2019-10-03 Thu

M P Sivagnanam (Mylai Ponnuswamy Sivagnanam) also known as Ma.Po.Si was an Indian politician and the founder of the political party: Tamil Arasu Kazhagam and a freedom fighter. He was also a Veteran Tamil Scholar and the Champion of Tamil Language and Culture.

Ma.Po.Si was an example of self-made leader, an embodiment of whatever is noble and great in Tamil tradition and culture. He belonged to a rare group of eminent personalities who, having had no formal education worth the name in a background of poverty and lack of social status, have risen.

Ma.Po.Si was a multi-faceted personality, a humanist with a cultivated taste for the Tamil Classic tradition. With no formal education to his credit, he was able to earn the honour of being conferred a doctorate, the Honorary Degree of Doctor of Literature Honoris causa by the Madras University in 1981, a recognition of his well-earned distinction in various fields including high-level research in Tamil Classics.

Sivagnanam’s political career started when he enrolled himself as a Congress volunteer during the Madras Congress Session in 1927. Since then he was drawn into a national movement in its various phases. Since then he took part in all the activities of the Congress with enthusiasm. While undergoing a jail term in Amaravati under hard conditions in 1943 his health suffered a serious setback.

However, he recovered and lived a long life of 89 years. He passed away on 3rd October 1995 leaving a rich legacy behind. India Post issued an Rs. 5 stamp in the year 2006 after his Birth Centenary. The stamp depicts a portrait of Ma. Po. Si. in the center with a decorative border around.

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

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