Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai (October 11, 1826 - July 21, 1889) was one of the pioneering Tamil writers. The first Tamil novel Prathapa Mudaliar Sarithiram was written by him in 1897. He has also written more than fifteen other books. Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai is considered one of the pioneers who enriched Tamil prose writing.

 

 

 

                                             

 

 

 

Personal Life :

 

Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai was born in Trichirapalli district in Velan Kulathur on October 11, 1826. His father was Savarimuthu Pillai and mother Arockia Marie Ammal. Vedanayagam Pillai’s father was a landowner. His maternal grandfather Maria Savariya Pillai was a medic in the East India Company.  

 

Having learnt primary education from his father in the village, Vedanayagam Pillai had taken Tamil lessons from Pulavar Thiyagarasa Pillai. Vedanayagam Pillai was also proficient in playing the Veena.

 

Film actor and music director Vijay Antony is his great grandson.

 

 

Life in Judiciary :

 

Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai joined the judiciary, first as a record keeper in the Southern Court. Then he applied for the post of translator in Trichy court and was appointed to the post. Vedanayagam Pillai faced many challenges at work.

 

In 1857 Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai joined Thrangampadi court as munsif. In 1860 he became Mayavaram munsif and continued for 13 years in the position and came to be known as Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai. Mayavaram or Mayuram is currently known as Mayiladuthurai. In 1872 he retired after once again facing some challenges at work. He also became the head of the city corporation of Mayavaram.

 

Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai reformed the judiciary removing many corrupt practices and has written about them in his works.

 

 

Literary Life :

 

After completing primary education at home, since his maternal great grandfather was working with the British, his parents decided to give Vedanayagam Pillai an education in English and sent him to Trichy. Vedanayagam Pillai got introduced to English prose and literary works and he wanted to write such works in Tamil. This was his inspiration to write the novel.

 

 

                                               

 

 

In the introduction he wrote to the novel he has written "(People) accept that there is no prose books in Tamil. Everyone worries about this fact. In order to redress this I came forward to write this fictional book. And I wrote this also to provide illustrations to the moral ideas from my previous books Neethi Nool, Penmathi Malai and Sarva Samaya Samarasa Keerthanam."

 

 

The novel was well received among the Tamil people since it was an innovative work. Those who had English education praised it as a great service to Tamil. Encouraged by this Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai wrote the next novel Sugunasundari. It was just one third of Prathapa Mudaliar Sarithiram, by count of pages. In the foreword Vedanayagam Pillai notes that he had written about various angles of human nature and about moral, just ideals and against evils of social practices such as child marriage.

 

 

Vedanayagam Pillai had the skills to compose Tamil classic styled verses (Seyyul) from a young age. He has written Neethi Nool, classic styled poems, and a collection of songs called Sarva Samaya Samaras Keerthanaigal. He has also written several singles.

 

 

Other Works :

 

When Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai was a translator, between 1805 to 1861, he translated judgements given in the past 56 years from English to Tamil and published a book called Sithantha Sangiharam. Similarly he published judgements from 1862 and 63 in 1864. He was the first to translate and publish court judgements. There were no other Tamil books with legal nuances before his books.

 

Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai has also composed and written many Carnatic songs. Some of these are still popular among Carnatic performers. Carnatic singer Sanjay Subramaniam has performed an exclusive concert on Vedanayagam Pillai’s compositions.

 

Vedanayagam Pillai’s Tamil songs contain many Sanskrit words. He has composed 'Manam peritha, varumanam peritha styled after Thiyagaraja’s 'Nithisal sukama. 'Nale nalla nalla nal, 'Nee malaikathey nenje, Tharunam, tharunam are some of his famous compositions. One of his compositions Nayagar Bakshamadi was included in the movie Doctor Savithri which was released in 1955.

 

In those days Christian worship songs were sung in Greek, Latin or in English. Feeling a need for Tamil Christian songs he composed Thiruvarumalai, Thiruvarul Anthathi, Deva Thothira malai, Periyanayagi ammai pathigam and such works.

 

 

Social Work :

 

When Thathu year famine struck (also known as the great famine of 1876 - 1878) he helped the public. Vedanayagam Pillai installed food counters (Kanchi Thotti) and helped the poor people have something to eat. In appreciation to his services Gopala Kriushna Bharathiyar wrote a poem that starts Neeye Purushameru (you are a mountain among men).

 

 

                                     

 

Vedanayagam Pillai passed away on July 21, 1889 aging 62.

 

 

Biography :

 

'Thamizh Novel ulagin thanthai - Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai’ is a biography on his life written by N. V. Kalaimani island published in 2001.

 

 

                                                 

 

Books :

 

Novels

• 1879 - Prathapa Mudaliar Sarithiram (Also translated in English) - First novel in Tamil

• 1887 - Sukuna Sundari - Novel

 

Other works

A few among his many works are listed below.

• 1860 - Neethi Nool

• 1862 Sithantha Sangkiharam

• 1869 - Penmanthi Malai

• 1873, Thiruvarul Anthathi, Thiruvarul Malai, Thevamathar Anthathi- (Christian works by him)

• 1878 Sarva Samaya Keerthanai (around 200 songs)

• 1889 Sathya Veda Keerthanai

 

Bhommai Kalyanam, Periyanayagiyamman are his other books and he has also written many singles.

 

 

Mayuram Vedanayagam Pillai was indeed a  guiding light where justice and literature walked hand in hand!