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One Hundred Tamils
of the 20th Century
Thiagi Subramania Sivam
4 October 1884 - 23 July 1925
''நான் ஒரு சந்யாசி. முக்தியடையும் வழியைப்
பிரச்சாரம் செய்வதே என் வேலை. அதன் தத்துவங்களை எடுத்து விளக்கி அதை அடையும்
மார்க்கத்தை போதிப்பதே என் வேலை. சகலவிதமான வெளி பந்தங்களினின்றும் விடுவித்துக்
கொள்வதே ஆத்மாவிற்கு முக்தியாகும். இதே போன்று ஒரு தேசத்தில் முக்கியாவது -
அந்நிய நாடுகளின் பிடிப்பினின்றும் விடுவித்துக் கொள்வது; பரிபூர்ண சுதந்திரம்
அடைவது. அதையே இந்நாட்டு மக்களுக்கு நான் போதிக்கிறேன். அதாவது, சுதந்திர
லட்சியம் அதை அடையும் மார்க்கம். புறக்கணிப்பது - சுதந்திரப் பாதையில் குறுக்கே
நிற்கும் எதையும் - சாத்வீக முறையில் எதிர்ப்பது, சுதேச கல்வி இவையேயாகும்.''
M.P.Sivagnanam in
History of the growth of Tamil
during the Indian war of independence ....
"....Many persons who lived in the time of
Bharathiar and
became his friends did also great service to the Tamil
language. Important among them is Subramania Sivam. He
joined wholeheartedly in the war of Independence and
laboured hard for destroying the poison-tree of British
Imperialism. Justice Tinhay condemned him to 10 year's
imprisonment. In the prison and outside it afterwards he
wrote a
number of works, composed dramas, and ran , a magazine
called
"Gnanabanu". He took a share in the work of promoting his
mother tongue, Tamil, by talking on political, literary and
religious platforms and by writing poems. In the jail he
fell a victim to a kind of leprosy and, unable to bear its
ravages, he died in the year 1925.
Many degree-holding men of the time of Subramania Sivanar
did not have either any love for their mother tongue, Tamil,
or a desire to learn it and they lived as a burden to their
land. Addres ing such people Bharathiar sang: "You would
study many other languages. But since you wouldn't learn
your home language, get away, get away". Thiagi Sivanar
expresses the same feeling a little strongly in the
following passage:
"The life of a country is to be found in its language.
Those who
give up their mother tongue can be said to be committing
suicide because of foolishness or of madness. If committing
suicide is a crime against the state, he who begins to kill
himself and his society by neglecting his state language is
a person who commits crimes a thousand fold. Though the law
of the country does not include these murderers in the list
of criminals, they are culprits according to the laws of
creation followed by that All-Powerful Deity who rules over
the whole universe as the sole Empress" (Gnanabanu -September
1915).
Thiagi Sivam was a spotless patriot and politician. He
had love
for Sanskrit and a decent amount of knowledge of the
language.
Regarding the whole Bharat as his mother, he had even tried
to build a temple at Papparapatti for that Mother. In short,
he was a man who would not accept any dogma that went
against the national creed and would even oppose it if
necessary. Even he had an unlimited love and respect for his
mother tongue, Tamil. He was of the view that,
ideologically, the love of Tamil was not in any way opposed
to love of one's own country. Let us see another passage in
his magazine in which he lays emphasis on the love of Tamil.
"O, you Tamil Pandits and you great men of Tamilnadu, be
careful, be careful! Protect your language. Remember that
the life of a society lies in its language. If the Tamil
tongue gets destroyed, the Tamil people themselves will lose
their name and fame. Teach those citizens of Bharat, who say
unhesitatingly that Tamil does not possess a sufficient
number of necessary words, that it is not so by searching
for and finding out those words in the language.
"Let your tongue speak only Tamil. Let the quill that you
use write only Tamil. Let your heart long for only Tamil.
May Mother Tamil mercifully protect you from any danger,"
(Gnanabanu, November 1915).
Thiruvalluvar has written one chapter on "just
government" and another on "tyrannical rule". Sivanar
mentioned the British Government as the best example for the
tyrannical rule mentioned by Thiruvalluvar. Even that he
said with the heroism of a patriot, while standing in the
prisoner's box in the judicial court. He also recited there
those stanzas from Kural which analyse the characteristics
of tyrannical rule, knowing that it was in such a place that
they would bring great fame to Valluvar. His `Tamil heart'
did not
fear the anger of the English judge and the possible
increase in the punishment that might follow. The following
is that part of his long witnessing in the court in which he
uses quotations from Thirukkural.
"Many laws were passed granting more privileges and
rights to the Whites who came here to earn a living than to
those children of the soil who were born and bred up in this
land. The life and blood of our people were sucked by the
foreigners with the help of all kinds of taxes. Famine and
cruel diseases and internal disorders made their permanent
abode in this country.
"All these inhuman and dictatorial activities joined
together and made people realise the irresponsible cruelties
of the Government and the need for its change. It was
natural that people developed that kind of feeling.
"Thiruvalluvar, the great wise man, has said that a man
of justice will labour hard only to drive out injustice and
to establish Dharma (justice) in its place. This idea finds
a place in the following prose rendering of two verses of
his :
"That ruler who, or the sake of money, does unjust things
and thus tortures his subjects is a more cruel man than a
person who kills another on account of hatred.
"That ruler who puts his subjects to a lot of pain for
the sake of money is equal to a thief who threatens to kill
a traveller with a spear and takes his money from him".
Every man of justice, therefore, will labour hard to
remove injustice and establish the rule of law in its place.
In the same way
the people of India are labouring hard to put an end to
foreign rule and to form their own government."
Judge Binhay ordered 10 years rigorous imprisonment for
Sivanar after listening to his words in the witness box.
Tamil has the pride of growing within the four walls of
the prison also. There is a story that
`Thirumurukatruppadai" was composed and sung by Nakkirar
Peruman when, having been shut up in a cave by a spirit, he
worshipped and prayed to Murugapperumal to get free from
that cave.
Perhaps this is a story cooked up by some unknown person,
But it is not a story when we are told that patriots of
Tamilnadu who got imprisoned in the war against British
dictatorship, worked hard for the growth of Tamil ; it is
history.
The English Imperial power began the unjust practice of
imprisoning Indian patriots battalion after battalion and
torturing them only in the Thilagar era. Because of that,
those among the prisoners, who got the first chance in the
Thilagar era to work hard for the development of Tamil, were
the patriots of the Thilagar era. Siva was one of them.
When Siva was in prison, some of the authorities there
extracted hard work from him. The rooms in jails, where
patriots were shut up in those days, had no lights at night
for reading and writing. The day was spent in hard labour.
But though they were compelled to take rest after dusk,
there were no facilities for doing any service to Tamil.
Even under such circumstances, Siva somehow made great
contributions to Tamil. It is just impossible to describe
the love for Tamil which Siva cherished in his heart.
Siva was a religious man. He composed the valuable religious
work entitled "Sachithanandha Sivam" when he was in prison.
It
must have been his first work. The reason for his writing
that work is to be found in a pathetic event. He mentions it
himself in the introduction to that book.
"The chief disciple of the great Jesus Christ, Peter,
was once entering the door of the Temple called "The
Beautiful". Just then a man without both his legs, a
born lame man, begged for alms. Seeing him Peter said,
"Silver and gold have I none ; but such as
I have give I thee". So saying he raised him up by the
hand. Immediately both his legs began to grow and he
jumped up with great joy and went away. This account is
found in the Christian Scriptures. So also, when my wife
saw me in the jail and asked me to suggest to her a way
of getting out of the poverty from which she was
suffering greatly, I said, "Silver and gold have I none,
but such as I have give I thee", and gave her a Book
which I wrote out of what I heard, knew and experienced
from the face of my `Satguru'. (my holy teacher).
"I pay my respects to the Inspector General of
prisons who gave me permission to write this book during
my spare time and to the Superintendent of my jail."
Central Jail, Salem
- Subramania Sivam. 15-3-1911
When Siva was imprisoned for the second time, he revised it
and published the third edition of this book. The
introduction to that edition is as follows.
"I am happy that with the grace of Mahasakthi this
book is seeing its third edition. On account of my
devotion to my country the District judge sentenced me
for the second time to two years rigorous imprisonment
and 500 rupees fine. I spent this period in the jail at
Tiruchirapalli and got out on the 12th of this month.
But since then I am completely bed-ridden on account of
my illness. Because of that I was not able to add a
number of details and publish an enlarged edition. I am
very sorry for that. That this was written when I was in
a kind of hell can be understood by all those
religious scholars who read this. This book contains
only all those happy feelings that welled up in me when
I was shut up alone in a prison room. Besides, all these
have been acquired by me from what I heard from the lips
of my Guru (teacher). May God Almighty grant that this
book proves useful to many and helps all to attain a
state of bliss.
Kumbakonam Subramania Sivam. 21-1-1922.
Sivanar involved himself in the service of Tamil to
forget his sufferings caused by the cruel repressive
activities of the foreigners. The same service helped him to
remove the 'disease' of poverty from his wife.
Though `Thiagi Siva' wrote the philosophic treatise
'Sachithanandha Sivam' in order to reduce his wife's
sufferings, she might not have got more than some ten rupees
on selling the book. Who would buy a religious book in Tamil
in those days ? Perhaps a few would have bought the book
thinking of giving some respect to the sacrifice made by
Sivanar or sympathising with his wife.
There were many thousand Faithful women who died a premature death during the
freedom struggle fighting against hunger and disease just because they happened
to be the wives of extremist patriots. O, you independent Bharat ! What return
are you going to make for these great devoted women?
Between 1908 and 1922, Thiagi Subramania Sivam was condemned to imprisonment
four times, was shut up in different jailes and suffered a lot. During all those
times, he wrote a number of religious books.
Books written by him inside prison and outside it number more than thirty. Among
them the following are the most important.
(1) Sachithanandha Sivam (2) Yoga Sadhana Rahasyam
(The Secret of Yoga practice) (3) Ramaniya Vijayam (4) The
life and teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (5) The life of Vivekanandha (6)
Sermons (Upathesangal) (7) Sankarar Vijayam.
Besides the above, he has written in simple and sweet Tamil stories like
'Netaji' and `Veera Ratna Baji Prabhu', plays like `Vira Sivaji' and `Senji
Desingu' and the novel called `NalinaSundari or `Nagareeka Thadapudal'.
He has also translated into Tamil some religious works of Swami Vivakanandha in
English. Important among them are: (1) Athmagnanaratnam, (2) Arulmozhikal, (3)
Ethirolikal and (4) Tharkala India (India today).
Thiagi Sivanar did not write any book either as a corollary to or based on any
pieces of Sangam literature or Aymperumkappiangal (The five Great epics) or
Padhinenkeelkanakkukal or Purana Ithi kasangal.
It is true that he did not write
any book explaining the greatness and beauties of the Tamil language. But we can
say that he did his best to eliminate the dearth of books in the religious field
in his mother tongue, Tamil.
When Sivanar was alive, the religious
drums of Swami Vivekanandha sounded in all the eight corners of the world.
Chiefly he shone as a bridge in India synthesising devotion to God and elevation
to one's motherland. We can even say that he helped to dispel the darkness of
slavery with the light of religion.
It was Swami Vivekanandhar who showed the
way for the revolutionary effort made to bring into the current regional
languages all the religious treatises lying imprisoned in the Sanskrit language
which had become a dead language. Following his footsteps, Sivanar created in
Tamil a number of books blending in them both fear of God and love of one's
land. We have to take this as a very valuable contribution to the progress of
Tamil.
If we are to study carefully under what circumstances Siva wrote his religius
literature, we will feel it our duty to worship and praise heartily that great
man who is now no more.
Sivanar, who is now gone to heaven, is an extreme patriot. He did not believe in
non-violence and was a great believer in the use of arms to compel people to do
things. The police, therefore, hunted him from place to place.
We know already that Sivanar fell a victim to leprosy when he was condemned
to imprisonment for 10 years in 1908 and was sent to Salem jail. Since leprosy
was regarded
as a contagious disease, the British government ordered him not to travel by
rail. Therefore, Siva went round the whole Tamilnadu on foot though his whole
body was covered with sores. On account of poverty he had often to suffer from
hunger and starvation.
In certain towns, even patriots of his own category kept away from welcoming
and entertaining Sivanar simply because he was suffering from a contagious
disease. On such occasions, there were days when he had to sleep in open places
using the hedge of a field as his pillow and the canal bed as his cushioned bed.
In those days, moneyed people were beyond the pale of the National army camp.
Since many of them were devoted to the British regime, they were inimical
towards the nationalists. Men of small wealth were either lovers of their
country or friends to such lovers. Even they did not have courage enough to help
those extremists like Siva who were hunted by the police.
Thiagi Sivam had great love for Sanskrit and had a decent knowledge of it also.
He had some knowledge of English too. Still he did not like Sanskrit and English
dominating in places where Tamil, our mother tongue, should hold sway. He even
worked hard to free the Tamil language from the power of these two tongues.
In those days of his, even scholars in Tamil language and literature wrote in
Tamil mixing with it a large number of words from Sanskrit. They also thought
that writing in such a way was a special gift. Sivanar too wrote only in the
manipravala style blending Sanskrit with Tamil. Still he could not but feel that
it was a weakness and therefore tried to protect the purity of his mother
tongue.
In his monthly magazine 'Gnanabanu' he put up an advertisement. It was as
follows:
Five Rupees !
Can you write pure or chaste Tamil? If you can, come forward. An admirer of
Tamil has offered a reward of five rupees to the person who will contribute
an article to our `Gnanabanu' in pure Tamil without using words from
Sanskrit or any other language and in not less than eight pages, on either
the greatness of Tamil or the history of Thiruvalluva Nayanar.
Such words "Kayam' which is merely another version in Tamil of the Sanskrit
word 'Kajam' also should be avoided. In short only pure Tamil words, without
any connection with the foreign languages alone should be used.
The articles should be sent to our `Gnanabanu` office within the 15th of
Avani. That article which wins the prize will be pub lished in our magazine.
Those who want any further information on the suject may write to the
following address." Secretary "Gnanabanu" Mylapore, Madras. (Gnanabanu, July, 1915)
It is worthy of note that in this advertisement Sivanar speaks of
words from foreign languages like Sanskrit. By birth Sivanar was a
Brahmin. In spirit, he was a philospher. by way of life he was an ascetic.
It
surprises us, therefore, that, in spite of his being a member of the Brahmin
community which patronises Sanskrit, he refers to that language as a foreign
language.
In the cultural field, Sanskrit is the common language that unites all
the Indian languages and all those who speak those languages. It was so in the
past; it is so today also. Those who have an attachment to religion and show an
enthusiasm for religious phiiosophy, whether they are
Brahmins or Non-Bramins, regard the Sanskrit language as their own from the
cultural point of view at least. Subramania Siva was one of those people who had
the same opinion. Still, outside the pale of religion, in this material life,
Tamil is his only mother tongue, Therefore it was not a mistake if he regarded
any language other than Tamil as a foreign language from the worldly point of
view.
In the days of Subramania Sivam, Tamil did not have the first place, not only in
the religious sphere but also in the political. It was not a mistake on the part
of Tamils when they showed no dislike for but willingly accepted such words as
"Vandemadharam", `Desiyam', `Swadhantram', `Swayarajyam' and `Bharadha Madha.
which had taken possession of all the hearts of the sons of India. However,
Sanskrit words dominated, more than necessary, the field of Tamil literature,
especially in the study of Sangam literature. Only because of that Sivam
notified that the pure Tamil articles he liked to get must deal with the
greatness of the Tamil language and the history of Valluvar.
Subramania Sivam sent his advertisement aiming at the promotion of Tamil to the
"Hindu Nesan" that was in circulation in those days and to Swadesamitran,
another daily, which was current then and is so even today. But those magazines
did not publish the advertisement, Would Sivam remain quiet? Was he not a man
with an iron will and never afraid of anybody? He wrote attacking those magazine
which refused to put up his advertisements. A part of what he wrote is as
follows:
"We asked many papers to publish our advertisements about this affair. A few
complied with our request and put them up. But the two daily papers printed in
Madras refused to publish them.
"The daily, `Hindu Nesan', proudly announced under the heading: Report for our
friends that it had politely refused to print our advertisement and the articles
written by a few other writers.
"Where is the doubt about a paper which uses a singular predicate for a plural
subject, promoting only a lack of true knowledge in our land? How will the
`Hindu Nesan' publish our advertisement when it tortures Tamil literature with
foreign words and with nobody to question it and when it tortures Tamil grammar
by making no distinction between singular and plural?
"Is not `Swadesamitran' a paper which follows the style and manner of the
Europeans? Whether things are written in pure Tamil or adulterated Tamil it does
not matter. What it wants is money;
The editor of Swadesamitran wrote to me saying that he would publish our
advertisement only if he was paid a certain sum every month.
"In 'Swadesamitran', expressions like "His Excellency the Governor" and "your Ma
jestry's obedient Servant" find a place. What is it that this paper is doing? Is
it spreading general knowledge or a knowledge of the English Language?
"It is really deplorable that these two papers, having beautiful names, do not
act in a way, appropriate to those names. I cannot understand how papers, which
do not support their own language, are going to promote the welfare of their own
country. But we do
not have for ourselves any other dailies than these two; Is not our younger
brother all in all, goes the proverb, if there is nobody to question him?"
The war of ideas between Gnanabanu and "Swadesamitran' continued. In the course
of it V.O. Chidambaranar contributed an article to the monthly called Bharathi,
supporting the pure Tamil of `Gnanabanu' and opposing the mixed Tamil of
Swadesamitran. V.O.C. sent an appeal to all papers when this war of ideas went
on for months together. The misunderstanding between these two went so far as to
prevent the sending of Swadesarnitran in the place of Gnanabanu. Even the
magazine called `Lokopakari' run by Parali S. Nellaippar joined the side of
`Gnanabanu' in this war of ideas.
The following is a note written by Siva in "Gnanabanu" in reply to
Swadesamitran:
"The society has now awakened from its sleep. Everywhere love of one's country
and of one's language is growing fast. The thought of "our country, our
language" has made its appearance in all parts of our land. Therefore the nature
and style of "Swadesamitran" must be changed for the better. Instead of that, if
`Swadesamitran' continues to support the nature and style of a foreign language
with a blind obstinacy (as is implied in the proverb "The hare I caught has only
three legs") then I will have to say sadly that it has done whatever it has to
do and that it has no place in our Tamil nadu hereafter." (Gnanabanu, November,
1915).
....Thiagi Sivam fell upon those who were devoted to the British. He made enemies of
some of his friends in his enthusiasm for freeing his mother tongue, Tamil from
any domination by English. Instead
of getting publicity as a Government pleader with the help of newspapers, he
made enemies of powerful editors of papers and magazines. Though he fought a
war of ideas against the love of English betrayed by `Swadesamitran' he did not
give up the daily paper called 'The Hindu'.
In the year 1915 a few people, who has studied English and who had no deep
scholarship in Tamil, gathered together and started an association called "Tamil
Kazhakam". The following is she note written by Sivam in his `Gnanabanu' on
behalf of this Kazhakam:
"It seems that some of the "big" men of Madras have joined together and started
a Tamil Kazhakam. It also seems that the members of this Kazhakam are prepared
to present gold medals to those who can contribute essays containing a critical
study of the lives and works of great authors in Tamil for the sake of
protecting and promoting the Tamil language.
"It was written under a small heading in the paper called `Hindu' that this
Kazhakam was doing its work silently during the the last few years. Can the
Kazhakam work so, silently as not to be within the knowledge of Tamil Pandits
who have been supporting and protecting the Tamil language for generations
together,
"It is really surprising that this matter was published only in English papers
and only for English knowing people. Did the Kazhakam think that nobody, among
those who knew only Tamil, had a knowledge of Tamil writers, their histories and
works?
"The announcement referred to above does not mention by whom or by which group
of scholars will the articles written for getting the gold medals be judged. But
in the leading column of `The Hindu' it was written that the articles will be
examined by proper scholars. Since "The Hindu" knew what was not found in the
announcement, we are tempted to think that `The Hindu' also must have itself
been on the side of the Kazhakam.
Whatever it is, our request is that this above Kazhakam should raise
the Tamil language to a high position.
"However, the members of this Kazhakam will be offering a real proof of their
love for the Tamil language if they take a vow, before doing all the above
things, to use only pure Tamil in their homes and in their daily conversation
with their friends, not allowing a single foreign word to enter their language.
Big men should not play like children, they should act only" (Gnanabanu, May
1915).
Siva, who was born in Bathlagundu, Madurai District, left his wife,
Meenakshiammal and his mother alone and was madly engaged in the freedom fight.
If even in that state, he did not give up or forget Tamil and worked for its
growth, how can we praise him adequately? He never made a distinction between
the domination of the British Imperial government and that of the English
language. He wished to drive out the British Government along with its language;
he deeply longed for it and sincerely worked for it. Long live the fame of
Siva...
... Thiagi Subramania Sivanar did not leave behind him any work of poetic
literature. He has, however, composed two poems. One deals with his prayer to
Parasakthi, while worshipping Her with tears because of his inability to bear
the cruelty of the disease of leprosy he was suffering from. Beginning with the
words "Amma Thaye" (O my mother, my lady) this song is capable of melting even a
heart of stone. The other poem celebrates the ancient fame of Bharat, bemoans
the poor condition into which it had fallen during his days and prays to god for
a bright future for it when it would shine as a great and flourishing free
country. Both these poems of Sivanar show the great eagerness felt by Sivanar to
promote Tamil poetry in the country.
When we study carefully the two Sangam Literature compilations
"Pathuppattu" and ``Ettuthokai" we
can see how Kanian Poongundranar, the author of only two poems in them, has won
through them world fame as a great teacher. Yes, the first line of one of those
two songs "Yathum Oore Yavarum Kelir" {Every place is my home town; Everyone my
kith and kin) is spreading the fame of the Tamil people throughout the world.
The fame of a poet does not depend upon the number of poems he has written. It
depends upon the greatness of the contents of what he has composed.
The two songs of Sivanar bring out the value and worth of patriotism and
sacrifice..." |
சிங்கம் போன்ற கம்பீரமும், கணீரென்ற குரலும் சுப்பிரமணிய சிவாவின்
அடையாளங்கள்