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Synopsis The volumes of the Project on the History of Science, Philosophy and Culture in Indian Civilization aim at discovering the main aspects of India's heritage and present them in an interrelated way. These volumes, in spite of their unitary look, recognize the difference between the areas of material civilization and those of ideational culture. The Project is not being executed by a single group of thinkers and writers who are methodologically uniform or ideologically identical in their commitments. In fact, contributions are made by different scholars with different ideological persuasions and methodological approaches. The project is marked by what may be called 'methodological pluralism'.

In spite of its primary historical character, this project both in its conceptualization and execution, has been shaped by many scholars drawn from different disciplines. It is for the first time that an endeavour of such a unique and comprehensive character has been undertaken to study critically a major world civilization like India.

This volume, which is Part II of the Life-world of the Tamils: Past and Present, tries to bring out the material civilization and the spiritual culture of the life-world of the Tamils from 13 century down to the present time. It covers the commentarial tradition on Saivism and Vaisnavism, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata; the development of the Tamil Literature from 13 century; the Islamic and Christian contributions to Tamil; social and cultural critique of every day life contained in Tamil novels, short stories, and journals; political parties and reform movements towards political, social, economic justice; and the spiritual and cultural heritage of the Tamils.

Thus, the life-world of the Tamils, past and present, has been discussed in detail in two volumes running to nearly 2000 pages. This part, like the previous one, will be of interest not only to students and scholars of philosophy, but also to social philosophers and cultural historians.