Periyasaamy Thooran
Indian poet, teacher, and composer (1908–1987)
Manjakattuvalasu Palanivelappa Gounder Periyasaamy Thooran (26 September 1908 – 20 January 1987) popularly known as Periyasaamy Thooran was an Indian patriot, Tamil poet, teacher, and composer of Carnatic music. He was the chief editor of the Tamil Encyclopedia project called 'Kalaikkalanjiam' in Tamil language.
Early life
Periyasamy was born to K. A. Palanivelappa Gounder and Paavaathal on 26 September 1908 at Manjakattuvalasu, near Modakurichi in present-day Erode district, Tamil Nadu, India. He was greatly influenced and inspired by the firebrand poet and revolutionary Subramania Bharathiyar, and Mahatma Gandhi. As a university student, he published an underground monthly magazine called Pithan containing incendiary articles that spoke out against the erstwhile British administration, in support of the Indian Independence Movement. This magazine was printed by K. M. Ramaswamy Gounder MLA in Gobichettipalayam initially. He also wrote poems and short stories during this period, adopting the pen name Thooran. He declined to sit for the final Bachelor of Arts examination, in protest of the execution of Bhagat Singh. Periyasamy gained his Bachelor of Arts degree (in Mathematics with a Minor in Astronomy) and a L.T. (Licentiate in Teaching) later. Periyasamy's background in Science would prove to be instrumental in helping him complete the Tamil Encyclopedia project, work on which began in 1947.
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The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 26, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7168986. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1908, 1987 and 1947.
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This entry incorporates text from “Periyasaamy Thooran” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.