CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government has issued an order mandating the singing of the official state song - Tamil Thaai Vazhthu - first in the sequence of songs to be rendered at all official events.

The GO directs that the state song should be rendered first at all public, educational, and government functions, and the directive enforces standing when the anthem is being rendered while exempting the differently-abled persons.

The GO issued by Chief Secretary M Sai Kumar on August 12 follows a unanimous resolution passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on August 10. It applies to all educational institutions, universities, government offices and public sector undertakings.

It recalled the resolution piloted by Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay, stating that the "Assembly proudly records that Tamil is the ancient classical language of the world and Tamil civilisation is one of the oldest cultural traditions in the world."

The song taken from the play 'Manonmaniam', written in 1891 by Manonmaniam Sundaranar, has been made the first song to be sung at government functions since November 23, 1970. It has been mandated that Tamil Thaai Vazhthu will be sung before the start of the event, as it has been officially recognised as the state song since December 17, 2021.

This resolution followed the Union Home Ministry's communication dated July 9, 2026, about the singing of the state anthem.