In July I read a thread on Twitter that spoke of Subramania Siva, a freedom fighter and a Tamil nationalist from the Tilak era. Subramania Siva breathed his last on July 23, 1925. He was just 39 !
Link to the Twitter thread – Subramaniya Siva, Tamil Nationalist and Freedom Fighter –
“Today is the memorial day of Subramaniya Siva, the relentless & firebrand freedom fighter who spearheaded the freedom movement in TN along with VOC & Bharathiyar. Following the footsteps of Tilak, he lead a number of protests & was imprisoned many times by British.
This took a toll on his health and he got leprosy. Citing that reason, British banned him from travelling in Train. He travelled throughout TN by foot & bullock carts to spread the message of complete swarajya. Despite struggling financially, he started the magazine ‘Gnanabhanu’
The magazine published many nationalist articles against the then Govt incluing the poems & stories of Bharathiyar. He was also trying to build a temple of Bharatha Matha near Dharmapuri. However, disease got better of him on this day in 1925.
Long live Siva’s legacy !”
I tried searching for more information and here’s what I found from a series of news articles regarding Subramania Siva –
“Subramania Siva, born at Vathalagundu near Dindigul, was imprisoned in Tiruchy jail and then moved to Salem prison. The British did not allow Siva to travel in train because of his leprosy status, it may be recalled. In 1921, Subramania Siva managed to reach Papparapatti and stayed in the house of Chinnamuthu, a strong supporter of India’s freedom movement. Here, Subramania Siva had planned to construct a fitting temple for ‘Bharat Mata’ for which Chinnamuthu had gifted six acres of his land. The foundation stone was also laid way back in 1923 for the temple, but the work was stopped because of Subramania Siva’s death in 1925.”
The above paragraph is excerpted from this article – Bharat Mata temple in Dharmapuri district only on paper.
Subramania Siva’s love for Tamil –
“Started by Maraimalai Adigal, the Tanittamil (‘pure Tamil’) literary movement intended to rid the Tamil language of non-Tamil words, especially Sanskrit. The extreme nationalist movement propagated by Subramaniya Siva was the most significant of all Tamil revivalist movements organised by nationalists, wrote Sivathamby.”
“In his prolific writings, Siva fashioned that genuine Tamil revival had to coincide with an ‘all-India perspective’. “
The above excerpts are from this article – Subramania Siva, Tamil Nationalist
Read an earlier blog about a great hero, Perunthalaivar Kamarajar – India’s forgotten heroes – 1.
Man with true heart and sacrifice.
True. These freedom fighters were all genuinely great men.