I have addressed one of the emerging themes concerning modern Tamil socio-cultural history, namely the reproduction and reception of classical Tamil literature at the intersection of print/publishing history, social change and colonial modernisation. I attempt to provide the summary of chapters and highlight in particular the significant findings, questions that have been raised for future research and the limitations of the present study.

The second and third chapters which formed the first portion of the book focused on the socio-economic and cultural history of the reproduction of classical Tamil literature. It dealt with the long-term historical understanding of how the classics were handed down or transmitted in Tamil literary tradition. The Tamil literary field of the pre-modern period was closely interacting with the other historical forces that necessitated moving away from purely literary history to enquiries on literary cultures in history and socio-economic and cultural history. The unified and narratable history of Tamil literature, especially the history of classics encapsulating the ‘totality’, was made possible by extending the field of enquiry to literary cultures in history and socioeconomic and cultural history. I have dealt with a variety of source materials ranging from the collections of Colin Mackenzie to the early modern commentaries to the medieval Tamil grammar book Nannool. The chapter pointed out that instead of reproducing the self-perception of the editors/publishers of classical Tamil literature during colonial Tamil Nadu as representing the ‘total’ history of the processes leading to the reproduction of classics from manuscript tradition to print forms, it is necessary to read their works critically.