M. Vethasagayakumar

இந்தப் பக்கத்தை தமிழில் வாசிக்க: எம். வேதசகாயகுமார்

M. Vethasagayakumar (October 5, 1949 – December 17, 2020) was a critic of modern Tamil literature, literary researcher and academician. He published literary journals. He followed the tradition of Prof. S. Vaiyapuri Pillai’s objectivity on the literary researches and the aesthetic approach of K.N. Subramaniam in literary reviews.

Birth, Studies

Vethasagayakumar was born on October 5, 1949 to Muthiah Nadar and Sundara Bai at Aralvaimozhi near Nagercoil. His father Muthiah Nadar was a renowned Siddha doctor. After completing his graduation in chemistry from S.T. Hindu College, Nagercoil, Vethasagayakumar finished his Masters (Tamil) from Chittur Arts College in Kerala. Prof. Esudasan, a successor of S. Vaiyapurip Pillai’s tradition, was his teacher at Chittur College. Vethasagayakumar completed his doctoral thesis at College of Arts, University of Thiruvananthapuram under the guidance of Prof. Esudasan (1985). His dissertation was 'Pudhumaipithan and Jayakanthan - A comparison'. Rajamarthandan was his college friend when he was a research scholar.

Private Life

Vethasagayakumar married Vanmati Kausalya on October,19 1981. They have two children: Sunanda and Vijay Chakravarthy. He worked as a Tamil teacher at the University College, Thiruvananthapuram and retired as head of the department.

Literary Life

Vethasagayakumar's literary activities were on three platforms: booklet, literary research and literary reviews.

Booklet

When Vethasagayakumar was a research scholar, he worked with Rajamarthandan for Kollippavai magazine. He got later associated with Sathangai magazine run by Vanamaligai.

Literary Research

Vethasagayakumar's PhD dissertation is considered a pioneer in the field of modern Tamil literary education. He was the first to find and compile all the works of Pudhumaipithan chronologically. It required ten years of research since process of documentations and journal collections were not properly streamlined in Tamil literary circle. He completed this study by personally meeting the literary personalities like B.S. Ramiah, Kamala Ammaiyar wife of Pudhumaipithan and Si.Su.Chellappa and examined the personal collections of Roja Muthiah Chettiar and Pudukottai Gnanaalaya Krishnamurthy couple. This study was published as a book Pudhumaipithanum Jayakanthanum by Tamizhini.

Vethasagayakumar carried out studies on Tamil musical scholars like Lakshmana Pillai and Caldwell. A book was also published on this research which appeared as articles in magazines like Sol Pudhu.

After retiring as a Tamil Professor at the University College, Thiruvananthapuram, Vethasagayakumar developed an encyclopedia on Tamil modern literature review, with financial assistance from University Grants Commission. This literary review repository was his primary contribution from research perspective. Adaiyalam publications published it.