Programme
Ravi Vaitheespara
Assistant Professor
Department of History
University of Manitoba
E/ vaithees@ms.umanitoba.ca
From Vallalar to Maraimalai Adigal: Interrogating the Genealogy of Thamilar Matham (Tamilian Creed)
Maraimalai Adigal (1876-1950), played a central role in crafting a recoverable 'non-Brahmin' Tamil linguistic, literary and religious past in the service of the emerging non-Brahmin respectable castes and classes in Tamil Nadu. It was for the seminal role he played in this re-reading of a Tamil religio-cultural past that privileged the 'non-Brahmin' Tamil that he is considered one of the most important ideologues of the Dravidian movement.
Though scholars have begun to critically interrogate much of the previous largely hagiographical accounts of Adigal and his revivalist efforts, this scholarship has not gone much beyond tracing the Christian missionary roots of much of his writings. Adigal from a very early stage in his career was profoundly influenced by the early 19th century Saivite saint, Ramalinga Swamigal, also known simply as Vallalar. Adigal’s work Thamilar Matham, published towards the end of his life in many ways represents the apotheosis of his efforts towards fashioning a religion of respectability for the non-Brahmin Tamil. Using Thamilar Matham as a reference point, this essay seeks to trace the multiple influences including that of Vallalar that determined Adigal's re-reading of Saiva Siddhanta as the quintessential religion for Tamil modernity particularly for the respectable non-Brahmin Tamil.
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Prof. Vaitheespara's research interests include colonial and postcolonial South
Asia with a special interest in the formation and articulation of Tamil
identity, nationalism and popular culture in both India and Sri Lanka; Left
movements and Tamil ethnic politics and postcolonial studies. 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).