Poetry might be the essence of a language, but it is prose that is the main corpus. From the Sangam period, Tamil had a lopsided affinity to poetry. The 20th century and particularly Madras broke that stranglehold and gave prose a chance to proliferate. The growth of prose was astronomical and attracted the first time literates in any family. It could even be said that Tamil poetry seemed squeezed to the corner of cinema songs.
A major renaissance movement in the 1930s termed the Manikodi Movement can be directly held responsible for the mushrooming of both prose writers. This Movement lasted only six years and had an impact on the future that left historians wonder stuck.