A quaint old building tucked deep inside Besant Nagar holds treasures that every lover of Tamil will cherish. Established in memory of ‘Tamil Thatha’U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer, the U. Ve. Sa. Library has over 40,000 books and 2,200 palm-leaf manuscripts from even the 1600s and is open to all those who want to sit and read a book in peace.
Author and historian Pradeep Chakravarthy, who conducted two literary tours at the library on Saturday as part of The Hindu Lit Fest 2024, said U. Ve. Swaminatha Iyer had been named Venkataraman by his parents. He was given the name Swaminatha by his teacher Meenakshisundaram Pillai, under whom he learnt Tamil.
If Uthamadanapuram Venkatasubbayar Swaminatha Iyer had not collected works including the Seevaga Chintamani, Tamil might not have gotten its due recognition as a classical language. It was the then Kumbakonam Munsif, Ramasamy Mudaliar, who showed him that the Seevaga Chintamani, a very ancient Jain work, and one of the five Tamil epics, existed.
“He took it upon himself to search for all the texts of this work and did so in seven years. He never gave up. It was in Srivaikuntam that he got the first full copy, and he published it as a book in 1887. During his search for the Tamil palm-leaf manuscripts, he encountered many obstacles and problems. In one village, they told him they had burnt a big lot during Bhogi, and in another, they said they had thrown them all into the river. He spoke to beggars, poets, bullock cart men, and just about anyone who could give him information on manuscripts,” Mr. Chakravarthy said.
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In 1906, U. Ve. Sa. was presented the Maha Mahopadaya Award by the then British government. He died on April 28, 1942, and in July 1943, his only son handed over all his manuscripts and books to Kalakshetra Founder Rukmini Devi Arundale, who established the library. Till date, the library has published many of U. Ve. Sa.’s books, including Enn Sarithram, his autobiography.
The 12th edition of The Hindu Group’s flagship event, Lit Fest 2024, will be held at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Chennai on January 26 and 27.
The Hindu Lit Fest 2024 is presented by GSquare, in association with NITTE Deemed to be University, Christ University. The knowledge partner is Vellore Institute of Technology; associate partner: Blue Star and FIIT JEE; author lounge partner: VFS Global; food partner: WOW! Momo; bookstore partner: Higginbothams; water partner: Repute; gift partner: Anand Prakash, and hospitality partner: Taj Coromandel, Chennai.
