after the dravidian parties came to power in the 1967 madras state elections, the kumari kandam theory was disseminated more widely through school and college textbooks. in 1971, the government of tamil nadu established a formal committee to write the history of "tamilakam" (ancient tamil territory). the state education minister r. nedunceliyan declared in the legislative assembly that by "history", he meant "from the time of lemuria that was seized by the ocean".