Subramaniya Siva

Life

Subramaniya Siva was born on 4 October 1884 into a Tamil Brahmin family in Batlagundu, Madurai District, Madras Presidency. He joined the Indian independence movement in the early 1900s. He considered himself as a sanyasi, and equated India's freedom from the British colonial rule with spiritual liberation. He worked along with other Tamil independence activists such as Subramania Bharati and V. O. Chidambaram. In 1908, he was arrested by the British and sent to jail. While serving his prison term, he was afflicted by leprosy.

Despite Siva's release from prison, the British authorities forbade him to travelling by rail because leprosy was regarded as a contagious disease. He was forced to travel on foot, and continued his political and literary activities. Between 1908 and 1922, he was imprisoned four times and endured severe physical hardship and poverty. He eventually succumbed to the disease and died on 23 July 1925.