R. P. Sethu Pillai () (1896–1961), was a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

scholar, writer and professor of Tamil at the

University of Madras The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

Biography

Sethu pillai was born at Rajavallipuram, Tirunelveli District in 1896. He was educated and practiced as a lawyer. He became interested in Tamil after listening to a speech of

Maraimalai Adigal Maraimalai Adigal (15 July 1876 – 15 September 1950) was a Tamil Saivite writer, orator and father of the Tanittamil Iyakkam movement. He authored more than 100 books, including works on original poems and dramas and notable research works o ...

Palayamkottai Palayamkottai (also Palayankottai) is a neighbourhood in Tirunelveli, Tirunelveli City, incorporated within the Tirunelveli Municipal Corporation, Tirunelveli City Municipal Corporation. It is situated on the east bank of the Thamirabarani rive ...

in June 1912. After a brief career in politics (he was the Vice Chairman of the Tirunelveli Municipal Council), he became a teacher. During 1930-36, he taught at

Annamalai University The Annamalai University (AU) is a public state university in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The sprawling campus offers courses of higher education in arts, science, engineering, management, humanities, agriculture, and physical education. ...

. In 1936, he became a senior lecturer at the Madras University. In 1946, he succeeded Prof. Vaiyapuri Pillai as the Reader of Tamil and the Head of the Tamil department in the University. In 1948, the readership was converted to a full professorship and he became Professor of Tamil. From 1946 till his death in 1961 he was the Head of the Tamil department. In 1955, he won the first ever

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

for

for his series of essays titled ''Tamil inbam''. In 1957, he was awarded a D. Litt degree (''honoris causa''). Sethu pillai was a scholar of Tamil and wrote more than twenty five books. Among his notable works is his biography of Bishop

Robert Caldwell Robert Caldwell (7 May 1814 – 28 August 1891) was a British missionary and linguist. A missionary for the London Missionary Society, he arrived in Company Raj, British India at age 24, and studied the local language to spread the word of the ...

titled ''Caldwell Aiyar Sarithram''. He was popularly called ''Sollin Selvar'' (lit. the child of the word) for his proficiency in Tamil. He was a member of the Tamil advisory board for the

Sahitya Akademi The Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, is an organisation dedicated to the promotion of literature in the languages of India. Founded on 12 March 1954, it is supported by, though independent of the Indian government. Its off ...

since its inception in 1954. He was involved in the creation of the Tamil encyclopaedia and the last volume of the Tamil lexicon. He also wrote a number of books and articles in English. The most noted among them is his edition of Francis Whyte Ellis' commentary of

Tirukkural The ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'' (), or shortly the ''Kural'' (), is a classic Tamil language text on commoner's morality consisting of 1,330 short couplets, or Kural (poetic form), kurals, of seven words each. The text is divided into three books wit ...

and ''Dravidian comparative vocabulary''. Sethu pillai died in 1961. In 2009, Sethu Pillai's works were nationalised by the

Government of Tamil Nadu The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary. Under the Const ...

. He was the one to give the title 'Silambu Selvar' to

Ma. Po. Si. Mylai Ponnuswamy Sivagnanam,Padma Awards 1972
padmaawards.gov.in popularl ...

(M.P.Sivagnanam) praising the immense knowledge he had in the field of

Silappatikaram ''Cilappatikāram'' ( IPA: ʧiləppət̪ikɑːrəm, ''lit.'' "the Tale of an Anklet"), also referred to as ''Silappathikaram'' or ''Silappatikaram'', is the earliest Tamil epic. It is a poem of 5,730 lines in almost entirely ''akaval'' (''acir ...

epic.

Bibliography

Tamil

*''Thamizhakam oorum perum'' *''Tamil inbam'' *''Velum villum'' *''Velin verri'' *''Alayum kalayum'' *''Vaazhi Vaazhi Valluvar'' *''Caldwell Aiyar Sarithram'' *''Kristhuva Tamil tondarkal'' *''Tiruvalluvar nool nayam'' *''Tamil nattu navamanigal'' *''Aatrangkarayinile'' *''Kattar karayilae'' *''Tamil kavithai kalanchiyam'' *''Viramanagar'' *''Tamilar veeram'' *''Tenmozhigalil palamozhigal'' *''Sollin Selvar'' *''Medai Pechu''

English

*Ellis commentary of Tirukural *Dravidian comparative vocabulary *Common Dravidian proverbs and words and their significance

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sethu Pillai, R. P. 1896 births 1961 deaths Recipients of the Sahitya Akademi Award in Tamil Tamil writers People from Tirunelveli district Academic staff of Annamalai University