Pudhumaipithan

C. Viruthachalam (25 April 1906 – 30 June 1948),[1] better known by the pseudonym Pudhumaipithan (also spelt as Pudumaipithan or Puthumaippiththan), was one of the most influential and revolutionary writers of Tamil fiction.

[2] His works were characterized by social satire, progressive thinking and outspoken criticism of accepted conventions.

Contemporary writers and critics found it difficult to accept his views and his works were received with extreme hostility.

His career as a writer began in 1933 with an essay "Gulabjaan Kaadhal" (Love for Gulab jamun) published in the magazine Gandhi.

He slowly ventured into the world of Tamil cinema and worked as a scriptwriter in the films Avvaiyaar and KaamaValli.

[1] In 1945, he started "Parvatha Kumari Productions" and made an abortive attempt at producing a film called "Vasanthavalli".

[1] Pudumaippithan's active writing period was less than 15 years (1934–46) in which he wrote nearly 100 short stories, an equal number of essays on a variety of subjects, 15 poems, a few plays and scores of book reviews.

[11]To voice his views he used a wide range of characters, both common – husbands wives, students, children, rickshaw pullers, villagers, beggars, whores, oppressed people, saints, revolutionaries; and uncommon – God, ghosts, monsters, hospital beds.

Some of his favourite themes were – conflicts between emotion and reason, Hindu religion – its rules, rituals and laws, caste system, struggles for survival and oppression of women in the Indian society.

He translated around 50 short stories, including the works of Molière, Kay Boyle, Maxim Gorky, Sinclair Lewis, Ernst Toller, William Shakespeare, E. M. Delafield, William Saroyan, E. V. Lucas, Moshe Smilansky, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bret Harte, John Galsworthy, Aleksandr Kuprin, Anton Chekhov, Franz Kafka, Ilya Ehrenburg, Guy de Maupassant, Valery Bryusov, Anatole France, Leonid Andreyev, Henrik Ibsen, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Murray Gilchrist, Frances Bellerby, Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, Leonard Strong, Jack London, Peter Egge, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, Thomas Wolfe and James Hanley.

In 1937, he was involved in a literary feud with Kalki Krishnamurthy on the issue of translations vs adaptations[15][16] Pudumaipithan wrote about fifteen poems in total.

The most famous of his poems is the abusive limerick Moonavarunasalamae written in review of a book on Tamil prose, which failed to mention the Manikodi movement.

[1][12] He used harsh language while arguing with his literary opponents like Kalki Krishnamoorthy[16][17] and wrote insulting limericks in his book reviews.

A few more stories like Doctor Sampath, Naane Kondren, Yaar Kurravali and Thekkangandrugal have also been tentatively identified as possible adaptations.

Pudumaipithan did not publish the short stories which have been identified (except Tamil Paditha Pondaati) as adaptations when he was alive.

[1] There have also been minor criticisms regarding his writing style like his digressing from the plot due to elaborate descriptions of environment and characters.

[12] Recently, Tamil critic A. Marx has criticised Pudumaipithan's portrayal of Dalits, Christians, Maravars and meat eaters as derogatory.

Some of his other pseudonyms were So.Vi, Rasamattam, Mathru, Koothan, Nandhan, Oozhiyan, Kabhali, Sukraachari and Iraval visirimadippu.