Ilankaiyarkon
Ilankaiyarkon (T. Sivagnanasundaram) (6 September 1915 - 14 October 1961) was one of the short story pioneers of the Sri Lankan Tamil literature tradition. He also contributed in the reviews and plays.
Birth, Studies
Ilankaiyarkon (birth name T. Sivagnanasundaram) was born on 6 September 1915 at Earlalai, Jaffna. He completed the matriculation and cleared the intermediate exam in Economics conducted by London Recruitment Board. He finally graduated from the Sri Lanka Law College.
Private Life
Ilankaiyarkon worked as a lawyer for a brief period. He also worked as a divisional revenue officer in Trincomalee. Ilankaiyarkon married Chellamma in 1936.
Literary Life
Ilankaiyarkon began his writing at the age of eighteen. He initially translated modern short stories from English to Tamil. It provided him training on short story format. Ilankaiyarkon's first story : Maria Magdalene was published in 1938 in Kalaimagal magazine, Tamil Nadu. He continued to write in magazines like Elakesari. His stories such as Velli Padharasam (Silver Mercury), Manitha Kurangu (Ape), Chakravakam, Machal, Naadodi, Vanjam (Deceit), Kadarkarai Kilanchals (Beach Clams), etc., were of pioneering efforts in the Eelam short story tradition.
Ilankaiyarkon was influenced on Ku. Pa. Rajagopalan’s writings and, penned the subtilty of the relationship between men and women similar to him. He had the style of carrying stories through conversations. The stories were inherently serene. Kalaimagal Editor Ki. Va. Jagannathan offered the foreword for his first collection of stories Velli Padharasam. Critics like V. Ramasamy Iyengar and K. N. Subramaniam in Tamil Nadu noted him as a rare writer. Literary magazines like Manikkodi, Sooravali, Saraswathi and Sakthi published his stories. However, he was recognized only in a small circle of active readers of modern literature in Tamil Nadu. In Sri Lanka, he was largely overlooked and not highlighted any one.
Ilankaiyarkon became involved in writing plays in latter part of his writing career. His plays like Patchonthi (Chameleon) and London Kandaiya were staged and well received. But these plays were not of the literary caliber as that of his stories.
Death
Ilankaiyarkon passed away on 14 October 1961 at the age of 46.
