CleanupBot II at 13:35, 14 August 2023

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{{ infobox writer
| name = Munirpallam Sivasubramaniam Purnalingam Pillai
| image =
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| pseudonym =
| birth_name = Purnalingam
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1866|05|25}}
| birth_place = [[Munirpallam]],<br /> [[Tinnevely District (Madras Presidency)|Tinnevely District]],<br /> [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1947|06|06|1866|05|25}}
| death_place = [[Madras]],<br /> British India
| occupation = [[Madras Christian College]] faculty
| language = [[Tamil Language|Tamil]], [[English language|English]]
| nationality =
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| alma_mater =
| period = 1898 - 1945
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| movement = [[Tanittamil Iyakkam]]
| notableworks = ''Ravana, The Great King of Lanka''
| spouse =
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'''Munnirpallam Sivasubramaniam Purnalingam Pillai''' (25 May 1866 – 6 June 1947) was a [[Tamil language]]-writer and [[Dravidian studies|Dravidologist]].

== Early life ==
Purnalingam Pillai was born on 25 May 1866 to Sivasubramaniam Pillai at [[Munnirpallam]] in [[Tinnevely]] district. His parents belonged to a [[Saiva Vellalar]] family. After his initial education, Pillai joined as a lecturer of English at the [[Madras Christian College]]. During this period, Pillai got interested in studying Tamil history and civilization. He edited a Tamil journal called ''Gnanabodhini'' along with [[Parithimar Kalaignar]].

== Dravidology and political activism ==
In 1904, Pillai published the first comprehensive study of Tamil literature as a historical narrative, titled ''A Primer of Tamil Literature''. The narration was strongly imbibed with a Dravidian supremacist point of view. In the early 1920s, when excavations at [[Harappa]] and [[Mohenjodaro]] were in their nascent stages, Pillai, along with another Dravidologist, [[T. R. Sesha Iyengar]], predicted that future discoveries would establish beyond doubt that the [[Indus Valley Civilization]] was of Dravidian origin and also along with it the antiquity of Tamil civilization and language. He translated the entire [[Tirukkural]] into English in prose and published it in 1942.<ref name="Manavalan_2010">{{cite book|last1=Manavalan|first1=A. A. |title=A Compendium of ''Tirukkural'' Translations in English (4 vols.) |year=2010|publisher=Central Institute of Classical Tamil|location=Chennai|page=xxvi–xxvii|isbn=978-81-908000-2-0}}</ref>

== Works ==
* {{cite book|title=The matriculation reader|publisher=Thompson and Co.|year=1898|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}
* {{cite book|title=A Primer of Tamil Literature|publisher=Ananda Press|year=1904|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}
* {{cite book|title=Full notes on A.T. Quiller Couch's historical tales from Shakespeare and Washington Irving's England's rural life and Christmas customs|publisher=P. R. Rama Ayyar & Co.|year=1913|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}
* {{cite book|title=Studies and Critiques|publisher=P. R. Rama Iyer|year=1914|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}
* {{cite book|title=Ten Tamil saints: sketches of their lives, works and teachings, together with bibliographies|publisher=[[G. A. Natesan]]|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai|year=1915}}
* {{cite book|title=Ravana, The Great King of Lanka|year=1923|publisher=Bibliotheca|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}
* {{cite book|title=Critical Studies in Kural|publisher=Bibliotheca|year=1929|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}
* {{cite book|title=St. Manickavasakar: his life and teachings|year=1929|publisher=Bibliotheca|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}
* {{cite book|title=Saint Appar|year=1934|publisher=[[South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society Ltd.]]|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}
* {{cite book|title=Tamil India|year=1945|publisher=[[South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society Ltd.]]|author=M. S. Purnalingam Pillai}}

==See also==

* [[List of translators into English]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
* {{cite book|title=Literary cultures in history: reconstructions from South Asia|url=https://archive.org/details/literarycultures00poll|url-access=limited|pages=[https://archive.org/details/literarycultures00poll/page/n325 289]–290|author=Sheldon I. Pollock|publisher=University of California|year=2003|ISBN=978-0-520-22821-4}}
* {{cite book |first=Sumathy|last=Ramaswamy|year=1997|title= Passions of the tongue: language devotion in Tamil India, 1891-1970|publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]]|isbn=978-0-520-20805-6|oclc=36084635|url=http://www.escholarship.org/editions/view?docId=ft5199n9v7;brand=ucpress }}

==Further reading==
*[http://www.tamilheritage.org/thfcms/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=186&Itemid=260 Purnalingam Pillai profile in [[Dina Mani]]]

{{Tamil language}}
{{Tirukkural}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, M. S. Purnalingam}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1947 deaths]]
[[Category:Tamil writers]]
[[Category:Dravidologists]]
[[Category:Tamil–English translators]]
[[Category:Translators of the Tirukkural into English]]
[[Category:Tirukkural translators]]

M. S. Purnalingam Pillai - Revision history

CleanupBot II at 13:35, 14 August 2023