At a programme organised today (19 March) in Chennai, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya announced that the Saurashtra Tamil Sangamam will be held from 17 to 26 April in Gujarat under the Ek Bharat Shrestha Bharat initiative.

The Sangamam would celebrate the cultural links between Gujarat and Tamil Nadu that have been formed due to the large Saurashtra Tamil community. The 10-day event would be held in four different places, i.e., Somnath, Dwarka, Rajkot and the Statue of Unity at Kevadia.

This comes after the successful completion of the month-long Kashi Tamil Sangamam that celebrated the cultural and civilizational links between Kashi and Tamil Nadu.

The community is believed to have migrated in the 11^th century CE due to the repeated attacks of Mahmud of Ghazni on Gujarat. They were mostly silk traders and weavers.

Almost half of the estimated 12 lakh population of the community in the state is settled in Madurai due to the patronage of local rulers like Tirumala Nayak.

The community speaks the Saurashtra language which has words similar to Gujarati. The language also has its script but its usage has declined.

Some of the famous Saurashtra Tamils are TM Soundararajan, a Tamil playback singer and NMR Subbaraman, a freedom fighter, popularly known as ‘Madurai Gandhi.’

The programme saw the participation of Union ministers Anurag Singh Thakur, L Murugan, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president K Annamalai, Gujarat ministers Kunvarji Bavaliya, Jagdish Vishwakarma and leaders of the Saurashtra Tamil community.