CHENNAI: Over 3,000 letters, which were written 75 to 140 years ago and received by Thamizh Thatha U Ve Swaminatha Iyer, are now available for posterity, thanks to eight years of work by historian professor A R Venkatachalapathy of the Madras Institute of Development Studies. This mammoth task started in 2011, with the assistance of late Tamil scholar V C Kulandaisamy, who was chairman of the UV Swaminatha Iyer Library. The letters received by Iyer can be simply described as a treasure trove of information on the recovery of Tamil literary works in the 19th and 20th centuries. They also reflect on what was happening in the literary world in Tamil Nadu between 1870 and 1942.
Iyer had received letters from many Tamil scholars from India and abroad. They included G U Pope (England), Julien Winson (Paris), H Beythan (Germany), C V Damodaram Pillai, Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai, Maraimalai Adigal, Parithimar Kalaignar, S Somasundara Bharathi, VO Chidambaram Pillai, VVS Iyer, Swami Vipulananda, Rajaji and many others.
The letters received by Iyer will be of great help to those researching the status of education during those times, preserving of Tamil literature from palm leaf manuscripts to books, the growth of Tamil prose and diction, and the growth of the postal department. The first volume covers 700 letters received by Iyer from 1877 to 1900, and was released recently under the title U Ve Swaminatha Iyer Kaditha Karuvoolam. The rest, received by him between 1901 and 1942, would be released in five or six volumes in due course.
Venkatachalapathy gives the historical background on the art of letter writing a few centuries ago and how it assumed importance in social life. At a time when transport facilities were limited and travel expenses high, letters were the only mode of communication. “In Tamil literature, a letter is called madal and in common parlance, kaditham. In the western world, letters of scholars have huge market value as people believe possessing them is a sign of prestige. Oxford and Cambridge universities preserve letters,” he says.
This is rarely the case in Tamil Nadu. Here, letters of a very few scholars have been preserved. They include Vallalar Ramalinga Adigal, poet Subramania Bharathi, V O Chidambaram Pillai, poet Bharathidasan, N M Venkatasamy Naattar and Rasikamani T K Chidambaranatha Mudaliyar. There is no library in Tamil Nadu to preserve the letters of Tamil scholars, barring the those of scholar Maraimalai Adigal.
Significantly, future generations would have missed the opportunity to see the handwriting of great scholars like Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai, VK Suryanarayana Sastri alias Parithimar Kalaignar, and many others, but for the letters they wrote to UV Swaminatha Iyer. “While Iyer had safeguarded the letters he had received, those who received replies from him did not. Interestingly, Iyer had marked as ‘replied’, in the letters he had received,” Venkatachalapathy recalls.
He points out that Swaminatha Iyer was concerned about the absence of accurate life histories of many poets and also disliked the habit of attributing divinity to poets. “He was very particular that history should be based on evidence. This is why he published the detailed life history of his teacher Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai. In this connection, Swaminatha Iyer had launched a massive search for the letters written by his master to many other scholars to write his biography with documentation.”
On the difficulties faced by him while compiling these letters, Venkatachalapathy recalls: “The biggest difficulty was the scale and nature of the work. It is a time-consuming work which required lot of checks and counter checks on the chronological order of the letters. Many scholars had not mentioned the date and year in their letters. It took a lot of effort to ascertain the date and year from related incidents mentioned in the letters.” Venkatachalapathy faced other difficulties too. “Many letters were written in ink made by myrobalan (kadukkai), and prone to damage. Some letters could not even be held by hand because they were in a shambles.”
Another challenge was the handwriting in the 19th century. Many scholars used joint letters (i.e., writing two letters together). Due to scarcity of paper in those days, postcards were mostly used. Many had used Tamil numerals in their letters. Some scholars used Grantha letters. Deciphering the letters written on both sides of a paper was another challenge since ink spread was deep. Venkatachalapathy also pointed out that the words in the letters were republished verbatim despite there being many grammatical and spelling mistakes. The colloquial terms used by the scholars were also reproduced word by word.
Manonmaniam P Sundaram Pillai’s letter dated October 20, 1896
I thank you for agreeing to clarify the doubts in certain Tamil texts (which he mentioned in an earlier letter). I hope you would clarify the doubts very soon. It will be good if I get clarified at the earliest - Signed - Manonmaniam P Sundaram Pillai
Letter from Tamil scholar S Vedachalam alias Maraimalai Adigal (Date not clear)
Many pranams to Brahmasri Iyer. I have received your kind letter and happy to know that you got well from illness. I pray to Lord Shiva for bestowing very good health on you to serve the Tamils. As you have informed, I got the copy of Manimekalai (book) from Sri Murugesa Mudaliyar. I will send the cost of that book in September. I will meet Sri Balasundara Mudaliyar tomorrow. I pray, please inform me about your health very often. I will do whatever possible in selling the book Manimekalai. Signed -
S Vedachalam
Brahmasri Iyer
My pranams at your feet. Received your kind letter (postcard). Many in our college have bought Silappathikaram and Manimekalai books (published by UV Swaminatha Iyer). Rest of the nine want to buy copies of Manimekalai and Silappathikaram books without Venpamaalai. I write this letter only in this regard. I hope these books will be sent quickly. Signed - VK Suryanarayana Sastri