U. V. Swaminatha Iyer

U. V. Swaminatha Iyer Biography

U. V. Swaminatha Iyer was an Indian scholar and researcher in Tamil language. He had contributed a lot to the classical Tamil literature that were forgotten for ages. He had published more than 90 books during his time and had collected many palm leaf scripts and notes. He was referred to as the Tamil Thatha Ou Ve Sa.

He was born on 19^th February 1855 in Suriaimoolai near Kumbakonam in Iyer family. His father was Venkatasubramanian belonging to Utthamadhanapuram. He was a student of Meenakshi Sundaram Pillai. He headed the Tamil Department at the Government Arts College at Kumbakonam since 16^th February 1880.

Salem Ramaswami Mudhaliar was highly instrumental in making U. V. Swaminatha Iyer to publish the ancient Tamil classical literature. It was from the Ramaswami Mudhaliar that he got the handwritten copy of the great epic Seevaga Sinthamani.

Before published the Seevaga Sinthamani he did some research about it. He then published Pathuppaattu. He search were directed towards the Sangam literature. He worked with S. V. Damodaram Pillai and was continuously searching for the original texts of the ancient literary works.

He traveled from village to village and spent all his money in search of the literary works. He published Silappathikaram, Puranaanuru, Ettuthokai and Manimekalai. He also published poems, lyrics and puranas. After his retirement from the field of teaching in 1919 he devoted full time to his researches. For a brief time period of three years from 1924 to 1927 he served as the Principal of the Meenakshi Tamil College in Annamalai University at Chidambaram. However as his health failed him he could not continue his service.

He wrote his autobiography in Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan which he named as En Sarithiram. This was made into a book in 1950. He was admired greatly by the poet Subramaniya Bharathi. He received honorary doctorate degree for his contributions to literature from the University of Madras in 1906. He was also given Dakshina Kalanidhi title in 1925. He died in 1942. A commemorative stamp was issued by the Indian postal department on 18^th February 2006. 

Published: N/A

Updated: May 07, 2012