Groups
Tamizhagam was divided into political regions called Perunadu or “Great country”, “nadu” means country.
There were three important political regions which were Chera Nadu, Chozha Nadu and Pandya Nadu . Thondai Nadu which was under Chola Nadu, later emerged as independent Pallava Nadu by 6th century CE.
The Pandyan dynasty ruled parts of South India until the late 17th century. The heartland of the Pandyas was the fertile valley of the Vaigai River. They initially ruled their country from Korkai, a seaport on the southernmost tip of the Indian Peninsula, and in later times moved to Madurai.
The Chola dynasty ruled from before the Sangam period (~3rd century BCE) until the 13th century in central Tamil Nadu. The heartland of the Cholas was the fertile valley of the Kaveri.
The Chera dynasty ruled from before the Sangam period (~3rd century) until the 12th century over an area corresponding to modern-day western Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The Pallava dynasty was an Indian dynasty that existed from 275 CE to 897 CE, ruling a portion of southern India. Pallavas became a major power during the reign of Mahendravarman I (571–630 CE) and Narasimhavarman I (630–668 CE) and dominated the Telugu and northern parts of the Tamil region for about 600 years until the end of the 9th century.
To know more about Tamil dynasties please refer to the below link
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Tamil_monarchs
https://www.nationalgeographic.org/article/three-crowned-kings-tamilakam/
Based on this, we have assigned each of our students to one of the above four dynasties. House points for behaviour and academic progression/achievement are given to students and summed up for comparison between the groups. These house points are calculated for the entire academic year and this helps kids focus on group loyalty. Points are tallied at the end of the class and monthly update is given to the students.
Thanks to Dr Jaiganesh Sivaprakasam for this wonderful suggestion to encourage enthusiastic participation from students.
Groups with the highest cumulative points get an award at the end of the academic year, in our Semmozhi Tamil School annual day.