Maraimalai Adigal

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Maraimalai Adigal

Maraimalai Adigal (15 July 1876 – 15 September 1950) was a

Pure Tamil movement and hence considered to be the father of Tamil linguistic purism. He advocated the use of Tamil devoid of Sanskrit
words and hence changed his birth name Vedhachalam to Maraimalai.

Politically he was inclined towards non-

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy
were shunned by Maraimalai Adigal and caused years of differences between the two. Maraimalai Adigal spent most of his income on buying his books and after his death his collection were made into a library according to his will.

Early life

Maraimalai Adigal was born on 15 July 1876[

Nagappattinam, but had to abandon his formal education with Fourth Form after his father's death.[2]


Education in Tamil literature

Maraimalai Adigal in spite of discontinuing his formal education after 9th grade, continued learning Tamil from the Tamil scholar Narayana Pillai, who was making his livelihood by selling Tamil palm-leaf manuscripts.

Career

At the age of seventeen, he married Soundaravalli and soon after his marriage, he moved to

Madras to work as a sub-editor to a journal Siddantha Deepikai. Later, in March 1898, he quit this job to work with V. G. Suryanarana Sastri as a teacher in Madras Christian College. In his time in Madras Christian College he toured throughout Tamil Nadu giving lectures on Saivam.[2] At about the same time he started a society for Saivam called Saiva Siddhanta Maha Samajam.[3] As a young teacher he was popular with his students who would visit his house to listen to his lectures.[1]

In 1910 a decision was made by the Madras University to make the vernacular Tamil language optional for graduation in Arts subjects, leaving English as a medium of education. This decision caused many Tamil teachers to lose their jobs. Realising the vast knowledge and his great capacity as a teacher, Miller, the then Head of Christian College Madras, and other friends insisted that Adigal be given a job in the college. As the opportunity to teach Tamil was considerably reduced and few students opted to study it, the need for a full-time teacher was not a required. Adigal refused the offer and resigned to lead an ascetic life in a serene atmosphere outside the city and to study and do research in Tamil.[citation needed]

Works in Tamil literature

Apart from being a good orator, Adigal composed several Tamil poems.

Abhijñānaśākuntalam' into Tamil as Sakuntalai.[3]

Some of his prominent works include:[4]

  • Pattinapalaai Aaraaichi-yurai (1906)
  • Tamizhthaai (1933)
  • Sinthanaikatturaikal (1908)
  • Arivuraikkothu (1921)
  • Chiruvarkaana Senthamizh (1934)
  • Ilainarkaana Inramizh (1957 – posthumous publication)
  • Arivuraikkovai (1971 – posthumous publication)
  • Maraimalaiyatikal paamanaikkovai (1977 – posthumous publication)

In 1911, he published his first novel, Kumuthavalli allathu Naahanaattarasi, an adaptation of English novel Leela by

G. W. M. Reynolds.[4]

He also wrote books on the subjects of self-improvement, self-help and personality development. These included Maranathin pin Manithar Nilai (Human Life stage After Death), Mesmerism and Hypnotism and Tholaivil unarthal (Telepathy).

As Swami Vedhachalam

After quitting his teaching job on 10 April 1911, Adigal moved to Pallavaram, a suburb of Madras. There he began to dress as a

Saivam
and started an institution named Podhunilaik Kazhagam. The motto of the institution was set at Ondre Kulam, Oruvanae Devan (Mankind is one, and God is one). The Kazhagam made efforts to make people of all castes, creeds and religions to worship Sri Siva together. He started the Thiru Murugan Press (TM Press) in his residence at Pallavaram and published a number of books and magazines. He also started a monthly called Gnaana Saaharam (Ocean of Wisdom).
[2]

Pure Tamil movement Tanittamil Iyakkam

In the year 1916 he became an expert of pure Tamil movement advocating the use of Tamil language devoid of loan words from Sanskrit. Thus he changed the name of Gnaana Saaharam to Arivukkadal and his title of Swami Vedhachalam to Maraimalai Adigal (where Adigal is Tamil for Swami).[5] Thus he is referred to as the "Father of Tamil Puritanism".[5][6][7]

Maraimalai Adigal and Self-respect movement

Non-Brahminism

Apart from being called as the father of pure Tamil movement, Maraimalai Adigal is also considered to be the father of Non-Brahmin Tamil movements.

Brahmins. Saivism too doesn't like the Aryan Brahmins one bit... The Self-respect movement wishes to uplift the depressed classes. That is also the basic idea of Saivism.... The Self-respect movement is against caste differences among the Tamil people. Saivism too emphasizes the same point... when there are so many commonalities, why should Saivism and Saivite apostles be deprecated and condemned [by the Self-respect movement].[9]

Differences with Self-respect movement

Although initially a supporter of the Self-respect movement, which he saw as a non-Brahmin movement, he vehemently opposed the atheistic views of its leadership. At one stage he asked Ulaganatha Mudaliar, brother of

Self-respect movement is a Vaishnavite; his brother too, we come to understand, is a Vaishnavite who has converted many gullible Saivites to Vaishnavism. Their accomplices too are Vaishnavites. Some of the Justice Party leaders too are Vaishnavites. Moreover, not only are they Vaishnavites, they are also Telugu-speakers.[10]

Kalyanasundara Mudaliar, although a Saivite himself, disagreed with Maraimalai Adigal. Kalyanasundaram refused to publish Maraimalai Adigal's essay against Self-respect movement in his journal.[10] The antipathy between Maraimalai Adigal and the members of Self-respect movement was also explicit with Kudiarasu, the political organ of Self-respect movement claiming that Maraimalai Adigal was calling for Periyar to be murdered.[11]

Reconciliation

Eventually after years of disagreement, both Maraimalai Adigal and Periyar realised that the disagreement is harmful for their interest and worked towards a rapprochement.[12] Periyar offered an unconditional apology to Maraimalai Adigal and in reply, Maraimalai Adigal wrote a series on the Ramayana in Periyar's English language weekly Revolt.[13] Although the apology and reconciliation were at a personal level between Periyar and Maraimalai Adigal, the difference in ideologies still made their followers to cross swords.[13]

Maraimalai Adigal Library

Maraimalai Adigal spent most of his income on buying books.

Burma and Malaysia.[5] Upon his death, on 15 September 1950,[3] according to his will, the books were left for the people of Tamil Nadu and thus a library named after him was started in 1958 by the then MD, Padmashri V.Subbiah Pillai of South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society Ltd. at Linghi Street, Chennai. by adding more no of rare collection of Tamil books[5] The library was a repertoire of books and journals, some printed way back in 1779. In May 2008, the Tamil Nadu Government helped by allocating a space at Connemara Public Library but the library management is still with the present MD Rajagopal Muthukumaraswamy of South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society.[14]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Zvelebil, p. 213
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Encyclopaedia of Indian literature, p. 82
  3. ^ a b c One Hundred Tamils of the 20th century on TamilNation.com
  4. ^ a b c Zvelebil, p. 214
  5. ^ a b c d e f Encyclopaedia of Indian literature, p. 83
  6. .
  7. ^ a b Vaitheespara, R The Question of Colonialism and Imperialism in Tamil Nationalist Thought: The Case of Maraimalai Adigal (1876-1950) Archived 20 May 2009 at the Wayback Machine Tamil Studies Conference. Toronto, Canada.
  8. ^ Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 117
  9. ^ a b Vēṅkaṭācalapati, pp. 116–117
  10. ^ a b c Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 118
  11. ^ Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 119
  12. ^ Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 120
  13. ^ a b Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 121
  14. ^ Mohammed, Peer. "Rare library turns 50". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2009.

References