List of works by C. Rajagopalachari

Rajaji was an accomplished writer both in his mother tongue Tamil, and English. In 1922, he published a book Siraiyil Tavam (Meditation in jail) which was a day-to-day diary about his first imprisonment from 21 December 1921 to 20 March 1922.[1] In 1958, he was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Award for Tamil for his retelling of the Ramayana – Chakravarti Thirumagan.[2]

In 1916, Rajaji started the Tamil Scientific Terms Society.[3] This society coined new words in Tamil for terms connected to botany, chemistry, physics, astronomy and mathematics.[3] At about the same time, he called for Tamil to be introduced as the medium of instruction in schools.[3]

Rajaji was the founder of the Salem Literary Society and regularly participated in its meetings in which he suggested introducing scholarships for Dalit students.[4] He also edited Mahatma Gandhi's newspaper Young India.[4]

In 1951, Rajaji wrote an abridged retelling of the Mahabharata in English, followed by one of the Ramayana in 1957. Earlier, in 1955, he had translated Kambar's Tamil Ramayana into English. In 1965, he translated the Thirukkural into English. He also wrote books on the Bhagavad Gita, the Upanishads, Socrates, and Marcus Aurelius in English. Rajaji often regarded his literary works as the best service he had rendered to the people.[5] In 1958, he established the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan.