Tamil literature right from the Sangam & post-Sangam periods was preserved in manuscripts written on palm leaves for long. While copies of them were made from time to time, they were all preserved only by a few individuals & mathas. Post-16th century, most of them went into oblivion. But for the efforts of one man, U.Ve.Saminatha Iyer, we would have lost a sizeable number of literature and the Tamil heritage & history associated with them.
Popularly known as ‘U.Ve.Sa’, Iyer hailed from a family of scholars from the village Uthamathanapuram near Tiruvarur in Tamil Nadu. He was born in his maternal grandparents’ home in the village of Suriya Moolai on 19 Feb 1855. His childhood name was ‘Saminathan’ and during his upanayana, he was named ‘Venkataraman’.
His father wanted him to learn Sanskrit & Music. But Iyer picked up music and learned Carnatic Music from various vidwans which included Gopalakrishnan Bharathiyar, a notable composer of many poems. U.Ve. Sa had developed an interest in Tamil during that time and started learning Tamil literature like Sathakam and Malai. He had also studied all the ‘Tamil Nigandus’ which contains the glossary of Tamil words and meanings. With this knowledge, he started composing small poems in Tamil. However, his quest for knowledge increased more.
Mahavidwan Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai was a Tamil scholar par excellence during those times and U.Ve.Sa pestered his father to take him to Pillai so that he could study Tamil under him. Reluctantly his father agreed, and they went to Mayuram (Mayiladuthurai) for a meeting with Pillai. Iyer told Meenakshisundaram Pillai that his name is ‘Saminathan’, fearing that Pillai may not take him as a student if he told his name is Venkataraman, as Pillai was a staunch Savivite. From that day, he was known as Saminathan only. Meenakshisundaram Pillai was satisfied with Iyer’s knowledge of Tamil after putting him through a test and agreed to take him as his student. Iyer was overjoyed and continued his study till Pillai’s death.
After that U.Ve.Sa struggled financially and traveled to various places in search of a job. Finally, he had joined Thiruvavaduthurai Adheenam. While he was teaching Tamil to the students there, he also started learning a few of the ancient literature from Subramaniya Desikar, the chief of the Matha. During that time he not only learned some of the important Tamil literature, he also had a chance to debate with Tamil scholars who visited the Adheenam. This has enhanced his Tamil knowledge further.
When U.Ve.Sa was studying under Meenakshisundaram Pillai, chief of Tamil studies at Kumbakonam College, Thiyagaraja Chettiyar used to come to meet Pillai. Thiyagaraja Chettiyar was impressed with Iyer’s Tamil knowledge and wanted to give his job to U.Ve.Sa as he had decided to retire. Initially, Desikar was not keen to leave U.Ve.Sa but eventually agreed due to the constant requests coming from Thigaraja Chettiyar. U.Ve.Sa started working as a Tamil teacher at Kumbakonam College in 1880 for 23 years.
This period made a marked change in Iyer’s life, who was only studying the ‘Sitrilakkiyam’, smaller books, and Puranas in Tamil. One person named Ramasamy Mudaliar met Iyer and told him about the five epics of Tamil. He had also given one portion of the epic ‘Jivaka Chintamani’ to U.Ve.Sa. On studying Jivaka Chintamani, he started looking for the full text and spent a lot of time traversing various places in Tamil Nadu in search of the manuscripts.
Though he had collected many palm leaves, full & partial parts of the epic, and also the commentaries of the epic from Nachinarkiniyar, he had struggled to get the full meaning of the verses. Jivaka Chintamani was a Jaina Text. So he had visited many Jain households to get the meaning of many verses for which he couldn’t get the right meaning. During the process, he also learned about Thiruthakka Devar, who had written the epic.
Once he had reached the correct version of the text, including the verses and meaning, he wanted to publish Jivaka Chintamani. He started collecting donations from various sponsors. With a lot of difficulties, he published the epic with a detailed introduction, the history of the author Thiruthakka Devar, and also Nachinarkinyar who wrote the commentary, synopsis of the epic, and the detailed verse-wise commentary in October 1887. This is one of the earliest efforts to publish a Tamil text in such detail.
While he was searching for the Chintamani manuscripts, he had come across the copies of the Sangam text Pathupattu (Ten Idylls) and Ettu Thogai (Eight Anthologies). So he started the process of publishing them. In 1889, Pathupattu was published by him. Subsequently, the rest of the Sangam Tamil literature and Tamil epics like Silappadhikaram and Manimekalai were published by him. However, Iyer’s quest didn’t stop. He kept on searching for ancient Tamil books and worked on publishing them.
The contribution of Iyer is not just publishing the literature as such. He had worked dedicatedly to ensure that they were published in the right way. As he had mentioned in his autobiography, he never rushed to put his own meaning to the verses he didn’t understand. He didn’t mind visiting many scholars and commoners to get the correct meaning. Of many examples quoted by Iyer, one is about getting to know the meaning of the word ‘Samavasaranam’ while studying Jivaka Chintamani.
Iyer writes “I didn’t know what is meant by Samavasaranam. I went to one Chandranatha Chettiyar who had some idea about Jain terminology. He told me that Samavasaranam is a Jinalaya and it has many parts. He directed me to visit another person by the name of Gunapala Chettiyar who had a picture of Samvasaranam. So I went to Gunapala Chettiyar’s house and looked at the picture. That gave me a lot of information about the Jinalaya. On seeing me speaking about many such Jain words with Chettiyar, his wife commented about me that “he must be a Bhavya Jeevan” (well versed with Jainism). I know she was also a scholar in Jaina work and if she says I am well versed, that means I had done enough research on this Jaina work and that gave me immense happiness”
It is not just the meanings of the verses he studied, he worked on the commentaries and the details about them to make it more easy and more interesting for the contemporary Tamil reader. This singular focus made the books published by him revive the Tamil literature.
Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharathiyar wrote a poem in his honour. Not only that even Ravindranath Tagore wrote a poem in Bengal in honour of U.Ve.Sa. which goes like this :
Adijuker andare thalapatre chilo
Dravida Desar Puradhana Kirti,
Seyi Mahadnidhi, Hey Desikotama
Tomar dwara na ki bahirhail?
Se Kaler Agastyer mathayese Thomarmage
Simhasane reke dile nagitumisa sammane?
Aar pancha maha kavyer majje
Chintamani, Nupurakaatha, Manimekala Ithyathi
Samsodhana Kare Tahar Pada Jugale
Samarpanakarile na Kitumi?
Sange Sange Sangakala Sahityake
Jyotsnai fuditha nitya mallikarmatha
Sophita Karile Nagithumi? Themaagaripranam
Even during his old age, he kept studying various texts and tried to write books & gave many lectures. He writes “Due to my old age and my body not cooperating, I am not able to work on anything all alone. However, my interest in researching various Tamil texts and publishing them is not waning. I think the Tamil goddess is helping me to achieve this impossible task”.
It is a pity that Tamizh Thatha, as he was fondly called, was not honoured as much as one liked him to be during his lifetime and after that. It is at least now we should start continuing his legacy and try to spread Tamil literature which will make him happy.
TS Krishnan is a Tamil scholar and author.
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