parithi maaR kalaiGNar aka Surya Narayana Sastri
Ravi 'Kity Bum' Sundaram
parithi maaR kalaiGNar
-- A few details about Surya Narayana Sastri
-- An anecdote of instant translation of Shakespere
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Long back someone requested details about parithi
maaR kalaiGNar (aka Surya Narayana Sastri). I jotted down
some details in Dec 92 but misplaced the piece of paper.
I just located it. So here it goes...
Surya Narayan Sastri was a pioneer of Pure Tamil Movement.
He was born at Pasumalai, a village near Madurai, long since
absorbed as a suburb. He wrote a novel called "mathi vaaNan".
He strongly disapproved of the "maNipravaaLam" style, that is
mixture of Tamil and Sanskrit. He wrote simple Tamil that is
understandble to general public. He worked closely with
moo. raakava aiyar of Ramanathapuram Sethupathi Maharaja's Court.
(Not to be confused with raa. raakava aiyar of the same court)
He translated his name as "parithi maaR kalaiGNar". parithi = Suryan;
maal = thiru maal = mahaa vishnu = narayanan; kalaiGNar = Sastri
He started a book store in Madurai and published some books.
S Viswanathan bookstore (named after his son) is supposed to
be doing business even today at Townhall Road, Madurai.
His other son Natarajan worked for TN Govt as a health inspector.
He also started an elementary school at Maanamadurai, another town
east of Madurai. Surya Narayan Sastri Elementary School.
My mom says she used to send me to that school even though I was
too young to be enrolled "to get the school-going-habit"! I picked
it up alright! I am still going to school after 28 years!
He taught at Madras Christian College. (Or Presidency College).
There was a Prof Miller an English professor/ Tamil scholar.
During the interview for the job Prof Miller asked PMK to translate
a specified passage from Merchant of Venice.
(From The Merchant Of Venice)
The man that hath no music in himself
Nor is not moved with the concord of sweet sounds
Is fit for treasons strategms and spoils
The motions of his spirit are dull as night
And his affections dark as Erebus
Let no such man be trusted, Mark the music
PMK translated this passage instantly as:
kannalam kaniNDa paadal
kaayakan allanEnum
innisai kEttu neGNcham
iLakithaadiruppOn
vaGNcha mannavar, thurOkam aathi
maapaavam cheyyath_thakkavaan
annavan_thanai nambaamal
akaRRida vENdumanRO?
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
I am grateful to my periyappa KS Parthasarathy for most of
the information quoted here. He recited both the Shakespere
passage and the translation from memory. My mother provided
some info too.
_____________________________________________________________________
S.Sankarapandi
In article <SUNDARAM.9...@me.uta.edu> sund...@me.uta.edu (Ravi 'Kity B
I liked this posting very much.
What a beautiful translation (that too instantly !).
parithimaaRkalaignar has expressed his great talent in English and Tamil.
Thank you for posting this.
S. Sankarapandi