Tamil Nationalism and Literary Works
Jeeva played a key role in achieving the demands for naming the then Madras state as Tamil Nadu and making Tamil its official language.
He was a supporter of pure usage of his native Tamil language, which had, to an extent, become corrupted with the influence of Sanskrit and other languages. He declared his name as "Uyirinban", a literal translation of the Sanskrit word "Jeevanandham". One of his major influences was the works of Tamil poet Subramania Bharthi, as also the persona and simple life-style of the poet. Jeevanandham was the first to take to cultural politics and cited his long struggle for nationalising Subramania Bharati’s songs and for fulfilling Tamils’ aspirations in respect of making Tamil a medium of instruction in schools and also making it an official language.
Jeevanandham was well-versed in Kambaramayanam, the Tamil version of the Indian epic Ramayana, which is considered a Tamil literary classic and consists of eloquent Tamil verses.
Jeevanandham was the founder of "Thamarai", a Tamil literary magazine. The communist Tamil newspaper, ‘JanaSakthi’, was also begun with his commitment.
Periyar encouraged Jeeva to translate Bhagat Singh’s classic essay “Why I am Atheist” in 1933. Jeeva translated it into Tamil, which was probably its first ever translation. This book was banned by then government. Pariyar E. V. Ramasamy and Jeevanandham were summoned. They were pressurized to sign apology letter for publishing this transliteration work. Periyar signed the apology letter and was released from jail. On the contrary Jeevanandham decided not to make any compromise and proved his self-esteem by not signing the apology and remained in Jail. The transliteration work was so popular that there were 25 re-print editions till 2005.
Read more about this topic: P. Jeevanandham
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