Eezha Kesari
இந்தப் பக்கத்தை தமிழில் வாசிக்க: ஈழகேசரி
Eezha Kesari (1930 - 1958) was one of the pioneering Sri Lankan periodicals. It published articles and content related to politics, socially focused news and literature. In a way, it represented the Tamil community of Sri Lanka.
Later in the days, 1955 to 1999, the periodical Eezha Kesari was published from London (See: Eezha Kesari London).
Release
Eezha Kesari was published for the first time on June 22, 1930. It was founded by Na. Ponnaiah. This organization was created to stand for the political awareness of community and societal reform. The first magazine proclaimed this as below
"to awaken the people who are asleep in ignorance and light up the flames of intellect a magazine is the right lamp. At the time when our country is in the ditch of slavery, at the hands of aliens, ignorant, loosing the riches of language, haunted by the devil of casteism, lost away from the eternal pathway, where people are impulsively living like animals, living as if eating and sleeping is the priority, it would not be excessive to have too many magazines.
... as great men have told that every one born as a human being should act selflessly doing something beneficial (to society), as beknown to our humble minds, following the words of great (poet) "mother and motherland surpass the heaven obtained through great penance" we decide that it is best to serve our nation and so we undertake this."
Ka. Sivathambi considers that 'Eezha Kesari is the pioneer of secular magazines in Sri Lanka and that it was founded as the voices for political rights of Ezham was on the rise'. (Sivathambi, Karthikesu, Yazhpanam Samukam, panpaadu, karuthunilai, Kumaran Achagam, Colombu, Avani 2000)
Contents
Eezha Kesari had the primarily addressed Eelam politics. News on freedom struggle against the British and the rights of Tamils were published. It published research articles on ancient Tamil literature and minor literary works (Sitrilakiyam) from Sri Lanka.
Eezha Kesari published the works of early Sri Lankan Tamil writers such as Ilangaiyarkon, C. , and Sambandhar. Next generation authors such as, Chokkan, Kanaka Senthinathan, Va. A. Rasarathinam, and the generation of authors after them such as, S. Ponnuthurai, Dominic Jeeva, and K. Daniel has written for Eezha kesari. Cho. Sivapathasundaram, A. Se. Muruganantham, Raja Ariyarathinam, worked as editors of Eezha Kesari.
Criticism
Eezha Kesari was criticized for not giving enough space to modern literature and for focusing primarily on the study of traditional or Sangam literature. Eezha Kesari authors such as, A. Se. Muruganantham, Navarkuzhiyur Natarasan, Varathar, Pandithar Panchatra Sharma has formed a community called Marumalarchi Sangam and published a modern literature periodical called Marumalarchi(மறுமலர்ச்சி).
Reference
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