New horizons in Tamil literary policy

                                The need to address the social problems which deplorably persisted in the society for centuries (uplift of
         women, education of masses, eradication of poverty, untouchables, religious exploitations and superstitions) was felt as
         urgent as never before. Namakkal ramalingam Pillai's literary policy was a bold and courageous bid to bring out these
         Problems to the attention of the Tamil people. In recognition of his literary genius as well as his contribution to the
         society, he was made the first poet-laureate of Tamil nadu and given the title "Namakkal Kavignar" (namkfklf kviwrf).
         In fact his first claim to fame came from the following poem in which he exhorted Tamil people to join Gandhiji in his
         nonviolent struggle against Britain, which did not involve the sword or blood:
 

              Namakkal Kavignar painted a brilliant and moving account of various social events and turmoil’s, which occurred
         during the development of Tamil in the following poem. He stressed the need to recognize the purpose of why all these
         sacrifices were made and appealed to the Tamil people that now were the time to stand behind the nonviolent movement
         of Gandhiji.
 

                 Namakkal Kavignar took tremendous pride in describing the glory of Tamil as could be seen in the poem below.
          Among other things he praised the Tamil people belonging to different religions living in peaceful coexistence.
 
 

               Namakkal Kavignar's similes are simple but unique in their expressions. In all his literary works, patriotic and social
         messages are always beautifully woven into the main theme. This is clearly seen in one of his famous works, Avanum
        Avalum (He and She),  (). He first described the heroine as follows: "One cannot compare her to a deer
        because the deer has always a puzzled look ( ) ; one cannot compare her eyes to those of a fish because fish do
        not have very black eyes; one cannot compare her to honey because even honey tends to become insipid; one cannot
        compare her forehead to a crescent moon because the rest of her face is not as dark as the moon".

              More importantly he presented the heroine as a modern girl who fought for the freedom of women and for the
        removal of old traditional practices, which put them down. He also made his heroine champion the cause of remarriage of
        widows and crusade against child marriage. In a style characteristic of a social reformer, he made his heroine condemn
        men who talked about the chastity of women while they themselves committed adultery.
 
 

                    namakkal Kavignar's work is a nice blend of simple but touching literary style intended to expose social problems,
          which have long been neglected. It is difficult to describe how deeply namakkal Kavignar was devoted to Gandhiji and
          his teachings. The following is an example of his feelings:
 
 

               In addition to several lyrical and narrative poetry, Namakkal Kavignar had also written an autobiography,
               "En Kathai"