Periyasamy Thooran

Recently, I read about one Periyasamy Thooran – a versatile scholar and a genius, whom The Hindu compared to Lewis Carroll. ‘Isaiperarignar’ Periyasamy Thooran’s birth centenary is being celebrated (?!) and quite naturally most of us are unaware of this great man. This great man did not sit for the final examination for his Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at Presidency College – not because he wasn’t prepared, but to show his protest against the hanging of Bhagath singh.

Periyasamy Thooran is a multi-faceted personality. He has written short stories, poems, dramas, and essays. He is a Bharathi scholar, and most important of all, he has spent 20 precious years of his life to compile the first ever encyclopaedia in Tamil. He was the Chief Editor of the Tamil Encyclopaedia under the Presidentship of Sri. T.S. Avinashilingam Chettiar. The encyclopaedia came out as 10 volumes of 750 pages each. Then worked as the Chief Editor of Children's Encylopaedia in Tamil which was also published in 10 volumes of 100 pages each.

When the living ‘legends’ torture us with their birthday parties and large-scale celebrations, a true legend’s birth centenary is being ‘celebrated’ silently. After all, who wants his cut-outs installed all over the city roads. He never worked for fame.

The best thing we can do is to wipe the dust from those old volumes of encyclopedia and think for a while, about the pains a man has taken to compile knowledge in a beautiful language.