Mayilai Seeni. Venkatasami

Mayilai Seeni. Venkatasami (16 December 1900 – 8 May 1980) was a Tamil researcher, scholar, historian and writer from Tamil Nadu, India.

Venkatasami
Born
Mayilai Seeni Venkatasami

16 December 1900
Died8 May 1980(1980-05-08) (aged 79)
Occupation(s)writer, scholar

Biography

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Seeni. Venkatasami was born in Mylapore, Chennai. His father was a Siddha medicine practitioner. He had two elder brothers. The eldest brother was a Siddha doctor like their father. The second brother Seeni. Govindarajan was a Tamil scholar. He has written literary works like Thirukkural Kamathuppaal Naatkal and Thirumayilai Naanmani Kadigai. Venkatasamy initially learnt Tamil from Govindarajan and later from Mahavidwan Shanmugam Pillai and Pandit Sargunar. He joined the editorial team of the Justice Party magazine Dravidan. He was interested in art and studied for some time in Egmore Arts School. To support his family financially he joined Santhome corporation school as a teacher. During his vacation days he traveled to places of worship and places of historical importance all over Tamil Nadu and conducted field research in archaeology, epigraphy and numismatics. He learnt all South Indian writing systems like Brahmi, Grantha and Tamil. He also knew Kannada and Malayalam. He researched Jain and Buddhist archaeological places of interest which had been largely ignored by the Hindu historians. He served as the president of the Chennai Writers Association twice.[1][2][3]

In 2000, the Government of Tamil Nadu nationalised his writings.[4]

Bibliography

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References

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  1. ^ Mohan Lal (1 January 2006). The Encyclopaedia Of Indian Literature (Volume Five Sasay To Zorgot). Sahitya Akademi. pp. 3900–. ISBN 978-81-260-1221-3. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  2. ^ Kamil Zvelebil (1992). Companion studies to the history of Tamil literature. BRILL. pp. 47–. ISBN 978-90-04-09365-2. Retrieved 17 March 2012.
  3. ^ Jayaraman, Bagavathi. "Mayilai Seeni. Venkatasami's Contribution to Tamil Studies" (PDF). Journal of Tamil Studies. Retrieved 20 August 2018.
  4. ^ "TN Govt Budget 2002-03". Govt of Tamil Nadu. Retrieved 28 April 2012.