Growth of Tamil publishing industry

As on date 1,000 publishers – big and small – are in the field, says T. Stalin Gunasekaran

June 23, 2010 10:48 am | Updated 11:48 am IST

T. Stalin Gunasekaran

T. Stalin Gunasekaran

The rich, vibrant and vivacious Tamil publishing industry is one of the oldest in the country. Thanks to Christian missionaries, the first Tamil book was published in the 16th Century. Then on, it has passed through various phases. As on date 1,000 publishers – big and small – are in the field.

Almost 50 per cent of those are small players who operate on a limited scale. Around 400 publishers are active and of those 200 are have publishing as their full-time business. And most of these are less than 20 years old.

According to The Book Sellers and Publishers Association of South India (BAPASI) the publishers come up with about 6,000 Tamil books a year, of which 1,000 are re-prints. This means 5,000 new Tamil books enter the market. The publishers can be classified as those who bring out text books, all genres of books, literary and philosophical books, research books meant mostly for libraries, translated works, only astrological books and religious and children's books.

Pioneers among the publishers were Arumuga Navalar, U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer, Ci.Vai. Damodharam Pillai and Vaiyapuri Pillai. Aarumuga Navalar of Jaffna dedicated his life to revive the glory of the Tamils of the region and published 37 books. Navalar, who was also a Tamil scholar, published not only his books but also Parimelazhagar's Thirukkural commentary, Nannool Vrithiurai, Tholkappia Solladhigaram, Soodamani Nigandurai, Kanthapuranam, among others.

Pandithurai Thevar has also contributed in equal measure to the Tamil publishing industry. Through the Tamizh Sangam he brought out 17 important titles, after he learnt that several important works were unavailable. The Tamil publishing industry, in the early years, can broadly be classified into two: individual publishers and institutional publishers.

As the name suggests, the first represents individual who set up publishing houses. Aside from the aforementioned personalities, Chidambaram Pandaram, Thandavaraya Mudaliar, Ashtavadhanam Veersamy Chettiar, Kotaiyur Sivakozhundhu Desikar, Puducherry Nayanappa Mudaliar and Muthusamy Pillai come under this category.

Chennai Kalvi Sangam (1820), Bavananthar Kazhagam (1916), Saiva Siddhantha Noorpathippu Kazhagam (1920) and Murray and Company, Chennai, are examples of the second category. These publishing houses had in-house publishing committees, which selected books for publication. And those houses published only books the committees chose. Such a rich Tamil publishing industry has few players that are over and nearly a century old.

They include Alliance Company, Saiva Siddhantha Noorpathippu Kazhagam, Vanathi, Arunodhayam, Manivasagar, Paarinilayam, Manimegalai Prasuram, LIFCO, Kadalangudi Pathipagam, among others.

Of those New Century Book House is engaged in taking to books to rural masses. By setting up mobile book shops in modified buses, it takes books to public. Similarly, Ramakrishna Mutt is engaged in bringing out good religious and spiritual books. Periyar Self Respect Propaganda Institution is engaged in spreading the rationalist school of philosophy.

To bring the publishers and readers closer a number of book exhibitions are being held in Tamil Nadu. The well-known among those is the Chennai Book Fair. Taking into account the increase in population, literacy level, reading population, awareness among the public, etc., it must be said that the reading habit has not increased in proportion. However, when considering the influence of internet, cinema and many other entertainments, it is surprising to note the volume of books sold. Particularly in the last 10 years.

So much is the impact of technology on the Tamil publishing industry that audio books are also coming out. Karadi Tales is coming out with tapes/CDs and also the book for children. There are also audio books on Mahatma Gandhi, Abdul Kalam's ‘Wings of Fire', etc.

Introduction of bar coding is another example of the impact of technology.

In marketing too the publishers have embraced modern methods. They are displaying their books at hotels, department stores, medical shops and other places.

The other benefit of improvement in printing technology is that publishers are able to print and re-print in fewer numbers. The 200-plus-year-old Tamil publishing industry has braced itself for the future. And readers can look forward to a pleasant reading experience.

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