Swami Vipulananda ( ta, சுவாமி விபுலாநந்தர்) (27 March 1892 – 20 July 1947), also known as Vipulananda Adigal, was a
Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
social reformer, literary critic, author, poet, teacher and
ascetic from the Eastern Province of
Sri Lanka. Vipulananda was an early pioneer associated with the
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
n-based
Ramakrishna Mission in Sri Lanka. Along with other reformers, Vipulananda was instrumental in the revival of the Hindu religion and native traditions in Sri Lanka after a long period of dormancy and decline during the previous 500 years of
colonial
Colonial or The Colonial may refer to:
* Colonial, of, relating to, or characteristic of a colony or colony (biology)
Architecture
* American colonial architecture
* French Colonial
* Spanish Colonial architecture
Automobiles
* Colonial (1920 au ...
rule by various
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
an powers.
Biography
Vipulananda was born in the village of
Karativu, in the south of
Batticaloa in Sri Lanka in 1892. His father's name was Samiththamby and mother's name was Kannamma. His birth name was Mylvaganam. Vipulananda had his early education in St. Michael's College National School in
Batticaloa city. After completing his high school education at the age of 16, Vipulananda became a teacher in various cities across the island nation. During his tenure as a teacher he completed his
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years.
The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University o ...
degree from the
University of London
The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...
, and also became the first Sri Lankan
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 ...
Pandithar, a degree awarded by the
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
-based
Madurai Tamil Sangam
Madurai Tamil Sangam, also known as the fourth Tamil Sangam, was a language academy founded by Prince Pandithurai Thevar and other Tamil language scholars to promote the use of Tamil language and Tamil culture in the late 19th century in British ...
, a
linguistics
Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...
academy created to promote the study of Tamil language. Vipulananda eventually became the head of operations of the
Ramakrishna Mission in Sri Lanka as well as a
professor
Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professors ...
of Tamil language in two universities.
Literary contributions
Apart from Vipulananda's knowledge of
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 ...
he also knew
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
,
Greek
Greek may refer to:
Greece
Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe:
*Greeks, an ethnic group.
*Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
**Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
,
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
and
Sinhala.
After researching
Tamil music
Music of Tamil Nadu has a long tradition and history going back thousands of years. Music is a very important aspect of marriage and temple festival Tamil people.
Ancient music
The tradition of Tamil music goes back to the earliest period o ...
and other Indian musical forms and
musical instruments for many years, Vipulananda produced the seminal book of scientific research in Tamil called the ''
Yazh Nool'', or ''Book of Stringed Musical Instruments'', which was published just before he died in 1947. The book was an effort by the author to understand and explain the intricacies and technicalities of genre of Tamil music in general, and the stringed musical instruments in particular, using modern techniques and tools of research and calculations based on
mathematics and
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
. ''Yal Nool'' is recognized as a unique work of its kind.
Using the literary traditions in Sanskrit, Greek and English he wrote ''Mathangaculamani'', a translation of twelve of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
's plays, as a
treatise
A treatise is a formal and systematic written discourse on some subject, generally longer and treating it in greater depth than an essay, and more concerned with investigating or exposing the principles of the subject and its conclusions." Tre ...
on
drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...
with commentaries focusing on various aspects of drama such as the plot, structure, sequence of action, characterization, subjective experience and gestures. Professor
Chelva Kanaganayagam, in a critical review of ''Mathangaculamani'', concludes that
Vipulananda also served as editor of several publications including ''Ramakrishna Vijayam'' (Tamil), ''Vivekananda'' (Tamil) and ''Prabuddha Bharata'' (English). He also edited and helped publish literary works of several well-known scholars. His translations from English to Tamil include selected writings of
Swami Vivekananda,
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
Nobel Laureate Rabindra Nath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resha ...
and
historian
A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the st ...
Kathiresan Chettiar. He also translated from Tamil to English selected poems from the
Sangam literature
The Sangam literature (Tamil: சங்க இலக்கியம், ''caṅka ilakkiyam'';) historically known as 'the poetry of the noble ones' (Tamil: சான்றோர் செய்யுள், ''Cāṉṟōr ceyyuḷ'') connotes ...
period, devotional songs from the
Bhakti movement period, and poems of
Subramanya Bharathi
C. Subramania Bharathi Birth name: C. Subramaniyan, the person's given name: Subramaniyan, father's given name: Chinnaswami. (C. Subramaniyan by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subramaniyan C ...
and Navaneetha Krishna Bharathi.
Vipulananda authored six major Tamil publications: a collection of four ''Prabanthangal'', ''Mathangaculamani'', ''The Great Dance of Thillai'', ''Umamageswaram'' (all related to
Saiva
''Saiva'' is a genus of Asian planthoppers, family Fulgoridae. They are colourful insects, marked boldly in red, blue, white and black, with a prominent slender stalk like structure arising on the head that points upwards or forward. The known ...
traditions of the Hindu religion), ''Dictionary of Technical Terms on Chemistry'' and ''Yal Nool''. A collection of 170 essays, written from 1914 to 1947, were published posthumously in four parts in
1995
File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...
. He also wrote many poems, and a collection of 32 of his poems was published in 1995. He was a good public speaker and most of his speeches, focusing mainly on history of the Tamils,
Tamil literature
Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...
, Tamil music and musical instruments, and
Vedanta
''Vedanta'' (; sa, वेदान्त, ), also ''Uttara Mīmāṃsā'', is one of the six (''āstika'') schools of Hindu philosophy. Literally meaning "end of the Vedas", Vedanta reflects ideas that emerged from, or were aligned with, t ...
philosophy, were published in international journals and magazines.
Ramakrishna Mission
Founded in 1897 by
Swami Vivekananda, the disciple of
Ramakrishna, the Ramakrishna Mission is a unique order of ascetics and volunteers dedicated to service to community, irrespective of
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...
,
caste,
creed or
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
differences. The mission, while promoting spiritual development, does not believe in religious conversion. The mission's charitable and philanthropic activities focus mainly on the provision of educational and medical services to the weaker segment of the population through schools, hospitals and orphanages run by the mission. It became a counter weight to
Christian missionary
A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...
-run charitable organizations throughout
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
.
Vipulananda initially met the head of the
Mylapore
Mylapore, also spelt Mayilapur, is a neighbourhood in the central part of the city of Chennai, India. It is one of the oldest residential parts of the city. It is also called Tirumayilai. The locality is claimed to be the birthplace of the cel ...
Ramakrishna Mission, Swami Sarvananda, in
Colombo
Colombo ( ; si, කොළඹ, translit=Koḷam̆ba, ; ta, கொழும்பு, translit=Koḻumpu, ) is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. According to the Brookings Institution, Colombo m ...
in 1916. This was followed up with another visit in
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...
in 1917. He entered the Mylapore Ramakrishna Math in 1922 for his monastic training. On completion of the training in 1924, he was given the name Vipulananda. After his ordination he dedicated his life to educational and spiritual pursuits and service to the community in Sri Lanka and India.
In 1925 Vipulananda became an administrator of Ramakrishna Mission (RKM) schools in Sri Lanka. He was instrumental in founding new RKM schools in
Jaffna
Jaffna (, ) is the capital city of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a peninsula of the same name. With a population of 88,138 in 2012, Jaffna is Sri Lanka's 12th mo ...
, Batticalao, Trincomalee and in many villages. He also founded orphanages – two for boys at
Vaitheeswara Vidyalayam, Jaffna and Sivananda Vidyalayam in
Batticaloa, and one for girls in Karativu. Thereafter, a number of RKM schools were opened in several remote villages in the North and East of Sri Lanka. This provided an alternative to the natives to go to schools and orphanages that were not associated with western
Christian missionaries.
He also helped his lifelong friend
A. M. A. Azeez
Aboobucker Mohamed Abdul Azeez ( ta, ஏ. எம். ஏ. அஸீஸ்; 4 October 1911 – 24 November 1973) was a Ceylonese civil servant, educator, social worker and member of the Senate of Ceylon.
Early life and family
Azeez was born o ...
, a pioneering Sri Lankan
Muslim educator and
civil servant, to establish charitable organizations to help poor Muslims in the east of the country.
Professional career
As a noted educationist, scholar and community worker, Vipulananda was invited by the
University of Madras
The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigious universities in India, incorporated by an a ...
to present its case for the establishment of a Tamil University to the special commission set up to investigate the proposal. On the recommendation of the commission, the
Annamalai University
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, image_size = 225px
, motto = "With Courage and Faith"
, established =
, type ...
was opened in 1927. In 1931 he became its first Professor of Tamil language. Professor Vipulananda also received a second invitation to become the first Professor of Tamil soon after the
University of Ceylon
The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Unive ...
was established in 1943, which he held until his death in 1947. Thus Professor Vipulananda enjoys the unique distinction of being the first scholar to be appointed the first professor of Tamil in two Universities in two different countries.
Vipulananda was a strong advocate of the
mother tongue as the
medium of education, but stressed the importance of learning other languages. At Sivananda Vidyalayam, in addition to Tamil, Vipulananda facilitated the teaching of English, Sinhala and Latin. He also recognized and promoted the importance of learning sciences such as biology, chemistry, mathematics and physics, as well as job-related technical subjects. He facilitated the efforts of other Tamil scholars to translate science and technology publications into Tamil by providing suitable technical terms.
Based on his critical studies of some of Professor Vipulananda's writings, Mr.
K.S. Sivakumaran, one of the notable literary critics from Sri Lanka, has called him a pioneer of Tamil literary criticism and the first Sri Lankan Tamil literary critic.
As a social reformer, Vipulananda led the movement to recognize
Subramanya Bharathi
C. Subramania Bharathi Birth name: C. Subramaniyan, the person's given name: Subramaniyan, father's given name: Chinnaswami. (C. Subramaniyan by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subramaniyan C ...
, a
Brahmin
Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...
by birth, as the Maha Kavi (National Poet), and succeeded despite strong opposition from socially and politically powerful elites due to Bharathi's
anti-castist views and his opposition to the perpetuation of the
caste system and the
superstitious Hindu practices and
ritual
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized ...
s. As a
nationalist
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...
, he hoisted the
Indian flag
The national flag of India, colloquially called the tricolour, is a horizontal rectangular tricolour flag of India saffron, white and India green; with the ', a 24-spoke wheel, in navy blue at its centre. It was adopted in its present form ...
on the occasion of the visit of Sir
George Fredrick Stanley to the
Annamalai University
, logo = CampusmapofAU.jpg
, image = Annamalai University logo.png
, image_size = 225px
, motto = "With Courage and Faith"
, established =
, type ...
for the 1937 convocation, while India was still a
British
British may refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies.
** Britishness, the British identity and common culture
* British English, ...
possession.
There are number of institutions named after him in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka and
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
have issued stamps honoring him.
He died after a brief illness on July 19, 1947. Swami Vipulananda is buried close to the Sivananda Vidyalayam in
Kalladi, near Batticaloa city. (see pictur
here.
See also
Other social reformers from Sri Lanka of the same period
*
Anagarika Dharmapala
Anagārika Dharmapāla (Pali: ''Anagārika'', ; Sinhala: Anagārika, lit., si, අනගාරික ධර්මපාල; 17 September 1864 – 29 April 1933) was a Sri Lankan Buddhist revivalist and a writer.
Anagarika Dharmapāla is not ...
*
Arumuka Navalar
Arumuka Navalar (; 18 December 1822 – 5 December 1879) was a Sri Lankan Shaivite Tamil language scholar, polemicist, and a religious reformer who was central in reviving native Hindu Tamil traditions in Sri Lanka and India.
Navalar's bi ...
*
Kumaraswamy Pulavar
Chunnakam Kumaraswamy Pulavar ( ta, சுன்னாகம் குமாரசாமிப்புலவர்) was a well-known Sri Lankan Tamil scholar and poet from Maylani village in Chunnakam township in Jaffna peninsula in the British ...
References
External links
Swami Vipulananda children’s homeSwami Vipulananda Institute of Aesthetic StudiesA website from Sawmi's Birth Place
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vipulananda, Swami
1892 births
1947 deaths
Advaitin philosophers
20th-century Hindu religious leaders
Hindu revivalists
Hindu missionaries
Sri Lankan Hindus
Sri Lankan Tamil poets
Tamil scholars
Annamalai University faculty
Indian social reformers
20th-century poets
Sri Lankan missionaries
Sri Lankan poets
Alumni of St. Michael's College National School