All for Tamil’s sake

BROWSERS’ CORNER Swaminatha Iyer’s contribution to Tamil literature by way of retrieving its lost treasures has now been enshrined in the library that bears his name. MADHUMITHA SRINIVASAN

Tamil is not just stocked in its shelves but the whole place seems to resound with the spirit of the classical language. You could attribute it to the fact that it is the U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer Library named after the man who perhaps is the sole reason for Tamil, being the only other language apart from Sanskrit, to earn the status of a *classical language’.The library, officially opened in 1942, is stashed with books and manuscripts diligently collected by Swaminatha Iyer, also fondly addressed as *Tamil thatha’, over the years. And that was by no means easy.

Born in 1855, Swaminatha Iyer, a professor of Tamil at the Government Arts College, Kumbakkonam, moved to Chennai to work at the Presidency College which now displays his statue. Having an innate love for Tamil, he knew about many classical works there were not in circulation but wanted to find out their source and publish them. So he set out in search of the manuscripts of these classical works, wherever they many be found. Few he had to buy, few he had to stay over and copy and for a few he even had to bear the abuses of the owners. Yet, it did not deter him from his mission. Those familiar with Tamil literature would know that Ainkurunuru, Pathitrupathu, Paripaadal and Puranaanuru are like what Beowulf and Paradise Lost are to English literature. And if not for Swaminatha Iyer who first sourced their manuscripts and published them, “Tamil wouldn’t have got them and wouldn’t even have earned the status of a classical language”, says M.V. Pasupathi, the curator of the library.
Swaminatha Iyer was the one to first publish the much celebrated ‘Silappadigaaram’, the original of which can still be found in its shelves. Also, out of the five epics of Tamil literature, three, Silappadigaaram, Manimekalai and Cinthamani, were published by him. The other two, Valayapathi and Kundalakesi’s originals still haven’t been found.Swaminatha Iyer’s contribution to Tamil literature by way of retrieving its lost treasures and proving that Tamil rightly deserves that status of a Classical language have been enormous, so much so that the library now houses 2128 manuscripts (a majority collected by him), over 3,000 manuscript literature, 855 paper manuscripts and 26,998 book collections. Over 1,800 books are more than 100 years old and haven’t yet been reprinted.
After the death of Swaminatha Iyer, Rukmani Devi Arundale suggested to his son that all of his collections be established in a library and thus the U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer Library came into existence. The government has been supporting the library, (Rs. 6,00,000 was allotted for computerisation), but it is not enough feels Pasupathy. “There are 400 unpublished manuscripts with us; it is not easy publishing them without financial aid or manpower. The government should take steps in helping us preserve these old books and manuscripts and also fund the publishing and republishing of old literature. Currently, the funds allocated are sufficient only to pay salaries; moreover we are under-staffed,” he reveals. Swaminatha Iyer’s work should continue but no one has taken it upon themselves to recover the remaining undiscovered manuscripts of Tamil literature, he feels. As Swaminatha Iyer himself seems to have said in his last interview to a regional paper, “I wish to be born here again because I have more work left to do.”

• The library is open to all but its books are available only for reference and not for lending.
• Only researchers can access the manuscripts.
• The library is open from 10.00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. on all days except Sundays.
• The library is at No.2, Arundale Beach Road, Besant Nagar, Chennai – 40. Ph: 24911697