Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai (1826–1889), also known as Mayavaram Vedanayagam Pillai was an Indian civil servant, Tamil poet, novelist and social worker who is remembered for the authorship of '' Prathapa Mudaliar Charithram'' (1879), recognized as the "first modern Tamil novel". Vedanayagam's ideals of women's liberation and education are reflected in the novel.

Early life

Vedanayagam Pillai was born on 11 October 1826 in Inam Kulathur, a village in present-day

Tiruchirappalli district Tiruchirappalli District is one of the 38 districts, located along the Kaveri River, in Tamil Nadu, India. The headquarters of the district is the city of Tiruchirappalli. During the British Raj, the district was referred to as Trichinopoly, ...

to Arockia Mariammal and Savarimuthu Pillai, both of whom were

Catholics The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

. His father was his first tutor and later he learned Tamil and English under a tutor named Thayagaraja Pillai. On completing his education, Vedanayagam joined the judicial court of

Trichinopoly Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of T ...

as record keeper and soon was elevated as a translator. He learnt

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

, French and Latin during his tenure and then cleared his law exams.

Literary works

He became the District Munsiff of Mayuram (now

Mayiladuthurai Mayiladuthurai (formerly known as Mayavaram or Mayuram) is a :ta:சிறப்பு நிலை நகராட்சிகள், Special Grade Municipality and district headquarters of Mayiladuthurai district in Tamil Nadu, India. The town ...

) and served there for 13 years. Vedanayagam showed a passion for writing from early age. He translated law books to Tamil and his ethical book called Neethi Nool was well accepted. In total he wrote 16 books of which '' Prathapa Mudaliar Charithram'' (1879) is regarded as the first Tamil Novel. The novel reflects Vedanaygam's ideals of women's liberation and education.

Carnatic music

Vedanayagam's contribution to

Carnatic music Carnatic music (known as or in the Dravidian languages) is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Telangana and southern Odisha. It is o ...

is immense. His songs are still a popular choice among singers in concerts. One can find a profusion of Sanskrit words in his Tamil compositions. On the lines of Tyagaraja's "Nidhichala Sukhama" he wrote "Manam Peridha, Varumanam Peridha?" Some of the popular songs of Pillai are ``Naale Nalla Nall," ``Nee Malaikkade Nenje," ``Tharunam, tharunam... People like Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai and

Ramalinga Swamigal Thiruvarutprakasa Vallalār Chidambaram Ramalingam (5 October 1823 – 30 January 1874), also known as Vallalār, Ramalinga Swamigal and Ramalinga Adigal, was one of the known Tamil people, Tamil Hindu saint and a true God of Enlightenment who t ...

were admirers of his works. One of his compositions ''Nayagar Pakshamadi'', (a Ragamaliga - Saama / Shanmugapriya / Kedara Gowla) was included for a dance scene in the Tamil film '' Doctor Savithri'' (1955).

Legacy and honours

His Great-Grandson

Vijay Antony Frances Antony Cyril Raja (born 24 July 1975), known professionally as Vijay Antony, is an Indian music composer, playback singer, actor, film editor, lyricist, audio engineer, and filmmaker working predominantly in Tamil cinema. He made his d ...

is an Indian

music composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and defi ...

playback singer A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the ...

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

lyricist A lyricist is a writer who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's income derives ...

audio engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduc ...

, and filmmaker working predominantly in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

. The Tamil Nadu government is constructing a multipurpose auditorium and statue in

to honor Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai. The project, initiated by the Information and Public Relations Department, is nearing completion on an 884-square-metre site in Arokiyanathapuram. The foundation stone was laid on October 5, 2023, with a budget of ₹3 crore allocated by the state government.

References

External links