Maraimalai Adigal
Maraimalai Adigal | |
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Madras, Madras State, India |
Maraimalai Adigal (15 July 1876 – 15 September 1950) was a
Politically he was inclined towards non-
Early life
Maraimalai Adigal was born on 15 July 1876[
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
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.
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
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
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
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Dravidian Politics |
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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.
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
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.
Notes
- ^ a b c Zvelebil, p. 213
- ^ a b c d e f g Encyclopaedia of Indian literature, p. 82
- ^ a b c One Hundred Tamils of the 20th century on TamilNation.com
- ^ a b c Zvelebil, p. 214
- ^ a b c d e f Encyclopaedia of Indian literature, p. 83
- ISBN 978-81-260-1342-5.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 117
- ^ a b Vēṅkaṭācalapati, pp. 116–117
- ^ a b c Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 118
- ^ Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 119
- ^ Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 120
- ^ a b Vēṅkaṭācalapati, p. 121
- ^ Mohammed, Peer. "Rare library turns 50". Deccan Chronicle. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
References
- Encyclopaedia of Indian literature vol. 1. Sahitya Akademi. 1987. ISBN 978-81-260-1803-1.
- Vēṅkaṭācalapati, Ā. Irā (2006). In Those Days There was No Coffee. Yoda Press. pp. 116–121. ISBN 978-81-902272-7-8.
- Zvelebil, Kamil (1992). Companion Studies to the History of Tamil Literature. Brill. pp. 213–214. ISBN 978-90-04-09365-2.