A Jewel in the crown of Manalur

Veeravalli Ramanujacharyar was born in 1866 in a small village known as Manalur near Aduthurai in Tanjavoor District. Though he lost his father at the very early age and was brought up by his mother, his zeal in mastering the languages, grammar, literature etc.was evident from his school days, with the help of Dharmapura Aadeenam and other philanthropists he completed his school education. 

He learnt Sanskrit from his maternal uncle Sri U.V.Veeraraghavacharyar who was also his mentor. Sri Ramanujam later went to Kasi to pursue  higher learning in Sanskrit, there the principal of that college famous Dr.Tibault who translated Sri Bhashyam into English conferred the Pundit title on him and he stayed at Tirupanandal mutt and pursued his studies,  but due to his mothers bidding he had to discontinue  his studies and come back to his home town.

His extraordinary skill in learning languages prompted Sri Mahamahopadhyaya U.V.Swaminatha Iyer to solicit his services in assisting him in his literary pursuits. He also asked Sri Ramanujam to join the local school as a Tamil teacher and also continue assisting him. Then he joined the Kumbakonam Arts college as a lecturer. It was  there he took up the task of translating the epic Mahabharatha into Tamil. Initially it appeared to be a Herculean task but he accepted it with all humility and reverence for Sri U.V.Swaminatha Iyer. It was much time consuming that he found doing it in his part time was difficult, so he quit the job and dedicated himself wholly to this job. He took the help of nearly eight Sanskrit scholars including the Professor of Sanskrit  Sri Srinivasachariyar at Kumbakonam college. After twenty five years in 1932, he completed the task much to the amazement of all scholars surmounting all odds.   The Hindu the newspaper praised him saying that the author has left the tamil public and lovers of scholarship everywhere very much in his debt! Sri U V Swaminatha Iyer in his autobiography praised Sri M V Ramanujacharyar for his immense contribution towards his works, Sri Ramanujacharyar served Madras University academic council for 21 years as its member and contributed to its eminence. The Samskrta Academy Chennai conferred upon him the title “Basha Bharatadurandara”, then the  Imperial Government of India conferred on him the coveted Mahamahopadyaya title on him! Dr.Anne Beasant in her New India praised the contribution of Sri Ramanujacharyar as a monumental work that will help those who do not know Sanskrit or English to understand the great epic in its pristine glory!