CHENNAI: Retired IAS officer and Tamil writer M Rajendran has been chosen for the Sahitya Akademi award for the year 2022 for his novel Kala Pani which narrates the war between Marudhu brothers and East India Company in 1801 in the forests of Kalayarkoil. This is described as the first protest against Britishers as it took place 56 years before the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny. The award carries Rs 1 lakh, a copper plaque and a citation and it would be presented at a later date.
Rajendran hails from Vadakarai in Madurai and served as a lawyer with the Madurai district court for three years before joining the civil service. He has rendered copper inscriptions from the regimes of Chera, Chozha, Pandiya and Pallava kings in layman’s language.
Expressing happiness over the recognition for his historical work, Rajendran told TNIE, “Historian K Rajayyan authored a book ‘South Indian Rebellion’ four decades ago. Until this work was published, we heard about Vengai Periyar Udayana Thevar, Maruthu brothers, Oomaithurai, and Veeerapandiya Kattabomman only through hearsay or through folk songs. Rajayyan had said the history of India should be written from the southern part of the country.”
To spread the message as fiction, Rajendran wrote two novels. “The novel 1801 describes how Oomaithorai was rescued from Palayamkottai prison and later hanged along with others. After this, the British regime sent 72 persons into exile, and I focussed on historical incidents relating to this in my novel Kala Pani which narrates the life of Sivaganga King Periya Udayana Thevar who was banished to Sumatra in 1802,” he said.
Along with him, Duraisamy, 15-year-old son of Chinna Marudhu, Jagannatha Iyer from Ramanathapuram, Sheik Hussain, Samy, a Christian from Manakkadu and Varapur Zamindar were also sent into exile after the Kalayarkoil war. Rajendran has also authored an auto-fiction, Vadakarai Oru Vamsathin Varalaru.
He has written a book titled Seyale Sirantha Soll (Action is the Best Say), an autobiography describing his experiences as a civil servant, besides a book on how Saint Thiruvalluvar handled legal aspects in Thirukkural.