Arumuka Navalar, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Arumuka Navalar

Sri Lankan Shaivism and Tamil language scholar, reformer, revivalist

Date of Birth: 18-Dec-1822

Place of Birth: Nallur, Northern Province, Sri Lanka

Date of Death: 05-Dec-1879

Profession: translator, Bible translator

Zodiac Sign: Sagittarius


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About Arumuka Navalar

  • Arumuka Navalar (Tamil: ?????? ??????, romanized: A?umuka Navalar, lit.
  • 'Arumuka the Orator'; 18 December 1822 – 5 December 1879) was a Sri Lankan Shaivite Tamil language scholar, polemicist, and a religious reformer who was central in reviving native Hindu Tamil traditions in Sri Lanka and India.Navalar's birth name was Nallur Arumuga Pillai.
  • He was born in a Tamil literary family, and became one of the Jaffna Tamils notable for reviving, reforming and reasserting the Hindu Shaivism tradition during the colonial era.
  • As an assistant working for Peter Percival – a Methodist Christian missionary, he helped translate the King James Bible into the Tamil language.
  • With his knowledge of Christian theological premises, Navalar became influential in creating a period of intense religious rivalry with Christian missionaries, defending Tamils and their historic religious culture in India and Sri Lanka, preventing large-scale conversions to Christianity.He was one of the first natives to use the modern printing press to preserve the Tamil literary tradition.
  • He defended Hindu Shaivism, calling it samaya (Observance, Religion) of "True Being" (sat, soul), and he used the same techniques to counter Christianity that Christian missionaries used against Hinduism.
  • As part of his religious revivalism, in a manner similar to Christian mission schools, he built schools that taught secular and Hindu religious subjects.
  • He is credited with finding and publishing original palm leaf manuscripts.
  • He also attempted to reform Hindu Shaivism and customary practices in Sri Lanka, such as by showing Shaiva Agamas (scriptures) prohibit animal sacrifice and violence of any form.

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