The Department of Tamil has been functioning since the establishment of the Institute. When the Institute was declared as Deemed University in 1976, the Department of Tamil was upgraded into a School of Tamil, Indian Languages and Rural Arts. Part-I Language Tamil is being offered as a compulsory subject to students of all Degree programmes of the Institute. PG programme in Tamil and Indian Literature is also being offered from 1984. Ph.D. Programme in Tamil was started in the year 1990. M.Phil. Programme in Tamil was started in the year 2008. Comparative Indian Literature, Translation, Folklore and Media Studies are the thrust areas of research and instruction. Established a museum on National Poet Subramaniya Bharathiyar in the year 2016. Recently Research Centres on Diaspora Studies, Tribal Languages and Cultural Research and Indian Knowledge System has been established.