About the Author P. Chidambaram Pillay, popularly known as P.C. Pillai, was born on February 7, 1887 in the Nagercoil town of the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. His father Palaniya Pillai was a popular merchant in Trivandrum. P.C. Pillai was a brilliant student right from his school days. He obtained his B.A. degree at an early age. He joined as a lecturer in Maharaja Women’s College in Trivandrum in 1909. Later he obtained his B.L. degree and started his practice simultaneously in the Nagercoil district court and Trivandrum High Court. He was the most popular among the leading advocates of his time. He was offered twice the post of a judge by the government, but he refused the offers because of his deep involvement in serving for the upliftment of the society. P.C.Pillai was closely associated with V.O. Chidambaram Pillay. They often met and exchanged their views. His association with Periyar E.V. Ramasamy in the Self Respect Movement was commendable and he acted as Periyar’s legal advisor. He has delivered speeches in hundreds of Self Respect Conferences. He started the Trivandrum Bank and the South Travancore Traders’ Association. He was a member of the Travancore Assembly and served as the Municipal Chairman of the Nagercoil Municipality. He served as either a President or Consultant for almost all associations formed for the welfare of the Travancore Tamilians. He was instrumental in organizing the Mass Movement for a separate district for the Tamilians in the then Travancore State. Later on, this movement resulted in the annexure of Kanyakumari to Tamil Nadu. P.C. Pillai was well-versed in Tamil, Malayalam and English, and was a good writer and orator in all the three languages. He has authored several books in Tamil and English including The Aryans and Dravidians. He published a Tamil weekly Tamilan for many years, in spite of financial loss. In this magazine, he wrote a serial article “Tamil Maagaanam” which was the foundation for the “Thiruthamilar Iyakkam”. His research articles on social reformation were published in leading magazines of his days, like Revolt, Kudiyarasu, and Thiruvithancore Abimani. He published a collection of these articles under the title Right of Temple Entry. This book was banned those days in the Travancore region by the then Diwan Sir C.P. Ramasamy Iyer. He was the founder President of The Saiva Siddhanta Nool Padhippu Kazhagam and served in this capacity until his death in 1951. Read more
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