S. P. Adithanar

Adithanar was born on 27 September 1905 at Kayamozhi in Tiruchendur Taluk of Tuticorin district to Sivanthi Adithanar and Kanagam Ammayar as the heir of the Adityans, the highest aristocratic family among the Nelamaikkarars.[1] His father, Sivanthi Adithanar , was a lawyer. Adithan' sister, Vamasundari Devi, was mother of Indian business man Shiv Nadar.[2] He completed his schooling at Srivaikuntam and joined St. Joseph's College, Trichy. After obtaining a M. A, he went to Middle Temple, London to study law. He became a barrister in 1933 and practised in Singapore (during 1933–42) and later in his home town Srivaikuntam. He married Govindammal in 1933.[3][4][5]

Adithan returned to India in 1942 when Singapore fell to the Japanese. He established a Tamil weekly magazine, Tamizhan, and a daily newspaper, Thanthi, in November 1942. He set out to found a Tamil daily along the lines of the English tabloid Daily Mirror, inspired by the Mirror's reach of a large audience. He established Dina Thanthi (lit. The Daily Telegraph) from Madurai in 1942 and it went on to become the flagship of his newspaper business. He expanded operations by opening additional editions in Tirunelveli, Madras, Salem and Tiruchirapalli in the 1940s. By bringing out local editions, Dina Thanthi helped deliver news on the same day to the people in southern districts of Tamil Nadu, who until then had to read day-old newspapers printed in Madras.[6] The paper was popular and it was said that people learned to read the Tamil language to read the newspaper.[7] The simplified language introduced by the paper helped it gain new readership.[8]

Other publications from Adithan's Dina Thanthi group include the evening daily Maalai Murasu (lit. The Evening Drum), the weekly magazine Rani and the monthly novel imprint Rani Muthu.[4]

Adithan started the "Tamil Rajyam" party in 1942. During 1947–52, he was a member of the Madras Legislative Council. He contested and won the 1952 election from Tiruchendur as a candidate of T. Prakasam's Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party.[9] He was elected as an independent candidate in the 1957 election from Sathankulam.[4][10]

Adithan died on 24 May 1981. In 2005, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J. Jayalalitha announced that his home in Srivaikuntam, built in 1928, would be converted into a memorial. He is survived by two sons. B. Ramachandran Adityan (founder of Devi Weekly) and B. Sivanthi Adityan.[20][21] On his birthday every year, the S. P. Adithanar Senior Tamil Scholar Award of Rs. 300,000 and the S. P. Adithanar Literary Award of Rs. 200,000 are awarded to Tamil scholars and people who excel in literature by Adithanar's son and the current director of the Dina Thanthi group, Sivanthi Adithan.[7] A road in Chennai, connecting Egmore to Anna Salai, was named "Adithanar Salai" in his memory.[22]

• Tamiḻp Pēraracu (lit. The Tamil empire) (1942)
• Idhalalar Kaiyedu (lit. The Journalist's Handbook)