Tamil historical novels

Tamil historical novels are a genre of Tamil literature that began to appear in the mid-19th century.

History

Prathapa Mudaliar Charithram ("The Life of Prathapa Mudaliar"), written in 1857 and published in 1879, was the first novel in the Tamil language. The novel does not involve historical characters or events but is set in royal times. Penned by Mayuram Vedanayakam Pillai, it was a landmark in Tamil literature, which had hitherto seen writings only in poetry. The book gave birth to a new literary genre and Tamil prose began to be recognized as an increasingly important part of the language. One can see style of any Tamil author in this novel.

Aabathukidamaana Abavadham -or- Kamalaambaal Charithram is written by Rajamyyeer from Vathalakundu in later part of nineteenth century is the first Tamil novel depicting the real life of people living. The author worked in Tamil daily Dinamani and had a very short life - 26 years. Considering the period in which he lived and wrote, he created waves in emancipation of women's life, incomparable to any social reformist. In this story he conducted marriage to a Brahmin widow. Had he lived further and wrote more, the style of modern Tamil prose would have been different.

Authors like Kalki Krishnamurthy, Akilan wrote historical novels during the Indian independence movement to instil patriotic pride in the people. Most historical novels were serialised in Tamil magazines before being published in book form. The advent of netzines has seen new web based historical writers entering the arena.

Online novels

Tamil Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Historic short story collection

See also

References