Perunchithiranar

Perunchithiranar (10 March 1933 – 11 June 1995) was a Tamil poet and Tamil nationalist who known for his involvement in Pure Tamil Movement. Regarded as the father of TamilNation.

Perunchithiranar was born to Duraisamiyar and kunchammal in Samuthiram near Salem. He did his schooling in Salem and Attur. He went to Salem Municipal College where Devaneya Pavanar worked as Tamil professor. He worked for the Thani Tamil Iyakkam (Tamil: தனித் தமிழ் இயக்கம்) (Pure or Independent Tamil Movement). It is a linguistic-purity movement in Tamil literature which attempts to avoid loanwords from Sanskrit. He married Kamalam who was later known as Thamarai Ammaiyar. After his college, he worked in postal department in Puducherry. In 1959, he transferred to Cuddalore where started his Thenmozhi magazine. Perunchiththiranar published over a dozen Tamil books during his lifetime. His book Koyyakani was used as post-graduate text in the 1980s and another book Ayyai was used as undergraduate text in the 1970s at Madras University. He also founded and edited two more magazines, Tamilsittu and Tamil Nilam.

In 1965, he was arrested for anti-Hindi remarks in his magazine. He was a rationalist, which was reflected in his writings. He was imprisoned twice after the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi because of his continued support for Tamil Eelam.