Parithimar Kalaignar (born V. G. Suryanarayana Sastri at Vilacheri near

Thirupparankundram Thiruparankundram, also spelled Tirupparankundram or Tiruparangundram, is a town in Madurai district in Tamil Nadu, India. It is about from Madurai city and constitutes the southwest part of the greater Madurai city (Municipal Corporation). The ...

on 6 July 1870 – 2 November 1903), 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 at the Madras Christian College, was the first person to campaign for the recognition of Tamil as a

classical language A classical language is any language with an independent literary tradition and a large and ancient body of written literature. Classical languages are typically dead languages, or show a high degree of diglossia, as the spoken varieties of the ...

Life

Suryanarayana Sastri was born at Vilacheri near

in 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 ...

family. He graduated in philosophy and was soon employed as a

of Tamil in the Madras Christian College. In 1895, Suryanarayana Sastri rose to become the Head of Department for Tamil at the Madras Christian College.

Campaign for recognition of Tamil as classical language

Suryanarayana Sastri had immense love for Tamil and wrote plenty of books. He even changed his Sanskrit name to its Tamil translation (although "Parithi" பரிதி and "Kalai" கலை are from Sanskrit परिधि and कला, respectively). When the Madras University proposed to exclude Tamil from its syllabus, Parithimar Kalaignar vehemently protested against the proposal forcing the authorities to drop the move. In 1902, he proposed that Tamil be designated as a "classical language" thereby becoming the first person to make such a petition. Parithimar Kalignar is also known as Dravida Sastri. Parithimar Kalaignar was also the first to use the Tamil name ''Kumarinadu'' for the mythical lost-land of Lemuria.

Death

Paritihimar Kalaignar died in 1903 due to

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

at the age of 33.

Legacy

Parithimar Kalaignar 2007 stamp of India

Parithimar Kalaignar is regarded as an inspiration for Tamil enthusiasts as Maraimalai Adigal and the

Tanittamil Iyakkam ( ta, தனித்தமிழ் இயக்கம், , Independent Tamil Movement) is a linguistic-purity movement in Tamil literature which attempts to avoid loanwords from Sanskrit, English and other languages. The movement began in ...

. In 2006, the Government of Tamil Nadu declared Parithimar Kalaignar's house in his native village of Vilacheri as a memorial and sanctioned a sum of rupees 15 lakh towards nationalizing his books. On 17 August 2007, postage stamps were issued in memory of Saint Vallalar, Parithimar Kalaignar and Maraimalai Adigal. On 13 December 2006, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi extended an amount of Rs. 15 lakh to the Tamil scholar's descendants.

References

External links