Maraimalai Adigal

Maraimalai Adigal (15 July 1876 – 15 September 1950) was a Tamil Saivite writer, orator and father of the Tanittamil Iyakkam movement. He authored more than 100 books, including works on original poems and dramas and notable research works on Tamil literature and Saivism. He founded a Saivite institution called Podhunilaik Kazhagam. He was an exponent of the Tanittamil Iyakkam movement and is considered to be the father of Tamil linguistic purism. He advocated the use of Tamil devoid of Sanskrit words and changed his birth name Vedhachalam to Maraimalai.

Politically, he was inclined towards non-Brahminism and considered the Self-Respect Movement to be an offshoot of his political activism. Though he was a scholar of Tamil, he had good scholastic command over Sanskrit and English. The ideologies of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy were shunned by Maraimalai Adigal and caused years of differences between the two. Maraimalai Adigal spent most of his income buying books and after his death, his collection was made into a library according to his will.

Early life Maraimalai Adigal was born on 15 July 1876 to Cokkanata Pillai and Cinnammai. His birth name was Vedhachalam. He did his early schooling at Wesley Mission High School in Nagappattinam, but had to abandon his formal education with Fourth Form after his father's death.

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. As a young teacher he was popular with his students who would visit his house to listen to his lectures. His collections of poems to the Hindu god Sri Murugan, which he composed during the times of illness were published as Thiruvotri Muruhar Mummanikkovai in 1900. He also wrote poems from recollections of his teacher Somasundara Naiker in 1901 as Somasundarak Kaanjiaakkam. This has been considered as one of his best works. He also released his research work on Tamil literature Mullaip Pattu Aaraichi for students of Tamil literature. Thus he is referred to as the "Father of Tamil Puritanism".

Maraimalai Adigal and Self-respect movement

Non-Brahmin movement 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. Nevertheless, the atheist stance of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, who was heading the Self-respect movement, was observed by Maraimalai Adigal and his followers as counter productive.

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 Thiru. Vi. Kaliyanasundara Mudaliar (Thiru Vi. Ka as he was popularly known) and an eminent Saivite scholar himself, to arrange for a statewide tour to counter the propaganda of the Self-respect movement. Maraimalai Adigal looked upon the Self-respect movement as a handiwork of the Telugu Vaishnavites. On this Maraimalai Adigal wrote The leader of the 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.

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. 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. 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.