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From this lesson you can learn all about
Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar, one of the great playwrights who lived
during the 19th century, and his service to the art of drama. You
can also appreciate how he became involved in writing plays, how
many plays he wrote, and the innovations which he brought about
in stage plays.
Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar's
contribution to the development and revival of Tamil drama is very
significant. He was born in 1873 and lived upto a ripe old age of
92. He was awarded the title of Rao Bahadur in 1916, in recognition
of his service to art. He was also awarded the Padma Bhushan title
in 1959. He is considered as the Father of Tamil Drama. Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar's service can
be classified as: 1) Service to society and 2) Service to art and literature.
Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar
graduated from Pachaiyappa's college, Chennai, and went on to do
his B.L in Law College. For some time, he was an advocate and then
a judge. He was also the Trustee of may temples, a Member of the
Tamil Development Committee in the Universities of Madras and Annamalai,
a Member of the School Text Book Committee, the President of the
South Indian Sports Club and a Member of the Working Committee of
the Annadaana Samajam. These are indicative of his social services.
With a view to developing
the dramatic art systematically, Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar established
in 1891, the Suguna Vilas Sabha -- an amateur drama group.
Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar
is believed to have written 80 plays in all. These include original
plays, plays translated from Sanskrit and those translated from
English. He also eliminated the musical component from drama and
restricted it to dialogues alone. This paved the way for the effort
to express emotions through action, proper dialogue delivery, modulation
of voice etc. By translating plays from other languages, he introduced
new plots and stories into Tamil drama.
Thus, this lesson teaches
you all about the genius of Pammal Sambanda Mudaliar, and his contribution
to Tamil literature in general, and Tamil drama in particular. |