The story of a Tamil Saint who studied Bible with one purpose – to defeat missionaries in their domain.
The story of a Crusader – #ArumugaNavalar.
If we think about why we are still Hindus today, enjoying an unbroken connection and continuity with our ancient past –
it is because of great people like this who stopped us from suffering wholesale deculturalisation and loss of spiritual traditions during the colonial era, on the same catastrophic scale as the natives of the Americas, Australasia and Africa.
Many Hindus will have heard of Hindu
reformists and revivalists like Swami Dayananda, Swami Vivekananda and others credited with implementing important reform in Hindu society, instilling confidence amongst Hindus in their heritage and stemming the tide of conversions to other religions which occurred at an
alarmingly fast rate in the 19th and early 20th century of colonial rule.
There are other equally great figures who are less famous, but who deserve to be known and remembered. Among them is Arumuga Navalar (1822 – 1879) who is regarded as the “father” of modern day Tamil prose
and an architect of Hindu destiny in Eelam (Sri Lanka) is the most prominent member.
Arumuga was born in Nallur of the Jaffna peninsula in 1822 to Kandhar and Sivekamy. The fact that his father Kandhar was a Tamil poet meant that he became very well versed with Tamil literature