Rajambal (1908), a vintage Tamil detective novel, offers readers an intriguing plot with a social commentary interweaved with the sharp mind of an investigator Govindan.

Rajambal was daughter of a rich man Swaminatha Sastri. Kanakavalli, her stepmother, wanted Rajambal to marry her brother Natesan. As Swaminatha Sastri did not agree, she tricked to fix the marriage with fake astroloers. But Rajambal loved Gopalan. As an additional pressure, old magistrate Neelameka Sastri wanted to marry Rajambal too. With his influence in Police and society, he tried his best to threaten the family to make them to agree to the marriage proposal.

Meanwhile, Rajambal went missing. Later she was found murdered. Police point their fingers at Gopalan for the criminal act and remanded him. Tenacious ‘Triplicane detective‘ Govindan gets involved to solve the riddle.

It is a gripping commercial novel. No doubt about that. But it becomes important as it exposes scathing attitude of the upper-class bureaucrats who flip-flop the life of a common man using their influence to attain what they want.

The story was written in scene-by-scene and fast-paced, which is suitable for stage-drama or movie. Avvai TK Shanmugam staged this drama multiple times and paid royalty to JR Rangaraju. It was later released as a movie, which was a debut movie for Actor RS Manohar.

J.R Rangaraju created his detective characters Thiruvallikeni Thuppariyum Govindan (Govindan, the detective from Triplicane) and Savukkadi Chandrakantha (Chandrakantha who whips). His novels had the messages of social reform, including swadeshi movement. His novels were reprinted many times. Later, he was convicted for plagiarism in his novel Varadharajan. I wonder about an English writer who knew about J.R Rangaraju and his novel and file a case against him. Most unlikely. Writer Jeyamohan perceives like this.

Whatever the quality of these novels, they portray the corruption of the British rule and the ideas of Swadeshi. That may have caused the British to be unhappy. It is true that the British government suppressed their writing citing copyright issues.

Rajambal-Jeyamohan

I liked this novel. I’d like to recommend it as well.

• Rajambal – Free E Book (Nationalized)
• Rajambal – Jeyamohan
• Rajambal – Tamil wiki
• Rajambal – Silicon Shelf – RV
• J R Rangaraju – Silicon Shelf – RV

—

I’m participating in the #TBRChallenge 2024 by Blogchatter