Today is the 167th Birth Anniversary of Tamil Scholar U.Ve. Swaminatha Iyer. Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi have paid tributes to the renowned scholar. In a tweet, Mr. Naidu said that his invaluable contribution to Tamil literature continues to enlighten many.<br />''<br />''Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in a tweet, said,U VE Saa, is admired for his contributions to the Tamil culture and language. Prime Minister said, Swaminatha Iyer popularised works from the Sangam era and helped conserve precious heritage. He urged youngsters to read his rich works.<br />''<br />''Utthamadhanapuram Venkatasubramanian Swaminathan, who is affectionately called Tamil Thatha literally, Tamil grandfather was born on 19 February 1855 in the village of Suriyamoolai near Kumbakonam in present-day Tamil Nadu.He was a Tamil scholar and researcher who was instrumental in bringing many long-forgotten works of classical Tamil literature to light.<br />''<br />''Because of his efforts, a large number of literary works which were gathering dust as palm-leaf manuscripts in lofts, storerooms, boxes and cupboards saw the light of day and got published. Of them, the Cilappatikaram, Manimekalai and Purananuru were received by Tamil lovers with a lot of enthusiasm.<br />''<br />''In a span of about five decades, U Ve Sa, published over 90 books in his lifetime, on a variety of matters connected to classical Tamil literature, and collected over 3,000 paper manuscripts, palm-leaf manuscripts and notes of various kinds. <br />