Remembering Arumuga Navalar : The Great Defender Of Hinduism

http://www.hinduhumanrights.info/remembering-arumuga-navalar-the-great-defender-of-hinduism/

 

If we think about why we are still Hindus today, enjoying an unbroken connection and continuity with our ancient past – it is because of great people like this who stopped us from suffering wholesale deculturalisation and loss of spiritual traditions during the colonial era, on the same catastrophic scale as the natives of the Americas, Australasia and Africa.

Arumuga PiIIai’s Emergence as a Shaiva Activist

In October 1842, when the Veda and Agama school opened, Arumuga Pillai had been teaching Tamil and English at the Wesleyan Mission School and working with the British missionary Percival for a year. He read the Morning Starand Wrote to it. His first published letter appeared in September 1841, with a question about the science of the eyes and the nature of “vision.”3’ But almost twelve months later, eleven days after the first meeting to discuss the idea of a Veda and Agama school, he wrote a letter to explain what the speakers at the meeting meant when they said “Christian doctrine is doctrine fabricated by the mission­aries.” He dated the letter October 10, 1842 amid signed it anonymously as The lover of good doctrine who is the son of a Shaiva.”32 The name suggests that his father was on his mind.33 In the letter, Arumuga Pillai presented himself as a Shaiva who had heard the preaching of the American missionaries and had read their books. Sympathetic to their arguments,34 he studied the Christian path. He read the Bible regularly, he said, but while doing so began to have questions about it.

The first question arose from the striking parallels he noticed between the liturgies of the temple in Jerusalem and the temples of Shiva in Sri Lanka and India. After providing many examples of ritual injunctions in the Old Testament, he asked, What are the differences between the rites and ceremonies of Shaivas and those of the Bible? Using the words of the editors’ translation, modified slightly, he drew parallels between the Shaiva worship of God in the linga, and the Mosa­ic worship of God in the tabernacle and temple:

The Israelites who were chosen by God as his own children believed that the Lord who dwelt in the ark made of wood, and who lived bctwccn the cherubims had bestowed grace upon them. The Shaivas

believe that God dwells in the image. They [the Israelites] made a sanctuary for the worship of God. The Shaivas build temples. The Israelites worship Cherubim and bronze serpent The Shaivas worship the images made of gold, and silver. The Israelites had shew bread and wine in their sanctuaries. The Shaivas keep fruit as prasada. The Israelites had incense. The Shaivas have it too. The Israelites burnt heifer and took its ashes for their use. The Shaivas use ashes from the dung of a heifer.ss

Given their similarities, he next asked, Why do the missionaries mock as meaningless the Hindu distinction between the pure and the polluted and other observances? They are analogous in many ways to what the Lord commanded through Moses.

Upon investigating these matters, the Christian missionaries do protest against the idol worship, rubbing ashes, observing the immemorial custom and usage, and other similar rites, and say that these ceremonies are not in the way to please God, and God will never command or order such kind of unmeaning ceremonies, and they are against our own understandings, and also ridiculous even to children.

But should the missionaries argue that the Mosaic rites were only sym­bolic and were pedagogically useful, the same maybe said of the Shaiva rites:

if you say that their [the Israelites’] rites and ceremonies are not the idol worship, but as God is an invisible Being they performed these ceremonies in order that the thoughts of God may be more indelibly impressed upon their heart.. .will not the Shaivas have the same rea­son to answer so?

Arumuga Pillai then made a personal confession, ending with a metaphor expressing his intellectual dilemma.

When I heard the teachings by the gurus of the Christian path, my mind was very sympathetic and changed and I thought for a time that the Tamil sect might be false and the Christian true, and so I studied the Vedagama called the Bible.

But while reading the Bible he found a striking resemblance between temple worship in the Bible and temple worship in Shaivism. The simi­larities were so strong, he said, that he felt like the demon who came up from a well. The demon was afraid to go to the village of the tiger, SO he went to the village of the jackal, only to find that the jackal’s vil­lage belonged to the tiger too.

This brought him to his third question: since God in the Bible said that the rites and ceremonies of temple worship should continue for-

ever and Christ and the early Christians followed them, how could the missionaries abandon them? The Bible makes it clear, he reminded the reader, that it is the duty of every Christian to observe those cere­monies it describes, just as did Christ for his disciples. Thus it was unreasonable for Christians to scoff at them when they were practiced by Shaivas. 1-Ic concluded that the Lord of the temple in Jerusalem and Shiva in the temple icon were both able to give grace to all. And that the Shaivas’ ceremonies were not ridiculous unless Christians said that God was ridiculous in setting up the temple in Jerusalem and Jesus ridkulous, in v~omh~p there.

It was significant that Arumuga PilIai admitted that at one time he had been moved by the Christian teachings and had entertained the possibility that Shaivism was false and Christianity is true. Probably this occurred during his student years at the Seminary. It indicated that he was not deaf to Christian teaching, but that having opened himself to it in the way Protestants urged—by studying the Bible directly—he turned away in favor of his own heritage. His reaffirmation of his fami­ly’s tradition was thus self-conscious. It was linked to a penetrating insight into the vulnerability of a Protestant system that staked every­thing on doctrines found in a book that had been divorced from the cultic context that produced it. Indeed, because of his own temple-cen­tered culture, Arumuga Pillai probably thought he had a greater understanding of the liturgical context of Jesus’ own life and worship than did the Protestant missionaries.

Peter Percival had provided Arumuga Pillai the occasion to analyze the Christian Bible in detail as Protestants interpreted it. Pillai’s analy­sis, however, did not focus only on the domain of doctrine, which the Protestants cherished, but also on liturgical behavior, which Shaivas cherished and Protestants largely ignored. His was a comparative study of religions, one that led him to the conclusion that at the basis of both religions there was temple-centered worship with similar liturgical pat­terns. From this point of view, the Protestants were inconsistent with their own Bible when they insisted that Shaiva worship was false and only Protestant worship was true. Protestants need not give up their path and follow Shiva’s, he maintained, but they did need to see that on the basis of their own scriptures they had every reason to respect the Shaiva path and to leave it alone.

Arumuga Navalar presented his interpretive stance at the begin­ning of a letter that expressed a Shaiva Siddhanta docti~ine but in a manner that a Protestant could have affirmed as well:

The eternally joyful and holy Supreme Being who created, protects and rules all the worlds, is gracious to this land and sends gurus from the distant land of America where a prosperous order and the Christian path prevail, and in order to bring the people of this place to a high and full condition, he chastises them. May the Supreme Being be greatly praised for this boundless compassion.

The missionaries interpreted the “high and full condition” as conver­sion to Christianity and to Western civilization. Arumuga Pillai meant it differently, viewing Shiva as the one who had brought the missionar­ies to chastise Shivas disciples and to awaken them to his own path, from which they had departed. The missionaries did not know it, he suggested, but Shiva was using them to punish the Shaivas and to awak­en them to the truth that he had revealed in the Agamas. Christianity belonged to Shiva too, as Arumuga Pillai said in a veiled way when he referred to himself as the demon who came out of a well: Just as the royal tiger rules both his own village and that of the wild jackal, so Shiva rules both the realm of dharma (puram) and that of the barbaric Europeans (purappuram).

The editors of Morning Star knew they had a difficult task in responding to this long and carefully wrought document. It took them three issues to do so. They understood this calculated challenge, for they referred to its contents as “the pretended Resemblance between the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic dispensation and those of the Sivas.”’6 Whether they knew that the man who wrote it was in mission employ and was translating the Bible, however, is not clear.

Arumuga Pillai worked with Percival until September 1848 when, nearly twenty-six, he quit to devote himself fully to his own projects. He had studied in depth the Agamic literature forming the scriptural component of Shaiva orthodoxy, a task that required him to learn Sanskrit. He was now adept in the three literary languages of modern religious discourse in the Tamil world: Tamil, Sanskrit, and English; he would draw upon the religious literature of all three for his pro­jects. Not surprisingly, his reputation had been growing among local Shaivas as a man who knew more about obscure Agamic literature than anyone else.37

It was his immersion in the Agamas, which began years earlier, that fueled his desire to turn into realities the projects that the Hindu literati had gathered to discuss in September 71842. The Veda and Agama school had not survived and a printing press was still a dream. The press required considerable funds, but teaching was cheap. In January 1846, therefore, Arumuga Pillai began night and early morning classes in the primary and secondary literature of Shaivism. His students were a few of his friends, young Vellala, Brahman, and Cettiyar men.N The classes were free and informal. He also persuaded two Vellalas not to take Christian baptism from Peter Percival, despite the fact that it could have cost him his job.3~ In June he crossed the Palk Strait and went with a companion to Madras to look at schools and to meet scholars, perhaps his first trip to the continent.40 A Shaiva school was clearly on his mind.

His knowledge of the Agamas also led him into conflict with the leaders of the temple of Murugan near his home. The Kandaswami Temple in Nallur had been built about a century earlier, but not in accord with the Agamas. During its festival in the month of Ati (July—August), Arumuga Pillai took it upon himself to advise its trustees that they violated the Agamas in three ways: by the manner of the temple construction, by using a spear as the primary icon of Muru­gan rather than an image, and by employing Brahmans ‘who had reject­ed Agamic initiations to conduct the worship. The trustees did not accept his advice, and this disagreement ultimately led to a lifelong conflict.41 At the heart of the dispute was the authority of local custom, which the Kandaswami Temple followed, versus the authority of the Agamas: this contest pitted unwritten and immemorial practice against revealed and written scriptures.

The issue of revealed scriptural authority for the religious life had been alive in Shaiva Orthodoxy for centuries. The aggressive Bible-cen­tered tradition of the Protestants, however, had intensified its impor­tance in Arumuga Pillai’s mind as he reconsidered the meaning of Shaivism. He seems to have decided that Shaiva practice demanded possessing a written and revealed set of scriptures that paralleled the Christian Bible in its comprehensive authority. On the one hand, Agama scriptures eliminated some elements of popular Shaiva culture, such as animal sacrifices and the worship of malevolent deities and demons, that the missionaries attacked ceaselessly and that had no scriptural basis. On the other hand, they provided a sophisticated and profound theological interpretation of temple worship and of the Puranic stories of the gods that nullified the sneers of the missionaries. Arumuga believed that the Sanskrit and Tamil scriptures of Agamic Shaivism purified popular and Puranic religion, elevated the ignorant, and inspired the literati.

Struggling against Christians and some Hindu reformers as well as orthodox priests, he made a dramatic move at the end of 1847 to spread the “Splendor of Shiva” (Sivaprakäsam) and disperse the dark­ness” shared by Hindus and Christians. Religious tensions at this time were high. The Christian assault on Hindu culture had accelerated dra­matically through the preaching of a catechist convert from Point Pedro and through missionary insistence on integrating an untouch­able student into the Wesleyari Central School. Vellala and Brahman students, nearly half the student body, left the school in response and formed their own. Moreover, they persuaded the chief Tamil tutor at the Wesleyan school, a Christian, to be its headmaster.42

On December 31, 1847, Arumuga Pillai took the preaching meth­ods of the Methodists into the Shaiva temple. He became a circuit preacher. Every Friday evening at the Vaidishvaran Temple in the sub­urb of Vannarpannai, Arumuga Pillai read sacred texts and preached. He was assisted by the Brahman Karttikeya Aiyar of Nallur (his friend and former student at the Wesleyan school) and by his students. Preaching (prasanga) was not new to Shaivism, but Pillai’s systematic and scripturally based style was, as was the circuit of preachers he even­tually developed. He intended to educate and morally reform his largely Vellala and Brahman audience. He believed that if they knew the rudiments of Agamic Shaivism and acted on them, they would strengthen dharma and weaken the Christians. He threatened to sue the Morning Star if that paper published any unauthorized report of the meetings.43 The sermon topics were mostly ethical, liturgical, and theological and included the evils of adultery, drunkenness, the value of non-killing, the conduct of women, the worship of the linga. the four initiations, the importance of giving alms, of protecting cows, and the unity of God.44

He attacked Christians and Hindus as well, specifically the trustees and priests of the Kandaswami Temple in his home town; they accused him of slandering Murugan himself.45 The lecture series and its circuit continued regularly for several years and produced a “Shaiva revival,” for an informed piety developed and grew among many Jaffna Hindus.46 Inevitably, such openly public work on behalf of Shaivism brought him into conflict with Peter Percival. Arumuga Pillai was no longer anonymous. When missionaries complained to Percival that his own Tamil pandit was successfully undermining the very reason for their being in Jaffna, Percival raised the issue with him: “I hear that you preach every Friday right in the Shiva temple. And I hear that now and then you talk as an enemy of our sect. What about it?” Arumuga Pillai’s reply was simple and to the point: “Is there is anything wrong in my fulfilling my duties? If there is, please tell me.” Percival said noth­ing. He told the other missionaries that hispandit was too valuable a scholar to lose.4’

Arumuga Pillai was indeed invaluable to Percival. From the end of 1845 the missionary scholar had been devoting himself entirely to Bible translation, working six hours a day with his Tamil assistants, of whom Arumuga Pillai was the chief.48 Even after Arumuga Pillai had launched his preaching sessions, Percival took him to Madras between March and July of 1848. Their Bible translation was being considered for publica­tion by the Madras Auxiliary of the British and Foreign Bible Society. It was in dispute, and he needed Arumuga Pillai to help him defend the majestic literary style they had created, a style shaped by Arumuga Pillai’s own immersion in Shaiva literature.49 His break with Percival finally came, but it was not because of their disagreements. Arumuga Pillai decided to devote full time to his work for Shaivism. In August 1848, he founded a Veda and Agama school, the School of Shaiva Splendor (Saivaprakasa Vidyasala), and in September he left Percival.

Navalar Arumuga Pillai, “The Learned” 

Twenty years later Arumuga Pillai briefly described the desire that had driven him during his early twenties.50 His sole source of income at the time, he recalled, was the salary from Percival and the Wesleyan school. He had received no patrimony and nothing from his four brothers, though they had money and jobs. Nevertheless, Arumuga quit his teaching position even though Percival urged him again and again to stay at a higher salary. He knew that he could easily get ajob commen­surate with his abilities and live prosperously, as had many who had studied English under him. Arumuga knew that not holding ajob would only bring him disrespect, but he did not wish to do so. Nor did he want to get married, for in Jaffna, he said, the bride provided the bridegroom with everything—house, lands, garden, jewels—and took in return, presumably, his independence.3’ He left his secure job and future family life, because he wanted to use his learning to make Shaivism prosper, a desire that had been with him since childhood.

Having abandoned future prosperity and the householder’s life, the very basis of dharma, he must have appeared socially irresponsible to others in the community. Few gave him their support.32 He began the school of Shaiva Splendor in a house opposite the Vaidishvaran Temple in Vannarpannai and after six months moved it to the temple’s monastery (matha). Its teachers were his own students, and they received no salary except what came by way of donations. Their task was to teach the pupils not only the curriculum common to the tradi­tional schools, but sectarian texts as well, for Arumuga Pillai sought to produce Shaivas who were grounded in their own tradition and had the ability to dispute others when necessary.

Navalar’s concept of the school was something new in Tamil Shaivism; it was an adaptation of the Protestant schools he knew inti­mately. The traditional Tamil school primarily served the educational needs of the higher castes, It taught the values of dharma shared by those who lived within its cultural borders (puram). These values were imparted through Tamil texts like Valluvar’s Kural and Auvaiyar’s Atticüti, texts that avoided divisive doctrines that split the inhabitants of the puram into various sects.53

Writing, reading, arithmetic, literature, and ethics were taught to a group of boys according to a fixed syllabus. Each pupil progressed according to his ability to imitate, memorize, and comprehend. The teacher explained the texts in vernacular Tamil, but the texts them­selves were in poetry, often accompanied by prose commentaries in a style difficult to understand. Perhaps twenty boys would be taught by one man, and each pupil advanced at his own rate; success was affected by pressure from the teacher and other students, since each boy was rewarded when he began a new book or chapter of a text.~ Compared to the method of instruction used by the British and Americans, in which all the students were instructed simultaneously in the same sub­ject and progressed at the same rate, the Tamil system, one British scholar observed. “turns out every pupil a fair scholar, though at a great waste of labour. The class system ensures a much higher average, but permits confirmed dullards.”55

Once an unusually motivated and talented student completed this education, he might want to pursue higher studies in Shaivism without becoming a sadhu. He was left to find a teacher. In some cases it might be a relative or a local resident, in others someone affiliated with a monastery, but not necessarily a sadhu.~ The degree of sophistication that any student attained, therefore, depended entirely upon his indi­vidual talent, motivation, and personal circumstances. Tamils might be Shaivas by birth and yet know little about their tradition, except what they absorbed through stories, songs, festivals, and family instruction, or through whatever expositions of the epics and Puranas they gained from temple attendance. Among these aspirants, some would receive one or more initiations into the Agamic worship of Shiva from a guru. Such rituals included instruction in the specific doctrines of Shaiva Orthodoxy and explanation of the esoteric meanings of the rites to which they committed themselves. A very few, the motivated intellectu­als who may or may not have received Agamic initiation, would study Shaiva texts in Sanskrit and Tamil and become, eventually, the local Shaiva scholars from whom others would seek out private instruction.

Arumuga Pillai believed that the traditional system would not offer the kind of education Shaivas needed in the modern world. As he had indicated in 1842, Shiva was chastising the Tamils through the mission­aries in order to elevate them. Educating Shaivas was his response. To be efficient, Shaiva education had to use the classroom system of the West, and to be modern, it had to include some imported subject mat­ter, but that meant a complete revision of teaching methods. Instead of relying on palm leaf books that students would copy out by hand and memorize at their own rate, Shaiva education needed printed books that everyone in the same class could read, memorize, and

understand simultaneously. This meant that difficult poems and com­mentaries had to be transformed into comprehensible prose, but the prose itself had to be sufficiently elegant to convey the contents of the poems in order to improve the thinking of the students. When Navalar founded the School of Shaiva Splendor, he assumed three enormous tasks: constructing a Shaiva curriculum designed for sequential classes, creating an appropriate style of Tamil prose in which to write it, and establishing a press inJaffna on which to print it.

In July 1849, Arumuga Pillai, together with his former student and colleague, Sadashiva Pillai, set out for Madras to purchase a printing press. The money had been donated by wealthy benefactors. On the way they visited the important Tiruvavatuturai Atinam monastery (in Tanjore District), whose leaders periodically sent specialists in the “Tamil Veda” (Thvãram) to recite it publicly in the temples ofJaffna.57 Through this channel and others, the monastic leaders (mathddipati) had heard of Arumuga Pillais unusual knowledge of the Agamas and his efforts on behalf of Shaiva Orthodoxy. When he arrived, they exam­ined his knowledge and heard him preach. Impressed by his mastery of the tradition, they conferred on him the title ndvalar, “the learned.” Considerably enhanced in his status among Shaivas by this “honorary degree” from the scholastic heart of Orthodoxy, he has been known ever since as Arumuga Navalar, or simply as Navalar.

 In Summary

The impact Arumuga Navalar made on missionary efforts to spread Protestant Christianity among the Tamils is difficult to assess. How does one count people who might have converted if he had nc t exist­ed? Judging from the literature of dispute that continued throughout the century, however, Navalars own intellectual critiques and his orga­nized preaching circuits were powerful weapons that Shaivas used

effectively to win the loyalty of the Shaiva literati in Jaffna. As Bishop Sabhapathi Kulendram observed, when comparing the promise Chris­tian conversions showed in Jaffna at the beginning of the century to their disappointing results, this low rate of conversion was largely due to Navalar.’96

In the larger Madras Presidency, he could not have such a decisive impact. But his aggressive preaching of a Shaiva cultural heritage led by properly initiated Vellalas and Brahmans no doubt contributed to the growing Tamil “nationalism.” This movement had a specifically Shaiva component that fostered the idea that Shaiva Siddhanta preced­ed all others as the original Tamil religion.’03 Navalar’s insistence on the Agamas as the criteria of Shaiva worship, moreover, gave momen­tum to the tendency among high-status Tamils everywhere to subsume local deities under the Agamic pantheon and to abandon animal sacri­fice altogether.’~

In today’s Tamil world, Arumuga Navalar’s reform would be seen by many as too conservative. On the one hand, his affirmation of caste ideology is officially unacceptable to “secular nationalism,” while on the other hand, his affirmation of the status of initiated Brahmans and of Sanskrit is unacceptable to “Dravidian nationalism.” Nevertheless, in the middle of the nineteenth century he articulated and nurtured the belief shared by many of the literati that the meaning of being Hindu lies in Shiva’s temple and in the culture it generates at the center ofdharma (purarn); and he did enable that belief to thrive in the twentieth century and to continue to face the “wilderness” (purappuram) of modernity on its peripheries. From the viewpoint of this belief, Navalar was a model of devotion like the great saints of the past; his response to Shiva’s compassionate chastisement of the Tamils by the missionaries was to strengthen the temple at the center (akam) and to weaken the Christians on the edges. Now, many believe, he dwells with Shiva eter­nally, freed from these issues. Today Tamil Shaivas, however, are any­thing but free from them, confronted as they are by nationalisms of various sorts that Arumuga Navalar no doubt would say are the ways Shiva is now dancing his Tripura Tandava to bring them inoksa.

Bibliographic Essay

Works in English about the life and thought of Arumuga Navalar are relatively thin. A small summary of his life based on a Tamil biography was written by S. Shivapadasundaram, Arumukha Navalar(Jaffria, 1950) and published at the press Navalar had founded. The most extensive English biography was likewise based on earlier Tamil biographies and is summary and laudatory: V. Muttucumaraswamy, Arumuga Navalar:  The Champion Reformer of the Hindus (1822-1879): A Biographical Study. new rev. ed. (Colombo, 1965). Two studies that I have not yet seen may be more scholarly and analytical: K. Sivathamby, ‘Hindu Reaction to Christian Proselytism and Westernization in 19th Century Sri Lanka,” Soaal Saerne Review (Colombo) 1 (1979): 41—75; and S. Thanajeyarajasingham, The Educational Activities of Arumuga Navalar (Colom­bo, 1974). 

Bishop Sabapathy Kulandran analyzes Navalar’s contribution to the translation of the Christian Bible in “The Tentative Version of the Bible or ‘The Navalar Version,’” Tamil Culture 7 (1958): 229-50.

The Tamil studies of Arumuga Navalar are rich resources for historical detail. The most traditional biography was written as a poem by a student the Tiruvavatuturai Atinam: Sivakasi Arunacala Kavirayar, Ydlpãnauu Nallür Sri La Sri Arumukandvalar carittiram (The Life of the Venerable Arumuga Navalar of Nallur.Jaffna) (Madras, 1898). There is a copy in the Swaminathaiyar Library. 

The earliest prose biography was by a disciple: Ve. Kanakrattina Upattiyayar. Arumukanãvatar c.ariitjram (The Life of Arumuga Navalar) (Jaffna: 1882; reprint, Jaffna: 1968). A nephew of Navalar later wrote a biography with the same title: T. Kailasa Pillai, Arumukanãvatar Carittiram (Madras. 1918; a slightly expanded ver­sion appeared in 1955). Perhaps the most useful biography, its appendix contains valuable primary sources in English and Tamil. At an unknown date a dramatic play depicting Arumuga Navalar’s life was published: Suttananta Paratiyar, Ndvalar Ndtakam (The Drama of Navalar) (Madras, n.d.). 

There is a copy in Swaminathaiyar Library. A life of Navalar addressed to students was written by Ka. Mayanti Parati, Nãvalarperuman (The Noble Navalar) (Madras, 1955; reprint 1962).

The single most useful tool for analyzing the data provided by the biographies is a memorial volume commemorating the centenary of his death: Navalar Nürrdngu Malar 1979. edited by K. Kailasapati (Chunnakam, Sri Lanka, 1979). It contains thirty-four essays examin­ing Navalar from a variety of perspectives, including a useful chronolo­gy of his life and work and bibliographies of primary and secondary sources.

A valuable collection of Arumuga Navalar’s prose tracts addressed to events in Jaffna and Madras between 1853 and 1876 is T. Kailasa Pillai comp., Sri La Sn Arumukanãvalar Perumdnin Pirapantauirattu (The Collected Works of the Noble and Venerable Arumuga Navalar), 3d cd. ‘2 vol. (Madras, 1954—1955).

These and other works by Arumuga Navalar have been reprinted frequently by the press he founded in Madras, the Arumuga Navalar Vidyanubalana Accakam (25 Tangasalai Teru, Madras 600 001). An organization that fosters his work is the Sri Ia Sri Arumuga Navalar Saivaprakasa Vidyasalai Arakkattali in Cidambaram (24 Malaikatti Teru, Cidambaram 608 001). 

Many of his publications are available in the British Library, London, and are listed in the three volumes of A Catalogue of Tainil Books in the British Libraty: Department of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books (1909 Supplementary Catalogue, 1931; Second Supplementary Catalogue, 1980). 

Many works are also avail­able at two libraries in Madras: The Tirumaraimalai Adigal Library tLingi Chitty Street) and the Ii. V. Swaminathaiyar Library (liruvan­miyur, Madras 41). Other archives and organizations dedicated to Navalar’s memory and career exist in Jaffna, but I am not yet acquaint­ed with them directly.

Footnotes

1. To facilitate recognition of Tamil words, I have modified their transliteration in this essay to conform to their Sanskrit counterparts where appropriate and to conform to standard English usage. Their purely Tamil trarisliterated forms will appear in the notes. Aspects of this essay have been included in my examination of Arumuga Navaiar’s response to Protestant missionaries as compared to that of Vellalas who became Christians: ‘Tamil Hindu Responses to Protestants: Among Nineteenth Century Literati in Jaffna and Tinnevelly,’ in Steven Kaplan ed., Indigenous Responses to Western Christianity. Forthcoming.

Research for this study has been generously aided by a Fulbright Fellowship for research in Madras (1983—84), by the Committee on Faculty Compensation and Development of Smith College, and by the Inter Library Loan Staff of the William Allen Neilson Library of Smith College.

2. For the social distinctions between Brahmans, non-Brahmans, and untouchables in Madras Presidency, see Eugene F. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahman Movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916 - 1929(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969). pp. 5 - 12.

3. According to E. I. Robinson, in 1857 the inhabitants of the northern and eastern provinces totaled 184,714. Hindu Pastors: A Memorial (London: Wesleyan Conference Office, 1867), p. 5.

4. Robinson, Hindu Pastors, p. 7.

5. Robinson, Hindu Pastors, p. 122.

6. For the idea of the ur, see E. Valentine Daniel, Fluid Signs: Being a Person The Tamil Way  (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), pp. 61-104.

7. These divisions are discussed by Capapati Navalar, in ‘Varalaru,” Civa­camavdtavuraimaruppu by Civajnana Yoki (Citamparam: Cittanta-vittiyanu. palana-yantira-calai, 1893), pp. 1—6.

8. For a discussion of these monastic heads, see V. A. Devascnapathi, Salvo Siddhänks: As Expounded in the Sivajnana-Siddhiyar and its Six Commentaries (Madras: University of Madras, 1966), pp. 1—15.

9. For example, the first Protestant missionary to India, Bartholomeus Ziegenbalg, learned from Tamil Hindus in the early 18th century that “sin” is an immoral life and the worship of village deities rather than the One God, Shiva; and that the word “heathen” refers to anyone who does not wear the ashes ofShjva, does not recite the (ive-sy(table mantra ofStfva, does not sacri­lice and fast, and is without mercy, love, humility, and patience. See H. Grafe, “Hindu Apologetics at the Beginning of the Protestant Mission Era in India,” Indian Church History Review, 6, No. 1,(june 1972): pp. 5940, 65—66. See also, Dennis Hudson, “Luther’s Voice in India,” paper presentcd at Smith College, October SO, 1984, in “Martin Luther: An Interdisciplinary Symposium Com­memorating the 500th Anniversary of the Reformer’s Birth.” 

10. The Jesuit missionary in Madurai, Roberto dc Nobili, responded to thirteen abuses in a work he wrote in Tamil about1640, see Tattuva Potakar (Roberto de Nobili], Tüsanqt Tikltdram, ed. by C. lracamanikkam (Tuttukkuti:Tamil Ilakkiyak Kalakam, 1964). The Lutheran missionary in Tranquebar, Bartholomeus Ziegenbalg, recorded various Hindu views of Christianity in the early eighteenth century. Se~ H. Grafe, “Hindu Apologetics,” pp. 4349.

11. John Murdoch provided a description of Tamil printing in 1865 in his Classified Catalogue of Tamil Printed Books with Introductory Notices (Vepery,Madras: The Christian Vernacular Education Society, 1865 (reprint ed. by M. Shanmukham and published in Madras by the Tamil Development and Research Council, Government of Tamilnad, 1968]), pp. lvii—lxxx.

12. One example is the manuscript in the British Museum by mamapa­main PilIai, Induc-clitiyärin-t,etänta.vitakkam,completed in 1801. The author, a Vellala, was a former Christian in Tranquebar who became a Shaiva and was hung by the British two years later for spying.

13. For a further discussion of this in the overall context of Tamil intellec­tual responses to the West, see Dennis Hudson, “The Responses of Tamils to Their Study by Westerners 1600—1908,” in Bernard Lewis, Edmund Leites, and Margaret Case (eds.), As Others See Us: Mutual Perceptions, East and West (New York: International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations, 1985), pp. 180-200.

14. Bartholomeus Ziegenbalg, for example, circulated palm leaf writings among Tamil Hindus in 1710 which he then printed on the new Tamil press as a pamphlet in 1713. It consisted of eight chapters “in which is shown how great a horror heathenism is and how those who live in it may be saved and go to heaven.” It was reprinted in 1729 and 1745. See Hans-Werner Gensichen, “Abominable Heathenism’, a Rediscovered Tract by Bartholomeus Ziegen­balg,” Indian Church History Review, I, no. 1 (1967), pp. 29—40.

15. Listed by Kailasa Pillai, An.smukanãvalar Canuiram, (Madras: 1918 and 1955), p. 53. Robinson describes those belonging to the Wesleyan Mission in Hindu Pastors, pp. 7—16.

16. The decision and immediate controversy is reported in The Second Tri­ennial Report of the American Missionary Seminary, Jaffna, Ceylon (Nellore, 1830), pp. 23—24, from which the following quotations come. H. R. Hoisington (1801—1858), a serious scholar of Tamil and Shaivism, was head of the semi­nary from 1836 to 1842 and responsible for having the Kantapurãnam pre­scribed for study. See K. Meenakshisundaram, The Contribution ojEuropean Scholars to Tamil,Madras University Tamil Dept., Series No. 33 (Madras: Uni­versity of Madras, 1974), Pp. 45—46.

17. Between 1836 and 1839, H. R. Hoisington, Principal of the American Mission Seminary in Jaffna, lectured on a “List of popular objections to Chris­tianity” called kummi, which probably was Muttukumara Kavirajar’s poem, “Jnanakkumnii.” See the F~fth Tneirnial Repo~1 oftheAmencan Mission Seminary, Jaffna, Ceylon, with an Appendix,January, 1939 (Jaffna: Press of the American Mission, 1839), P. 12. This “Jnanakkumini” was attacked by a Christian in a poem called Ajjnãnakhummi which in turn was attacked by Cilampunata Pillai in Ajjnänakkusnmi Maruppu. See Ci. Kanecaiyar in his Ilandttut Tamilppulavar Carttam ((NP.): Na. Ponnaiya, 1939), p. 44.

18. Thc two poems are contained in the collection of Muttukumara Kavi­rajar’s poems in the volume commemorating the centenary of his death, Mut­tukkusndrakavirdcar Pirapantattirattu, ed. Cunnakain Ku. Muttukkumaracuvamip Pillai (Mayilani/Cunnakam: Pulavarakam, 1952).

19. Arumuga Tambiran of the Dharmapuram Atinam was baptized in Madras as Wesley Abraham in 1836. His “jnanakkummi” (also listed as Ajjnñnakkumma) was published in Madras in 1837 according to the Second Suppl.e­mentary Catalogue of Tamil Books in the British Library by Albertine Gaur (London: The British Library, 1980), p. lb. See also Cu. A. Iramacamip Pulavar, Tamilp­pulavar Vwicar, vol. 6 (Cennai: Tirunelveli Tennintiya Caivacittanta Nurpatip­puk Kalakam, Ltd., 1958), pp. 27—29, where it is listed as Ajjnãnahhummi.

20. Published in Madras in 1840 and reprinted at the American Mission Press in 1850 and again in 1862. The 1840 publication date is given by Murdoch, Catalogue, p. 21.

21. It went by the Sanskrit name Catur Veda Siddhanta Sabha and was also called the Salay Street Society from its location. See George I1ettitt, The Tinnevelly Mission of the Church Missionary Society (London: Church Missionaiy Society, 1851), pp. 255—257; and R. Suntharalingam, Politics and Nationalist Awakening in South India, 1852—1891(The Association for Asian Studies: Mono. graphs and Papers, No. XXVII) (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1974), pp. 42—43.

22. Vitavikarpa was composed by Ponnainpala Cuvami of Purusavakkarn and Vita vikarpa tiithãram by Muttucami Pillai of Pondichery. The latter died in 1840 and the response may actually have been written by the head Tamil teacher at the College of Fort St. George, Tantavaraya Mutaliyar. See Chcngalvaraya Pillai, History of the Tamil Prose Literature(Madras, 1966 (1904]), pp. 58—59; and Simon Casie Chitty, The Tamil Plutarch (Jaffna, 1859), pp.55—56.

23. The Utayaidrakai—Morning Star, Vol. 1 (184]). (Jaffna: American Mis­sion Press), p. 1. Henry Martyn edited the English and Seth Payson the Tamil sections.

24. Morning Star, vol. 3, (1843), pp. 114—15.

25. Morning Star, vol. 2, (1842), p. 287.

26. Morning Star, vol. 2, (1842), p.272.

27. Reported by Atdinarayana Cettiyar Shivaprakashan in Supplement to the Utayatdrakai—Morning Star, Thursday, October 20, 1842 (vol. 2, No. 20), p. 249. with response from the editor on p. 250. A very different version of the meeting is given by a disenchanted Shaiva, “S. Tannayerperagasan,” in vol. 2, pp. 284-87 together with editorial comments.

28. From the English version ol’ the letter by A. Shivaprakashan in Morn­ing Star 2. (1842), p. 271b.

29. Morning Star, 2, (1842), p. 27]a. According to Robinson, Hindu Pas­tars, p. 119, the school was at Vannarpannai and did not Survive.

30. Another connection between the school and Arumuga Pillai was the priest Arunacala Gurukkal, known commonly as Vedakutui Aiyar. He was pre­sent at the meetings in 1842 and about ten years later Arumuga Pillai’s broth­ers tried to use his influence to talk Aruinuga Pillai into getting married. See Morning Star, vol. 2, (1842), p. 270-71; and Kailasa Pillai,Antmukanãvalar Cant­tiram, p. 17.

31. Nayana-sdstra according to Ntsstalar nOn-dntu major 1979, p. 299. The following biographical information on Arumuga Navalar comes from “Navaiar valkkaiyil mukkiya campavankal’ in Ndvojar nüwbntu moLar 1979 (Navalar Cente­nary Souvenir 1979), ed. by K. Kaitasapati (Colonsbo and Kottavil, 1979), 299—304, and from three biographies: Ve. Kanakarattina, Anamukand valor cant­tiram (JafTna 1882, reprinted 1968); T. Kailasa Pillai, Avumukandvalar canttiram (Madras. 1918, with an expanded edition in 1955); and V. Mut­tucumaraswamy. Sn La Sn Arumuga Navalar, The Champion Reformer of the Hin­dus (1822—1879) A Biographical Study, new rev. ed. (N.p., 1965).

32. Cowan kumd ran nanmatarapitcan. His letter appeared in its Tamil orig­inal with an English translation in theSupplement to the Utayatarakai—Morning Star,January 26, 1843 (vol. 3, No. 2), pp. 21—23. The editors’ lengthy reply to it is included in vol. 3, Nos. 3—6.

33. His  father was P. Kanta Pillai of Nallur and the drama was Irattinavalli Vi Id cam.

34. “manam unarca ataintu.” 

35. The quotations follow the English translation which I have amended with reference to the Tamil original for greater accuracy. The translator omit­ted some sentences and phrases and used “Shivas” instead of “Shaivas”.

36. Supplement to the Utayatdrakai—Monsing Star, vol. 3, no.3 (February 1843), p. Ia.

37. Kanakarattina, Arumukandvalar Carittiram, pp. 8—10.

38. They included Sadashiva Pillai, Swaminatha Aiyar, Nataraja Aiyar, Vishvanatha Aiyar, Arumtiga Pillai, Kantaswami Pillai, and Arumuga Cettiyar, according to Kanakarattina, Arumukanãvalar Canttiram, p. 10.

39. One was Mu. Tillainatha PiIlai who had studied English with Arumuga Pillai and was now a teacher in Percival’s English school; the other was Cu. Cinnappa Pillai. According to Kanakarattina, because they refused baptism, the one lost his teaching job and the other did not receive one. Aru­muka ~ui valor Canuiram, pp. 13-15.

40. The companion was Ansbalavana Mutaliyar. See Nãvalar Major, p. 299. Kailasa Pillai reports a story that as a young boy he went to Nagappattinam and expounded a portion of the Skanda Purã no. See Kailasa Pillai, Ansmugandvalar Carittiram (1955), Pp. 36—37.

41. See Kanakarattina, Arumukandvalar Canttiram, p. 16. In 1875, for example, he published three pamphlets addressed Io the officials of the tem­ple, contained in Sri La Sn An*mukandvalar Pensmdnin Pirapantaurauas, ed. T. Kailasa Pillai. 2 vols. (Cennai: Arumuka Navalar Vittiyanupalana Accakam, 1954), vol. 2, pp. 1—97.

42. He resigned when he found that the Shaivas would not let him teach the Bible as English literature. The school then became totally Tamil and many students returned to the mission school. See Robinson, Hindu Pastors, pp.119—21. 

43. Robinson, Hindu Pastors, p. 123.

44. Robinson lists the topics as Richard Watson recorded them for twenty nine sermons between February 18 to November 17, 1848, in Hindu Pastors, pp.124-25. Kanakarattina gives examples in Arumuka Ndvaior Carittiram, p. 20, which Muttucumaraswamy repeats in Sn La Sri, p. 20.

45. Kanakarattina, Atumukandvalar Cavittiram, p. 18.

46. For examples, see Kanakarattina, Arumukanävalar Carittiram, pp.20-24.

47. Kanakarattina, Arumukandvalar Carittiram, pp. 18—19; Mut­tucumaraswamy, Sri La Sri, p. 19.

48. Sabapathy Kulandran, “The Tentative Version of the Bible or The Navalar Version’,” Tamil Culture, vol. 7 (1958), pp. 229-50, especially p. 2.39.Kulandran also discussed Arumuga Navalar’s work with Percival in Catapati Kulentiran,Kiristava Tamil Vëtdkamattin VaraLãnt (A History of the Tamil Bible) (Bangalore: The Bible Society of India, 1967), pp. 117-49.

49. Kulandran, “The Tentative Version of the Bible,” p. 249. On the British and Foreign Bible Society in India, see D. Rajarigam, The History of Tamil Christian Literature, Studies in Indian Christian Theology. no.2 (Madras: The Christian Literature Society. 1958). pp. 27—28.

50. His statement is reprinted by Eailasa Pillai, Arumukandvalar Canttiram, pp. 19-21.

51. This was probably a form of the “shifting matri-uxorilocal pattern” typ­ical among Tamils on the east coast of Sri Lanka. See Dennis B. McGilvray. “Mukkuvar vanniasmi: Tamil caste and matriclan ideology in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka,~Caste Ideology and Interaction (Cambridge Papers in Social Anthropolo­gy, No. 9), (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1982), pp. 34-97, espe­cially pp. 43—46.

52. Kanakarattina, Arumukandvalar Carittiram, pp. 25-28.

53. Charles E. Cover described this system in “Pyal Schools in Madras,” The Indian Antiquary, vol. 2 (February 1873), pp. 52—56. Other literature com­monly taught included Krishmantüiu, Pancatantra, Kompar Rdmdyanam, and Kaid Cintdmani. Grammar was learned from NannüI and vocabulary from a Nikantu, usually the Cütdmani Nikantu.

54. Gover, “Pyal Schools in Madras,” p. 536.

55. Cover, “PyaI Schools in Madras,” p. 551.

56. On the matha in south India as an educational institution, see S. Gurumurthy, Education in South India (Ancient and Medieval Periods) (Madras: New Era Publications, 1979), pp. 13—25. Contemporary mathas are described briefly in “Maths in South India,” The Vedanta K.esan, vol. 44, No. 4 (August 1957). pp. 148—81. For an example of a nineteenth-century householder teach­er at a matha, see the English versions of U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar's autobiography, The Story of My Life 1~ Dr. U. V. Swaminatha Aiyar. trans. S. K. Guniswamy, ed. A. Rama Iyer (Madras: Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. U. V. Swaminathaiyar Library. 1980), and his biography of his teacher, A Poet’s Poet: Life of Maha Vidu,an Sri Meenakshisundaram Piliai: Based on the Biography in Tamil hy Mahamahupadhyaya Dr. U V. Swaminatha Aiyer(Madras: Mahamahopadhyaya Dr. U. V. Swaminatha lyer Library, 1976).

57. Kailasa Pillai, Arumuhanä valor Canttiram, p. 16.

58. The first ten parts contain about eleven thousand words and they con­stitute the section Navalar appears to have published. It was republished five times before the last two parts were added. See S. Vaiyapuri Pillai, “History of Tamil Lexicography,” Tamil Lexicon, vol. 1 (Madras: University of Madras, 1982 11936]), pp. xxv—xliv, especially pp. xxi—xxviii; and Cfltãmani Nikantu mütamutn uraiyum, 1—10 tokutikal Yalppanam Nallur Sri La Sri Arumukandvalar Avarkal Paricotittanu; Ponnampala Pillai, Avarkal Pai-icotittanu (Cennai: Aru­mukanavalar Vi. Accakam, 1966).

59. Virai Kaviracapantitar. Cauntariyalahari: Ikatu Caiva Ellappa Ndvalar ceyta uraiyutan (Nunkampakkam (Madras], 1864).

60. Vannarpannai A. Arumuga Cettiyar. See Kanakarattina, Aru­mukanavalar Canttiram, p. 31.

61. Robinson, Hindu Pastors, p. 125. “Tr~itor-sepoys of the press” he called them.

62. Kailasa PiIlai, Arumtshand valor Carittiram, p. 32.

63. Following the date given in the Nd valor Malar, p. 300.

64. At the end of volume one he included Auvaiyar’s Atticdti and Konraivëntan, and in volume two his own commentaries (uraa) on them. See Kanakarattina, Arumukand valor CarUtiram, p. 31.

65. This dating is given in Pdlapdtam: Ndnktim Puitaham, Yalppanam Nal­lur Arumukanavalar Avarkal ceytatu (Cennai: Sri Arumukanavalar Vittyanu­palana Accakam, 1969), p. I. The PdIa Pdiam has been reprinted numerous times and its three volumes are now four: Navalar’s third volume has become the fourth and K. C. Ponnambalam Pillai has compiled a new third volume. Today the lessons are considered appropriate up through the sixth and sev­enth classes.

66. Robinson, Hindu Pastors, p. 125.

67. Tirutturaiyur Cantalinkacuvamikal, Kolaimarutial (Tinspportir Guam­paracuvdmikal anslicceyta uraiyutan), 7th cd. published by Vicuvanatapillai (Ccn­napattanam: Vittyanupalana Yantiracalai, 1924).

68. The Tiruccenti-niröttaka-yamaka-v-antdti by Turaimankalam Civapraka. cacuvamikal, 5th ed. published by Catacivapillai, (Cennapattanam: Vittiyanu­palana Yantiracalai, 1882).

69. Pavananti, Nanndlum—Viruttiyuraium (Nannul with the Virttiyurai by Cankaranamaccivayappulavar as corrected by Civajnanacuvamikal of the Ati­nain), ed. Arumukanavalar (Cennapattanam: Vittiyanupalana Yantiracalai, 1902). A tenth edition appeared in 1974.

70. Arumukanavalar, Civdlayataricanaviti, 5th ed. (Cennapattanam:Vittyanupalana Yanttiracalai, 1882).

71. Noted by Kailasa Pillai, Arumukandvalar Carittiratn (1955 ed.), p. 75. 1 have not located these small printed pieces; they may have become part of his latcr and larger publications.

72. See Dennis Hudson, “Violent and Fanatical Devotion Among the Nayanars: A Study in the Penya Purdnam of Cekkilar,” Criminal Gods and Demon Devotees, ed. by Alf Hiltebeitel. Forthcoming.

73. Arumukanavalar, Civdlayataricanaviti (1882), p. 40.

74. Arumuka Navalar, Tiruttontar Pertyapuranam. . .kattiya rüpamnakac ceytu (1852), p. 5.                

75. Kanakarattina, Arumukandvalar Canttiram, p. 34. The Nürrdntu Molar, p. 300, places this publication in 1854. I have not been able to locate this pam­phlet; the British Library’s Second Supplementary Catalogue of Tamil Books (1980), p. 16, lists Kiristumata Kanana Kutari, Vajratankam (“Vajra Dankam, The Dia­mond Axe.”) A Tamil pamphlet for the use of Hindus against Christianity. (Madras, 1888), p. 24.

76. Based on that of Naccinarkkiniyar. See Nakkirar, Tirumurukdimppatai mülamum...Arumuka Ndvalar...putturaiyum,19th ed. (Ccnnai: Sri Arumuka Navalar Vi. Accakam, 1967).

77. For a sympathetic discussion of the story, see David Dean Shulman, Tamil Temple Myths: Sacrifice and Divine Mamage in the South lndian Saiva Tradi­tion (Princeton: I’rinceton University Press, 1980), pp. 275—85. For a discussion of the festivals in Sri Lanka that celebrate the story, SCC Gannanath Obeyesekere, The Cult of the Goddess Pattini(Chicago: The University of Chicago Prcss, 1984), pp. 470-74, and Medusa’s Hair: An Essay on Personal Symbols and Religious Experience (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981).

78. Cupirapotam (1853), reprinted in Arumukanävalar Pirapantattirattu, vol.1, Nallur T. Kailasa Pillai, cd., 3d ed., published by C. Ponnusvami (Ccnnapat­tanam: Vittyanupalana Yantiracalai, 1954), pp. 3—16.

79. Kailasa Pillai, Arumukanãvalo,r Carittiram, p. 55.

80. According to C. Ponnusvami in Civa. Cankarapantitar Pirapantattirattu,C. Ponnusv~mi, comp. 2d ed. (Cennai: Vittiyanupalana Accakam, 1957 11882]). The pamphlets are Krnstumata Kantanam, Carpiracdnl€am, and Miliccamata Vikapam. See also Kailasa PiIlai, Angmukandvalar Canttiram, p. 55.

81. As he notes in his letter to John Walton ofJanuary 18, 1856, reprinted in Kailasa Pillai, An.~muAandvalszr Canttiram,p. 102.

82. He adds hopefully: “...but it was one of those victories which are equivalent to defeats, a suicidal advantage prompting to devout research per­sons who might never otherwise have been led to examine the Scriptures, and conducting inquirers beyond such limits as the apologists would have allowed.” Robinson, Hindu Pastors, pp. 127—28. The immediateresponse to the booklet, including letters exchanged between Navalar and the missionary John Walton, are contained in the appendix to Kailasa Pillai, Arumukanã valor Carittiram, pp.101—108.

83. Navalar, Caivatüsana Parikãram (Cennai: Vittiyanupalana Accakam, 1956). The India Office Library lists the 1868 edition and the British Library lists the 1890 edition.

84. The Hindu Church of the Lord Jesus founded by Arumanayagam, known commonly as Sattampillai among the Christian Nadars in Tinnevelly DistricL See Hudson, “Responses of Tamils to Their Study,” pp., 189-90.

85. He names specifically “Blind Way” (KuruttuvalO. “Attributes of the Hindu Triad” (MOmflrtti Lahsanam), and “News of Depravity” (Tuvicdravind­tãntam).

86. Arumuga Navalar, Cait,atfisana Parikãram, p. 9.

87. Navalar, Caivatfisana Pankdram, p. 10.

88. Navalar, CaivatOsana, Parikdram, p. 11.

89. D. Carroll, Cuppiratipam: Ikatu Caivatflsanaparikeira Nirãkaranam (Jaffna: Ripley and Strong, 185’7).

90. Kanakarattina, Arttmukanãt,alar Canttiram, p. 36, note.

91. Arumuga Navalar was initiated into the worship of his own quartz lingo (spatika lingam), the utaiyavarpucai, and Sadashiva Pillai was initiated into the worship of the impermanent lingo, the ksimikalizgrim p~cw. Kanakarattina,An.jmukanãvalar Carittiram, pp. 38—39~ Kailasa Pillai, Arumuhantlvalar Canttiram, pp. 81—82.

92. I am working on a long-range study of him tentatively entitled, For the Love of Shiva: Ammuga Navalar and Hindu Reform ira the Nineteenth Century.

93. Listed in Molar, pp. 308-15.

94. Damodharam Pillai in particular continued this work, himself having been a Christian who became a Shaiva because of Navalar. Tiru. Vi. Kaliyana­sundaram says that Animuga Navalar dug the foundations for the recovery of Tamil classics, Damodharam Pillai built its walls, and Swaminatha Aiyar roofed it and made it into a temple. The temple is in Tamil literature the house of Shiva. See Tiru. Vi. Ka. Valkkaik Kurippukkal, Autobiographical Notes of Tint. Valkkaik Kurippukkal, vol. 1 (1944; reprint, Madras: South Indian Saiva Sid­dhanta Works Publishing Society, 1969), p. 160.

95. Kamil Zvelebil, The Smile of Murugan: On Tatnil Literature of South India (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1973), p. 259.

96. Mayuram and Vedaranyam. See Muttucumarswamy, Sn La Sri, p. 35.

97. It lasted from 1874 to 1878 in Vannarpannai. See Kailasa Pillai, Ant­mukandvalar Canttiram, pp. 52—53; and Muttucumarswamy, Sri La Sri, pp. 83, 86, 101.

98. K. M. de Silva, ed., Sri Lanka: A Survey (Honolulu: The University Press of Hawaii, 1977), p. 389.

99. Muttucumaraswamy, Sri La Sri, pp. 97—99.

100. Navalar’s student’s student, N. Katirvel Pillai ofJalTna (d. 1907), was influential on Tiru. Vi. Ka. in Madras. In his youth, Maraimal Adigal (formerly Swami Vedachalam) participated in the Shaiva Siddhanta Sabha in Nagapatti­nam led by a friend of Navalar’s, Virappa Cettiyar. See Tiru Pulavar Aracu, Tint. Vi. Kaliydna****arandr (Madras: South India Saiva Siddhanta Works Pub­lishing Society, 1982), pp. 21—22; and Tavattiru Alakaratikal, Maraimalaiy­atikcdar Varaldru Mãtci (Madras: South india Saiva Siddhanta Works Publishing Society, 1977), pp. 185-91.

101. Pulavar Ira. Ilankumaran, KaLaka Atciyar V. C. Varaläru (Madras: South India Saiva Siddhanata Works Publishing Society, 1981), p. 112.

102. Capapati Kulentiran, Kiristava Tamii Vëtdkamattin Varalãru, pp.148-49.

103. See Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India, pp. 292-94.

104. For Sri Lanka, see Gananath Obeyesekere, The Cult of the Goddess Pattini, p. 599, n. 7.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arumuka_Navalar

Arumuka Navalar

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

 

Arumuka Navalar
Born	Kandar Arumukam Pillai 18 December 1822 Nallur, Jaffna District, Sri Lanka
Died	5 December 1879 (aged 56) Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Cause of death	General illness
Residence	Jaffna
Nationality	Sri Lankan
Other names	Srila Sri Arumuga Navalar
Education	Tamil Pandithar
Occupation	Hindu missionary
Known for	Hindu reformer
Title	Navalar
Religion	Hindu (Saiva)

Arumuka Navalar (Tamil: ஆறுமுக நாவலர், āṟumuka nāvalar ^?, 18 December 1822 – 5 December 1879) was one of the early revivalists of native Hindu Tamil traditions in Sri Lanka and India. He and others like him were responsible for reviving and reforming native traditions that had come under a long period of dormancy and decline during the previous 400 years of colonial rule by various European powers. A student of the Christian missionary school system who assisted in the translation of the King James Bible into Tamil, he was influential in creating a period of intense religious transformation amongst Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, preventing large-scale conversions toProtestantism.

As part of his religious revivalism, he was one of the early adaptors of modern Tamil prose, introduced Western editing techniques, and built schools (in imitation of Christian mission schools) that taught secular and Hindu religious subjects. He was a defender of Saivism (a sect of Hinduism) against Christian missionary activity and was one of the first natives to use the modern printing press to preserve the Tamil literary tradition. He published many polemicaltracts in defence of Saivism, and also sought and published original palm leaf manuscripts. He also attempted to reform Saivism itself – an effort which sometimes led to the decline of popular deities and worship modes and confrontation with traditional authorities of religion. Some post-colonial authors have criticised his contributions as parochial, limited, conservative, and favouring the elite castes.

Conflicts with Hindus[edit]

In his weekly sermons, he attacked Christians and Hindus as well. He specifically attacked the trustees and priests of the Nallur Kandaswami Temple in his home town because they had built the temple not according to the Agamas a century ago as well as used priests who were not initiated in the Agamas. He also opposed their worship of Vel or the weapon representing the main deity as it did not have Agamic sanction.^[15]

Reformed school system[edit]

The school he founded was called Saivaprakasa Vidyasala or School of Siva's splendor. The school did not follow thetraditional Tamil teaching system, in which each student worked on his own pace and the teacher pupil ratio was extremely low. Although this system produced stellar experts in subject matter but took too much labour and was inefficient compared to the western system used by the Missionaries.^[16] He developed his teaching methods based on the exposure he had with the Missionaries. He developed the curriculum to be able to teach 20 students at a time and included secular subject matters and English. He also wrote the basic instruction materials for different grades in Saivism.^[16] Most of his teachers were friends and acquaintances who were volunteers. This school system was duplicated later in Chidambaram in India in 1865 and it still exits. But the school system he founded in Sri Lanka was replicated and over 100 primary and secondary schools were built based on his teaching methods. This school system produced numerous students who had clearer understanding of their religion, rituals and theology and still able to function in a western oriented world.^[8][16]

Navalar title[edit]

As an owner of a pioneering new school with the a need for original publications in Tamil prose to teach subjects for all grades, he felt a need for a printing press. He and his colleague Sadasiva Pillai went to Madras, India in 1849 to purchase a printing press. On the way they stopped at Tiruvatuturai Ateenam in Tanjavur, India, an important Saiva monastery. He was asked by the head of the monastery to preach. After listening to his preaching and understanding his unusual mastery of the knowledge of Agamas, the head of the monastery conferred on him the title Navalar (learned). This honorary degree from a prestigious Saiva monastery enhanced his position amongst Saivas and he was known as the Navalar since then.^[8]

Literary contributions[edit]

 

Murugan with his two wives. Arumuka Navalar published theTirumurukarrupatai, a devotional poem dedicated to Murugan.

While in India he published two texts, one was an educational tool (teachers guide)Cüdãmani Nikantu, a sixteenth-century lexicon of simple verses and Saundarya Lahari, a Sanskrit poem in praise of the Primeval Mother Goddess, geared towards devotion. These were the first effort at editing and printing Tamil works for Saiva students and devotees.^[17] His press was set up in a building that was donated by a merchant of Vannarpannai. It was named the Vidyaanubalana yantra sala(Preservation of Knowledge Press).^[17] The initial publications included Bala Potam(Lessons for Children) in 1850 and 1851. They were graded readers, simple in style, similar in organisation to those used in the Protestant schools. This was followed up by a third volume in 1860 and 1865. It consisted of thirtynine advanced essays in clear prose, discussing subjects such as God, Saul, The Worship of God, Crimes against the Lord, Grace, Killing, Eating meat, Drinking liquor, Stealing, Adultery, Lying, Envy, Anger, and Gambling. These editions were in use 2007.^[18]

Other notable texts published included The Prohibition of Killing, Manual of worship of Shiva temple and The Essence of the Saiva Religion. His first major literary publication appeared in 1851, the 272-page prose version of Sekkilar's Periya Puranam, a retelling of the twelfth century hagiography of the Nayanars or Saivite saints.^[18] In 1853 he published Nakkirar's Tirumurukarrupatai, with is own commentary. It was a devotional poem to Murugan.^[19] This was followed by local missionaries attacking Murugan as immoral deity for marrying two women. As a response Navalar published Radiant Wisdom explaining how the stories embody differing levels of meaning.^[20] He also published literature of controversial nature. He along with Centinatha Aiyar, published examples of indecent language from the Bible and published it as Disgusting Things in the Bible (Bibiliya Kutsita). In 1852, he along with Ci. Vinayakamurtti Cettiyar of Nallur, printed the Kummi Song on Wisdom of Muttukumara Kavirajarleading to calls by local Christians to shut the printing press down.^[20][21]

The seminal work that was geared towards stemming the tide of conversions was printed in 1854. It was a training manual for the use of Saivas in their opposition to the missionaries, titled The Abolition of the Abuse of Saivism (Saiva dusana parihara).^[20]

A Methodist missionary, who had worked in Jaffna, described the manual thirteen years after it had appeared as:

"Displaying an intimate and astonishing acquaintance with the Holy Bible. (the author) labors cleverly to show that the opinions and ceremonies of Jehovah's ancient people closely resembled those of Shaivism, and were neither more nor less Divine in their origin and profitable in their entertainment and pursuit. The notion of merit held by the Hindus, their practices of penance, pilgrimage, and lingam-worship, their ablutions, invocations, and other observances and rites, are cunningly defended on the authority of our sacred writings! That a great effect was thus produced in favour of Sivaism and against Christianity cannot be denied".

This manual was widely used in Sri Lanka and India; it was reprinted at least twice in the nineteenth century, and eight times by 1956.^[20]