Varahaneri Venkatesa Subramaniam Aiyar (2 April 1881 – 3 June 1925), also known as V. V. S. Aiyar, was an Indian revolutionary from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

who fought against British colonial rule in India. His contemporaries include

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

V.O. Chidambaram Pillai Vo or VO may refer to: Businesses and brands * Austrian Arrows (2003-2015, IATA airline code VO) * VLM Airlines Slovenia (2016-2018, IATA airline code VO) * Seagram's VO Whiskey Language * Volapük language (ISO 639-1 code vo) * VO language, a ...

, who subscribed to militant forms of resistance against the British colonial government. He went into exile in

Pondicherry Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the sout ...

, then under French rule, when his militant activities attracted a warrant for his arrest from the British colonial government. Aiyar was also 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, nati ...

writer and is considered as the father of modern Tamil short story. He also translated the ''Ramavatharam'' of Kambar and

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' ( ta, திருக்குறள், lit=sacred verses), or shortly the ''Kural'' ( ta, குறள்), is a classic Tamil language text consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven ...

into English. V.V.S Aiyar is mentor of

Vanchinathan Vanchinatha Iyer (1886 – 17 June 1911), popularly known as Vanchinathan or Vanchi, was an Indian independence activist. He is best remembered for assassinating Robert Ashe, the Tax Collector of Thirunelveli who was instrumental in closing ...

Early life

Venkatesa Subramaniam Aiyar was born on 2 April 1881 in the suburb of Varahaneri in

Tiruchi Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

. After his early education, he studied in St. Joseph's College and took his B.A in History, Politics, and Latin; he studied for the Law profession and passed the Pleader (junior lawyer) examination from the Madras University in 1902. He then practised as the pleader in the District courts of Tiruchi. Aiyar then moved to

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

in 1906 and started practising as a junior in the Chambers of an English Barrister. From Rangoon, he left for London in 1907 and enrolled in

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

aiming to becoming a Barrister at Law. While in London, Aiyar became member of

India House India House was a student residence that existed between 1905 and 1910 at Cromwell Avenue in Highgate, North London. With the patronage of lawyer Shyamji Krishna Varma, it was opened to promote nationalist views among Indian students in Britai ...

. Aiyar then began to take an active role in the militant struggle for Indian independence. Aiyar had a son and two daughters.

Friends

Venkatesa Subramaniam Aiyar was a close friend of

Shuddhananda Bharati Kavi Yogi Maharishi Dr. Shuddhananda Bharati (11 May 1897 – 7 March 1990) was an Indian philosopher and poet. His teachings are focused mainly on the search for God in Self, through the Sama Yoga practice he created. Biography Bhar ...

; he started with him the Bharadwaja Ashram at Cheranmadevi.

Political activities

Aiyar's militant attitude prompted the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

in 1910 to issue a warrant for his arrest for his alleged involvement in an anarchist conspiracy in London and Paris. Aiyar resigned from the Lincoln's Inn and escaped to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. Although he wished to remain in Paris as a political exile, he had to return to India. Aiyar landed in

on 4 December 1910 disguised as a

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

to escape arrest and remained there as exile. Aiyar remained in Pondicherry for over ten years. While in Pondicherry, Aiyar met with fellow revolutionaries

and

Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the ...

. In Pondicherry, Aiyar was involved in the plot to assassinate Ashe, the Collector of

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

. One of his students,

assassinated Ashe. Thus more trouble arose for Aiyar and his companion Subramanya Bharathi. On 22 September 1914 the German cruiser entered the

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

harbour and bombarded the city. The British colonial government blamed this on the activities of the exiles in Pondicherry, and urged the French Governor to deport Aiyar and his companions to Africa. The French police brought several charges against the revolutionaries, but failed to convict them. During this period Aiyar translated the

into English. He later revealed that he wanted to leave a legacy behind if he were forced to leave the country. Aiyar returned to Madras after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and worked as the editor of the newspaper ''Desabhaktan'' (''Patriot''). He was arrested in 1921 on

sedition Sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that tends toward rebellion against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent toward, or insurrection against, estab ...

charges and spent nine months in prison. While in prison Aiyar wrote the book ''A Study of Kamba Ramayana''. As a writer, Aiyar has often been referred to as the "founder" of the short story genre in Tamil.

Literary works

Aiyar translated the entire work of the Kural text in English prose, which became the first complete English translation by a native scholar. Aiyar's work is considered by various scholars, including

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus' Places *Czech, ...

scholar

Kamil Zvelebil Kamil Václav Zvelebil (November 17, 1927 – January 17, 2009) was a Czech scholar in Indian literature and linguistics, notably Tamil, Sanskrit, Dravidian linguistics and literature and philology. Life and career Zvelebil studied at the Char ...

, to be the most scholarly of all the English translations made until then, including those by native English scholars. He also translated the ''Ramavatharam'' written by Kambar in the 12th century CE.

Personal life

V.V.S. Aiyar married Bhagyalakshmi Ammal and had a daughter named Subhadra and a son named Krishnamurthy. In the later years his son became a practicing medical doctor at

Trichirapalli Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

Death

Aiyar drowned in the Papanasam falls, when trying to save his drowning daughter Subhadra, on 3 June 1925.

References

Citations Bibliography *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aiyar, V. V. S Tamil language activists Tamil-language writers India House 1881 births 1925 deaths Writers from Tiruchirappalli Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu Deaths by drowning in India Tamil–English translators 20th-century Indian translators Translators of the Tirukkural into English St Joseph's College, Tiruchirappalli alumni