From Bharati's dream of connecting the poets of Kashi and Kanchi to a nationwide effort to take the Thirukkural to 1,000 campuses, the fifth Kashi Tamil Sangamam seeks to turn a shared cultural heritage into a living bond across India
Subramania Bharati lived at Hanuman Ghat between 1898 and 1902 and dreamt of a device that would let Kanchi hear the poets of Kashi. A century on, the Kashi Tamil Sangamam is a version of that device. Its fifth edition opens at Namo Ghat in Varanasi on November 28 and runs until December 12. This time the whole event is built around one book, the Thirukkural.
Why Kashi and Tamil Nadu? Tamil classics from the Silappathikaram to the Thevaram mention Kashi. In the 17th century, Kumaraguruparar of the Dharmapuram Adheenam founded a mutt at Kedar Ghat. A Pandya king built a temple at Tenkasi, the "southern Kashi". Tamil weddings still include the "Kasi Yatra" ritual, and a pilgrimage to Kashi is considered complete only with a visit to Rameswaram.
The Ministry of Education started the Sangamam in 2022 under the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat initiative to rediscover these links. It aims to bring two knowledge traditions together, introduce Tamil and its classics across India and connect young people with that heritage. IIT Madras and Banaras Hindu University are the nodal institutions. The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT), Chennai, leads outreach.
Each edition has had a theme. The first, a month-long event at BHU in November-December 2022, put the bond between Kashi and Tamil Nadu on display. KTS 2.0 moved to Namo Ghat in December 2023 to deepen knowledge and cultural ties. KTS 3.0, in February 2025, celebrated Sage Agastya's contribution to Indian knowledge. KTS 4.0 last December had the theme "Tamil Karkalam" (Let Us Learn Tamil). It sent Tamil teachers into Varanasi schools, took 300 students from the Kashi region on a study tour of Tamil Nadu, ran an expedition from Tenkasi to Kashi and closed at Rameswaram.
Every edition follows a similar pattern. Delegations travel north from Tamil Nadu, made up of students, teachers, writers and journalists, farmers, artisans, professionals, women and spiritual leaders. They visit temples and ghats, attend sessions with scholars and watch cultural performances.
KTS 5.0 has the theme "Thirukkural Payilvom - Thirukkural Abhyas Karen". It will bring about 1,400 participants from Tamil Nadu in seven groups of roughly 200. Each group gets an eight-day programme: four days of travel and four days of visits and sessions across Varanasi, Prayagraj and Ayodhya.
The boldest part of the plan reaches beyond Varanasi. One student from each of 1,000 colleges and universities will learn the Thirukkural in their own mother tongue and carry it back to campus. CICT has published the text in 35 translations, and its app covers all 22 Eighth Schedule languages. A student in Kashmir and one in Kanyakumari can study the same couplet on the same day. Experts from Tamil Nadu will hold sessions and quizzes in Varanasi's schools and colleges, and the National Book Trust will run reading activities.
The choice of text is shrewd. The Thirukkural's 1,330 couplets name no religion, king or country, which is why Jains, Buddhists, Shaivites and Vaishnavites have all claimed Valluvar.
Because it is built around such a book, the Sangamam could grow from a ceremony into real curiosity. Whether it does will depend on what those 1,000 students take home.