Department of Tamil The Department of Tamil was established in 1923. Prof. Punnaivana Mudhaliar was the head of the department. In 1957 Rev.Fr.Rajamanickam S.J joined the department. During his 15 years of service M.A Tamil course was introduced. In 1971 Fr.Michael Irudyam S.J. joined the department. In 1973 Fr.Rajamanickam left for Loyola. His place was taken by Rev.Dr.V.M.Gnanapragasam S.J. Soon he left the institution and his place was occupied by Dr.Kamatchinathan on a contract basis. Fr.Gnanapragasam returned and assumed office as head of the department.
Efficient teachers like Dr.K.P.Aravanan, Dr.Thamilavan, Dr.Rajgowthaman, Dr.Valanarasu, Prof.R.C.Kumar, Dr.Mariaselvam, Dr.Kesavaraj, Dr.Balasubramania contributed to the growth of the Department with great dedication and sincerity. In 1981 the Department was recognised as a research centre by Madurai Kamaraj University. Fr.Gnanapragasam returned and assumed office as head of the department. He elevated the department to a research centre in Tamil. In 1987 M.Phil. was started. When he retired Dr.Innaci was promoted head of the dept. Soon Dr.Innaci left the institution to head the Christian chair in Madras University. In 1984, Prof.Ponnarasu became the head of the department. He put in 27 years of dedicated service. After prof. Ponnarasu, Dr.S.D.Lordu became the Head of the Department. In this period the Department organized many national seminars. In 1988 Dr.Joseph Sundarajan became the Head of the Department. In 1995 Prof. P.Jeyaraman was appointed head of the dept. After his retirement, Prof. N.Sivasubramanian became the Head of the Department. He served as the Editor of Tamil Research Magazine ‘Melum.’ He organised many National Seminars. In 2003 Rev.Dr.Lourdusamy, S.J., a member of the Department, became the Principal of the college. At that time B.A.Tamil was started in the self-financing stream. Dr.Joseph Irudhaya Xavier was promoted Head of the Department in 2006. He published 7 books. In 2012 Prof.Mony became the Head of the Department. After his retirement, Dr.Francis Xavier was promoted head of the Department in Iune 2016. All the 11 professors in the department have Ph.D. and are pursuing research, guiding research scholars.