The Chief Minister, describing the Tamil Vs Sanskrit North as a 2000-year-old war, made it clear that the DMK government was making every effort to keep aloft Tamil antiquity and pride.

Chief Minister and DMK president M.K. Stalin on Sunday reaffirmed that the Tamil region was both the birthplace and the height of Indian civilisation, stating that archaeological findings clearly support this claim. He said the Porunai Museum, the second museum established by his government in Tirunelveli, was created to scientifically affirm the antiquity of Tamil civilisation.

Referring to what he described as a 2,000-year-old Tamil–Sanskrit conflict, Stalin said the DMK government remains committed to preserving Tamil history and pride.

“Our culture is unique and progressive. The Tamil land was the cradle and the pinnacle of civilisation in the Indian subcontinent. We have literary proof, and through archaeological excavations we are now scientifically validating these claims. That is why sites like Porunai and Keezhadi are so important,” he said while addressing a government event in Palayamkottai, a day after inaugurating the museum.

He accused the BJP-led Union government of obstructing Tamil Nadu’s archaeological efforts, claiming it seeks to suppress evidence that supports Tamil antiquity. “They block excavations and refuse to publish findings that prove our history. Our struggle is against those who harbour hostility toward the Tamil language and people. Those searching for the mythical Saraswati civilisation refuse to acknowledge our discoveries,” he said, adding that the fight to protect Tamil history cannot be abandoned.

Stalin also invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to visit the Porunai Museum and see the evidence firsthand.

He said the Porunai Museum and the Keezhadi museum near Madurai aim to bring Tamil history and heritage closer to the public. In a post on X, he added that understanding history enables people to shape the future, describing Porunai as a lasting symbol of Tamil antiquity and a global heritage site for Tamils.

Spread across 13 acres and built at a cost of ₹62 crore, the Porunai Museum houses artefacts from Sivagalai—considered the world’s oldest Iron Age site, predating Anatolia—as well as findings from Athichanallur in Tirunelveli. The museum is named after Porunai, the ancient name of the Thamirabarani river, long regarded as a cradle of civilisation. Archaeology, he said, has become central to Tamil pride.

The museum displays Iron Age tools from Sivagalai that push back the timeline of iron smelting by over a thousand years, along with skulls, burial urns, and pots inscribed in ancient Tamil (Tamizhi) script, believed to predate Ashokan Brahmi. Artefacts from Korkai, the historic port city of the Pandya kingdom, are also exhibited.

For the DMK and Tamil scholars, the Sivagalai findings represent a major shift in understanding Tamil antiquity, challenging the conventional Iron Age timeline of 1800 BCE based on discoveries in Uttar Pradesh.

Earlier this year, while releasing the Sivagalai excavation report supported by carbon dating, Stalin declared that iron production began in Tamil Nadu over 5,300 years ago. “I announce to the world that iron smelting technology originated in Tamil land. We are scientifically proving our history to those who dismissed our literature as non-evidence,” he said.