Abithana Chintamani


Abithana Chintamani is an encyclopedia on Tamil literature written by A.Singaravelu Mudaliar. This is the first encyclopedia on Tamil literature. The first edition, which contains a recommendation dated 1899 by V. Kanakasabai Pillai, appeared in 1910 and contained 1050 pages. The second edition, containing 1634 pages, appeared posthumously in 1934, with a preface by the author's son, and is available as reprints.

History

The Fourth Tamil Sangam was formed in Madurai on the 14 September 1901. It was founded by Pandithurai Thevar of the royal family of Sethupathis of Ramanathapuram. Thevar was planning to publish an encyclopedia on Tamil literature if some author agreed to do the job. Meanwhile, Singaravelu Mudaliyar, a Tamil Pandit working at Pachaiyappa's College, Chennai was preparing such a work, and had completed it. However he could not find a publisher for the work. Pandithorai Thevar heard about the work and supported the publication of the work financially.
In the preface Singaravelu Mudaliyar says