Ravi Vaitheespara :Thiruvarangam Pillai and the ‘Ceylon connection’ in 20th Century Tamil-Saivite Revival in Tamil Nadu
The Thirunelvelly South India Saiva Siddhanta Publishing house, its principal literary organ, the Senthamil Selvi along with its ideological guru Maraimalai Atikal can be said to constitute some of the most important institutional pillars behind the publication and dissemination of a non-Brahmin or Dravidian reading of the Tamil-Saivite past in the early decades of the 20th century in Tamil Nadu. Tiruvarangam Pillai, along with a host of Tamil-Saivite patrons drawn from a particular social stratum in both Thirunelvelly, and Ceylon played an important role not only in founding and patronizing these organizations but also in terms of their own unique contributions in support of such a Tamil-Saivite revival. This paper will focus on exploring and illuminating not only the transnational circulations of ideas and people behind the Tamil-Saivite revival but also attempt to shed light on the class and caste composition of these figures.
Biographical Statement:
Ravi Vaitheespara is Associate Professor of History at the University of Manitoba. His major focus of research interest is in the study of Tamil nationalism on both sides of the Palk Strait and its relationship to broader political developments as well as caste and class struggles. He is also interested in the various anti-caste movements as well as the left movements in the region. His recent publications include, Theorizing the National Crisis: Sanmugathasan, the Left and the Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka (2007); “The Question of Colonialism and Imperialism in Tamil Nationalist Thought: The Case of Maraimalai Adigal and non-Brahmin Tamil nationalism in Southern India in Imagining Collectives: Continuities, Changes and Contestations: The Second Annual Tamil Studies Conference (forthcoming); “Christianity, Missionary Orientalism and the Origins of Tamil Modernity” in Andreas Gross, Y. Vincent Kumaradoss & Heike Liebau (eds.) Halle and the Beginning of Protestant Christianity in India. Vol. II: Christian Mission in the Indian Context (2006); “Beyond ‘Benign’ and ‘Fascist’ Nationalisms: Interrogating Sri Lankan Tamil Nationalism and Militancy,” South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies 29 no.3 (2006).
