I first heard about the diary of Viranaicker from Dr AR Venkatachalapathy when I was working on my book, The View from Below (Orient BlackSwan, 2005) twenty-two years ago. Historians working on Tamil Nadu during the early colonial period (17th and 18th centuries) have to rely almost exclusively on European records for all information because of the paucity of indigenous primary sources like personal papers, diaries or other contemporary works. The Private Diary of Ananda Ranga Pillai (1732-1761), the Chief dubash of the French at Pondicherry, the acknowledged leader of local society, patron and merchant, had been almost the only contemporary source which gave an insight into opinions and views from a non-European perspective.1
I immediately bought the Diary of Viranaicker (for the grand sum of Rs.100) which became an additional source of information from the perspective of the ruled. My work also brought me in touch with the editor of the book, M Gobalakichenane, a computer engineer who pursued his avocation as a Tamil scholar and historian working independently. He had found the manuscript of the diary in Bibliothèque Nationale de France when he was doing research on Tamil history, Tamil Brahmi script and Buddhism in Tamil Nadu and transcribed it and published it on his own initiative without any institutional financial support. This review article is therefore as much about the Diary as about the editor historian.