MADURAI: The second Karisal Literary festival began at Sivakasi in Virudhunagar district on Saturday.

Minister for Finance, and Environment and Climate Change Thangam Thennarasu inaugurated the two-day literary festival. District Collector VP Jeyaseelan was also present at the event.

‘Karisal’ denotes ‘Black soil’ or ‘Black cotton soil,’ which depicts aspects of rural life in this part of the region that were reflected in Tamil literature. The festival also highlights the rural life sustained by agriculture.

The black soil region, which is conducive to growing crops, described the way of the life of peasants in those days, sources said.