 BCE). The exact period awaits scientific analyses.
▪ A rectangular stone slab chamber with urn burials and urns was unearthed—a first-of-its-kind
discovery in Tamil Nadu. The chamber was made of 35 stone slabs and filled with cobblestones.
▪ A rich collection of ceramics was found, including white-painted black-and-red ware, red ware, redslipped ware, black-polished ware, and coarse red ware.
▪ The white-painted designs on black-and-red ware, black ware, and black-slipped ware are a unique feature shared with sites like Adichanallur and Sivagalai.
▪ Symbols on the urns were a significant discovery. One red-slipped pot had dotted designs showing a human figure, a mountain, a deer, and a tortoise.
▪ Significance: Provides evidence of Iron Age culture near Western Ghats, with features comparable to Adichanallur, Sivagalai, Thulukkarpatti, and Korkai.
