RENAISSANCE OF TAMIL LITERATURE DURING THE JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION IN MADRAS PRESIDENCY (1920-1937)

IRJMST Vol 5 Issue 8 [Year 2014] ISSN 2250 – 1959 (0nline) 2348 – 9367 (Print)

International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology http://www.irjmst.com 49

RENAISSANCE OF TAMIL LITERATURE DURING THE JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION

IN MADRAS PRESIDENCY (1920-1937)

Dr. H.K. SULAIMAN KHAN Assistant Professor

P.G. & Research Department of History

C.Abdul Hakeem College (Autonomous)

Melvisharam-632509, Vellore District

E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Renaissance means re-birth or revival. In this article focussed how the Tamil language attainted

revival through Tamil literature during the Justice administration in Madras Presidency. There are

number of researches going on Tamil language and literature in worldwide but there is no substantial

research onrenaissance of Tamil literature during the Justice administration in Madras Presidency from

1920 to 1937. The plenty of primary and secondary sources are available in the Tamilnadu State

Archives, Egmore, Chennai,encouraged me undertook research on this topic. During the Justice

administration, National movement was headed by Gandhiji and non-Brahmin movement, self-respect

movement and pure Tamil movement was headed by PeriyarRamasaminaicker and Maraimalai

Adigalwhich paved the way for the revival of Tamil language through Tamil literature. Hence it is an

attempt to enumerate conditions of social, political, economic, religious, art and so on with the help of

the catalogue of the registered books from 1916 to 1937 published by the government of madras,

Administrative reports of the Madras Presidency 1916-1937, Public Department Government Orders,

Native Newspaper reports, Fortnightly Reports and so on.

Tamil is the oldest language of India. The period between Sangam and the end of 19th

century

Tamil language and literature got substantial growth. During the Sangam age Tamil literature flourished.

In the Pallava period, Sanskrit language attained importance. During the period of Imperial Chola‟s and

Pandiya‟s developments occurred. But after the advent of the Marathas in Tanjore, Tamil language got

little importance. Such kind of position continued in the Nayak‟s and Nawab‟s period. During this

Telugu, Urdu and Arabic attained importance. But after the coming of the Europeans particularly the

Britisher‟s, English got importance. But still Tamil maintained its position far and even a number of new

Tamil literature emerged. Besides Bhakti Movement and contributions of Muslim and Christian

missionaries to Tamil, made a significant role for the revival of Tamil language and literature. During

the British rule, the language of Sanskrit, Telugu, Tamil and Urdu were not omitted, but English

language became the official and court language. Though the Tamil people lost their political power

since 1801 onwards, but did not lose their cultural and religious heritage. During the 19th

century Socio-

Religious reform movement was occurring in the North India gave the boost of the people and their

languages1. In Tamilnadu, Socio-Religious reform movement first headed by

VadalurVallalarRamalingaSwamigal, founder of the SamarasaSukthaSanmargaSangam and preached

mailto:[email protected]


International Research Journal of Management Science & Technology http://www.irjmst.com Page 150

oneness of soul. He paved the way for Cultural Revolution and nationalistic rising in Tamilnadu. His

celebrated works on Tamil literature such as ThiruArutppa and prose work on JivakarunyaOlukkam,

Four Applications and MahaUpadesam were the secular Tamil literature and he played a vital role for

the growth of language and patriotism2. Another person MayuramVedanayagam Pillai preached rights of

language and his celebrated work is SarvaSamayaSamarasaKirthanaigal, KavithaiIllakiyam and novel of

PrathabaMudaliyarCharithiram. It is the first Tamil novel. Another person Gopala Krishna Barathi was

the contemporary of above mentioned two persons and his celebrating work is NanthanarCharithiram. It

was against the feudal lordism and orthodox theories3. Furthermore the Sangam classics were originally

handed over from generation to generation by recitation. Palmyra leaves were used as writing materials.

This practice continued till the introduction of the printing press. It is unfortunate that none, either

scholars or local Princes or Zamindars, had taken any effort to collect those manuscripts and preserve

them in libraries. They were in fact, under the custody of private individuals who allowed them to be

eaten away by moth. Due to negligence numerous volumes of literature perished. When the boon of

printing press was made available, the Tamil scholars felt the necessity of bringing the literary works

written on Palm leaves to print. In this respect the endeavours of ArumughaNavalar, Damodaram Pillai

of Jaffna and V. SwaminathaIyer are praise worthy4. A large number of books of ancient literature

which had fallen into oblivion had been discovered by the endeavours of Scholars, which revealed to the

world the ancient glory, richness and splendour of the Tamil literature. It cannot be denied that it also

brought about a great change in the outlook of Tamil scholars who elaborated the picture of an early and

once widespread Dravidian Civilisation, which was different culture and distinct from the Aryan and

Sanskrit.

Of the enthusiasts who worked out theories regarding the antiquity of the Dravidians, P.

Sundaram Pillai‟s Manonmaniyam, a modern drama got high rank of Tamil language. He contended that

it was Tamil that ruled over the entire world before Sanskrit came to the south.

ParithimarKalaingar‟sHistory of Tamil language and NadagaIyalwere most celebrated works. V.

Kanakasabhai Pillai‟s The Tamil’s 1800 Years ago, the theories, propounded by Rev. Robert Caldwell

found explicit exposition in the writings of Tamil savants like MaraimalaiAdigal and Soma

SundaraBharathi and the lyrics of C. SubramaniaBharathi all collectively contributed for the renaissance

of Tamil language and literature5. In this regard several literary works in Tamil came into existence.

They changed the opinion of the people both about their past and their future. There was a string belief

among the emerging elite that the Tamil society had lost all its past glory and splendour because of the

Brahmins. The availability of a large amount of literature of the golden age not only inculcated in them

the Dravidian consciousness but also reinforced the doctrine of dual cultures (Aryan and Dravidian) in

the Hindu civilisation.

The observations of these savants on the ancient religion of Tamil had a significant influence on

the non-Brahmin Tamil scholars who stirred up to evidence an active interest in knowing the glory of

their own cultural and religious heritage. As a corollary, a good number of Tamil Sangams sprang up in

various cities of the Tamil country with the avowed object of reviving Tamil language and literature.

The most conspicuous was the one organised at Madurai in 1901 under the patronage of

PandithuraiDevar, the Zamindar of Palavanatham. Its journals namely Sentamil did commendable

service to the growth and development of the Tamil literature. Another Tamil Sangam which also strove

to promote the study of Tamil classics, was the one established by T.Ramakrishna Pillai and

C.R.NamasivayaMudaliyar at Madras in 1907. The services rendered by these forums for the

resuscitation of Tamil literature were remarkable6.



During the administration of the British in Madras Presidency, clashes occurred between the

Brahmins and non-Brahmins regarding own sect development with British government. Hence non-

Brahmin movement and Dravidian concept came into existence7. So that new association formed by

non-Brahmins namely South India Welfare Association on 26th

November 1916 and this association

slowly converted into political party called Justice Party. It had three journals such as AndaraPrakashika

in Telugu, Justice in English and Dravidian in Tamil through this non-Brahmins got awareness. By this

time numbers of Tamil articles were published in Dravidian8. In 1919 Montague-Chelmsford reform act

was passed by British Government. According to this, first election was conducted in Madras Presidency

in December 1920. During this time Non-Cooperation movement started by Gandhiji, boycott of

election was one of the programmes of non-cooperation movement. The Congress party did not

participate in the election. Hence the justice party easily won the election and formed the Ministry from

1920 to 19379. The Ministry of the justice party were mostly Telugu speaking persons and one or two

persons like Subarayan and others were the Tamil speaking person who administered the justice party.

During the Justice Administration, Freedom movement going on one side headed by Gandhiji and non-

Brahmin movement, Self-respect movement and Pure Tamil movement are going on another side under

the leadership of PeriyarE.V.RamasamyNayakar which paved the way for the re-birth of Tamil

language. In this paper it is aimed to bring out the renaissance of Tamil language and literature during

Justice Administration in Tamilnadu 1920-1937.

Tamil literature lists in the form of Poetry, Fiction, Drama, Periodicals covering the subject of

religion, biography, philosophy, politics, art, astrology, astronomy, science, maths, medicine and so on.

During the Justice Administration, number of Tamil works on above mentioned classification emerged.

We identified the renaissance of Tamil literature during the year between 1920 to 1937. Furthermore

during the Justice Administration, Government of Madras published catalogue of registered books from

1916 to 1920 and 1921 to 1925 through this, we clearly find out the revival of Tamil language and

literature and also Government of Madras publish „Report on the administration of the Madras

Presidency for the year from 1920-1937 through this we authentically analysed statistical and

registration point of view. Furthermore, Public Department Government Orders, Native Newspaper

Report and Fortnightly Reports are useful to analysing of the revival of Tamil literature during the

Justice Administration.

The formulation of the concept of Dravidian civilisation quickly became involved not only with

a full scale attack on the Brahmin‟s cultural position but also with political issues. Members of both the

Justice Party and the Madras Presidency Association rapidly absorbed the prevailing cultural theories

about Dravidian antiquity and more they part of their program. The Justice Party in particularly held as

part of its fundamental ideology those non-Brahmins were Dravidians and as such were distinct from the

so-called Aryan Brahmins. P.Tiyagarajachetti, addressing the first Justice Party conference in Madras in

late 1917, said, “The genius of Dravidian Civilisation does not recognise the difference between man

and man by birth. The leaders of Dravidian thought, Thiruvalluvar, Avvai, Kambar, do not claim to be

born from the brain of the God-head. It is the Aryans who have introduced this birth distinction, which

they have elaborated into system of Varnashrama Dharma with its concomitant evils”. Another Justice

member, Tangavelu Pillai, who refused to employ Brahmins as priests, stated on a non-Brahman

conference at Madurai, the cradle of the Dravidian civilisation and literature. The progress and

development of the Dravidas were indissolubly bound up with the growth and development of public

life in the ancient city, which has been the seat of social, educational and political growth of the

community10

.



The Justice Party made a number of achievements during its administration. The important one is

preference given to Dravidian languages, in which the University of Madras abolished the study of

Vernacular languages as per the new regulations which came into force in 1911-1912. Languages such

as Sanskrit, Urdu, Persia and Arabic were given importance and taught both at B.A. and B.A., Honours

levels, but the Dravidian Languages were completely omitted from the curricula. Many were openly

making a demand in the Senate of the University for the Re-introduction of vernaculars as part of the

curricula. The University, which was stubborn and unyielding resolved to maintain the status quo,

stating that it was “Unnecessary and undesirable to recast the existing general scheme of courses”11

. It

created a storm of protests from the public and the political parties. The Justice Party which stood for the

causes of the vernaculars from its formation did not fail to depreciate what the Senate of the University

had done with regard to vernaculars. T.C.Thangavelu Pillai moved a resolution in the Fourth Non-

Brahmin Confederation expressing gave concern over the unfair treatment out to the Dravidian

languages in the University. The resolution ran as follows, “That this confederation urges the authorities

concerned that the Dravidian languages like Sanskrit and Arabic, in order that the official careers like

the Indian Civil Service, now open only to students of certain languages conventionally called Classical,

may be available for students of Dravidian languages as well12

. It is apparent from the above resolution

that the justice administration was very much interested in promoting the interests of the Dravidian

languages and elevating them to the level of Sanskrit. This resolution dispels another misconception that

the leaders of the Justice Party were strong advocates of English language. It should be admitted that the

elite of the party used that language to a great extent and even the proceedings of the conferences and

meetings were all in English. They adopted resolutions in the same language. Their aim was to convey

much about their programmes to the ruling English race and the English knowing officials rather than to

the public for whose welfare they had been fighting all long. Therefore it cannot be said that the Justice

Party neglected the native languages in preference to English. It was adopted more as the official

language of India than as the language of the ruling race.

Justice Party commitment to the encouragement of Tamil and Tamil studies took a number of

different forms in the years that followed. When a proposal for a Tamil University was under

consideration, M.S.Purnalingam Pillai, a noted Tamil scholar who was Secretary of the Tamil University

Committee, moved at a justice confederation in December 1925, that the Government should in the year

future grant to the Tamil districts a university to encourage the growth of the Tamil language, as well as

the development of historical consciousness among Tamilans13

. T.N.Sivagnanam Pillai (Justice Minister

of Development, 1923-1926) frequently stressed the need for a Tamil University, which as he pointed

out, had been advocated for almost a decade. Furthermore, echoing arguments that had first been given

currency by Caldwell, many non-Brahmins accused Brahmins of injecting Tamil region with idols and

foreign Vedic doctrines. Many non-Brahmin caste-Hindus in the Justice Party wished to encourage the

„SaivaSiddhanta‟ religious system, which had for its chief cannon “The Twelve Tirumurai” in Tamil,

which claimed to be distinctive from the teachings of Sankara in its belief in a separate identity of the

Supreme spirit and the human. One of the chief proponents was J.M.NallaswamiPillI, a Tamil Vellala

and Government official (the father of J.N.Ramanathan, a prominent exponent of Tamil interests in the

Justice Party14

).

There were many other occasions when Tamil caste Hindus in the non-Brahmin movement came

out strongly in favour of SaivaSiddhanta as the original Tamil religion. C.NatesaMudaliar, for instance,

in the debate on the Hindu Religious Endowments Bill, said that SaivaSiddhanta was the “prehistoric

religion of the Dravidians, which stands now as independent as it was thousands of year‟s ago15

. On

another occasion, when the proposed appointment of a Reader in Indian Philosophy at Madras



University was being discussed in the University Senate, a dispute broke out between S.Satyamurthi and

T.A.RamalingamChetti, about SaivaSiddhanta as a System of Philosophy peculiar to Tamilnadu.

RamalingamChetti, a former Justice member, insisted that if a Readership in Philosophy were to be

established in the University it should be in “South Indian Philosophy” or Tamil SaivaSiddhanta.

Satymurthi opposed him, arguing that simply because the bulk of Indian Philosophy was written in

Sanskrit was hardly a valid reason for not studying it16

.

The distinguished Vellala historian M.S.Purnalingam Pillai was one of those who considered

SaivaSiddhanta to be a great Tamilian contribution to world culture, and he explained in his book

“Tamil Literature”, “The SaivaSiddhanta System is the indigenous philosophy of South India and the

choicest product of the Tamilian intellect. The system does not recognise the Aryan limitation of Siva as

the destroyer, but considers Him (rather it) as the author of functions, creation, protection, destruction,

grace, and release this high and noble system based on the Agamas or Saiva scriptures, was corrupted by

the Puranic writers, whose sole object was to reconcile the Vedas and theAgamas, and in, so doing, to

give the palm to the former. Hence the modern Saivism is full of the lovely creations of the Puranic

fancy and contains all the inconsistencies and improbabilities of the Aryan Pantheism. The

Tamilars(Tamilians) overborne by the political ascendancy of the Aryans, accepted the system, which

stained the white radiance of their philosophical faith, and popularised it, though it was quite against

their grain”17

.

Furthermore, the Tamil Vellalas were indeed, of all the non-Brahmins castes Hindu groups, the

ones most anxious to shed the Sudra designation. And since they formed the backbone of the Justice

Party, their social and political resentments were closely intertwined. They were second as a caste group

only to the Brahmins, and thus in a position to feel particularly threatened by the Tamil Brahmans. In

certain areas such as Tirunelveli district, a seat of Vellala strength, they were almost as orthodox as the

Brahmins. And they were in an ideal position to reap the advantages, if the Brahmins were toppled.

Another element that added a sense of dynamism to their conflict with the Brahmans was the

identification of the Vellalas with the original Dravidians, an identification that they liked to assert by

using the term „Tamilar‟ or „Tamilians‟, by which vellalas are commonly referred to in Tamil. M.

SrinivasaIyengar a Tamil Sri Vaishnava Brahmin, Popularised this identification to some extent in his

work „Tamil Studies‟ or “Essays on the History of the Tamil People, Language, Religion and

Literature”, but it was carried furthest by Swami Vedachalam (1875-1950) also known as

MaraimalaiAdigal. In a Tamil work called “VellalarNagarikam” Published in 1923, Swami

Vedachalam declaimed at length against Brahmans. Using the „Tolkapiyam‟ and other Tamil works as

his sources, he argued that the Brahmans had come to the Tamil country, established their caste system

under a code of Manu, and relegated all Dravidians to positions of servility and degradation. Unlike

other parts of India where there were Kshatriyas and Vaisyas, the Tamil speaking areas had been forced

by the Aryan Brahmins into a strict division of Brahmin and non-Brahmin, all the non-Brahmin caste

Hindus being classed as Sudras and kept down by means of vicious laws like many other writers, Swami

Vedachalam identified the vellalas with the ancient Dravidians, the heirs of a proud and great

civilisation. Thus the Vellalas got a myth of their origins and degradation, from which they developed a

strong drive for a sense of identity and cultural self-confidence. S. SomasundaraBharathi argued that in

pamphlet entitled „Tamil Classics and Tamilagam’, the author of the most famous Tamil work the

„Thirukural‟ published in 1929 in which Vellalar rather that and outcaste as was commonly supposed.

E.V. RamasamiNaicker played a significant role through in his self-respect movement to revival

of Tamil language and literature. In the late 1920‟s the self-respect journals to publicize the ideas and



writings of Ramalingaswami. In 1929, the KudiArasu Press, owned by E.V. RamasamiNaicker,

published a collection of songs from Ramalingaswami‟s „Tiruvarutpa’, edited by a biographer of

RamaswamiNaicker named „Swami Chidambaranar‟. The KudiArasu newspaper stated that, the

Tiruvarutpa contains all the matter related to self-respecters, casted, religion, the shastras moksha, hell

and gods, all written many years ago by Ramalingaswami.18

This book called

“RamalingaswamigalPadalTirattu” concerned with the inequities imposed by religion and society in

Tamil Nadu19

. Although the verses were presented as they have come down to us, poetic devices such

as Sandhi or the joining of words to meet the metre specifications of Tamil poetry were altered to make

the verses easier to read.

During the year 1920, the largest number of publications was as usual in Tamil and was a

noticeable increase in production of purely educational nature which formed 18% of the total literacy

output. One publication in Tamil Karnarpadu a pastoral poem of the Sangam period published many

years ago with an incomplete commentary was republished during the year 1920 with a complete

commentary. The editor in the preface reviewed the work of the three sangams of Madurai and has also

given a brief exposition of the erotic sentiment which Tamil poems of the classical era give expression

to. The moral tone of the publication continued to be generally satisfactory20

. During the year 1920, the

Government of Madras registered number of Tamil works in various aspects like Tamil Almanac, art,

astrology, biography, drama, fiction, geography, history, maths, medicine and so on. If we are seeing in

this aspects Tamil literature developed from 1916 to 1920 such as M.N. Murugesan Pillai‟s Arul

Pathikaram in Tamil Art, S.EkambaraMudali‟sJothidaGotcharaChindamani, Madura KavisivaPrakasha

Kumara Desikar‟sJothisaBhushanam, K. Santhanam‟sJothishaGanithaManjari,

J.Kumarajandapadavarka‟sJothishaKaviyam and ArurRatnam‟sJothishaManjari in Tamil Astrology,

VilakshanandaSwamigal‟sGandhi, T.SelvakesavarajaMudaliyar‟sM.G. Ranade - a brief sketch of his

life, K.A. KrishnaswamiMudaliyar‟sNandanarCharithiram, R.RajChudamani‟sRabindranath Tagore,

Subramanyasiva‟sSri Rama Krishna ParamahamsarDivyaCharitram, C.R.

SrinivasaIyengar‟sSrimadMadvachariyar, SrimadRamanujaChariyar and SrimadSankaraChariyar, T.K.

PachaiyappaUdayar‟sThirumalisaiAlvarPrabhavaAraychi in Tamil biography, M.A.

Vaidyalingachetti‟sAnandanakanpattu, J.VenkatasubramaniaBarathi‟sArjunaSanyasi, S.

KrishnasamySarma‟sDuruvan, N.R. SubramanyaSarma‟s explanatory annotation on Kamba Ramayana

BalaKandam, Sivakami‟sHarichandraNatakam, A.K. MadanagopalaDikshadar‟sJayapalan, V.S.

VelambalAmmal‟sJeevanadakam, K.R. VenkataramaSarma‟sKusuma, a new dram in four acts, K.K.

Srinivasachari‟sMalathi, P. SambabdaMudaliyar‟sManohara, R. Srinivasan‟s Meerabai,

T.RaghaveluReddi‟sUtharumSadam, S. Raghavachari‟sVenisamharam (or) Dharma Vijayam in Tamil

Drama. K.R. Govindaswami‟sBhuloka Raja, T. Rangaswaminaidu‟sBhupalanBhuvanasundari, N.

Govindareddi‟sChiruKathaikal, S.A. Somasundaram Pillai‟s ChiruManichudar, A.

KuppusamiMudaliyar‟sDakshayani, P.K. Srinivasa Chari‟s PeriyaUdaiyarCharitram, V.

ArumugamServai‟sJeevakam, V. MuthusamiIyer and A.K. SubramanyaIyer‟sKadaiyumPattum, V.

RajagopalaIyengar‟sKathaikothu, T. Kandasami‟sKeethisingamKandirajan, P.K.

Krishnamachari‟sKrishna Vijayam, P. AlakunambiKavirayar‟sManimalai, P.R. Ramanatha Pillai‟s

Meikathali, K. Kandaswami Pillai‟s Moganavalli, Rangaraju‟sMohanasundaram, Subbaiya Pillai‟s

ParsiSargunaGanasavunthariCharitramMudalBhagam, M. ShanmugaSundaraMudaliyar‟sporamaippei

– e novelette in Tamil, PadmasaniAmmal‟sPrahaladaCharitram, J.R. Rangaraju‟sRajendran, S.

Narasimhachari‟sSatyapathai, S. KrishnasamiSarma‟sSivaji Maharaja, V.

Sivaraja‟sSundariManavalagan, T. Arokia Sami Naidu‟s ThalaivettiThyaparasundari, T.

Rangasaminaidu‟sThanapathi, T.R. AravamuduIyengar‟sThilothama, T.

KrishnasamiPavalar‟sThirukkural moral stories, Part – I, P. Swaminathan‟sVamakshi, W.



MahadevaMudaliyar‟sVananeethi, C.N. KuppusamiMudaliyar‟s and T. Rangasami Naidu‟s

Vayadivamban, MatinatiPakaviKalangaiahPulavar‟sVethalaKathai, V. Bhagavanta Rao‟s Durai John

GilphinKathai in Tamil Fiction, T.V. ChellappasastrisBhugolaSastram – Coimbatore Zilla in Tamil

geography, T. ChelvakesavarayaMudali‟sAranericharam, T.V. ChellappaSastri‟sAriyaCharitramalai

and PandavaCharitram Part – 2, M. MasilamaniMudali‟sAshtothrastanamavali,

PanditKrishnamacharya‟s12 – AlwargalinAithigaThiruvuruvapadalgal, C.

SubramanyaBharathi‟sBharatajanaSabai, A. MuthuVadiveluMudali‟sChooamaniNikandu, G.S.

RamasamiIyer‟sGuru Bhakthi, T. ChelvaKeshavarayaMudali‟sChoodamaniNikandu, G. S.

RamasamiIyer‟sGuru Bhakthi, T. ChelvaKesavarayaMudali‟sJayamkondarKalingathuparani, A.

Kumarasami‟sMekhathuthaKarikkai, KhaderMohideen‟sMounaSigamaniPathigam, P.M.A.

Muthaiyachetti‟sPeriyaArichuvadi, Anangarachari‟sSirandalarai, S.

DandapaniChettiar‟sThirunavukkarasar, T. ChelvakesavarayaMudali‟sTiruvalluvar, V.

VenkataramaSastrigal‟sUlaganeedhi in Tamil Language, G.R. Bosworth‟s Nam NadumPiraNadum Part

– II, S. Bavanadam Pillai‟s Selections from Tamil Literature Part – I and IIGanesa Press Madras

TiruvalluvarTirukkuralMulamumParimelagarUrayum in Tamil Literature21

. A.J. Abraham

Pandithar‟sAmbhava Vaidya Sastram, S. Satyavasakm Pillai‟s Best Remedies for disease in Tamil

Medicine, P. Narayanaswami Pillai‟s Anandakalippu, KuppuDevar‟sArpudhanuthanaKavadichindu,

PugalendiPulavar‟sChidamabaraKummi, H. SivagamiAmmal‟sGopikaVasthrapaharanakummi, T.S.

RamanujamIyengar‟sKavidiChindu, T. KrishnasamiPavalar‟sManampolaMangalyam, M.Y.

EswaraMurthi Pillai‟s NattupenKummi in Tamil Literature, A.KumarasamiChetti‟sKarmayogam in

Tamil Philosophy, Annie Besant‟s National Home Rule League Pracharam No.1, SwadeshaMitran

Press‟s PanchabinThuyaram, British India Press‟s PanchapuKulappam in Tamil Politics,

SrinivasaIyengar‟sAthichudi, SrinivasaIyer‟sCheyyulThogudhi, Subbaraya Pillai‟s

KambaramayanaLankadhanaThrupugalKavadichindu, Munai Mohammed Ibrahim Sahib‟s

NasiyathulMummanimalai, P. Narayanasami Pillai‟s Opparikanni, V. SaminathaIyer‟sPaditruppathu,

MulamumPalaiyaUraiym, S. Velanganni‟sVazhinadaiSinduin Tamil poetry22

, S.P. Tirukkamani Pillai‟s

Acharya Strothiram, D.GopalanChetti‟sAdiDravidaPurvaCharitram, C.N.

Kuppusami‟sAdvaitaKirtananandaLahari, B. NarasimhaDas‟sAlamelumangai Sri

VenkatesaBajanaiKirthanaigal, Miss Viney‟sAlanaraJiviyam, P. Narayanasami Pillai‟s Ayudupujai,

F.M. Abdulla Sahib‟s BhakthirasaKirthanam in Tamil religion and so on 23

. Further though the number

of original works in English and other European languages fell from 948 to 703, the number of

translations into vernacular rose from 76 to 95 24

.

The government of India too paid much attention for the collection of manuscripts. Accordingly during

the year 1921-1922, Government of India ordered for the collection of the vernacular manuscripts.

According to this, many manuscripts collected and the total collection is now classifies as follow.

Sanskrit 19,989, Tamil 3, 110 and so on. The following publications have also been issued in execution

of these orders such as list of manuscripts in the private libraries of southern India, Vol. I & II, with an

index containing the names of about 19,000 manuscripts, Index of 62 Volumes of local records,

Sukranitisastra, Report on the search for Sanskrit and Tamil manuscripts for the year 1896-1897 and

1893-1894, two volumes and Alphabetical index of manuscripts in the Government Oriental

Manuscripts Library Madras25

.

During the justice administration, Pure Tamil Movement was going on in Tamil Nadu which

started in 1916 by Maraimalaiadigal and he gave importance to SaivaSiddhantha. He also supported his

son-in-law Thiruvaranganar who formed South India SaivaSiddhantha Association for the moulding of

Tamil like NilambigaiAmmal (1903-1945) daughter of Maraimalaidigal who played a vital role for this



movement and wrote number of articles in pure Tamil on journal like Dravidan, Deshabimani,

AnandaBodhini, Tamil Nadu and so on. P.V. ManikkaNayakar (1871-1931) who played a significant

role for this movement and he believed that Science Education in pure Tamil could be easily with their

N.M. VenkataSamyNadar (1884-1945), SomasundaraBharathi (1879-1959) ChitambaranathaChettiyar

(1907-1967) were supported for this movement. This movement played a significant role for the revival

of Tamil literature during the Justice Administration26

.

During the year between 1920 to 1937 journals and periodicals played an important role for the

revival of Tamil language and literature. The number of periodicals increased during the year 1922-23

from 254 to 277. 96 journals were newly published. 83 or 23.71% of the newspaper were published in

English, the remainder appearing in the various vernaculars. The chief place amongst the Tamil

newspapers continued to be held by the AnandaBodhini, the circulation of which amounted to 14,000.

Next in order of importance came Swadesamitran (7,000), the messenger of the sacred heart (4,300) and

Tamil Nadu (3,000)27

. During this time number of new journals and periodicals were started in Tamil

Nadu, such as Thiru.V. KaliyanaSundaranar‟sNavasakthi in 1920, RengaswamyIyengar‟sSugodam in

1921 from Arani, P.V. Kannan‟sOttrumai a monthly in 1922, Saivasiddhantha Association‟s

SentamilSelvi a monthly in 1923, M.K. Jayarama Naidu‟s SentamilChintamani, A.

Mathavaiya‟sPanchamirtam were monthlies in 1924, V.V.S. Iyer‟sBalabharathi, a monthly from

Cheramadevi in 1924, S.E. Bedfordien‟sDeenabandu from Vellore, E.V. RamasamyNaicker‟sKudiarasu

in 1925, R. Venkatachalam Pillai‟s Tamil Pohzil a monthly from Tanjore in 1925 were the some of the

main journals in which number of Tamil articles were published in various aspects like socio-economic,

religious, political and so on 25. Through this we can see the revival of Tamil language and literature.

Furthermore during the second quarter of the 20th

century number of weeklies were published such as

AnandaGunaBodhini and Anandavikatan in 1926, Hanuman Tamil Nadu were published in 1927,

Kalaimagal in 1932, PrasandaVikatan, Kumara Vikatan, Puratchi were published in 1933, Dinamani

(which is a counter part of the Indian Express) a daily published in 1934 and so on 29

. Through this

number of articles were published in various aspects it reflected the revival of Tamil Literature.

During the year 1924-25, number of books registered in the Justice Administration. The total

number of publications registered during the year was 5,011 as against 4,404 in 1923-24. Of those

registered, 4,088 were classed as books and 923 as periodicals, the corresponding figures for the

previous year being 3,587 and 817 respectively. Thus the year was marked by a general increased

activity in the field of journalistic and other literature. The increase was mostly under „original works‟

and in the vernaculars. Tamil as usual, maintained the leading position and contributed largely to the

total increase. The majority of books published (33%) were of a religious or philosophical nature.

There was a welcome increase in the books dealing with Mathematics and Natural Science. 870

publications or 21% of the total number were designed for educational purposes. The tones of the

publications presented for registration, whether of cultural value or for information alone was on the

whole health and progressive30

.

During the year from 1921 to 1925 made number of Tamil works such as T.Kuppusai Naidu‟s

JothidaChillaraiKorvai, K Natarajan‟s Jatakalankaram, T.ParthasarathiNayakar‟sHindu Astronomy,

Gudalingam Pillai‟s SathakaChintamaniMoolapadam, T.S. RamanujaIyengar‟sToduKuriSastram, S.

EkambaraMudali‟sSripurushaJatakattiravukoil, V. Krishnamachariar‟sAnjaneyarArudaChakram T.

Gopal &Co‟sCowsikaChintamani Part I and II, V.K. Velunayagan‟sJatakaSagaram, M.

ThiruvengadaMudaliyar‟sIrekaiSastriramin Tamil astrology and astronomy, AnnavarataVinayagam

Pillai‟s Tamil Charithram, K. Munusamy Pillai‟s ValluvarCharithram, C.R.



SrinivasaIyengar‟sMuhammad Nabi, S. Krishnasamy Sharma‟s Life Speeches and Trial of Mohammed

Ali and Shaukat Ali, S. DandapaniChetti‟sManickavasagar, K.M. Subramanyam‟sMahatma Gandhi

Charithram in Tamil biography, A. Sivashanmugam‟sAgalikaiCharithramEnnum Indira banam,

ViraraghavaDasar‟sVallisuyamvaram, G.W.Ponnusami Pillai‟s GananSundari, V. Narayanasami Pillai‟s

KovalanKannagi Part – I, V.K. DuraisamyIyengar‟sManickavasagar, C.

MunisamiMudali‟sRajasuyayagam, P.S. Murugesamudali‟sKannakiSapam in Tamil Drama, A.

ParasarumIyer‟sBhudimanBalavan, M. ShanmugaSundaram‟sCheyutKadhaigal,

GajambikaiAmmal‟sGananambal, C.R. NamasivayaMudaliyar‟sThiruvilaiyadalKathaigal, S.P.K.

TanjappaGounder‟sRathai, C. Kumarasami Naidu & Sons NarpathuThirudarkathai, P.N.

ChitambaraMudali‟sMayilirivanaKadai, K.S. SeshagiriIyer‟sUdayananKathai in Tamil fiction. V.P.

SubramanyaMudali‟sAgalikaiVenba, Sivagnanasamigal‟sAmuthambikai Pillai Tamil, K.

NambiIyengar‟sAndipandarapattumThiruppugalum, M.V.

SwaminathaIyer‟sIngurunurumPazhayaUraiym, P. AdimulaMudali‟sThevaraThothiraThirattu, P.T.

SrinivasaIyengar‟sSentamilSeyyutKalambakam, K. DuraisamiMudali‟sNeethiNurthirattu, R.

RaghavaIyengar‟sAgananuruMulamumUraiyum,

Jayankondar‟sKalingathuparani,RajaChockalingam‟sGandhi Pillai Tamil in Tamil poetry. R.K.

Bhumipalakadass‟sBhakthirasaKeerthaanigal, GanapathiKavirayar‟sElumalaiChiledaiVenba, T.

Duraisamy Pillai‟s Madurai MeenambikaiPamalai, M.S.S.

ShanmugaDas‟sMahamariammanKumiChindu, T.A. EthirajaDesan‟sThiruppavai in Tamil religion and

so on 31

.

During the year 1926-27, Government of Madras gave importance to translation work so that

during this time, AnandaRanga Pillai‟s Diary Vol. XI was published and the printing of Volume XII was

in progress. Of the total number of publication registered, 1,428 were in Tamil, 1,115 in Telugu and 958

in English32

. During the year between 1930-1933, there was a general fall in newspaper circulation

largely due to economic depression and the advent of cheap amusement journals. The Tamil papers

SutandiraSangu, Gandhi, Swadesamitran, KudiArasu and AnandaBodhini were the chief, were with few

exceptions, vehement advocates of the nationalistic movement and opponents of the policy of the

Government. Nearly half the literary activity of the province was in Madras 33% of the publications

were in Tamil, 23% in English and 20% in Telugu. During this time theme of books religions formed

the subject matter of 30% out only 6% of the publications contributed to the promotion of scientific

knowledge33

. During the year 1935-36, there has been an increase in publications in more than one

language. The decrease in the total number of books published during the year has affected all

languages almost equally. Tamil, as in previous year, maintained its first place in the literary output.

There was an increase in the publications classified under medicine and religion34

. During the year

1936-37 growth of the vernacular literature connected with the motion picture industry was a new

feature. Religion was the central theme in a large number of publications but scientific publications in

the vernacular made considerable headway35

.

Thus Justice Administration played a significant role for the revival of Tamil literature. Unless

the freedom movement could not occurred in India as well as in Tamil Nadu, the Tamil language and

literature cannot be worthy. So that activities of Justice Administration and freedom movement paved

the way for the renaissance of Tamil Language and literature during the year between 1920 to 1937,

through which we understand the social, political, economic, religious art and architecture conditions of

the Madras Presidency.



END NOTES:

1. P.N. Chopra, Gazetter of India, History and Culture, Vol.2, Publication Division, Government of

India, New Delhi, 1997, PP.785-800.

2. C. Paramarthalingam, Social Reform Movement in Tamil Nadu in the 19th

century with special

reference to St. Ramalinga, Rajakumari Publications, Madurai, 1995, PP.20-25.

3. M.P. Sivagnanam, Viduthalaiporil Tamil ValarnthaVaralaru (Tamil), PoonkodiPathipagam,

Chennai, 2000, PP.36-37.

4. V.T. Chennai, TamilagaVaralarumPanpadum, ManivasagarPathipagam, Chennai, 2003, PP.506-

507.

5. K. Appadurai, AyirathiEnnoorttuAndukatkuMurpattaTamilagam (Tamil), Poompozhil

Publishers, Chennai, 2003, PP.180-181.

6. P. Rajaraman, The Justice Party – A Historical Perspective 1916-1937, Poompozhil Publishers,

Madras, 1998, PP.200-202.

7. I. Eugene Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahman Movement

and Tamil Separatism 1916-1929, University of California Press, 1969, PP.90-91.

8. K. Thangavelu, TamilagaSamugaPanpattuVaralaru, Part – II, AmilthamPathipagam, Chennai,

2002, PP.286-287.

9. SarojaSundarajan, March to Freedom in Madras Presidency 1916-1947, Lalitha Publications,

Madras, 1989, PP.288-289.

10. L.K. Tulasiram(Ed.,), T.C. Thangavelu Pillai, The Presidential Address Delivered at the Non-

Brahmin Conference of the Madurai District on the 13th

October, 1918, Madurai, 1918, P.1.

11. K. NambiArooran, Tamil Renaissance and Dravidian Nationalism 1905-1944, Koodal

Publishers, Madurai, 1980, P.82.

12. G.O.No.171, Public Department, 26th

March 1921.

13. The Hindu, 21st December 1925.

14. Eugene F. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India, Op.Cit., PP.290-292.

15. Madras Legislative Council Proceedings, Vol.X, 18th

December 1922, Government of Madras,

Madras, 1923, P.922.

16. The Hindu, 18th

March 1926.

17. M.S. Purnalingam Pillai, Tamil Literature, TheBiblioteca, Munnirpallam, 1929, P.254.

18. KudiArasu, 21st September, 1930.

19. Eugune F. Irschick, Tamil Revivalism in the 1930‟s, Cre-A, Madras, 1986, P.85.



20. Report on the Administration of the Madras Presidency for the year 1919-1920, Government of

Madras, Madras, 1921, PP.104-105.

21. John Murdoch, Classified Catalogue of Tamil printed books with Introductory Notice, Tamil

Development and Research Council, Government of Tamil Nadu, Madras, 1968, PP.199-200.

22. S. Mahadevan, The Madras State Tamil Bibliography 1916-1920, Vol.IV-Part-III, Tamil

Development and Research Council, Government of Tamil Nadu, Madras, 1978, PP.200-205.

23. Classified Catalogue of Books registered from 1916 to 1920 at the office of the Registrar of

Books, Government of Madras, Madras, 1966, PP.136-262.


Madras, Madras, 1922, P.105.


Madras, 1923, P.252.

26. V.T. Chellam, Op. Cit., PP.522-525.



28. A. Eraiyan, EthalalarPeriyar, International Tamil Research Institute, Chennai, 2005, PP.4-5.





31. Classified Catalogue of Books registered from 1921 to 1925 at the office of the Registrar of

Books, Government of Madras, Madras, 1971, PP.214-330.









RENAISSANCE OF TAMIL LITERATURE DURING THE JUSTICE ADMINISTRATION IN MADRAS PRESIDENCY (1920-1937)

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