C. W. Thamotharampillai | |
|---|---|
) | |
| Born | 12 September 1832 Siruppiddy, Jaffna District, British Ceylon |
| Died | 1 January 1901 (aged 68) Purasawalkam, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Education | BA (University of Madras, 1857)[1] BL (Law) |
| Occupation | Advocate, high court judge |
| Title | Rao Bahadur |
| Children | Francis Kingsbury |
Cirupitty Wyravanathar Thamotharampillai (Pillai) (Tamil: சி. வை. தாமோதரம்பிள்ளை; 12 September 1832 – 1 January 1901)), sometimes referred to by the initials as C. Y., devoted his energies to the work of editing and publishing some of the oldest works of classical Tamil poetry and grammar.[2]
Jaffna born Pillai was the earliest scholar to systematically hunt for long-lost manuscripts and publish them using modern tools of textual criticism.[3] These included:
- Viracoliyam (1881)
- Iraiyanar Akapporul (1883)
- Tolkappiyam-Porulatikaram (1885)
- Kalittokai (1887) - the first of the Eight Anthologies (Eṭṭuttokai).
Pillai, along with his contemporaries such as U. V. Swaminatha Iyer, was responsible for collecting and cataloguing numerous old Sangam manuscripts and preparing them into compilations and modern form.
Both Iyer and Pillai printed and published Tholkappiyam, Nachinarkiniyar urai (1895), Tholkappiyam Senavariyar urai, (1868), Manimekalai (1898), Cilappatikaram (1889), Pattupattu (1889), and Purananuru (1894), all with scholarly commentaries. Between them, they published more 100 works in all, including minor poems.
References
- ^ S. Muthiah (9 August 2004). "The first Madras graduate". The Hindu. Retrieved 16 August 2017.
- ^ Hoole, Ratnajeevan (15 December 1994). "A Study in Tamil Biographies". Tamil Times. Surrey, UK. XIII (12): 16–18.
- ^ A.R. Venkatachalapathy, Enna Prayocanam?' Constructing the canon in colonial Tamilnadu, Indian Economic Social History Review 2005 42:535, p544