The Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT), Chennai, is an autonomous institution under the Ministry of Education, Government of India, dedicated exclusively to the promotion, preservation, research, and dissemination of Classical Tamil. The Institute serves as a premier Centre of Excellence for advancing scholarly studies on the Classical phase of Tamil, spanning from the earliest periods to approximately 900 CE, thereby highlighting the antiquity, uniqueness, and universal significance of Tamil civilization. CICT promotes multidisciplinary research through specialized domains including Literature, Linguistics, Translation Studies, Archaeology, Epigraphy, Numismatics, Manuscriptology, Lexicography, Art and Architecture, History, Sociology, Anthropology, Overseas Tamil Studies, and Language Education.
