Sheikh Thambi Pavalar (1874–1950) was a Tamil poet, scholar and an Indian independence activist.
Early life
Pavalar was born on 31 July 1874 at
Edalakudy in
Nagercoil
Nagercoil, also spelt as Nagarkovil ("Temple of the Nāgas", or Nagaraja-Temple), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Kanyakumari District in Tamil Nadu state, India. Situated close to the tip of the Indian peninsula, it lies on an ...
,
Kanyakumari District
Kanniyakumari district is one of the 38 districts in Tamil Nadu state and the southernmost district in mainland India. It stands second in terms of population density among the districts of Tamil Nadu. It is also the richest district in Tamil Na ...
, as the third son of Pakeer Meeran sahib and Ameena. He had his earlier education at
Edalakudy.
Sheikh Thambi Pavalar was a good orator. He learned Arabic language in his early age and was a disciple of Sankaranarayana Pattariar, a
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
scholar who lived at
Kottar
Kottar is a locality and a bazaar area of Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu state, in the southernmost part of Peninsular India ; though a part of Nagercoil today, it is the original town around which the city of Nagercoil grew. It was an ancient trade centre ...
(near Edalakudy). He was well versed in 'Kamba Ramayana'.
Literary career
In the year 1859, he worked as the editor of two Tamil magazines namely 'Yatharthavadhi' and 'Islamic Mithran' in Chennai. He wrote and published books –
Kottatru Pillai Tamil, Alahappa Kovai,
Pathirruppaththu Anthathi, Deavalogathu criminal case, Vedantha vivahara criminal case and also wrote commentaries of 'Seerapuranam', which contained 5,027 poems.
He is known as ''Sathavathani'', which means, one who has a grasp on hundred different aspects of knowledge at a moment. On 10 March 1907 he performed Sathavathanam Programme, in the presence of scholars like
V. Kalyanasundaram (Thiru.Vi.Ka) at Madras Victoria Town hall and got appreciation. He was given the title 'Mahamati Sathavathani' by Thanjai Sathavathani Subramanya Iyer. He died on 13 February 1950.
On 31 December 2008, a commemorative postage stamp on him was released.
His works are nationalized and solatium was given to his legal heirs in 2008.
See also
*
Avadhanam Avadhānaṃ is a literary performance popular from the very ancient days in India. Avadhānaṃ originated as a Sanskrit literary process and is revived in modern times by poets in Telugu primarily. It involves the partial improvisation of poems ...
References
External links
Pavalar-in Tamil Koodal-Seikh thambi Pavalar-in Tamil
People from Kanyakumari district
Tamil poets
1874 births
1950 deaths
Indian mnemonists
Poets from Tamil Nadu
19th-century Indian poets
20th-century Indian poets
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