Karol Viswanatha Pillai

இந்தப் பக்கத்தை தமிழில் வாசிக்க: கரோல் விசுவநாதபிள்ளை ‎

Karol Viswanatha Pillai (1820 - 1880) was a Sri Lankan Tamil scholar, journalist and translator. He was a member of the editorial board of Udayathaaragai, the first Tamil newspaper to emerge from Sri Lanka. He contributed to the first lexicon work of Chennai University.

Birth, Education

Viswanatha Pillai was born in 1820 in Jaffna to Vairavanatha Pillai, a physician and Tamil scholar from Mallaagam Sudhumalai. At the age of 12, Viswanatha Pillai learned Tamil from his father and Sanskrit from Ganga Pattar. He joined the Vattukottai Gurumadam Educational Institute (Batticotta Seminary) in 1832 for higher education, where he converted to Christianity and changed his name to Daniel. L. Carol. In his youth he wrote a book called Veesa Kanitham. C.W. Thamotharampillai studied with him at Vattukottai Gurumadam. Viswanatha Pillai went to Chennai and worked with Pastor Peter Percival. He joined the newly established Chennai University and graduated in 1857. C.W. Thamotharampillai and Viswanatha Pillai were the first graduates of Chennai University.

The famous Tamil scholar V. Kanakasabai Pillai is the son of Viswanatha Pillai. Viswanatha Pillai lived in Komaleeswaran Pettai, Chennai.

Personal Life

After his schooling, Viswanatha Pillai worked as a mathematics teacher at Vattukottai Gurumadam. Arnold Sathasivampillai and Moses Velupillai were his colleagues at the school. Viswanatha Pillai moved to Chennai in 1857 and stayed with Pastor Peter Percival to engage in journalism. After graduating from Chennai University, he worked in translation for Chennai University. He translated many of the University's English texts into Tamil. He was promoted to the post of Examiner.

Journalism

During his tenure at Vattukottai Gurumadam, Viswanatha Pillai wrote several articles for Udayathaaragai magazine. From 1847, he worked with Arnold Sathasivam Pillai as the co-editor of the magazine. Vattukottai Gurumadam was closed in 1855. Viswanatha Pillai, who went to Chennai for Gurumadam’s work, got acquainted to the editor of Dina Varthamani, Pastor Peter Percival, and started writing articles for the magazine.

Religious Inclination

Viswanatha Pillai was two years older than Arumuga Navalar. During Viswanatha Pillai’s tenure as a teacher at Vattukottai Gurumadam, Arumuga Navalar was working as a lecturer at Jaffna Central College. In 1952, Arumuga Navalar wrote a book titled Saiva Dooshana Pariharam, a cutting retort to the condemnation of Saivism by Christians. In denial, Viswanatha Pillai wrote and published an article called Supradeepam. Viswanatha Pillai, who later came to Tamil Nadu, converted back to Hinduism. It is believed that Viswanatha Pillai took the golden brooch off his shirt, heated it in a ghee lamp and scorched his tongue to atone for his blasphemy against Saivism. In the 1879 elections, Viswanatha Pillai joined hands with his brother Navalar in the campaign for Ponnambalam Ramanathan as the representative of the Tamil people in the Ceylon Legislative Assembly and helped him win.

Literary life

At the request of American missionaries, Viswanatha Pillai wrote and published a Tamil almanac. He compiled and published a Tamil-English dictionary at the request of the Chennai Provincial Education Officer. The fifth edition of this encyclopedia, containing thousands of words in the fields of Botany, Biology, Geography, Astronomy, Physiology, Chemistry, Physics, and Psychology, was published in 1929 at the Diocesan Press in Vepery containing 676 pages.

Death

Karol Viswanatha Pillai died in November 1880 at the age of 60.

Works

• Supradeepam
• Veesa Kanitham
• Kala Deepikai
• Kalai Jnanam
• Atchara Kanitham

References

• Madras Miscellany: A dictionary pioneer - The Hindu
• Tamil Studies in Ceylon; a review essay of 1968 (sangam.org)
• First Tamil-English dictionary by a Tamil - The Hindu (archive.is)
  

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