Vedagiri Mudaliar

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Vedagiri Mudaliar
Born
Died1852
NationalityIndian
OccupationTamil scholar
Known forPublishing the Tirukkural with commentaries for the first time
ChildrenArumuga Mudaliar, Kandasamy Mudaliar

Vedagiri Mudaliar was a Tamil scholar best known for his work on publishing the Tamil classical work of the Tirukkural with commentaries for the first time.

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Biography

Vedagiri Mudaliar hailed from Kalathur, originally called Ponvilaintha Kalathur, a small town near Chengalpattu in Tamil Nadu. Mudaliar taught Tamil in Madurai Tamil Sangam. He also established a printing press exclusively for the purpose of printing Tamil materials. [1]

In 1850, Mudaliar published the entire Kural text with commentaries for the first time in history. Though the work had been published with commentaries a few years earlier by Mahalinga Iyer, that work only had the first 24 chapters of the classical work published. A revised edition of the publication was released posthumously in 1853 by Mudaliar's sons Arumuga Mudaliar and Kandasamy Mudaliar. Mudaliar's work has the distinction of being used by Ramalinga Adigal, who launched a movement to teach the classic to the masses. Mudaliar had also written commentaries on the Naladiar, another ancient didactic work similar to the Kural text. [1]

Mudaliar died in 1852. Mudaliar's 1850 work was republished after 168 years in 2018 by Sivalayam J. Mohan. [1]

See also

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Paridhi, also referred to as Paridhiyaar, was a Tamil literary commentator known for his commentary on the Thirukkural. He was among the canon of ten medieval commentators of the Kural text most highly esteemed by scholars. He was also among the five ancient commentators whose commentaries had been preserved and made available to the Modern era, the others being Manakkudavar, Pari Perumal, Kaalingar, and Parimelalhagar.

S. M. Michael was one of the early 20th-century translators of the Tirukkural into English.

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References

  1. 1 2 3 Kolappan, B. (3 October 2018). "First printed Tirukkural to be republished after 168 years". The Hindu. Chennai: Kasturi & Sons. Retrieved 5 October 2018.