Subramaniya Siva (Tamil: சுப்பிரமணிய சிவா) (4 October 1884 – 23 July 1925) was an Indian freedom fighter, writer and pure Tamil movement activist during the

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

Life

Subramaniya Siva was born in a Brahmin Iyer family to Veersaiva Iyer at Batlagundu near

Dindigul Dindigul, also spelt Thindukkal (), is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Dindigul district. Dindigul is located southwest from the state capital, Chennai, away from Tiruchirappalli, away ...

in erstwhile

Madurai district Madurai district is one of the 38 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India., United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The city of Madurai serves as the district headquarters. It houses the famous Sri Meenaksh ...

of Madras presidency. He was born to Rajam Iyer. He joined the

Indian freedom movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...

in 1908. In 1908, he was arrested by the British and was the first political prisoner in Madras jail. While serving a prison term, he was afflicted by

leprosy Leprosy, also known as Hansen's disease (HD), is a long-term infection by the bacteria ''Mycobacterium leprae'' or ''Mycobacterium lepromatosis''. Infection can lead to damage of the nerves, respiratory tract, skin, and eyes. This nerve damag ...

and was shifted to Salem jail. Since leprosy was regarded as a contagious disease, the British authorities forbade him to travel by rail after his release and hence he was forced to travel on foot. He continued to fight for independence and was incarcerated many times until 1922. He was the author of the journal ''Gnanabhanu'' and books ''Ramanuja Vijayam'' and ''Madhva Vijayam''. He eventually succumbed to

on 23 July 1925.

Pure Tamil Movement

A movement started by Maraimalai Adigal, the Thanittamil (‘pure Tamil’) literary movement intended to rid the Tamil language of non-Tamil words. The movement was supported & propagated by Subramaniya Siva and is one of the most significant of all Tamil revivalist movements organised by nationalists. His passion for Tamil was such that he wrote an advertisement which was published in Gnanabhanu as: "Five rupees — Can you write pure Tamil? If so, rush in. A lover of Tamil has come forward to offer five rupees (as a prize) for anyone who writes, not less than eight pages on the history of Tiruvalluvar in our Gnanabhanu, which uses only pure Tamil words with no mixtures of words from other languages like Sanskrit.”

Honours

The office of Dindigul district collector is named after as ''Thiyagi Subramania Siva Maaligai'' after him. Bathlagundu bus stand is named after Siva. A memorial has been established at Papparapatti near

Pennagaram Pennagaram is a town in Dharmapuri district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the headquarters of Pennagaram taluk (sub-district). Geography Pennagaram is located at . It has an average elevation of 493 metres (1617 feet). The ...

Dharmapuri district Dharmapuri is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil-Nadu, India. It is the first district created in Tamil Nadu after the independence of India by splitting it from then-Salem district on 2 October 1965. Dharmapuri District is one of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Siva, Subramaniya 1884 births 1925 deaths People from Dindigul district Indian independence activists from Tamil Nadu