Percy MacQueen
தேமொழி
An Administrator and Folklorist: A Neglected Narrative in the Chronicles of Tamil History
Percy MacQueen was a British administrator who operated in the southern region of India. Born in 1883 to A. MacQueen, he pursued his studies at Selwyn College, Cambridge. It is suggested that he may have been a mathematical scholar, according to one biographical account, though his educational background remains largely undocumented. McQueen resided in South India for a duration of thirty-eight years, serving as an administrator in various positions. Beginning in 1936, he held the position of Collector of Nilgiris, a position he held until 1938. He then held the same position again from 1938 till 1940. Furthermore, he served as a collector in Madras, Trichy, and Tirunelveli. He also worked as a curator at the Tamil Nadu State Archives. His residence in Ooty significantly enhanced his renown. McQueen is not an ordinary administrator. His prominence and proficiency in Tamil rendered him an indispensable figure in the annals of Tamil folk literature. He is a passionate curator of folklore and traditional narratives.
He amassed a collection of folk songs from the Malayalam and Tamil languages, as well as songs from the Badaga language of the Nilgiris. A portion of the collection was bestowed upon the University of Madras in the year 1946. He also donated a manuscript collection comprising folk poetry and songs in Tamil, Malayalam, and Badaga, presented in three distinct parts between the years 1957 and 1961, housed within the Cambridge University Library.
His collection encompasses approximately thirty-five children's songs, accompanied by translations and grammatical annotations. His collection also encompasses folktales. The collection of folk songs is quite intriguing, encompassing themes such as British officers, social bandits, famines, goddesses, the impermanence of the body, lamentations, and castes. In the Cambridge University Library, one can find a fascinating ballad titled 'Kovalan Katai.' He procured it from Palghat and asserts that this Tamil epic illuminates the early manners and customs of the Tamil people significantly. It was Rao Bahadur Chinnasami Pillai, the municipal chairman of Palghat in South Malabar at that time, who assisted him in obtaining this ballad. Within his collection, one encounters a particularly intriguing short piece regarding war, which MacQueen categorizes as materials of war propaganda. The discussion encompasses Hitler, Napoleon, Germany, and the war. The information appears to have been gathered through oral tradition and subsequently translated by MacQueen.
He also authored a grammar of spoken Tamil. No administrator, either during his lifetime or thereafter, endeavoured to compose a grammar for spoken Tamil. It was published in colonial Ootacamund (now Ooty) in the year 1943. To our astonishment, the book was valued at 1 rupee and 12 annas, quite reasonable indeed. This volume is housed within the British Museum in London. One can observe a multitude of handwritten documents within his collection pertaining to Tamil grammar, which encompasses contemporary and spoken examples. It is indeed quite astonishing to observe that the majority of the handwriting in the private collection pertains to Pery McQueen. A brief examination reveals that this administrator is not only a collector of Tamil examples from the everyday life of Tamils but also a writer of a Modern and Spoken Tamil grammar designed not merely for administrative purposes, but as a genuine contribution to the Tamil grammatical traditions.
His deep interest in Tamil colloquial grammar is remarkable. A plethora of handwritten notes accompanied by clipped papers, which encompass Tamil grammatical information, as well as copies of missionary grammars, are in his collection. It also includes a Tamil conversation book, designed primarily for the purpose of training in spoken Tamil by colonial administrators beginning in the 19th century.
Macqueen was, in addition, a poet. To date, we are aware of three printed collections of his poems that were released during his lifetime. He published "Toda Land," a poem that spans a mere 12 pages, in the year 1939. His subsequent collection of poetry, titled "Seven Short Poems," was published in 1940. His other collection of poems includes “A Farewell to India and Other South Indian Verse”, published in 1957. His other printed work is a historical account of Pudukottai titled “The Pudukottai: A Portrait.” The collection features numerous photographs of the Pudukottai rulers.
It is intriguing to consider how this administrator folklorist managed to amass such an extensive collection of folk songs, tales, and other pertinent materials, as well as translate them into English. His native informants are predominantly not from elite backgrounds, with only a few exceptions. From the documented song, it is evident that the majority of his native informants are commonplace individuals who interacted with him quite freely, devoid of any preconceived notions typically associated with an administrator in conversation. It is also noted that he gathered various folksongs by compensating the singers with a few annas, thereby honouring their artistry.
It is indeed unfortunate that Pery Macqueen has been overlooked in the annals of British folklore as a significant folklorist. He was notably absent from the roster of twentieth-century folklorists. Although he has not published any folksongs during his lifetime, he is recognized as a British Tamil folklorist and has had the distinction of contributing to the history of both Indian and British folklore.
This has been meticulously preserved in Madras University. Now they all have been digitized by Tamil Virtual Academy and uploaded in their Tamil Digital Library for the benefit of scholars and researchers.
The collection, meticulously preserved at the University of Madras, has been digitized by the Tamil Virtual Academy. It is now accessible to scholars and researchers via the Tamil Digital Library.
- Govindarajan Navaneethakrishnan
Associate Professor
Department of Tamil and Research Centre
The American College
Madurai-2
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Adverbs
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Tamil songs of castes
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Tamil conversations
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Tamil Sentences
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Tamil Colloquial grammar
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: War propaganda material in Colloquial Tamil
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Children's songs - Tamil
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Tamil Stories
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Badaga songs
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Sentences from correspondence cases
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Phrase book, Vellalar Tamil
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: Order of words and omission, Tamil
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: The participle adverbs and adjectives, Tamil
● Percy Macqueen Paper Manuscripts: The Noun and the pronoun cases