The novel form of Tamil literature has been in existence only since around two centuries.
Before that, the poetry form used to rule the roost for nearly two thousand years. Novel is a relatively new genre in Tamil literature but is very popular among the Tamil novel readers. The novel format was made popular by legendary writers like Kalki Krishnamurthy, Vai. Mu. Kothainayaki, Lakshmi, Na. Parthasarathy etc. The novel form has given us several others. The historic novels by Kalki, Akilan, Sandilyan and Na. Parthasarathy were enjoyed by the Tamil readers for their skillful depiction of the historic, social and cultural aspects of the bygone era. These novels are no less than priceless treasures for the Tamil people of even successive generations. Here is a bird’s eye view of some of the famous historic novels.

Historical novels by Kalki
‘Ponniyin Selvan’ is a novel set in the Chola period and brings out the social and political situation that prevailed during that era. The imaginary characters and events blend well into the historic events. He could even blend humour and satire into the actual events. His description of the kings and the wars they fought and their aspirations and dreams for their country and people. The stories were full of twists and turns that captured the imagination of the reading public. ‘Sivagamiyin Sabhatham’ is his masterpiece, romantic novel set in the Pallava dynasty’s reign over south India. ‘Parthiban Kanavu’ is the story of Chola prince Vikkiraman who fulfills the dream of his father Parthiban, the Chola king to re-establish the Chola kingdom and freeing it from the Pallava ruler Narasimha Varma Pallavan.

Akilan
Akilan’s ‘Kayalvizhi’ is a gripping saga set in the Pandiya kingdom background. His other novels include ‘Vengayin Maindhan’, ‘Kanni Maadam’ and ‘Vettri Thirunagar.’ ‘Vengayin Mainthan’ has won the Sahitya Academy Award in 1963. ‘Vettri Thirunagar’ depicts the life of Viswanatha Nayaka of Vijaya Nagar who was the founder of the Nayakas. He played a major role in integrating the country.

Na Parthasarathy
Popularly known as ‘Deepam’ Parthasarathy, after the name of the Tamil magazine he edited, his novels ‘Paandimaa Devi’, ‘Rani Mangammal’ and ‘Manipallavam’ are very popular. Paandimaa Devi depicts the glorious Tamil culture and philosophy. The novel is a story of the Pandian ruler the third Rasa Simma Pandiyan.

Vikkiraman
‘Vanthiyathevan Vaal’ by Vikkiraman is a novel set in Raja Raja Chola period. He has penned some interesting novels like ‘Kulothungan Kanavu’, ‘Raja Rajan Sabhatham’, ‘Aalavai Arasi’ and ‘Vathapi Vijayam’ which are very popular.

Kovi Manisekaran
‘Kollippaavai’, ‘Naaga Nandhini’, ‘Vengai Vanam’, ‘Sera Sooriyan’ and ‘Ilavarasi Mohanangi’ are famous novels by Kovi. Manisekaran serialized in Tamil Magazines.

Ra Ki Rangarajan
‘Naan Krishnadevarayan’ by Ra. Ki. Rangarajan is a story woven around Vijayanagaram and as seen by the king Krishnadeva Rayan.

Sandilyan
His novels are historic romance with lots of adventure laced into them. Most of them are set in the times of the Chola kingdom. His novels also describe the political situations prevailing in south India and the conflict with the other countries across the seas. ‘Yavana Rani’ is about a Greek Princess who is saved by Ilanchezhiyan, from the Chola Empire. ‘Kadal Pura’ is another novel about the army commander of Chola king Rajendra II and the princess of Sumatra.
Tamil readers could read most of the historical novels serialized in Tamil weekly magazines. They were published as books later on.

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‘Bharathiyar’ is the name that reminds Indians of nationalism, patriotism and Tamil prose and poetry. Born in 1882 he was conferred the title of ‘Bharati’ for his poetic talent at a tender age. Bharati emerged as a prolific poet earning the name of ‘Mahakavi’, meaning a Great Poet. He died at the age of 39 but in his short span of life he had made immeasurable contribution to his country and language.

Life of a patriot

He lived in the eventful years of our country’s freedom struggle. He had met his contemporaries who influenced his political thinking like Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak, Sister Nivedita, Aurobindo Gosh, VVS Iyer and Lajpat Roy. The Tamil poet and writer’s life itself is a shining example of upholding the spirit of freedom, equality, justice and love despite poverty and against the oppressive British rule. He was the assistant editor of ‘Swadesamithran’ a Tamil daily from 1904 to 1907. He launched ‘India’ the Tamil weekly of which he was the editor and later edited a newspaper ‘Bala Bharatam’ in English. He had a turbulent life laced with living in exile, arrest, being jailed amidst abject poverty. He resumed as editor of Swadesamithran a year before his death in 1921.

Social reformist

His lofty dreams about our society and the country came out brilliantly in his songs and prose. He had the uncanny ability of using his literary skills to the best to kindle the patriotic feelings of the masses and about the evils of the society which caused all their problems.
Patriot

He proudly proclaims that the there is no other country in the world can equal the greatness of India which has the Himalyan mountains, the sacred river Ganges and the Upanishads in his song “Mannum Imaya malai’ and ‘paarukkule nalla naadu’. He is equally proud about the Richness and sweetness of the Tamil language in his lines ‘yamarindha mozhiugalile’. He proclaims with equal pride the richness and uniqueness of the Tamil language.

Advocating Freedom and Casteless society

He fearlessly wrote about freedom for individuals as wells as nations being influenced by ‘Vande Mataram’ the patriotic song by Bankim Chandra. These meetings have injected fearlessness into his writing. Considering this to be a divine inspiration he went on to write revolutionary compositions that were packed with national unity and the spirit of freedom His songs brought a spiritual dimension to the freedom movement. ‘Swathesa Geethangal’ and ‘Janma Bhoomi’ which he dedicated to sister Nivedita are examples of his patriotic songs and serving the underprivileged and emancipation of women. They were distributed to the people during the freedom movement of India. His dreams of a free India and a society that is educated, devoid of its social evils and living in harmony. We can see that many of his dreams have come true today. His writings when he was in exile in Puduchery were so powerful that the British even jailed him.

His songs for the children in ‘Paappa Paattu’ and ‘Pudhiya Aathichoodi’ evoked a sense of equality, love towards all living beings, casteless society and courage etc. His simple words convey the ethical and moral principles to the young minds effortlessly. His unique style was simple with a technique of weaving the spoken language and rhythm into beautiful prose and poetry.

The literary genius Bharati has made an indelible mark in the minds of crores of Tamil people through his writings that included novels, short stories, essays and poetry.

You can download Subramanya Bharatiyar's poems for free on Sangapalagai.com

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The mere mention of the name ‘Kalki’ is enough to send most the Tamil readers of yesteryears into a journey of nostalgia. Kalki is a name that sparks off memories of kingdoms and the saga of war, patriotism, love and loyalty that go into the making and perishing of those kingdoms in the Chola dynasty period in South India.
Those who have read the novels by Kalki would instantly go into a nostalgic voyage of the scenes as depicted by Kalki at the very mention of his name. I am one of those who had a chance to read a few of his novels. I love his unique way of making us envision the events in our minds.
The beauty of nature and the fertile and colourful countryside, the thoughts running in the strategic minds, the expression of emotions and feelings running through the characters are brought out in clear detail. The vivid descriptions of every scene whether it is the preparation for war or a meeting between the two people in love, their conversations, the place and atmosphere and everything is so well crafted in his words. The inimitable style and the deft handling of situations and characters in his novels leave us wonderstruck about this rare ability.
For many decades Kalki’s novels were the craze of Tamil readers about half a century ago. To name a few Kalki’s masterpieces were serialized in the Tamil magazines Ananda Vikatan and later on in Kalki.
My favorite is Kalki’s ‘Parthiban Kanavu’ which was later made as a good movie. This is the story of how Chola King Parthiban’s dream of re-establish the Chola kingdom which was in the clutches of Pallava king Narasimhavarman. Parthiban expresses his dream to his son Vikraman who was very young and later gets killed. A monk vows to Parthiban that he would make Vikraman fulfill his dream. Vikraman after growing up and falls in love with a beauty under mysterious circumstances; he later fulfills his father’s dream of an Independent Chola with Uraiyur as Capital.
A series of gripping incidents follow in the intervening period depicting extraordinary courage, deceit, loyalty, suspense and mystery. The identity of the monk is revealed in the thrilling climax. One cannot help marveling at the strong characterization, sequence of events and the suspense throughout the entire novel with such lucidity that simply transports us to that era.
Kalki whose real name is R.Krishnamurthi is known to the vast population of Tamil readers as a well known novelist who wrote both historic and social novels. But he has to his credit novels, short stories, travelogues, biographies and essays contributing to all many types of Tamil literature.
He has brought a breath of fresh air into Tamil literary scene with his ability to infuse our social life and culture of our country in his characters and events, with realism. He was gifted with writing natural humour flowing through his writings making readers enjoy his writings and read them again and again. Being a patriot himself, he was able to portray patriotic fervor in his characters.
Kalki’s novels Thiaga Boomi, Magudapathi, Apalayin Kannir, Alasi Osai, Devakiyin Kanavan, Kalvanin Kadhali etc. and many more appeared as serial stories and later were published as books. It will not be an exaggeration to say that Kalki was the pioneer of historical novels in Tamil.
Vasantha
I have been avid reader of Tamil Novels and Stories and most types of Tamil literature. I had the opportunity to read and enjoy the works of legendary writers in the Tamil literary scene in the sixties and seventies. I have enjoyed the variety of style, themes, depiction of society and culture and the narration by different authors form the reader’s point of view. You can download and read ‘Parthiban Kanavu’ now from Sangapalagai.com.

Download and read Tamil stories and Tamil magazines from Sangapalagai.com. There are many
Tamil Magazines, novels and stories available for free download at Sangapalagai. You can meet Tamil authors and interact with them at http://www.sangapalagai.com

The short story format originated from Europe. The Tamil world believes that the short stories in Tamil can be traced back to the seventeenth century to ‘Paramartha Kurunkathai’ a transition from the classical Tamil poetry. V.V.S. Iyer started a new trend in the 1880s giving the short stories its profound form.

Pudumaipithan started the next stage of Tamil short stories and many other writers came out with brilliant stories in Tamil. Pudumaipithan, Ku.Pa. Ra and P.S.Ramaiya and their contemporaries have written many stories that is today popular format with the Tamil literary circles and readers as the short story format.

Pudumaipithan

Pudumaipithan’s stories carried messages for the society. His sincerely expressed his concern for the society and depicted the misery as well as drama in our lives. He wrote about the human relationships, their aspirations and life in general looked at closely. His ‘Ponnagaram’ was considered beyond the grasp of readers. He dealt with a wide array of subjects in his stories while also experimenting with the art of story telling. His writing included sarcasm and wit and the stories appeared natural and realistic. The examples like ‘Kodukkapuli Maram’ and ‘Naasakkaara Gumbal’ bring out the above qualities of his writing. He has deftly used the dialects of Madras or Tirunelveli in his stories as appropriate. His writings reflected the influence of foreign writers like Maupassant, Nathaniel Hawthorne and others in the western world. He has penned over 150 short stories in Tamil.



T.Janakiraman

T.Janakiraman’s short stories brought the vagaries in the lives of people wonderfully and people could identify them with the characters.



Jayakanthan

Jayakanthan had written many outstanding stories some of which went on to be filmed later on. Most of his stories were published by Ananda Vikatan. While working in the office of ‘Janasakthi’ he developed a liking for Tamil literature and writing in Tamil. His stories were mostly about the people from the people living in the slums or extremely poor people.



N.Pichamoorthy

N.Pichamoorthy is a well known writer of Tamil short stories. ‘Mannasai’ is one of his popular short stories.



Sujatha

Sujatha is the pen name of S.Rangarajan who has written over 100 Tamil novels and 250 short stories in Tamil. His style of writing earned him a wide readership. His science fiction is said to be a pioneering work in Tamil. He could unravel science in his own inimitable simple words that can be understood by all. ‘Aathma’ is a short story which is a thrilling narration of a day in a computer engineer’s life. Suri had made the computer the ability to predict the future giving it a set of rules that can observe the planetary positions. To test its efficacy he gives his birth details and the computer instantly gives the output on the screen. That turns out to be his death sentence, in a way. He was going to die that same night exactly at 23:11:59. So healthy and full of life, he could not believe it and does random checks in hurry. The story ends with the arrival of the inevitable moment. Sujatha’s stories were published in popular Tamil magazines like Kumudam, Ananda Vikatan and Kalki.



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