I first met J. Mohan when he reprinted and published Thirumayilai Thalapuranam (Purana of Mylapore) in 2011, exactly 120 years after the book was originally published. Writing thalapuranams is a part of Tamil culture and every famous temple town has its own thalapuranam . I had no idea then about Mohan’s background — he was an IITian, successful in the field of software development for medical equipment. He is now dedicated to republishing rare, voluminous Tamil scholarly works and treatises that are usually not preferred by commercial publishers.
Mohan’s passion for Tamil developed in his childhood days in Triplicane. “In those days, platform booksellers used to sell very rare books and those were the favourite haunts of scholars. My grandfather, Vedachala Mudaliar, would give me 50 paise regularly to buy books on the condition that I have to read them the same night. He gradually increased the money to ₹3,” he recalled.
That was how rare Tamil scholarly works, especially first editions, became part of Mohan’s collection. He decided to republish them after he became a successful entrepreneur. “I see it as my duty to republish these books,” he told me. “I do not want to make money out of my work.” To me, this showed how passionate he was, given that more and more people now prefer slimmer versions of scholarly works, not the thick ones that Mohan publishes. But for Mohan, who effortlessly quotes from ancient Tamil literary works, particularly from Saivite literary works like Thevaram and Thiruvachagam , these would have slowly become a part of our past.
Mohan has republished commentaries on the Tirukkural by Vadivelu Chettiar, Krishnampet Kuppusamy Mudaliar, and Thiruvachagamani K.M. Balasubramaniam, a close associate of Dravidar Kazhagam founder Periyar E.V. Ramasamy. Asked how a person inspired by poet Bharathidasan and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founder C.N. Annaduarai ended up as staunch Saivite religious personality, Mohan said anyone who rightly studied and understood Tamil could only become spiritually inclined. “Saivite philosophical works are actually cultural treatises and rational in their approach. The questions they pose are not seeking answers from outside. The questions themselves provide the answers,” he said.
I look forward to meeting Mohan again, who last week republished a book that was published by Maraimalai Adigal first in 1919, and whose publications sit on my desk, waiting to be finished.
