The American College, often referred to as American College, is one of the oldest colleges in India, located in
Madurai, Tamil Nadu
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in T ...
. It was founded in 1881 by American Christian missionaries. The red-brick buildings, in the Saracenic style, blend with the natural surroundings constructed by British architect
Henry Irwin
Henry Irwin (24 January 1841 – 5 August 1922) was an architect of British India. He is mainly known for his works in Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. He was a member of the Institution of Engineers. He was awarded a CIE in the 1888 B ...
. Century-old buildings Main Hall, James Hall and Washburn Hall show the heritage of the college.
Founded as a missionary in 1841 by the American Mission, the American College became a collegiate department in 1881. It was started initially as Pasumalai College in 1881 under the initiatives of Rev. George T. Washburn, the first principal. He hails from the Great
Washburn
Washburn (alternatively Wasseburne, Wasseborne, Wasshebourne, Wassheborne, Washbourne, Washburne, Washborne, Washborn, Wasborn, Washbon) is a toponymic surname, probably of Old English origin, with likely Anglo-Norman and Norman-French influen ...
clan. The college was shifted to its present location during the period of Rev. W.M. Zumbro, its second principal, who had his formal education at
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
,
University of Columbia
Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatta ...
and
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
, made a proposal in 1903 to the missionary in the United States to shift the college from Pasumalai to
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
. With more than 130 years of history, the college is remembered for its pioneering role in the cause of college autonomy.
In 1913, it became a first grade college while the first female student was admitted in 1921. The motto verse in the logo of The American College and
Washburn University
Washburn University (WU) is a public university in Topeka, Kansas, United States. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as professional programs in law and business. Washburn has 550 faculty members, who teach more than 6,100 ...
USA are still ''Purificatus non consumptus''.
The college was visited by eminent people including Nobel Laureate
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
who delivered a series of lectures on education in 1919.
The American College Main Hall building was constructed by
Henry Irwin
Henry Irwin (24 January 1841 – 5 August 1922) was an architect of British India. He is mainly known for his works in Indo-Saracenic style of architecture. He was a member of the Institution of Engineers. He was awarded a CIE in the 1888 B ...
(who built the
Mysore Palace
The Mysore Palace, also known as Amba Vilas Palace, is a historical palace and a royal residence (house). It is located in Mysore, Karnataka. It used to be the official residence of the Wadiyar dynasty and the seat of the Kingdom of Mysore. Th ...
) and principal G.T. Washburn was influential in getting funds from the US mainly from
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller Sr. (July 8, 1839 – May 23, 1937) was an American business magnate and philanthropist. He has been widely considered the wealthiest American of all time and the richest person in modern history. Rockefeller was ...
. The building, to the surprise of people of this generation, was constructed at a cost of ₹52,000. Construction was started in 1898 and was completed in 1904.
Binghamton Hall was raised in 1930 in memory of William Zumbro, who masterminded the construction and landscaping in the college. Contributions from the people of
Binghamton
Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...
city made possible to build the hall of which is the part of Science block.
Lady James Hall is the home for the 100-year-old Chemistry department along with Physics and Zoology department was built by the contributions by Lady Ellen S. James with Robert Chisholm. This is the first science building in Madurai. The seeds for the establishment of the physical sciences department was laid by American missionary Rev. Edgar Martin Flint who served the institution between 1913 and 1943. The two-storey building constructed with bricks and mortar has withstood the time, producing thousands of science students from the southern districts. K.S. Krishnan, one of the co-scientists with Nobel Laureate
Sir C. V. Raman
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman (; 7 November 188821 November 1970) was an Indian physicist known for his work in the field of light scattering.
Using a spectrograph that he developed, he and his student K. S. Krishnan discovered that when ...
, and G Rajasekaran, emeritus professor involved in India-based Neutrino Observatory project, are notable alumni of the college and went through the Hall. Seven of the alumni, who studied science in the Hall, later rose to receive the
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology
The Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology (SSB) is a science award in India given annually by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) for notable and outstanding research, applied or fundamental, in biology, ...
.
Daniel Poor Memorial Library in Madurai
Daniel Poor Memorial Library often abbreviated as DPM Library is a century old college central library of the American College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu in India that officially began its functions on June 28, 1915.
History
Samuel A Morman, the gra ...
often abbreviated as DPM Library is the central library of The American College It is one of the oldest libraries in South India. DPM officially began its functions on 28 June 1915. It is named in memory of Rev.
Daniel Poor Daniel Poor (27 June 1789, Danvers, Massachusetts, United States - 3 February 1855, Manipai, Jaffna) was a Presbyterian missionary and educator, founder of the first English School in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
Poor graduated at Phillips Academy, Andov ...
who was one of the pioneer missionaries who started the American Ceylon Mission in Jaffna in 1816. The Jubilee Chapel was dedicated in 1931 in commemoration of golden jubilee celebrations. The name Jubilee was adopted from the
White Chapel
The White Chapel of pharaoh Senusret I, also referred to as the Jubilee Chapel of Senusret I, was built during the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. During the New Kingdom it was demolished and used as filler for the Third Pylon of the temple of Karnak, ...
of
Senusret I
Senusret I (Middle Egyptian: z-n-wsrt; /suʀ nij ˈwas.ɾiʔ/) also anglicized as Sesostris I and Senwosret I, was the second pharaoh of the Twelfth Dynasty of Egypt. He ruled from 1971 BC to 1926 BC (1920 BC to 1875 BC), and was one of the mo ...
.
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
gave public lectures in the year 1919 in the Main Hall and collected ₹2,365 out of which he took ₹2,000 for
Visva-Bharati University
Visva-Bharati () is a public central university and an Institution of National Importance located in Shantiniketan, West Bengal, India. It was founded by Rabindranath Tagore who called it ''Visva-Bharati'', which means the communion of the ...
,
Shantiniketan
Santiniketan is a neighbourhood of Bolpur town in the Bolpur subdivision of Birbhum district in West Bengal, India, approximately 152 km north of Kolkata. It was established by Maharshi Devendranath Tagore, and later expanded by his s ...
and gave ₹365 for starting an endowment in American College.
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
who led France in the First World War delivered lectures in Main Hall and contributed the college.
The college was one of the first set of seven colleges to be made autonomous by the UGC in 1977. The first college to introduce "Campus Inn" hostel system was named after
Washburn
Washburn (alternatively Wasseburne, Wasseborne, Wasshebourne, Wassheborne, Washbourne, Washburne, Washborne, Washborn, Wasborn, Washbon) is a toponymic surname, probably of Old English origin, with likely Anglo-Norman and Norman-French influen ...
. Today the college offers 18n undergraduate and 13 postgraduate programmes. There are research centres offering M.Phil. and Ph.D. programme. There are other autonomous centres like Department of Applied Sciences (DAS) and The first college to introduce CBCS system and Student foreign exchange programme (Study abroad) in India.
The postgraduate Department of Social Work was added in 1998. The college has theater groups, social service schemes and NCC units that offer students opportunities to serve society. This college is known for its focus on academic excellence.
Academics
There are 18 undergraduate and 15 postgraduate programmes of study in the college, with seven of these departments engaged in research. In addition to the usual programmes in the humanities and the sciences, the college offers courses in Biochemistry, Biotechnology, Microbiology, Computer Science, Business Administration and Social Work. Innovative courses such as
Gender Studies
Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studies originated in the field of women's studies, concerning women, feminism, gender, and politics. The field ...
, Dalit Studies, Folk Arts, Epigraphy, etc., are offered under the appropriatemajor programmes. An interdisciplinary dimension is attempted by requiring the science majors to take courses in the humanities and vice versa.
The unique joint bachelor's degree on Religion, Philosophy and Sociology can be found only in the American College. Many notable scholars worked for this institution. Some of them who bought real change in college education system are
C. T. K. Chari
C. T. K. Chari (5 June 1909 – 5 January 1993) was Head of the Department of Philosophy at Madras Christian College from 1958 to 1969 and the most prominent among contemporary Indian philosophers who paid close attention to psi phenomena. ...
,
Karmegha Konar
Karmegha Konar () (27 December 1889 – 22 October 1957) was a popular Tamil poet and educator. He is colloquially known as Chennaa Pulavar, a title given to him by his peer and close friend Bharathidasan.
He was the Chairman of the Tamil depar ...
,
K. K. Neelakantan
K. K. Neelakantan (1923 - 14 June 1992) better known by his pen name Induchoodan, was a leading Indian ornithologist. He is widely regarded as a pioneer of the environmental movement in Kerala for popularizing bird study through his books wri ...
, and J. Vasanthan.
The American College is the first college in India to introduce
Third Gender
Third gender is a concept in which individuals are categorized, either by themselves or by society, as neither man nor woman. It is also a social category present in societies that recognize three or more genders. The term ''third'' is usuall ...
literature and studies with research-oriented seminar. The regional terms for genderqueer people was coined in this college by LGBTQIA activist
Gopi Shankar Madurai
Gopi Shankar Madurai, born 13 April 1991, is an Indian equal rights and Indigenous rights activist. Shankar was one of the youngest, and the first openly intersex and genderqueer statutory authority and one of the candidates to contest in 2016 ...
. The American College stands out as an exception in addressing these issues. Its B.A. programme in Tamil has an autobiography of a trans woman ''The Truth about Me: A Hijra Life Story'' by
A. Revathi
A Revathi is a Bangalore-based writer and activist working for the rights of sexual minorities. She is a trans woman and belongs to the Hijra community.
Personal life
Revathi was born as Doraiswamy in the district of Namakkal in the Indian stat ...
as part of the syllabus for final year students. In 2013 The American College under graduation English department included '' Funny Boy'' by
Shyam Selvadurai
Shyam Selvadurai (born 12 February 1965) is a Sri Lankan Canadian novelist. He is most noted for his 1994 novel '' Funny Boy'', which won the Books in Canada First Novel Award and the Lambda Literary Award for Gay Fiction.Paul Chafe"Shyam Selvad ...
as part of syllabus under gay literature and marginalized studies.
In 2009, Red Hen Press published a selection of Avvaiyar's poetry from the 12th century: ''Give, Eat, and Live: Poems by Avviyar''. The poems were selected and translated into English by Thomas Pruiksma, a poet and translator who discovered Avviyar's work while on a Fulbright scholarship at The American College.
Study Centre for Indian Literature in English and Translation (SCILET)
Study Centre for Indian Literature in English and Translation (SCILET) was founded by Rev. Dr. Paul L. Love in the early 1980s to show how important Indian literature in English had become. ‘English Literature’ no longer means just the literature of England. SCILET facilitates the translation of regional language writing into English, so that literature written in such aboriginal languages as Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu can be read in all parts of the country. Love's teaching in India, which began with his appointment to overseas service with the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) in 1954, was interrupted periods of study and teaching. SCILET sponsors activities such as lectures, seminars and poetry readings that present some of the best of these writers in person, enabling teachers, students and the research community to interact and become acquainted with them. To further the cause of Indian literature in English, SCILET has developed several publications, the best known of which is its annual poetry journal, ''
Kavya Bharati
''Kavya Bharati'' is an annual literary journal. Its primary language is English and also includes translations from Indian languages translated into English.
Objective
''Kavya Bharati'' is published by SCILET: The Study Centre for Indian Literatu ...
'', which includes in equal amount the work of established Indian poets and promising new voices.
Alliance Française, Madurai
Alliance Française
An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...
offers courses for beginners and advanced learners in French through its satellite branch at Department of French, The American College. The communicative approach of the course helps a student to learn the language with effective and efficient use of modern techniques encouraging independent progress. Along with level A1 and A2 courses for beginners and those who have learnt the language already, the Madurai branch offers assistance to succeed in French language proficiency tests such as Diplome d'Etudes en Langue Française (DELF) and Diplôme Approfondi de Langue Française (DALF) for an internationally valid certificate.
Exchange programme between American College and United States
A memorandum of understanding was signed in 2008 between The American College and the Appalachian State University, USA. Selected students of any discipline of the American College have the opportunity to pursue undergraduate or postgraduate study for six months to one year in the USA. Students are provided food and accommodation; they pay for airfare, visa and medical insurance. The programme enabled students to acquire first-hand experiences of cross-cultural living.
New satellite campus
The American College has a new satellite campus at Chathrapatti, on the Madurai-Natham highway, to reach out to students and communities in rural Madurai. The new campus is located on Alagar hills. The campus will house both residential courses like M.B.A. and non-residential programmes in the near future. The additional campus will enable American College to grow exponentially thereby alleviating the space constraints in starting new courses in the emerging fields.
Branches of Study:
* Arts & Humanities wing
* Science wing
* Management Studies wing
* Research wing
* Co-curricular courses wing
* Teaching, learning and assessments wing
Hostels
About a third of the students live in five halls on campus, one of which is for women. Up to eight to nine students live in a room. Each hall is under the care of a warden, assisted by resident young faculty. They are available for consultation and advice when needed.
The mess rates are kept between ₹2600–3000 per month; accommodation ₹26000 per year, affordable even to economically challenged students. Elected student representatives manage the mess, under a dividing system. There is no provision for special food even at extra cost.
* Rev.
Washburn
Washburn (alternatively Wasseburne, Wasseborne, Wasshebourne, Wassheborne, Washbourne, Washburne, Washborne, Washborn, Wasborn, Washbon) is a toponymic surname, probably of Old English origin, with likely Anglo-Norman and Norman-French influen ...
Hall: Named after Rev. G.T. Washburn, it is the first campus hostel of India. Washburn Hall is more than 100 years old and accommodates freshers. Washburn Hall had its origin in 1908, the year when the college was shifted to its present site. The ‘Main Hostel’, as the Washburn Hall was known, was constructed in three stages. The ground floor on the western side with side wings was the first stage; it was completed in 1909. The second stage was raising the first floor on the existing ground floor in 1914. The third and final stage of construction was the extension of the structures on the eastern side. The extension was started in late October 1916 and was completed in 1917. E.M. Flint was appointed as the warden in 1914. (Until then, principal Rev. Zumbro probably was the acting warden.) The first hostel day was celebrated on 19 February 1921 and the chief guest was
Georges Clemenceau
Georges Benjamin Clemenceau (, also , ; 28 September 1841 – 24 November 1929) was a French statesman who served as Prime Minister of France from 1906 to 1909 and again from 1917 until 1920. A key figure of the Independent Radicals, he was a ...
, ex-premier of France. In 1950, the name of the hostel was changed from 'Main Hostel' into 'Washburn Hall'.
* Rev. Zumbro Hall: Hon. Sir. C.P. Ramasamy Iyer, Law Member, Government of Madras laid the foundation stone for Zumbro memorial hostel built in memory of Rev. William Michael Zumbro on 5 September 1925. This hostel initially accommodated postgraduate students. After some time it was used by pre-university students. Presently this hall accommodates about 110 undergraduate self-financing students. J
* Wallace Hall: The foundation stone for Wallace Hall was laid on 21 January 1946 by Dr. Albert Bucker Coe, minister of Oak Park church, Illinois, U.S.A. Wallace Hall accommodated undergraduate students and was converted into a postgraduate students hall in the recent years. This hall houses 98 postgraduate students and two superintendents.
* Dudley Hall: The foundation stone for Dudley Hall was laid on 17 February 1956. It started functioning from the academic year 1957–58. Initially it was called New Hostel. After some years, it was renamed "Dudley Hall", after the name of the reverend, who had close connections with the hostel and the college.
* Women's Hall: The women's hall was the home for 81 students in 1961 and later increased to 128 students. Realizing the increasing demand for women's higher education the hall was extended by a building with 18 spacious rooms.
Campus
Image:The_American_College_chapel.jpg, Chapel at the Center of the college
Image:The_American_College_mainhall.jpg, Main Hall
Image:The_American_College_library.jpg, Daniel Poor Memorial Library
Image:The_American_College_washburn_gateway.jpg, Main Gate, or Washburn Gate
Annual Cultural Fest and Cultural Association
The Annual Cultural fest of The American College in India has existed since 1915.
* AMFEST is the annual cultural fest.
*TYCOONS is the annual cultural festival conducted by the Department of BBA. It was previously a part of COMMAS but was soon separated.
* COMMAS: The Commerce association conducts an inter-college cultural event called the COMMAS every year for two days. Colleges from all over Tamil Nadu participate in this function. The success of this function is evident from the funds that are granted by the business community in and around Madurai.
* REPHISO: The Religion, Philosophy, and Sociology Association organizes national and international seminars under the banner of REPHISO. Intellectuals, philosophers, sociologists, and social activists around the globe participate. So far Swami Agnivesh, Aruna Roy,
Medha Patkar
Medha Patkar née Khanolkar (born 1 December 1954) is an Indian social activist and former Politician working on various crucial political and economic issues raised by tribals, dalits, farmers, labourers and women facing injustice in India. She ...
,
Prashant Bhushan Prashant or Prasant is a common male name in South Asia. It is derived from the word "shanth" which means patience, calm, quiet, or tranquil.
People with the given name
* Prashant Bose - Indian politician
* Prashant Bhushan - Indian lawyer, ...
,
Harsh Mander
Harsh Mander (born 17 April 1955) is an Indian author, columnist, researcher, teacher, and social activist who started the Karwan-e-Mohabbat campaign in solidarity with the victims of communal or religiously motivated violence. He is the Dire ...
are some of the notable philosophers and social activists who were guest of honor.
* PEGASUS: The English Department inter-college literary fiesta is famous for its drama, theater arts, street play. PEGASUS is also known as the Opera of Madurai.
* BYTES: The Department of Computer Science conducts this inter-collegiate IT symposium.
*HOVER: The Department of Computer Application conducts this intercollegiate meet.
*ICAS: The Department of Economics conducts this Intercollegiate competition.
*PHOBOS:The Department of Physics conducts this Intercollegiate competition. Colleges from all over Tamil Nadu participate in this event.
*CHEM-GLAZE:The Department of Chemistry Association conducts this Intercollegiate competition.
*PANORAMIA: The intercollegiate programme by the Dept of Visual Communication attracts galaxy of celebrities form the Tamil film industry. It is a mega inter collegiate programme and is unique in south Tamil Nadu.
See also
*
Daniel Poor Memorial Library in Madurai
Daniel Poor Memorial Library often abbreviated as DPM Library is a century old college central library of the American College, Madurai, Tamil Nadu in India that officially began its functions on June 28, 1915.
History
Samuel A Morman, the gra ...
*
Daniel Poor Daniel Poor (27 June 1789, Danvers, Massachusetts, United States - 3 February 1855, Manipai, Jaffna) was a Presbyterian missionary and educator, founder of the first English School in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.
Poor graduated at Phillips Academy, Andov ...
Notable alumni
*
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
Kariamanickam Srinivasa Krishnan
Sir Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan, FRS, (4 December 1898 – 14 June 1961) was an Indian physicist. He was a co-discoverer of Raman scattering, for which his mentor C. V. Raman was awarded the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics.
Early life
K ...
Raman scattering
Raman scattering or the Raman effect () is the inelastic scattering of photons by matter, meaning that there is both an exchange of energy and a change in the light's direction. Typically this effect involves vibrational energy being gained by a ...
*
Padma Shri
Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...
Govindappa Venkataswamy
Govindappa Venkataswamy (1 October 1918 – 7 July 2006), popularly known as Dr V., was an Indian ophthalmologist who dedicated his life to eliminate needless blindness. He was the founder and former chairman of Aravind Eye Hospitals. He i ...
Padma Bhushan
The Padma Bhushan is the third-highest civilian award in the Republic of India, preceded by the Bharat Ratna and the Padma Vibhushan and followed by the Padma Shri. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is given for "distinguished service ...
HCL Technologies
HCLTech (formerly Hindustan Computers Limited or HCL Technologies) is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company headquartered in Noida.It emerged as an independent company in 1991 when HCL entered into ...
Shiv Nadar University
Shiv Nadar University (SNU)https://snu.edu.in/news/newsroom/conferred-title-shiv-nadar-institution-eminence is a private research university located on NH-91 near Dadri in Uttar Pradesh, India. SNU is regarded as Institution of Eminence ...
*
Padma Shri
Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...
Thota Tharani
Thota Tharani is an Indian film art director and production designer who has predominantly worked in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam cinema and Bollywood. As of 2013, he has won two National Film Awards, two Filmfare Awards South and four Tamil ...
(Art Director)
*
Padma Shri
Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...
Vivek (actor)
Vivekanandan (19 November 1961 – 17 April 2021), known professionally as Vivek,Ganapathy Baskaran, Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Awardee(Theoretical condensed matter physicist)
*
Rajiah Simon
Rajiah Simon, is a Professor of Physics at the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai, India.
Rajiah Simon received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in 1993 for pioneering work in Quantum optics.
Simon and col ...
Komal Swaminathan
Komal Swaminathan (born 27 January 1935 in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu, India, died 1995) was a congressional activist in his early years, a Tamil theater personality, film director and journalist.
Early life
Swaminathan joined the school of S. V. S ...
(Congress Activist in his early years, a noted Tamil Theater personality, Film Director, journalist)
* V. Ramaswami (Former Justice of the Supreme Court of India)
*
Bala (director)
Balasubramanian known as Bala is an Tamil film director, screenwriter, and producer, working in Tamil cinema. Bala has been praised for "revolutionizing Tamil cinema" through his realistic, dark and disturbing depiction of the working class on c ...
* Mahendran (Film Director) Inspiration for the legends of Tamil Cinema like
Mani Ratnam
Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six ...
Geevarghese Mar Dioscoros
Thevarvelil Geevarghese Mar Dioscoros (1926-1999) was the Metropolitan of the Thiruvananthapuram Diocese of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church.
Life
Geevarghese Mar Dioscoros was born on 12 October 1926, the youngest son of Kunjupappi and Acha ...
(bishop of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church)
*
P. Mohan
Mohan Ponnusamy (30 December 1949 – 30 October 2009) was an Indian politician and a member of the state unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). He was a member of the 13th Lok Sabha and 14th Lok Sabha, representing the M ...
(Indian politician and a member of the state unit of the Communist Party of India)
*
Nedumaran
Pazha Nedumaran ''Krishnan Pillai Pazhaniyappan'' ( ta, பழ. நெடுமாறன்/கிருஷ்ணன் பிள்ளை பழநியப்பன்) is a Tamil politician from the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He is an ex-n ...
(Tamil politician)
*
Ram
Ram, ram, or RAM may refer to:
Animals
* A male sheep
* Ram cichlid, a freshwater tropical fish
People
* Ram (given name)
* Ram (surname)
* Ram (director) (Ramsubramaniam), an Indian Tamil film director
* RAM (musician) (born 1974), Dutch
* ...
(Film-maker)
* A. G. S. Ram Babu (Indian politician and former Member of Parliament elected from Tamil Nadu.)
*
Ramki
Ramakrishnan, better known by his stage name Ramki, is an Indian actor best known for his work in Tamil and Telugu films. He made his debut in ''Chinna Poove Mella Pesu'' (1987). He was a lead actor from 1987 to 2004.
He was known for his per ...
(Film Director)
* J. Vasanthan (Artist, Father of English Stage Play in Madurai, Writer)
*
Solomon Pappaiah
Solomon Pappaiah (Tamil:சாலமன் பாப்பையா) (born 22 February 1936), also known as Solomon Pappiah and Salomon Pappayah is an Indian scholar and a television icon in Tamil Nadu, India. He is best known for moderating d ...
Shanmugarajan
Shanmugarajan is an Indian actor who appears in Tamil films.
He is an alumnus of The American College in Madurai and National School of Drama.
Filmography
Television
References
External links
*
*
Living people
Male actor ...
Pattimandram Raja
Simson Raja, popularly known as Pattimandram Raja, is an Indian television personality popular for his speeches in Tamil-language talk shows (''Pattimandram''). His speeches in the debate talk shows, moderated by Solomon Pappaiah, made him fam ...
(Actor, TV personality)
* Palani Kumanan – Investigative Journalist of
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
Gopi Shankar Madurai
Gopi Shankar Madurai, born 13 April 1991, is an Indian equal rights and Indigenous rights activist. Shankar was one of the youngest, and the first openly intersex and genderqueer statutory authority and one of the candidates to contest in 2016 ...
– Equal Rights Activist,
*
Justin Prabhakaran
Justin Prabhakaran (born 10 June 1986) is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has scored music mostly for Tamil films and also a few Malayalam and Telugu films besides one Hindi film. He made his debut as a film composer in the 2014 ...