This is a list of notable Tamils.

Ancient Kings and Rulers

Tamil dynasties

* Chola dynasty * Pandya dynasty * Chera dynasty * Pallava dynasty * Ay dynasty *

Velir dynasty The Velir (also known as Vellalar) were a royal house of minor dynastic kings and aristocratic chieftains in Tamilakam in the early historic period of South India. They had close relations with Chera dynasty, Chera, Chola dynasty, Chola and Pand ...

* Aryacakravarti dynasty * Vanni dynasty *

Rajahnate of Cebu Cebu, or Sugbu, also called the Cebu Rajanate, was an Indianized raja (monarchical) mandala (polity) on the island of Cebu in the Philippines prior to the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. It is known in ancient Chinese records as the nat ...

Other royal families

* Rulers of Ramnad **

Ramanatha Sethupathi Ramanatha Sethupathy ( ta, ராமநாத சேதுபதி) (died 1979) was the last Raja titleholder of Ramnad from 1967 to 1979. He was the next successor of the throne from his father, Shanmugha Rajeswara Sethupathi Shanmugha Rajes ...

(?–1979), last Raja of Ramnad estate **

Rajeswari Nachiyar Sethupathi Rani R Brahma Krishna Raja Rajeswari Nachiyar is the titular ruler of the estate of Ramnad. She is the only daughter of Ramanatha Sethupathi. Succession Rajeswari Nachiyar assumed the hereditary title of the ruler of Ramnad on the ...

, only daughter of last Raja Ramanatha Sethupathi, present titular ruler of Ramnad estate ** Rajkumar Sethupathi, actor, brother of last Raja Ramanatha Sethupathi and Latha, married leading actress in the 1980s

Sripriya Sripriya is an Indian actress, film director and politician from Tamil Nadu. She has acted in over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi languages. She has also directed films in Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages, includin ...

** Latha, actress, sister of last Raja Ramanatha Sethupathi and actor Rajkumar Sethupathi * Rulers of Pudukkottai ** Rajagopala Thondaiman (1922–1997), last ruler of the princely state of Pudukkottai ** R. Rajagopala Thondaiman (1958–?), present head of the royal house of Pudukkottai, son of Radhakrishna Thondaiman, nephew of last ruler Rajagopala Thondaiman ** Charubala Thondaiman (1958–), wife of R. Rajagopala Thondaiman, member of the

INC Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

, former mayor of Tiruchirappalli (2001–2009)

Governor-Generals, Presidents and Vice Presidents

* C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), Governor-General of India (1948–1950) *

S. Radhakrishnan Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (; 5 September 1888 – 17 April 1975), natively Radhakrishnayya, was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He served as the 2nd President of India from 1962 to 1967. He also 1st Vice President of India from 1952 ...

(1888–1975), President of India (1962–1967) and Vice President of India (1952–1962) *

R. Venkataraman Ramaswamy Venkataraman (, 4 December 191027 January 2009) was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union Minister and as the eighth president of India. Venkataraman was born in Rajamadam village in Ta ...

(1910–2009), President of India (1987–1992) and Vice President of India (1984–1987) *

Veerasamy Ringadoo Sir Veerasamy Ringadoo, GCMG, GCSK, QC, (born Vīracāmi Riṅkāṭu; 20 October 1920 – 9 September 2000) was a Mauritian politician, minister, the sixth and last governor-general of Mauritius from 1986 to 1992, and then the first presid ...

(1920–2000), Governor-General of Mauritius (1986–1992) *

(1920–2000), President of Mauritius (1992–1992) *

A. P. J. Abdul Kalam Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam (; 15 October 193127 July 2015) was an Indian aerospace scientist and statesman who served as the 11th President of India from 2002 to 2007. He was born and raised in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu and studied phy ...

(1931–2015), President of India (2002–2007) *

S. R. Nathan Sellapan Ramanathan (; 3 July 1924 – 22 August 2016),. often known as S. R. Nathan, was a Singaporean politician who served as the sixth president of Singapore between 1999 and 2011. He was also the longest-serving president in Singapore's hi ...

(1924–2016), President of Singapore (2002–2011) * Angidi Veeriah Chettiar (1928–2010), Acting President of Mauritius (2002–2002) *

Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay Ariranga Govindasamy Pillay (Tamil: ''அரி ரங்க கோவிந்தசாமி பிள்ளை''; born 14 June 1945) was the chief justice of Mauritius from 1996 until 2007, when he was succeeded by Y. K. J. Yeung Sik Yuen. Ea ...

(1945–), Acting President of Mauritius (2002–2002) * Kamala Harris (1964–), Vice President of the United States (2021– present)

Prime Ministers

* Moses Nagamootoo (1947–), Prime Minister of Guyana (2015–2020)

Multinational positions

* Radhika Coomaraswamy (1953–), Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict * James Appathurai (1968–), Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs, Ex-spokesperson for NATO, *

Roy Padayachie Radhakrishna Lutchmana "Roy" Padayachie (1 May 1950 – 5 May 2012) was the Minister of Public Service and Administration of the Republic of South Africa. He died in the early hours of 5 May 2012 in an Ethiopian hotel room, while on an offic ...

(1950–2012), Minister of Public Service and Administration of the Republic of South Africa; also served in the economics desk of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal and as deputy head of local government portfolio; consultant to UNICEF, UNESCO and the World Bank * Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google *

Indra Nooyi Indra Nooyi (née Krishnamurthy; born October 28, 1955) is an Indian-American business executive and former chief executive officer and chairperson of PepsiCo. She has consistently ranked among the world's 100 most powerful women. In 2014, sh ...

, Indian-American business executive and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of

PepsiCo PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in Harrison, New York, in the hamlet of Purchase. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manuf ...

Raghuram Rajan Raghuram Govind Rajan (born 3 February 1963) is an Indian economist and the Katherine Dusak Miller Distinguished Service Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Quote: "I am an Indian citizen. I have always b ...

, former

IMF The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

Chief Economist

Independence movement

Indian independence movement

* Nagappan Padayatchi(1891 – 6 July 1909) * Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone (1710–1757) * Puli Thevar (1715–1767) *

Marudhanayagam pillai Maruthanayagam Pillai (1725 – 15 October 1764), was the commandant of the British East India Company's Madras Army . He was born in a Tamil Vellalar family in a village called Panaiyur in British India, what is now in Nainarkoil Taluk, Raman ...

(1725–1764) * Veerapandiya kattabomman (1760–1799) * Rani Velu Nachiar (1730–1796) *

Rettamalai Srinivasan Diwan Bahadur Rettamalai Srinivasan (7 July 1860 - 18 September 1945), commonly known as R. Srinivasan, was a Scheduled Caste activist and politician from then Madras Presidency of British India (now the Indian state of Tamil Nadu). He is a Para ...

(1860–1945) * Dheeran Chinnamalai * Subramanya Bharathi (1882–1921), poet and social reformer *

V. Kalyanasundaram Thiruvarur Viruttachala Kalyanasundaram (Thiruvarur Virudhachala Kalyanasundaram : 26 August 1883 – 17 September 1953), better known by his Tamil initials Thiru. Vi. Ka, was a Tamil scholar, essayist and activist. The analytical depth ...

(1883–1953), scholar *

Subramaniya Siva Subramaniya Siva (Tamil: சுப்பிரமணிய சிவா) (4 October 1884 – 23 July 1925) was an Indian freedom fighter, writer and pure Tamil movement activist during the Indian independence movement. Life Subramaniya Siva was ...

(1884–1925), writer * Jeevanandham (1907–1963) *

Champakaraman Pillai Chempakaraman Pillai, alias Venkidi, (15 September 1891 – 26 May 1934) was an Indian-born political activist and revolutionary. Born in Thiruvananthapuram, to Tamil Pillai parents, he left for Europe as a youth, where he spent the rest of hi ...

(1891–1934) *

Tiruppur Kumaran Kumaran or Kumarasamy Mudaliyar also known as Tiruppur Kumaran or Kodi Kaatha Kumaran (4 October 1904 – 11 January 1932) was an Indian revolutionary and freedom fighter who participated in the Indian independence movement. Biography Kumarasam ...

(1904–1932) *

K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...

(1903–1975) * Veeran Sundaralingam (1770–1799) *

Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar Ukkirapandi Muthuramalinga Thevar (30 October 1908 – 30 October 1963), also known as Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, was an Indian freedom struggle fighter, politician, patriarch of Thevar community and a close accomplice of Subash Chand ...

(30 October 1908 - 30 October 1963)

Independence movements in other countries

* Velupillai Prabhakaran (1954–2009), founder and leader of

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...

, fighting for independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka, Tamil Eelam * Thillaiaadi Valliammai (1898–1914),

South African __NOTOC__ South African may relate to: * The nation of South Africa * South African Airways * South African English * South African people * Languages of South Africa * Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the Afric ...

militant * Captain Miller (1966–1987) Tamil rebel and member of the Tamil Tigers, a separatist Tamil militant organisation in Sri Lanka. He is known as the LTTE's first

Black Tiger A black tiger is a rare colour variant of the tiger, and is not a distinct species or geographic subspecies. Description There are reports and one painting (now lost) of pure black non-striped tigers (true melanistic tigers). Most black mammal ...

(suicide bomber). *

V. T. Sambanthan Tun Thirunyanasambanthan s/o Veerasamy ( ta, திருஞானசம்பந்தன், Tiruñāṉacampantaṉ; 16 June 1919 – 18 May 1979) also known as V.T. Sambanthan, was a Malayan and Malaysian politician who served as Ministe ...

(1919–1979), one of the three founding fathers of Malaysia *

Pon Sivakumaran Ponnuthurai Sivakumaran ( ta, பொன்னுத்துரை சிவகுமாரன்; 26 September 1950 – 5 June 1974) was a Sri Lankan Tamil rebel and the first Tamil militant to commit suicide by swallowing cyanide. Early li ...

(1950–1974), was a

Eelam Tamil The Sri Lankan Tamil dialects or Ceylon Tamil or commonly in Tamil language Eelam Tamil () are a group of Tamil dialects used in Sri Lanka by its native Tamil people and Eastern Moors, and Coast Veddas that is distinct from the dialects of Tamil s ...

rebel and the first Tamil militant to commit suicide by swallowing

cyanide Cyanide is a naturally occurring, rapidly acting, toxic chemical that can exist in many different forms. In chemistry, a cyanide () is a chemical compound that contains a functional group. This group, known as the cyano group, consists of a ...

* Ponnambalam Ramanathan, leader in the

Sri Lankan independence movement The Sri Lankan independence movement was a peaceful political movement which was aimed at achieving independence and self-rule for the country of Sri Lanka, then British Ceylon, from the British Empire. The switch of powers was generally kno ...

* Ponnambalam Arunachalam, leader in the

Cankili I Cankili I ( ta, சங்கிலியன்) (died 1565), also known as Segarasasekaram (Jaga Rajasekharam), is the most remembered Jaffna kingdom king in the Sri Lankan Tamil history. He was very active in resisting Portuguese colonial inroads ...

also known as Cekaracacekaran VII, is the most remembered Jaffna kingdom king in the

history. He was very active in resisting Portuguese colonial inroads into Eelam . * Cankili II was known as the last King of the

Jaffna Kingdom The Jaffna Kingdom ( ta, யாழ்ப்பாண அரசு, si, යාපනය රාජධානිය; 1215–1624 CE), also known as Kingdom of Aryachakravarti, was a historical kingdom of what today is northern Sri Lanka. It came i ...

Arumaipperumal Chieftain Arumaipperumal of Batticaloa, an eastern part of the Indian Ocean island known today as Sri Lanka, led a rebellion against the British colonial occupiers in 1803.. Colonial occupation For centuries the European colonial occupiers (the P ...

was

Batticaloa Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the B ...

chieftain in the 18th century who led a rebellion against the British colonial occupiers in 1803 *

Pandara Vanniyan Pandara Vanniyan ( ta, பண்டார வன்னியன், Paṇṭāra Vaṉṉiyaṉ, si, වන්නි බණ්ඩාර, Vanni Baṇḍāra) was a Tamil Chieftain who ruled in Vanni Nadu in 18th century AD. He is referred to b ...

(1775–1810) was a

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

Chieftain who ruled in Vanni Nadu in 18th century AD. He is referred to by some as the last Tamil king in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, who also rose to revolt against the British Ceylon empire and Dutch Ceylon empire, who died battling the British colonial rule on the island. *

Periyapillai Periyapillai ( ta, பெரியபிள்ளை) (died 1582) was of one of the Aryacakravarti rulers of Jaffna kingdom who followed in the chaotic period after the death of Cankili I(1519–1561). Some sources claim that he deposed the Cank ...

He is known to mount the major attack on the Portuguese fort in the Mannar Island to regain territory lost during Cankili's rule * Migapulle Arachchi also known as Chinna Migapillai, was a feudal lord from the

who became a rebel leader just after its annexation by the Portuguese Empire in 1619. His title Arachchi, is a title given to the commanders of Lascarins or native military forces. * Varunakulattan was a 17th-century feudal lord and military commander from the Jaffna Kingdom. He led a rebellion as the military commander of Thanjavur Nayak against the Portuguese in their conquest of the Jaffna kingdom in 1619. Although the nominal king was Cankili II, Varunakulattan was described as the king of Karaiyars, and wield the real power in the Jaffna Peninsula. *

Puviraja Pandaram Puviraja Pandaram ( ta, புவிராஜ பண்டாரம்) (died 1591) ruled the Jaffna kingdom during a period of chaos during and after the death of his father Cankili I in 1565. He became king in 1561 following a local uprising a ...

Kasi Nayinar Pararacacekaran Kasi Nayinar Pararacacekaran ( ta, காசி நயினார் பரராஜசேகரன்) (died 1570) was of one of the Aryacakravarti The Arya Chakravarti dynasty ( ta, ஆரியச் சக்கரவர்த்திக ...

Ethirimana Cinkam Ethirimanna Cinkam ( ta, எதிர்மன்னசிங்கம்) (died 1617) was the penultimate ruler of the Aryacakravarti line of Kings of the Jaffna Kingdom in northern Sri Lanka. He came to power due to the second Portuguese expedi ...

Contributions to Tamil people

* Marshal Nesamony (1895–1968), responsible for Kanyakumari district merger with Tamil Nadu * Varadarajan Mudaliar (1926–1988), known as Vardha Bhai; the Tamil movie '' Nayakan'' was based on his life story *

Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani Thamizhavel Go. Sarangapani, ( ta, தமிழவேள் கோ. சாரங்கபாணி, 19 April 1903 – 16 March 1974) or ''Kosa'' as he was also known, a Tamil writer and publisher, was born in Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, on 20 A ...

, Singaporean Tamil pioneer

Governors of states

* C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), Governor of West Bengal (1947–1948) *

P. S. Kumaraswamy Raja Poosapati Sanjeevi Kumaraswamy Raja (8 July 1898 – 16 March 1957) was an Indian politician who served as the last Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 6 April 1949 to 26 January 1950 and first Chief Minister of Madras State from 26 January ...

(1898–1957), Governor of Odisha (1954–1956) * Jothi Venkatachalam (1917–unknown), Governor of Kerala (1977–1982) * P. Ramachandran (1921–2001), Governor of Kerala (1982–1988) *

T. V. Rajeswar T. V. Rajeswar (28 August 1926 in Salem, Tamil Nadu – 14 January 2018 in New Delhi) was an Indian Police Service officer, an Intelligence Bureau chief and a Governor of Sikkim, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. He was awarded the Padma Vibhusha ...

(1926–2018), Governor of Sikkim (1985–1989), West Bengal (1989–1990) and Uttar Pradesh (2004–2009) *

C. Rangarajan Chakravarthi Rangarajan (born 1932) is an Indian economist, a former Member of Parliament and 19th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He is the former Chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, he resigned the day the UPA ...

(1932–), Governor of Andhra Pradesh (1997–2003) *

Sasindran Muthuvel Sasindran Muthuvel (born 5 July 1974) is the Current Governor for West New Britain Province and former Minister of State Owned Enterprises in Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu ...

(1974–), Governor for West New Britain Province (2012–incumbent) *

E. S. L. Narasimhan Ekkadu Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan (born 1945) is an Indian former civil servant and politician who served as the first Governor of Telangana. He assumed office of the Governor of United Andhra Pradesh in December 2009 to 01 June 2014,He was ...

(1945–), Governor of Chhattisgarh (2007–2010), Andhra Pradesh (2007–incumbent) and Telangana (2014–2019) *

P. Sathasivam Palanisamy Sathasivam (born 27 April 1949) is an Indian judge who served as the 40th Chief Justice of India, holding the office from 2013 to 2014. On retirement from his judicial career, Sathasivam was appointed the 21st List of governors of K ...

(1949–), Governor of Kerala (2014–2019) * V. Shanmuganathan (1949–), Governor of Manipur (2015–2016), Meghalaya (2015–2017) and Arunachal Pradesh (Additional charge) (2016–2017) *

Tamilisai Soundararajan Tamilisai Soundararajan (born 2 June 1961) is an Indian politician serving as the 2nd and current Governor of Telangana, and is the Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (Additional charge) since 18 February 2021. She was the National Secretary and ...

(1961–), Governor of Telangana (2019–Incumbent) *

La. Ganesan La. Ganesan Iyer (born 16 February 1945) is an Indian politician who is serving as the Governor of Manipur since 27 August 2021 and also served additionally as Governor of West Bengal from 18 July 2022 to 17 November 2022. Prior to serving as ...

(1945–), Governor of Manipur (2021–2023), West Bengal (Additional charge) (2022) and Nagaland (2023–Incumbent) *

C. P. Radhakrishnan C. P. Radhakrishnan (born 4 May 1957) is an Indian politician who is the 10th and current Governor of Jharkhand since 2023. He was the member of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was elected to the Lok Sabha twice from Coimbatore. He was also the ...

(1957–), Governor of Jharkhand (2023–Incumbent)

Lieutenant Governors of union territories

(1961–), Lieutenant Governor of Puducherry (Additional charge) (2021–Incumbent)

Chief Ministers

C. V. Vigneswaran Canagasabapathy Visuvalingam Vigneswaran, President's Counsel, PC ( ta, கனகசபாபதி விசுவலிங்கம் விக்னேஸ்வரன், translit=Kaṉakacapāpati Vicuvaliṅkam Vikṉēsvaraṉ; si, ක� ...

(1939–), Chief Minister of Northern province of Sri Lanka (2013–2018) *

S. Chandrakanthan Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Tamil: சிவனேசதுரை சந்திரகாந்தன்; commonly known as Pillayan; born 18 August 1975), served as Chief Minister of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. He is also the lead ...

(1975–), Chief Minister of Eastern province of Sri Lanka (2008–2012) *

P. Subbarayan Paramasiva Subbarayan (11 September 1889 – 6 October 1962) was an Indian politician, freedom fighter and diplomat and was the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency, India's ambassador to Indonesia and Union Minister of Transport and Communic ...

(1889–1962), Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (1926–1930) *

P. T. Rajan Sir Ponnambala Thiaga Rajan (22 April 1892 – 25 September 1974) was the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 4 April 1936, to 24 August 1936 (143 Days). He was also the last President of the Justice Party. P. T. Rajan was born in a Thondai ...

(1892–1974), Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (1936–1936) * C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (1947–1949) and Tamil Nadu (1952–1954) * Omanthur P. Ramaswamy Reddiar (1895–1970), Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (1947–1949) *

(1898–1957), Chief Minister of Madras Presidency (1949–1950) and Tamil Nadu (1950–1952) *

(1903–1975), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1954–1963) *

M. Bhakthavatsalam Minjur Bhakthavatsalam (9 October 1897 – 13 February 1987) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the chief minister of Madras State from 2 October 1963 to 6 March 1967. He was the last Congress chief minister of Ta ...

(1897–1987), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1963–1967) *

V. Venkatasubba Reddiar V. Venkatasubba Reddiar was the second Chief Minister of the Union Territory of Pondicherry (Puducherry).Rahman, S. A. The Beautiful India. Pondicherry'. New Delhi: Reference Press, 2006. pp. 138–139 He was born in a wealthy agricultural fami ...

(1909–1982), Chief Minister of Puducherry (1964–1967; 1968–1968) * C. N. Annadurai (1909–1969), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1967–1969) *

V. R. Nedunchezhiyan V. R. Nedunchezhiyan (11 July 1920 – 12 January 2000) was an Indian politician and writer. He served thrice as the acting Chief Minister of the state of Tamil Nadu, India. He was also finance minister under the governments of C. N. ...

(1920–2000), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1969–1969; 1987–1988) *

M. Karunanidhi Muthuvel Karunanidhi (3 June 1924 – 7 August 2018) was an Indian writer and politician who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for almost two decades over five terms between 1969 and 2011. He was popularly referred to as Kalaignar (Art ...

(1924–2018), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1969–1976; 1989–1991; 1996–2001; 2006–2011) * S. Ramassamy (1939–2017), Chief Minister of Puducherry (1974–1974; 1977–1978) * M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1977–1987) *

V. N. Janaki Ramachandran Vaikom Narayani Janaki (30 November 192319 May 1996), also known as Janaki Ramachandran, was an Indian politician, actress and activist who served as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu for 23 days after the death of her husband M. G. Ramachandra ...

(1924–1996), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1988–1988) *

J. Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

(1948–2016), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (1991–1996; 2001–2001; 2002–2006; 2011–2014; 2015–2016) *

V. Vaithilingam V. Vaithilingam (born 5 October 1950) is an Indian politician belonging to the Indian National Congress, who currently represents Puducherry in the Lok Sabha. He held the position as 11th Chief Minister of Pondicherry from 1991 to 1996 and 16t ...

(1950–), Chief Minister of Puducherry (1991–1996; 2008–2011) * P. Shanmugam (1927–2013), Chief Minister of Puducherry (2000–2001) *

O. Panneerselvam Ottakarathevar Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS (born 14 January 1951) is an Indian politician who served as the .Coordinator of AIADMK 6th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 6 December 2016 to 15 February 2017 and as the 2nd Deputy Chief ...

(1951–), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (2001–2002; 2014–2015; 2016–2017) * N. Rangasamy (1950–), Chief Minister of Puducherry (2001–2008; 2011–2016; 2021–Incumbent) *

V. Narayanasamy Velu Narayanasamy (born 30 May 1947) is an Indian politician who served as the 10th Chief Minister of Puducherry from 2016 to 2021. He is a member of Indian National Congress political party. He previously served as Member of Parliament, re ...

(1947–), Chief Minister of Puducherry (2016–2021) *

Edappadi K. Palaniswami Edappadi K. Palaniswami (born 12 May 1954), also known as E.P.S., is an Indian politician and the leader of opposition in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly. He served as the 7th Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, from 2017 to 2021. He has been th ...

(1954–), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (2017–2021) *

M. K. Stalin Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin ( , born 1 March 1953), often referred to by his initials MKS, is an Indian Tamil politician serving as the 8th and current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The son of the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Stalin ...

(1953–), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (2021–Incumbent)

Deputy Chief Ministers

(1953–), Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (2009–2011) *

(1951–), Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (2017–2021)

Union Ministers

R. K. Shanmukham Chetty Sir Ramasamy Chetty Kandasamy Shanmukham Chetty KCIE (17 October 1892 – 5 May 1953) was an Indian lawyer, economist and politician who served as first Finance Minister of India from 1947 to 1948. He also served as President of India's Centr ...

(1892–1953), Minister of Finance (1947–1948) * N. Gopalaswami Ayyangar (1882–1953), Minister of Defence (1952–1953) *

K. Santhanam Kasturiranga Santhanam (1895 – 28 February 1980), also known as Kumitithadal Santhanam, was an Indian politician. He was a conservative Iyengar from Tamil Nadu. Early life Santhanam obtained a Master of Arts degree in mathematics from the U ...

(1895–1980), Minister of State for Transport and Railways (1948–1952) * C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), Minister of Home Affairs (1950–1951) *

(1889–1962), Minister of Transport and Communications (1959–1962) *

C. Subramaniam Chidambaram Subramaniam (commonly known as CS) (30 January 1910 – 7 November 2000), was an Indian politician and independence activist. He served as Minister of Finance and Minister of Defence in the union cabinet. He later served as the Gov ...

(1910–2000), Minister of Defence (1979–1980) * Mohan Kumaramangalam (1916–1973), Minister of Steel and Mines (1971–1973) *

Sathiavani Muthu Sathyavani Muthu (15 February 1923 – 11 November 1999) was an Indian politician and an influential leader from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She was a Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu, Rajya Sabha member and Union Minister. She began h ...

(1923–1999), Minister of Social Welfare (1979–1979) * A. Bala Pajanor (1935–2013), Minister of Petroleum, Chemicals and Fertilizers (1979–1979) *

P. Chidambaram Palaniappan Chidambaram (born 16 September 1945), better known as P. Chidambaram, is an Indian politician and lawyer who currently serves as Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha. He served as the Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee ...

(1945–), Minister of Finance (2012–2014) * Murasoli Maran (1934–2003), Minister of Commerce and Industry (1999–2002) * Subramanian Swamy (1939–), Minister of Commerce, Law and Justice (1990–1991) * M. Arunachalam (1944–2004), Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers (1997–1998) *

T. R. Baalu Thalikkottai Rajuthevar Baalu, better known as T. R. Baalu (called as Baalu), is an Indian politician. Baalu did his B.Sc. from New College, Chennai in Madras University and diploma in drafting engineering drawings from Central polytechnic Chenn ...

(1941–), Minister of Shipping, Road Transport and Highways (2004–2009) * P. R. Kumaramangalam (1952–2000), Minister of Power (1998–2000) *

R. Muthiah Sedapatti R. Muthiah (4 October 1945 – 21 September 2022) was an Indian politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. He was one of the leaders of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) from its creation and was second in comman ...

(1945–), Minister of Surface Transport (1998–1998) *

M. Thambidurai Munisamy Thambidurai (born 15 March 1947) is an Indian politician who served as the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha and leader of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. He ...

(1947–), Minister of Law, Justice, Company Affairs and Surface Transport (1998–1999) *

R. K. Kumar Raghavachari Krishna Kumar (August 7, 1942 – October 3, 1999) was an Indian politician from the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. Family Kumar was born on August 7, 1942, to K. C. Raghavachari and Seethalakshmi. He passed out his B ...

(1942–1999), Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Finance (1998–1998) * Kadambur M. R. Janarthanan (1929–2020), Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions and Finance (1998–1999) * K. Ramamurthy (1940–2002), Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas (1998–1999) *

Gingee N. Ramachandran Gingee N. Ramachandran (born 3 June 1944) is an Indian politician. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India as member of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ...

(1944–), Minister of State for Textiles (2003–2003) *

A. Raja Andimuthu Raja (born Sathyaseelan; 26 October 1963) is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu, who serves as Member of Parliament for the Nilgiris constituency and deputy general secretary for the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. He was a member of t ...

(1963–), Minister of Communications and Information Technology (2009–2010) *

Pon Radhakrishnan Pon Radhakrishnan (born 1 March 1952) is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu, representing the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Shipping between May 2014 and May 2019. Earlier, ...

(1952–), Minister of State for Finance (2017–2019) * K. Jana Krishnamurthy (1928–2007), Minister of Law and Justice (2002–2003) * A. K. Moorthy (1964–), Minister of State for Railways (2002–2004) *

M. K. Alagiri Muthuvel Karunanidhi Alagiri (born 30 January 1951), commonly known as M. K. Alagiri, is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu and was a Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers (India), Cabinet Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers from 28 ...

(1951–), Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers (2009–2013) *

G. K. Vasan G. K. Vasan (born Govindaswamy Karuppiah Vasan, 28 December 1964) is an Politician, Indian Politician and son of G. K. Moopanar, G. K Moopanar, a veteran Indian National Congress, Indian National Congress Leader. G K Vasan is currently the p ...

(1964–), Minister of Shipping (2009–2014) *

Anbumani Ramadoss Anbumani Ramadoss is an Indian politician from Tamil Nadu, India. He rose to prominence as Vanniyar leader after 2010. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from Tamil Nadu. Anbumani was the Minister ...

(1968–), Minister of Health and Family Welfare (2004–2009) * Mani Shankar Aiyar (1941–), Minister of Panchayati Raj (2004–2009) * S. S. Palanimanickam (1950–), Minister of State for Finance (2004–2013) *

K. Venkatapathy Kannusamy Venkatapathy (born 15 June 1946) is a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Cuddalore constituency of Tamil Nadu and is a member of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) political party. He was Minister of State ...

(1947–), Minister of State for Law and Justice (2004–2009) *

Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan Subbulakshmi Jegadeesan (born 24 June 1947) is an Indian politician. She was The Deputy general-secretary of the DMK and the Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. She was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of ...

(1947–), Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment (2004–2009) * R. Velu (1940–), Minister of State for Railways (2004–2009) *

S. Regupathy Sevugan Regupathy (born 30 July 1950) is an Indian politician belonging to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) political party. He is currently a member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly representing Tirumayam (state assembly constituency) ...

(1950–), Minister of State for Environment and Forests (2007–2009) *

Dayanidhi Maran Dayanidhi Murasoli Maran (born 5 December 1966) is an Indian politician and one of the prominent members of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party. He was elected thrice as a Member of Parliament to Lok Sabha from Chennai Central constituency during ...

(1966–), Minister of Textiles (2009–2011) *

V. Radhika Selvi V. Radhika Selvi (born 29 January 1976) was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India. She was the Minister of State for Home Affairs in the Manmohan Singh led ministry. She represented the Tiruchendur constituency of Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu ...

(1976–), Minister of State for Home Affairs (2007–2009) * D. Nepoleon (1963–), Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment (2009–2013) * S. Jagathrakshakan (1950–), Minister of State for Commerce and Industry (2012–2013) *

(1947–), Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions (2010–2014) * Nirmala Sitharaman (1959–), Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs (2019–Incumbent) *

S. Jaishankar Subrahmanyam Jaishankar (born 9 January 1955) is an Indian diplomat and politician serving as the Minister of External Affairs of the Government of India since 30 May 2019. He is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party and a Member of Parliame ...

(1955–), Minister of External Affairs (2019–Incumbent) *

L. Murugan Loganathan Murugan (born 29 May 1977) is an Indian politician and advocate currently serving as Minister of State (India), Minister of State in the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting ...

(1977–), Minister of State for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry, Dairying, Information and Broadcasting (2021–Incumbent)

Political leaders outside of India

* Moses Veerasammy Nagamootoo (1947–), Prime Minister, Guyana *

Jeanne Dupleix Jeanne Dupleix (1706–1756) (née Albert) was the spouse of Joseph François Dupleix, governor general of the French establishment in India in 1742-1754, and known for her influence during his tenure. She acted as his political advisor and is ...

, (1706-1756), French political advisor *

S. Jayakumar Jayakumar or Jeyakumar is a Sinhalese and Indian surname. It consists of two parts: ''jaya'', which means ''victory'' in Sinhalese and is also the name of a Hindu demigod, and ''kumar'', meaning ''child'', ''son'' or ''prince''. The name may refer t ...

(1939–), former Deputy Prime Minister, Singapore * Tharman Shanmugaratnam (1957–), Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Singapore * Vivian Balakrishnan (1961–), Minister of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Singapore *

S. Rajaratnam Sinnathamby Rajaratnam ( ta, சின்னத்தம்பி ராஜரத்னம்; 25 February 1915 – 22 February 2006), better known as S. Rajaratnam, was a Singaporean politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Singapo ...

(1915–2006), former Deputy Prime Minister, Singapore *

S. Dhanabalan Suppiah Dhanabalan ( ta, சு. தனபாலன்; born 8 August 1937), also known as S. Dhanabalan, is a Singaporean former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Singapore), Minister for Foreign Affairs between 1980 and ...

(1937–), former Minister (various portfolios), Singapore *

J. B. Jeyaretnam Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam ( ta, ஜோசுவா பெஞ்சமின் ஜெயரத்தினம்; 5 January 1926 – 30 September 2008), better known as J. B. Jeyaretnam or by his initials JBJ, was a Singaporean politician, law ...

(1926–2008), ex-opposition leader and MP, Singapore * Ramasamy Palanisamy (1949–), Deputy Chief Minister of Penang state, Malaysia *

Nagalingam Shanmugathasan Nagalingam Shanmugathasan ( ta, நாகலிங்கம் சண்முகதாசன், 1920 – 8 February 1993) was a trade unionist and Maoist revolutionary leader in Sri Lanka. He was the General Secretary of the Ceylon Communist P ...

(1920–1993), founding General Secretary of the Ceylon Communist Party, Sri Lanka *

Bala Tampoe Bala Tampoe (23 May 1922 – 1 September 2014) was a Sri Lankan lawyer and a trade unionist. He was the General Secretary of the Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers Union (CMU) in Sri Lanka. Early life and education Born on 23 May 1 ...

(1922–2014), Tamil trade unionist, Sri Lanka *

Pillayan Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (Tamil: சிவனேசதுரை சந்திரகாந்தன்; commonly known as Pillayan; born 18 August 1975), served as Chief Minister of the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. He is also the lead ...

alias Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan (1975–), former Chief Minister of Eastern Province, Sri Lanka *

P. P. Devaraj Periannan Pillai Devaraj (born 21 February 1929) is a Sri Lankan politician and former minister of state. Early life Devaraj was born on 21 February 1929. He was educated at St. Sylvester's College, Kandy. He has a B.Sc. degree in economics. Ca ...

(1929–), former Cabinet Minister of Sri Lanka * Radhakrishnan, Deputy Minister for Industry Affairs of Sri Lanka * Visvanathan Rudrakumaran, Prime Minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam *

Samy Vellu Tun Samy Vellu s/o Sangalimuthu ( ta, சாமிவேலு சங்கிலிமுத்து, Cāmivēlu Caṅkilimuttu; 8 March 1936 – 15 September 2022) was a Malaysian politician who served as Minister of Works from June 1983 ...

(1937–2022), former Works Minister and Leader of

Malaysian Indian Congress The Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC; ta, மலேசிய இந்திய காங்கிரஸ், Malēciya Intiya Kāṅkiras; formerly known as Malayan Indian Congress) is a Malaysian political party. It is one of the founding membe ...

, Malaysia *

K. R. Somasundram K R Somasundram (Tamil: கே. ஆர். சோமசுந்திரம்) (born 13 March 1930) is a Malaysian Indian. Born in Teluk Intan, Malaysia in 1930, he was the son of a grocer who gained prominence by heading the National Land Fi ...

(1930–), politician and member of

, Malaysia * Joshua Benjamin Jeyaretnam (1926–2008), founder of Reform Party of Singapore * Radhakrishna Padayachi (1950–2012), Deputy Minister for Communication,

Republic of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Rathika Sitsabaiesan Rathika Sitsabaiesan (; born December 23, 1981) is a Canadian former politician who was the member of Parliament (MP) for Scarborough—Rouge River from 2011 to 2015 as a member of the New Democratic Party (NDP). Sitsabaiesan is the first Tamil ...

(1981–), Member of Parliament, Canada *

Gunasagaran Gounder Dr Gunasagaran Gounder is a Fiji Indian medical doctor who, as a Fiji Labour Party candidate, defeated the Leader of Opposition, Jai Ram Reddy of the National Federation Party, in the contest for the Yasawa Nawaka Open Constituency seat in th ...

, prominent politician and a member of Fiji Labour Party, Fiji *

Perumal Mupnar Perumal Mupnar is a former Fijian politician of Indian Tamil people, Tamil descent, who held the Yasawa Nawaka (Open Constituency, Fiji), Yasawa Nawaka Open constituencies, Open Constituency in the House of Representatives of Fiji, House of Repr ...

, prominent politician and a member of Fiji Labour Party, Fiji *

S. J. V. Chelvanayakam Samuel James Veluppillai Chelvanayakam ( ta, சாமுவேல் ஜேம்ஸ் வேலுப்பிள்ளை செல்வநாயகம், translit=Cāmuvēl Jēms Vēluppiḷḷai Celvanāyakam; 31 March 1898 – 26 Ap ...

(1898–1977), leader and father figure of

n Tamils * Savumiamoorthy Thondaman (1913–1999), leader of Indian Tamils of Sri Lanka and had served the Sri Lankan Cabinet *

N. Shanmugathasan Nagalingam Shanmugathasan ( ta, நாகலிங்கம் சண்முகதாசன், 1920 – 8 February 1993) was a trade unionist and Maoist revolutionary leader in Sri Lanka. He was the General Secretary of the Ceylon Communist P ...

(1920–1993), prominent Communist politician, Sri Lanka * Joseph Pararajasingham (1934–2005), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka * Lakshman Kadirgamar (1932–2005), former Foreign Minister, Sri Lanka *

Veerasingham Anandasangaree Veerasingham Anandasangaree ( ta, வீரசிங்கம் ஆனந்தசங்கரி) is a leading Sri Lankan Tamil politician, former Member of Parliament and leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front. He is commonly known as Sang ...

(1933–), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka *

Murugesu Sivasithamparam Murugesu Sivasithamparam (20 July 1923 – 5 June 2002) was a leading Sri Lankan Tamil politician, Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker. Early life Sivasithamparam was born 20 July 1923 in Karaveddy in northern province of Ceylon. He was ...

(1923–2002), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka * Rajavarothiam Sampanthan (1933–), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka * Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam (1944–1999), Member of Parliament, Sri Lanka * Appapillai Amirthalingam (1927–1989), leader of the opposition, Parliament of Sri Lanka * Douglas Devananda (1957–), leader of EPDP and Minister of Rehabilitation, Sri Lanka *

(1903–1974), Tamil journalist, writer, publisher, social activist *

Patrick Pillay Patrick Georges Pillay is a Seychellois politician who was the Speaker of the National Assembly of the Seychelles from 2016 to 2018. Previously he served as Minister of External Affairs and Minister of Health. In 2010, he was appointed resident ...

, Minister of External Affairs of the Seychelles *

Jean-Paul Virapoullé Jean-Paul Virapoullé ( ta, ழான் பால் வீரபிள்ளை) (born 15 March 1944 in Bras-Panon, Réunion) is a member of the Senate of France, representing the island of Réunion. Virapoullé is a member of the Union for ...

(1944–), member of the Senate of France, representing the island of

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

* Raja Krishnamoorthi (1973-), American congressman *

E. E. C. Thuraisingham Dato' Sir Ernest Emmanuel Clough Thuraisingham or E.E.C. Thuraisingham (Tamil: இ. இ. சி. துரைசிங்கம்) (28 August 1898 – 30 March 1979) was the first local Member (Minister) for Education in the Communities Lia ...

(1898–1979), first local Member in British-ruled

Malaya Malaya refers to a number of historical and current political entities related to what is currently Peninsular Malaysia in Southeast Asia: Political entities * British Malaya (1826–1957), a loose collection of the British colony of the Straits ...

* *

Maya Harris Maya Lakshmi Harris (born January 30, 1967) is an American lawyer, public policy advocate, and writer. Harris was one of three senior policy advisors for Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign's policy agenda and she also served as chair o ...

, Vice President for Democracy, Rights and Justice at the Ford Foundation and executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Northern California. *

Vanushi Walters Vanushi Sitanjali Walters (' Rajanayagam, born August 1981) is a New Zealand lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party representing the Upper Harbour electorate. Early life Walters was bo ...

, New Zealand lawyer, politician and Member of Parliament in the House of Representatives for the Labour Party representing the Upper Harbour electorate

Governors of the Reserve Bank of India

S. Venkitaramanan Sri Venkitaramanan was the eighteenth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India. He served for a period of 2 years, from 1990 to 1992. Earlier, he served as Finance Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, from 1985 to 1989. Venkitaramanan is seen by ...

, 18th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India *

, 19th Governor of the Reserve Bank of India *

, 23rd Governor of the Reserve Bank of India

Political families

Tamil Nadu

C. Rajagopalachari family

* C. Rajagopalachari (1878–1972), Former Governor-General of India **

C. R. Narasimhan Chakravarti Rajagopalachari Narasimhan (1909–1989) was an Indian politician, freedom-fighter and member of the Indian Parliament from 1952 to 1962. He was the son of Indian statesman Chakravarti Rajagopalachari. Early life Narasimhan was ...

(1909–1989), Former Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); son of Rajagopalachari

C.P. Ramaswami Iyer family

C. P. Ramaswami Iyer Sir Chetput Pattabhiraman Ramaswami Iyer (12 November 1879 – 26 September 1966), popularly known as Sir C. P., was an Indian lawyer, administrator and politician who served as the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1920 to 1923, Law ...

(1879–1966), Former Dewan of Travancore ** C. P. R. Pattabhiraman (1906–2001), Former Union Minister of Law and Company Affairs; son of Ramaswami Iyer

D. Jayakumar family

D. Jayakumar D. Jayakumar is an Indian politician and was a Member of the 15th Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He was the Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly until his resignation on 29 September 2012. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislat ...

(1960–), Former Speaker of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly ** J. Jayavardhan (1987–), Former Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); son of Jayakumar

E. V. K. Sampath family

E. V. K. Sampath Erode Venkatappa Krishnasamy Sampath( – 23 February 1977), usually referred to as ''E. V. K. Sampath'' was a prominent politician from Tamil Nadu, India. He was an advocate of the Dravidian Movement of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and was conside ...

(1926–), Former Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) **

E. V. K. S. Elangovan Erode Venkata Krishnasamy Sampath Elangovan is an Indian politician who is a current member of the Tamil Nadu Legislative assembly from Erode East Assembly constituency. He previously represented the Gobichettipalayam lok sabha constituency of T ...

(1948–), Former Union Minister of State in the Ministry of Textiles; son of E. V. K. Sampath

G. K. Moopanar family

G. K. Moopanar Govindaswamy Karuppiah Moopanar (19 August 1931 – 30 August 2001) known as G. K. Moopanar was a Tamil Nadu Congress Committee leader, parliamentarian, and social worker.He was served as Member of the Rajya Sabha , president of Tamil Nadu Cong ...

(1931–2001), Former Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) **

(1964–), Former Union Minister of Shipping; son of Moopanar

H. Kumari Ananthan family

* H. Kumari Ananthan (1933–), Former Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) **

(1961–), Governor of Telangana; daughter of Kumari Ananthan *

H. Vasanthakumar Harikrishnan Nadar Vasanthakumar (14 April 195028 August 2020) was an Indian businessman and politician from Tamil Nadu. He was the founder and chairman of Vasanth & Co, one of the largest retail home appliance chains in Tamil Nadu. He was al ...

(1950–2020), Former Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); brother of Kumari Ananthan **

Vijay Vasanth Vijay Vasanth (born Vijayakumar Vasanthakumar on 20 May 1983) is an Indian politician who is a Member of Parliament from Kanyakumari Loksabha constituency. He contested and won the bypoll that took place for Kanyakumari Loksabha constituency i ...

(1983–), Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); nephew of Kumari Ananthan

M. Bhakthavatsalam family

(1897–1987), Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu **

Jayanthi Natarajan Jayanthi Natarajan (born 7 June 1954) is an Indian lawyer and politician. She was a member of the Indian National Congress and has been thrice elected Member of Parliament representing the state of Tamil Nadu in the Rajya Sabha. From July 2011 ...

(1954–), Former Union Minister of Environment and Forests; granddaughter of Bhakthavatsalam

M. Karunanidhi family

(1924–2018), Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu **

(1951–), Former Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers; son of Karunanidhi **

(1953–), Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu; son of Karunanidhi **

Kanimozhi Karunanidhi Kanimozhi Karunanidhi (born 5 January 1968) is an Indian politician, poet and journalist. She is a Member of Parliament, representing Thoothukkudi Lok Sabha constituency, Thoothukkudi constituency in the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliamen ...

(1968–), Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); daughter of Karunanidhi *** Dayanidhi Alagiri (unknown–), Indian cinema producer; grandson of Karunanidhi *** Udhayanidhi Stalin (1977–), Member of Legislative Assembly (Tamil Nadu); grandson of Karunanidhi ***

Arulnithi Tamilarasu Arulnithi Tamilarasu (born 21 July 1987) is an Indian actor best known for playing the lead roles in ''Vamsam'', directed by Pandiraj, Mouna Guru, and Demonte Colony. Personal life Arulnithi's grandfather is M. Karunanidhi, former Chief Ministe ...

(1987–), Indian actor; grandson of Karunanidhi ** Murasoli Maran (1934–2003), Former Union Minister of Commerce and Industry; nephew of Karunanidhi *** Kalanithi Maran (1964–), Founder of the Sun Group; grand-nephew of Karunanidhi ***

(1966–), Former Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology; grand-nephew of Karunanidhi

An M. G. Ramachandran family

* M. G. Ramachandran (1917–1987), Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu *

(1924–1996), Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu; wife of Ramachandran *

M. G. Chakrapani Maruthur Gopalan Chakrapani (13 January 1911 – 17 August 1986), commonly known as Ettan ("elder brother" in Malayalam), was an Indian actor and producer based in the Tamil film industry. He was the elder brother of actor-politician M. G ...

(1911–1986), Indian actor; brother of Ramachandran

An O. Panneerselvam family

(1951–), Former Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu **

P. Ravindhranath P. Ravindhranath Kumar is an Indian politician, popularly Known as O.P.R.. He was elected to the Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from Theni Lok Sabha constituency, Tamil Nadu in the 2019 Indian general election as member of t ...

(1980–), Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); son of Panneerselvam

P. Subbarayan family

(1889–1962), Former Union Minister of Transport and Communications ** Mohan Kumaramangalam (1916–1973), Former Union Minister of Steel and Mines; son of Subbarayan **

Parvathi Krishnan Parvathi Krishnan (15 March 1919 – 20 February 2014) was an Indian politician from the Communist Party of India. She was a three time former Member of Parliament representing Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency and Rajya Sabha member. She was t ...

(1919–2014), member of the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

; daughter of Subbarayan *** Rangarajan Kumaramangalam (1952–2000), Former Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha); grandson of Subbarayan ****

Rangarajan Mohan Kumaramangalam Rangarajan Mohan Kumaramangalam (born 6 July 1978) is an Indian politician and businessman. He is one of the working presidents of Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. He serves as President of All India Professionals' Congress-Tamilnadu and member of ...

(1978–), member of the Indian National Congress; great-grandson of Subbarayan ***

Lalitha Kumaramangalam Lalitha Kumaramangalam (born 1958) is an Indian politician who is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and former chairperson of the National Commission for Women. She was previously the National Secretary of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJ ...

(1957–), member of the National Executive of the BJP; granddaughter of P. Subbarayan

P. T. Rajan family

(1892–1974), Former Chief Minister of Madras Presidency **

P. T. R. Palanivel Rajan Ponnambala Thyaga Rajan Palanivel Rajan (27 February 1932 – 20 May 2006) was an Indian politician. Born into an aristocratic landlord Kondaikatti Thondaimandala Vellala family in Uthamapalayam. He did his schooling from Trinity College, Kan ...

(1932–2006), Former Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly; son of P.T. Rajan *** P. T. R. Palanivel Thiagarajan, Finance Minister of Tamil Nadu; grandson of P.T. Rajan

Sri Lanka

Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy family

Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy ( ta, ஆறுமுகம்பிள்ளை குமாரசுவாமி; 1783 – 7 November 1836) was a Ceylon Tamil member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon. Early life and family Coomaraswamy was ...

(1783–1836), Gate Mudaliyar, Member of Legislative Council ** Muthu Coomaraswamy (1833–1879), Member of Legislative Council, son of Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy *** Ananda Coomaraswamy (1877–1947), grandson of Arumugampillai Coomaraswamy

Arunachalam Ponnambalam family

* Arunachalam Ponnambalam (1814–1887), son in law of

** P. Coomaraswamy (1849–1906), first son of Arunachalam Ponnambalam **

P. Ramanathan Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan, Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, CMG, King's Counsel, KC ( ta, பொன்னம்பலம் இராமநாதன், translit=Poṉṉampalam Irāmanātaṉ; 16 April 1851 – 26 November 19 ...

(1851–1930), second son of Arunachalam Ponnambalam ***

Arunachalam Mahadeva Arunachalam Mahadeva, KCMG ( ta, அருணாசலம் மகாதேவா, translit=Aruṇācalam Makātēvā; 5 October 1885 – 15 April 1966) was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and diplomat. He served as Minister of Home Affairs ...

(1885–1969), son of P. Ramanathan ****

Baku Mahadeva Deshamanya Balakumara Mahadeva ( ta, பாலகுமாரன் மகாதேவா; 29 October 1921 – 29 November 2013; commonly known as Baku Mahadeva) was a leading Sri Lankan Tamil civil servant. Early life and family Mahadeva was ...

(1921–2013), grandson of P. Ramanathan ** P. Arunachalam (1853–1924), third son of Arunachalam Ponnambalam

S. Pararajasingam family

S. Pararajasingam Sir Sangarapillai Pararajasingam was a Ceylonese landed proprietor and member of the Senate of Ceylon. Early life and family Pararajasingam was born on 25 June 1896. He was the son of A. V. Sangarapillai, founder of Manipay Hindu College. Parar ...

, senator, son in law of P. Arunachalam, married Pathmavathy (daughter of P. Arunachalam)

V. P. Ganeshan family

V. P. Ganeshan Vythilingam Palanisamy Ganesan (known as ''V. P. Ganesan'') was a Sri Lankan trade unionist, politician, film producer and actor. Biography Ganeshan was the president of the trade union, Democratic Workers Congress and father of Mano, a Sri L ...

, founder of the Democratic Workers' Congress, film producer and actor ** Mano Ganesan (1959–), Member of Parliament, Provincial Councillor, son of V.P. Ganeshan **

Praba Ganesan Adawan Amal Praba Ganesan ( ta, பிரபா கணேசன்; born 4 January 1964) is a Sri Lankan politician and former Member of Parliament. He is the current leader of the Democratic People's Congress (DPC), a member of the United People ...

(1964–), Member of Parliament, Provincial Councillor, son of V.P. Ganeshan

Savumiamoorthy Thondaiman family

* Savumiamoorthy Thondaiman (1913–1999), founder and leader of the

Ceylon Workers' Congress The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) ( ta, இலங்கை தொழிலாளர் காங்கிரஸ், translit=Ilaṅkai Toḻilāḷar Kāṅkiras; si, ලංකා කම්කරු කොංග්‍රසය ''Lanka Kamkaru ...

, government minister, Member of Parliament *** Arumugam Thondaiman (1964–), leader of the

, Member of Parliament, grandson of Savumiamoorthy Thondaiman

G. G. Ponnambalam family

G. G. Ponnambalam Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam ( ta, கணபதி காங்கேசர் பொன்னம்பலம்; 8 November 1901 – 9 February 1977) was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician and cabinet minister. He was the founder and l ...

(1901–1977), founder and leader of the

All Ceylon Tamil Congress All Ceylon Tamil Congress ( ta, அகில இலங்கைத் தமிழ்க் காங்கிரஸ்), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka. History The ACTC was founded in 1944 by G.G. Ponnambalam. Ponnambalam ask ...

, government minister, Member of Parliament, Member of State Council **

Kumar Ponnambalam Gaasinather Gangaser Ponnambalam ( ta, காசிநாதர் காங்கேசர் பொன்னம்பலம்: 12 August 1938 – 5 January 2000; known as Kumar Ponnambalam) was a Sri Lankan lawyer and politician. Leader of th ...

(1940–2000), former leader of the

, presidential candidate (1982), son of G.G. Ponnambalam ***

Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam Gajendrakumar Gangaser Ponnambalam ( ta, கஜேந்திரகுமார் காங்கேசர் பொன்னம்பலம், translit=Kajēntirakumār Kāṅkēcar Poṉṉampalam; born 16 January 1974) is a Sri Lankan lawye ...

(1974–), present leader of the

, son of Kumar Ponnambalam, grandson of G.G. Ponnambalam

Arumugam Canagaratnam family

Arumugam Canagaratnam Arumugam Canagaratnam ( ta, ஆறுமுகம் கனகரத்தினம்; 1873–1929) was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer and member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon. Early life and family Canagaratnam was born in 1873. He was the son o ...

(1873–1929), Member of Legislative Council **

Cathiravelu Sittampalam Cathiravelu Sittampalam ( ta, கதிரவேலு சிற்றம்பலம்; 13 September 1898 – 3 February 1964) was a Ceylon Tamil civil servant, politician, Member of Parliament and government minister. Early life and famil ...

(1898–1964), government minister, Member of Parliament, son of A. Cathiravelu, nephew of A.Canagaratnam **

Cathiravelu Ponnambalam C. Ponnambalam (Cathiravelu Ponnambalam) was the First Mayor of Jaffna. Biography Ponnambalam hailed from a distinguished Tamil family from Jaffna. His father Arumugam Cathiravelu was a Magistrate and District Judge. His own brother Cathiravelu Sit ...

, first mayor of Jaffna, son of A. Cathiravelu, nephew of A. Canagaratnam

Military leaders

Army

* General Paramasiva Prabhakar Kumaramangalam (1913–2000), 7th Chief of Army Staff (1966–1969) * General

Krishnaswamy Sundararajan General Krishnaswamy "Sundarji" Sundararajan, (28 April 1928 – 8 February 1999) was the Chief of the Army Staff of the Indian Army from 1986 to 1988. He was the last former British Indian Army officer to command the Indian Army. D ...

(1930–1999), 14th Chief of Army Staff (1986–1988) * General Sundararajan Padmanabhan (1940–), 19th Chief of Army Staff (2000–2002)

Navy

* Admiral

Oscar Stanley Dawson Admiral Oscar Stanley Dawson (13 November 1923 – 23 October 2011) was a four-star admiral in the Indian Navy. He served as the 11th Chief of the Naval Staff from 1 March 1982 to 30 November 1984. From 1983 until his retirement, he also ser ...

(1923–2011), 12th Chief of Naval Staff, India, 1982–1984 * Admiral

Sushil Kumar Sushil Kumar Solanki (born 26 May 1983) is a former Indian wrestler. He carried the Indian flag at the opening ceremony of 2012 London Olympics. His 2008 Olympic medal was second for India in wrestling, and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Ja ...

(1940–2019), 16th Chief of the Naval Staff (India) (1988–2001) * Vice Admiral Nilkanta Krishnan (1919–1982), Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, India, 1947–1976 * Rear Admiral Rajan Kadiragamar, 2nd Ceylonese Captain of the Royal Ceylon Navy * Admiral Travis Sinniah, 21st Commander of the Sri Lankan Navy

Air Force

* Air Chief Marshal

Srinivasapuram Krishna Swamy Air Chief Marshal Srinivasapuram Krishnaswamy PVSM, AVSM, VM & Bar, ADC (born January 1943) is a former Air Officer in the Indian Air Force (IAF). He served as the 19th Chief of the Air Staff from 2001 to 2004. He raised the first electron ...

(1943–), 19th Chief of Air Staff (2001–2004)

Independence Movement

* Velupillai Prabhakaran, founder of

* Vaithilingam Sornalingam, also known as Colonel Shanker, was founder of the

air wing In military aviation, a wing is a unit of command. In most military aviation services, a wing is a relatively large formation of planes. In Commonwealth countries a wing usually comprises three squadrons, with several wings forming a group ( ...

and marine division of the

* Ambalavanar Neminathan commonly known by the nom de guerre Raju) was a leading member of the Tamil Tigers, Raju served as the head of the LTTE's Engineering Corps. He was special commander of the Leopard Commandos, an infantry unit, and chief technical officer in the Kittu Regiment, the LTTE's artillery unit which Raju helped create. * Pottu Amman, was the second-in-command of Tamil Tigers. was a Head of Tiger Organization Security Intelligence Service and the

Black Tigers The Black Tigers () was an elite suicide commando unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant Tamil separatist organization. They were specially selected and trained LTTE cadres whose missions included mounting suicide at ...

. *

Lt. Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the army, armies, most Marine (armed services), marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use t ...

Thileepan Rasaiah Parthipan ( ta, இராசையா பார்த்திபன்; 29 November 1963 – 26 September 1987; commonly known by the nom de guerre Thileepan) was a Tamil Eelam revolutionary and member of the Liberation Tigers of Tam ...

Award winners

Nobel Prize winners

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 ...

, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1930 *

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (; ) (19 October 1910 – 21 August 1995) was an Indian-American theoretical physicist who spent his professional life in the United States. He shared the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with William A. Fowler for "... ...

, Nobel Prize in Physics, 1983 * Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2009

Fields Medal

Akshay Venkatesh Akshay Venkatesh (born 21 November 1981) is an Australian mathematician and a professor (since 15 August 2018) at the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Advanced Study. His research interests are in the fields of counting, equidistribu ...

Fields Medal The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...

in mathematics, 2018

Bharat Ratna

The Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honor * C. Rajagopalachari, Former Governor-General of the Republic of India, 1954 * Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, Former President of the Republic of India, 1954 *

, Indian Physicist, 1954 *

, Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, 1976 * M. G. Ramachandran, Former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, 1988 *

, Former President of the Republic of India, 1997 *

M. S. Subbulakshmi Madurai Shanmukhavadivu Subbulakshmi (16 September 1916 – 11 December 2004) was an Indian Carnatic singer from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She was the first musician ever to be awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian honour. She is ...

, Indian Singer, 1998 *

, Former Minister of Defence of the Republic of India, 1998

Padma Vibhushan

The Padma Vibhushan is India's second highest civilian honour. *

Arcot Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar Sir Arcot Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar , FRCOG, FACS (14 October 1887 – 15 April 1974) was an Indian educationist and physician. He was the identical younger twin brother of Sir A. R. Mudaliar. Initial education was in Kurnool and they moved to ...

, for Medicine, 1963 *

, for Science & Engineering, 1968 * K. V. Kalyana Sundaram, for Public Affairs, 1968 * Arcot Ramasamy Mudaliar, for Civil Service, 1970 *

T. Swaminathan Thirumalraya Swaminathan was cabinet secretary of India during 1 December 1970 to 2 November 1972. He was a member of Indian Civil Service (ICS). Swaminathan, served as Chief Election Commissioner of India The Chief Election Commissione ...

, for Civil Service, 1973 *

T. Balasaraswati Tanjore Balasaraswati, also known as Balasaraswati (13 May 1918 – 9 February 1984), was an Indian dancer, and her rendering of Bharatanatyam, a classical dance style originated in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu, made this style of d ...

, for Arts, 1977 * V. Arunachalam, for Literature & Education, 1990 * Raja Jesudoss Chelliah, for Public Affairs, 2007 *

Balu Sankaran Balu Sankaran was a professor, scientist and recipient of the Padma Shri and Padma Vibushan awards. He helped establish an artificial limbs manufacturing corporation and a rehabilitation institute. Biography Sankaran was born in Tamil Nadu on 4 ...

, for Medicine, 2007 *

V. Krishnamurthy Venkataraman Krishnamurthy (14 January 1925 – 26 June 2022) was an Indian civil servant. V. Krishnamurthy is known as the "Father of Public sector undertakings in India" for his leadership and successful contribution in turning around Bhara ...

, for Civil Service, 2007 *

Ilaiyaraaja Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one of ...

, for Music, 2018

Padma Bhushan

The Padma Bhushan is India's third highest civilian honour. * Sivaji Ganesan, 1984 *

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

, Arts *

, veteran musician and Tamil music director *

A. R. Rahman Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in int ...

, Oscar-winning musician from Chennai; referred to as the Mozart of Madras *

Arogyaswami Paulraj Arogyaswami J. Paulraj (born 14 April 1944) is an Indian-American electrical engineer, academic. He is a Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Elect. Engg. at Stanford University. Early life Paulraj was born in Pollachi near Coimbatore, Bri ...

, wireless technology pioneer *

Shiv Nadar Shiv Nadar (born 14 July 1945) is an Indian billionaire industrialist and philanthropist. He is the founder and chairman emeritus of HCL Enterprise, HCL Technologies Limited and the Shiv Nadar Foundation. Nadar founded HCL in the mid-1970s and ...

, Indian industrialist and philanthropist * Jayakanthan, author *

Muthulakshmi Reddy Muthulakshmi Reddy (also spelled Reddi in some British Indian sources; 30 July 1886 – 22 July 1968) was an Indian medical practitioner, social reformer and Padma Bhushan award recipient. Muthulakshmi Reddy was appointed to the Madras Legisl ...

, doctor, social reformer * Krishnammal Jaganathan, Social Service

Padma Shri

The Padma Shri is India's fourth highest civilian honour. * Sivaji Ganesan (1966), Arts *

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

(1987), Arts * Vairamuthu (2003), Literature and Education *

B. Palaniappan Padma Shri.Bhuvaraghan Palaniappan (5 November 1930 – 23 March 2014) was an Indian gynecologist. In recognition of his contributions to medicine, Palaniappan received the Padma Shri award from then President of India, Abdul Kalam, on 29 March 2 ...

(2006), Medicine *

Sivanthi Adithan Sivanthi Adityan (24 September 1936 – 19 April 2013) was an Indian media baron who ran Tamil newspapers Daily Thanthi and Maalaimalar. Sivanthi started the first evening Tamil Daily Maalai Murasu at Tirunelveli in 1959. He was an educationis ...

(2008), Literature and Education * Vivek (2009), Arts *

Mecca Rafeeque Ahmed Mecca Rafeeque Ahmed is an Indian businessman and entrepreneur from Tamil Nadu. He is a recipient of 2011 Padma Shri Award. Career Ahmed's father, Haji Mecca Abdul Majid Sahib, started the Farida Prime Tannery in 1957. He named it after the young ...

(2011), businessman and entrepreneur

Ramon Magsaysay Award

The

Ramon Magsaysay Award The Ramon Magsaysay Award (Filipino: ''Gawad Ramon Magsaysay'') is an annual award established to perpetuate former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay's example of integrity in governance, courageous service to the people, and pragmatic idealis ...

was established in 1957 in memory of Ramon Magsaysay, the late president of the Philippines. It is often considered to be Asia's Nobel Prize. * M. S. Swaminathan, for Community Leadership, 1971 *

, for classical carnatic genre, 1974 * Jockin Arputham, for Peace and International Understanding, 2000 * Kulandei Francis, 2012 * T. M. Krishna, 2016

Dadasaheb Phalke Award

The Dadasaheb Phalke Award is India's highest award in cinema, given annually by the Government of India for lifetime contribution to Indian cinema. It was instituted in 1969, the birth centenary year of Dadasaheb Phalke, considered as the father of Indian cinema. * Sivaji Ganesan, 1996 *

, 2011

Param Vir Chakra

The Param Vir Chakra is India's highest military honor. * Major Ramaswamy Parmeshwaran (1946–1987), awarded in 1987 ( posthumous) for

IPKF Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) was the Indian military contingent performing a peacekeeping operation in Sri Lanka between 1987 and 1990. It was formed under the mandate of the 1987 Indo-Sri Lankan Accord that aimed to end the Sri Lankan ...

operations in Sri Lanka

Sahitya Akademi Award

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award

The

Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna The Khel Ratna Award (), officially known as the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award ( Major Dhyan Chand Sport Jewel Award), is the highest sporting honour of India. It is awarded annually by the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Governm ...

Award is India's highest sporting honor. * Viswanathan Anand, for Chess, 1991–92 * Dhanraj Pillai, for Men's field hockey, 1999–2000 *

Mariyappan Thangavelu Mariyappan Thangavelu (born 28 June 1995) is an Indian Paralympic high jumper. He represented India in the 2016 Summer Paralympics games held in Rio de Janeiro in the men's high jump T-42 category and the 2020 Summer Paralympic games held ...

, for Paralympic high jump, 2020–2021

Jnanpith Award

The Jnanpith Award is India's highest literary honor *

Akilan Akilandam, better known by his pen name Akilan, was an Indian writer and novelist who wrote in Tamil. He was attracted by Gandhian philosophy during his school days and he discontinued his college education at Pudukkottai to join the freedom st ...

, 1975 * Jayakanthan, 2002

Sangeet Natak Akademi Award

* Vyjayanthimala, Sangeet Natak Akademi, 1982

Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship

Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer Karaikudi Sambasiva Iyer (1888 - 1958) was noted Indian classical musician and Veena player. In 1952, he was amongst the first awardees of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's Nation ...

* Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar * Papanasam R. Sivan *

V. Raghavan Venkataraman Raghavan (1908–1979) was a Sanskrit scholar and musicologist. He was the recipient of numerous awards, including the Padma Bhushan and the Sahitya Akademi Award for Sanskrit, and authored over 120 books and 1200 articles. Early ...

Guinness World Records

L. Athira Krishna Aathira Krishna is an Indian violinist. She holds the Guinness World Record for her 32-hour-long non-stop Carnatic violin solo concert. She is among the youngest cultural ambassadors of India. Early years Hailing from a musical family in Kera ...

, Guinness World Record holder * Suresh Joachim, Canadian actor,

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

, and multiple-

Guinness World Record ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...

holder * V. S. Kumar Anandan, his many records include swimming the

Palk Strait The Palk Strait ( ta, பாக்கு நீரிணை ''Pākku Nīriṇai'', si, පෝක් සමුද්‍ර සන්ධිය ''Pok Samudra Sandhiya'') is a strait between the Tamil Nadu state of India and the Jaffna Distric ...

, from Sri Lanka to India and back in 51 hours, in 1971 *

Kutraleeswaran Kutraleeswaran Ramesh (born 8 November 1981), popularly known as Kutraleeswaran or Kutral, is an Indian swimmer and the founder of Nanban Sports Foundation which aims to help Indian sportspersons who are suffering financially. A winner of the p ...

, swam across English Channel in 1994 when he was just 13 years old; the same year, he swam across six channels to break Mihir Sen's record of swimming across five channels in a calendar year *

Rajasekharan Parameswaran Rajasekharan Parameswaran (born 1964), also known as Marthandam Rajasekharan, is an Indian art director and self-taught painter from Tamil Nadu. He holds two Guinness World Records. Personal life Born in 1964, Parameswaran lives in Kaliyikkav ...

, Guinness World Records holder. *

Aari Arujunan Aari Arujunan, known by the mononym Aari, is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He made his lead debut in '' Rettaisuzhi'' (2010) produced by director Shankar, before having a breakthrough performance as Murugan in ''Ned ...

, actor and Guinness World Record holder

Arjuna Award

The

Arjuna Award The Arjuna Award, officially known as Arjuna Awards for Outstanding Performance in Sports and Games, is the second-highest sporting honour of India, the highest being the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award. The award is named after Arjuna, one ...

was instituted in 1961 by the Government of India to recognize outstanding achievement in national sports. *

, youngest Arjuna Award winner

Oscar awards

, won the

Academy Award for Best Original Score The Academy Award for Best Original Score is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) to the best substantial body of music in the form of dramatic underscoring written specifically for the film by t ...

and

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

in 2009 *

Cottalango Leon Cottalango Leon (born 1971)Alum Profile. (2016).
Mr. Cottalango(1992 BE-CSE), an Alumnus of PSG Colleg ...

, won the

Academy Award for scientific and technical achievement The Scientific and Technical Awards are three different Honorary Awards that are given by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) during the annual Academy Awards season. The Awards have been presented since the 4th Academy Awards ...

"the design, engineering and continuous development" of Sony Pictures Imageworks itView technology in 2016

Social workers

* Pandit iyothee thass, Anti-caste activist, founding father of dravidian movement and first buddhist revivalist of India *

M. B. Nirmal M. B. Nirmal is the founder and chairman of Exnora International which is a civic movement in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by ...

, founder and chairman of Exnora International * Suresh Joachim, founder and chairman of

World Peace Marathon Suresh Joachim Arulanantham (born August 17, 1968) is a Canadian film actor, producer, and multiple-Guinness World Record holder who has broken more than 60 world records. World records Farthest distance run, whilst carrying a 4.5 kg bric ...

* Krishnammal Jagannathan *

Naraina Pillai Narayana Pillai was a social entrepreneur and businessman, who spent most of his life in Singapore during the colonial period. Of Tamil origins, he greatly contributed to the Tamil community in Singapore. Prior to 1819, Pillai (also spelled Nar ...

Anjali Gopalan Anjali Gopalan (born 1 September 1957) is an Indian human rights and animal rights activist, founder and executive director of The Naz Foundation (India) Trust, an NGO dedicated to the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic in India mainly focu ...

, first Indian Tamil woman awarded with the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, "Knight in the order of the legions of Honor", the highest award from France, 2013 *

Harish Iyer Harish Iyer, also known as "Aham", ''hiyer'' and "Harrish Iyer" (born 16 April 1979) is an Indian equal rights activist. Iyer engages in advocacy for a number of causes, including promoting the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transge ...

, Mumbai based blogger and LGBT rights activist * Chinna Pillai, started Kalanjiam, a microcredit movement in villages *

Traffic Ramasamy K. R. Ramaswamy (1 April 1934 – 4 May 2021), referred to by the media as Traffic Ramaswamy, was an Indian public interest litigator and social activist from Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He was a mill worker, a founder member of Tamil Nadu's Home Gua ...

, self-appointed traffic policeman, public interest litigator and social activist from Chennai * Kumi Naidoo, Secretary General of

Amnesty international Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

, Dalit activist

Criminals

Bentong Kali Kalimuthu s/o Pakirisamy or P. Kalimuthu (22 January 1961 – 29 June 1993), known professionally as Bentong Kali, was a Malaysian criminal and gangster, who gained a national attention in the 1990s. He was implicated in 17 different murd ...

(1961–1993), was a Malaysian-Tamil criminal and mobster who gained a national attention in the 1990s. He was implicated in over 17 different murders, and terrorized the capital Kuala Lumpur through violence, extortion and heroin smuggling. He also made headlines when he challenged the police to arrest him. He was finally gunned down by Royal Malaysia Police's Special Actions Unit from Bukit Aman, Kuala Lumpur. * Douglas Devananda (1957-) is a

paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

leader, politician and a proclaimed offender in India and is wanted on charges of murder, attempt to murder, child prostitution, rioting, unlawful assembly and kidnapping.

(Tamil Tigers), tried unsuccessfully to assassinate him over 10 times. * Varadarajan Mudaliar (1926–1988), also known as Vardhabhai and Vardha, was an Indian-Tamil

crime boss A crime boss, also known as a crime lord, Don, gang lord, gang boss, mob boss, kingpin, godfather, crime mentor or criminal mastermind, is a person in charge of a criminal organization. Description A crime boss typically has absolute or nearl ...

. He was one of the infamous trio of mafia gang leaders of Mumbai the other being Karim Lala and Haji Mastan. His origin is North Arcot district of Tamil Nadu, from where his father migrated to Tuticorin to work in shipping business. He was born in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu. From early 1960s to the 1980s; he was one of the most powerful mob bosses in Bombay, along with Haji Mastan and Karim Lala. *

Auto Shankar Gowri Shankar (21 January 1954 – 27 April 1995), better known as 'Auto' Shankar, was an Indian criminal, serial killer and gangster from Tamil Nadu, who was active in Chennai throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Early and personal life Shanka ...

(1954–1995), was a serial killer and a gangster from the state of Tamil Nadu active in Chennai throughout the 1970s and 1980s.

Business and administration

Tamil billionaires

* Ananda Krishnan * Kalanithi Maran *

Ram Shriram Kavitark Ram Shriram (born 1956/57) is an Indian-American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is a founding board member and one of the first investors in Google. He was earlier employed by Amazon, working for Jeff Bezos. Shriram cam ...

A. Vellayan Arunachalam Vellayan (born 9 January 1953, Chennai) is a member of the Murugappa family and the vice-chairman of the Murugappa Group, based in Chennai, India. In February 2018, he stepped down as chairman of the group, ceding the spot to his cou ...

Maha Sinnathamby Maha Sinnathamby (born 10 December 1939 in Rantau, Seremban, Malaysia) is an Australian businessman and property developer. He is the entrepreneur behind the Greater Springfield Development in Queensland, the largest master-planned community ...

G. Gnanalingam Tan Sri Datuk G. Gnanalingam is a prominent Malaysian businessman. He is the current executive chairman of Westports Malaysia Sdn Bhd, one of Malaysia's leading port operators. The Singapore-born captain of industry, who grew up in Port Dicks ...

* R. G. Chandramogan * Sundar Pichai *

B. S. Abdur Rahman Buhari Syed Abdur Rahman (15 October 1927 – 7 January 2015) was an Indian entrepreneur, philanthropist and educationist. He had a range of business interests in the UAE and India (in Tamil Nadu) including maritime shipping, real estate, ins ...

T. S. Kalyanaraman T. S. Kalyanaraman (born 23 April 1947) is an Indian businessman, best known as the chairman and managing director of Kalyan Jewellers and Kalyan Developers. Kalyan Group is the holding company of Kalyan Jewellers. Early life Kalyanaraman wa ...

* Subaskaran Allirajah * Sridhar Vembu

Tamil executives and business people

* Palani G. Periasamy, Chairman of PGP Group of companies * Indra Krishnamurthy Nooyi, former chairman and CEO of PepsiCo * Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, Inc. *

Prabhakar Raghavan Prabhakar Raghavan is a senior vice president at Google, where he is responsible for Google Search, Assistant, Geo, Ads, Commerce, and Payments products. His research spans algorithms, web search and databases and he is the co-author of the textbo ...

, Senior vice President of Google Inc. * Kalanidhi Maran, founder and head of Sun TV Network; ex-owner of SpiceJet Airline and owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad

IPL The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 franchise cricket league of India. It is annually contested by ten teams based out of seven Indian cities and three Indian states. The leagu ...

team * Natarajan Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata & Sons * Subramaniam Ramadorai, adviser, Prime Minister of India * Suresh Joachim, CEO WBBAS, No Poverty No Disease No War, World Peace Marathon and Suresh Joachim International Group Of Companies. * Valiama Narain *

Ramamurthy Thyagarajan R. Thyagarajan may refer to: * R. Thyagarajan (director) * R. Thyagarajan (industrialist) * R. Thiyagarajan, politician {{hndis, Thyagarajan, R. ...

Educators

* L. S. Kandasamy, teacher at

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) is the state agricultural university of Tamil Nadu located in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. History The Tamil Nadu Agricultural University had its genesis from establishment of an agricultural sch ...

Jeppiaar Dr. Jeppiaar (11 June 1931 – 18 June 2016), also known as J. P. R., was an Indian politician, educationist, and industrialist. He was born in Muttom near Nagercoil, Travancore Cochin Presidency, now the Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu. H ...

, founder, Sathyabama University * V. L. Ethiraj, founder, Ethiraj College for Women *

Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy Yecha Gunja Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy (27 November 1925 – 6 August 2019), better known as Mrs YGP, was an Indian journalist, educationist and social worker. She was the founder and dean of the Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan. Rajalakshmi was award ...

, founder,

Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan (PSBB) is a group of schools located in Chennai, India. The school was founded by educationalist Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy (1925–2019), also known as Mrs. YGP. History The PSBB School in Chennai was established ...

, founder,

B. S. Abdur Rahman University B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Technology, formerly B. S. Abdur Rahman University, is a private university located in Tamil Nadu, India. Previously, functioning under University of Madras (1984–2001) and Anna University (2 ...

Munirathna Anandakrishnan Munirathna Anandakrishnan (12 July 1928 – 29 May 2021) was an Indian civil engineer, educationist, a chairman of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur and a Vice-Chancellor of Anna University. He was also an Advisor to the Government of ...

, former chairman, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and former Vice-Chancellor, Anna University *

Bala V. Balachandran Bala V. Balachandran (5 July 1937 – 28 September 2021) was an Indian academic who served as Professor Emeritus of Accounting Information & Management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He was also the founder, Cha ...

, founder, Dean & Chairman, Great Lakes Institute of Management *

V. M. Muralidharan Vellore Madhavan Muralidharan, popularly known as Mike Muralidharan, (born 29 December 1959) is an Indian educationist and IT industry veteran. He is the Chairman of Ethiraj College for Women, the Chief Operating Officer of Bahwan CyberTek Gr ...

, former chairman, Ethiraj College for Women *

Subra Suresh Subra Suresh is an Indian-born American bioengineer, materials scientist, and academic administrator. On 1 January 2018, he was inaugurated as the fourth President of Singapore's Nanyang Technological University (NTU), where he is also the i ...

, President of

Carnegie Mellon University Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. One of its predecessors was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools; it became the Carnegie Institute of Technology ...

, former Dean of the School of Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, former Director of the National Science Foundation * Ramayya Krishnan, Dean of Heinz College and H. John Heinz III, W. W. Cooper and Ruth F. Cooper Professor of Management Science and Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon University

Philanthropists

* Annamalai Chettiar * Pachaiyappa Mudaliar *

Chengalvaraya Naicker Chengalvaraya Naicker (1825-1874) was a philanthropist also known as Sri P.T.Lee Chengalvaraya Naicker P.T.Lee Chengalvaraya Naicker Naicker was born in Chennai in a Tamil Vanniyar (Vanniya kula Kshatriya) family and served as subedar major in ...

Kandasamy Kandar Kandaswami Kandar or Vallal Kandaswami Kandar was a philanthropist, from Nanjai Edayar, a small village near Paramathi Velur, Namakkal District, Tamil Nadu. Early life Sri.Sankara Kandaswami Kandar was born to Sankara Kandar and Veerayi Ammal on ...

* Alagappa Chettiar *

T. M. Jambulingam Mudaliar Rao Bahadur T. M. Jambulingam Mudaliar (22 June 1890 – 28 October 1970) was an Indian philanthropist, politician, landlord and freedom fighter. He discovered the presence of lignite Coal in the Neyveli region and donated several hundred acres ...

Diplomats

* Lakshman Kadirgamar, former Sri Lankan foreign minister and diplomat * Gopalapuram Parthasarathy, diplomat and author in India * Yogendra Duraiswamy, Sri Lankan diplomat *

Tamara Kunanayakam Tamara Manimekhalai Kunanayakam is a Sri Lankan diplomat. She was the former Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office at Geneva and Sri Lankan Ambassador to Holy See. Early life Kunanayakam was born in and grew up in Co ...

* Anton Muttukumaru * Manicasothy Saravanamuttu * H. W. Thambiah *

Krishnan Srinivasan Krishnan Srinivasan (born 15 February 1937) is a retired Indian diplomat, historian, author, former Indian Foreign Secretary, and Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth of Nations . He was born in Madras, India and educated at Bedford S ...

K. Raghunath Krishnan Raghunath is an Indian diplomat who served as the Foreign Secretary of India in the late 1990s. He previously served as the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh as well as Ambassador to Russia, Nigeria and the Philippines. Krishnan, R ...

Beno Zephine N L Beno Zephine N L (born 17 April 1990) is an Indian diplomat who has been serving as an Indian Foreign Service (IFS) Officer since 2014. She is the first 100% visually impaired officer in the IFS. Early life and background Beno was born on 1 ...

Journalists and broadcasters

J. S. Tissainayagam Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam (known as J. S. Tissainayagam, Tamil Language, Tamil: ''ஜெயப்பிரகாஷ் சிற்றம்பலம் திசைநாயகம்'') is a Sri Lankan journalist. He was detained b ...

, journalist, first winner of the Peter Mackler Award for Courageous and Ethical Journalism * George Alagiah, BBC reporter and journalist *

James Coomarasamy James Coomarasamy is a British presenter of the BBC Radio 4 evening programme ''The World Tonight'' and the flagship '' Newshour'' programme on the BBC World Service. Before joining ''Newshour'' in 2010, Coomarasamy spent a year presenting th ...

, BBC reporter and journalist * Ranga Yogeshwar, Luxembourgish physicist and science journalist *

Darshini David Dharshini David is a British author, economist and broadcaster. After working at HSBC, BBC News and Tesco, she became a business correspondent and news presenter for Sky News in 2009. She returned to the BBC in 2018. Early life David was bo ...

, BBC reporter and journalist *

Tim Kash Tim Kash is a British television presenter best known for formerly presenting ''Top of the Pops'' in the United Kingdom, and '' MTV News'' on MTV UK and Ireland. He appeared on the U.S. edition of ''MTV News'', and as a presenter on E! Network's ...

, MTV and BBC reporter and journalist * Taraki Sivaram,

political analyst Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

and a senior editor for Tamilnet.com *

E. Saravanapavan Eswarapatham Saravanapavan ( ta, ஈஸ்வரபாதம் சரவணபவன்; born 15 December 1953) is a Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper publisher, politician and Member of Parliament. Early life Saravanapavan was born on 15 December 19 ...

, managing director of the ''

Uthayan ''Uthayan'' ( ta, உதயன் Utayaṉ, en, Morning) is a Tamil language Sri Lankan daily newspaper published by New Uthayan Publication (Private) Limited, part of the Uthayan Group of Newspapers. It was founded in 1985 and is published from ...

'' and ''

Sudar Oli ''Sudar Oli'' ( ta, சுடர் ஒளி Cuṭar Oḷi) is a Tamil language Sri Lankan daily newspaper published by Mass Media Syndicate (Private) Limited, part of the Uthayan Group of Newspapers. It was founded in 2000 and is published from ...

'' Tamil newspapers *

N. Ram Narasimhan Ram (born 4 May 1945) is an Indian journalist and a prominent member of the Kasturi family that controls The Hindu Group of publications. Ram was the managing-director of ''The Hindu'' since 1977 and its editor-in-chief since 27 Ju ...

, editor-in-chief of ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' newspaper owned by Kasturi and Sons *

Cho Ramaswamy Srinivasa Iyer Ramaswamy, better known as Cho Ramaswamy (5 October 1934 – 7 December 2016), was an Indian actor, comedian, character actor, editor, political satirist, playwright, film director and lawyer from Tamil Nadu. He was a p ...

, editor of the Tamil political journal ''Tughlaq'' * Thenkachi Ko. Swaminathan, deputy director of All India Radio, 'Indru oru thagaval Fame' * Hari Sreenivasan,

Public Broadcasting Service The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educati ...

Scientists

Mylswamy Annadurai Mylswamy Annadurai, popularly known as Moon Man of India , is an Indian scientist working as vice president for Tamil Nadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCST), Chairman, Board of Governors, National Design and Research Forum(NDRF. ...

, scientist with the Indian Space Research Organization; Director of ISRO Satellite Centre * Shiva Ayyadurai, as a high school student in 1979, he developed an electronic version of an interoffice mail system, which he called "EMAIL" and copyrighted in 1982 *

Kailasavadivoo Sivan Kailasavadivoo Sivan (born 14 April 1957) is an Indian space scientist who served as the Secretary of the Department of Space and chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation and Space Commission. He has previously served as the Director o ...

, current chairperson of Indian Space Research Organization.

Social anthropologists

* Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah

Academicians

Arumugam Vijiaratnam Arumugam Vijiaratnam (24 August 1921 – 18 February 2016) was the only Singaporean who represented his country in four sports — hockey, cricket, football and rugby — doing so from 1946 to 1956. He was the first Singaporean engineer. ...

, became the first Pro-Chancellor of

Nanyang Technological University The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) is a national research university in Singapore. It is the second oldest autonomous university in the country and is considered as one of the most prestigious universities in the world by various inte ...

in 1992 and served until 2005 *

, founder and dean of Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India; professor at Northwestern University * V. L. Ethiraj, founder of Ethiraj College for Women * Malcolm Adiseshiah (1910–1994), economist; former Deputy Director General of UNESCO; founder of MIDS ( Madras Institute of Development Studies) * V. C. Kulandaiswamy, educator and

technologist Technologist may refer to: * Applied Science Technologist, a Canadian professional title in engineering and applied science technology. * Architectural technologist, a specialist in the technology fields of building, design and construction. * C ...

; formerly Vice Chancellor of Anna University, IGNOU and Tamil Virtual University *

M. Varadarasan Also known as Mu. Va. and Varatharasanar, was a Tamil scholar, author and academic from Tamil Nadu, India. He was born in an aristocratic Tuluva Vellala family near Vellore. He was a prolific writer whose published works include 13 novels, 6 pla ...

, winner of sahitya Academy Award; Ex- Vice Chancellor of Madurai Kamaraj University * Prof Philip Jeyaretnam, professor of law; member of Public Service Commission * Prof Sittampalam Shanmugaratnam, former Head of the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at the National University of Singapore * Arjun Appadurai, contemporary social theorist; educator; founder of the

School of International Relations The School of International Relations (or SIR) ( fa, دانشکده روابط بین‌الملل وزارت امور خارجه) is an institute of higher education in Iran. The school trains an international student body, and is run by the Ira ...

, JNU, New Delhi * Dr. H.S.S. Lawrence, educator; formerly Director of School Education, Tamil Nadu; UNESCO Expert to the Government of Afghanistan *

C. K. Prahalad Coimbatore Krishnarao Prahalad (8 August 1941 – 16 April 2010) was an Indian-American entrepreneur and author. He was the Paul and Ruth McCracken Distinguished University Professor of Corporate Strategy at the University of Michigan Step ...

, Professor of Corporate Strategy at the Ross School of Business of the University of Michigan * Prof B.P. Sanjay, Vice-Chancellor of First Central University in Tamil Nadu at Tiruvaroor *

M. S. Ananth Madaboosi Santanam Ananth is an Indian academic who served as the director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras from 2001 to 2011. He was presented with The Herdillia award for excellence in basic research in chemical engineering. Bio ...

, Director of Indian Institute of Technology, Madras * Xavier Thaninayagam, known for setting up the International Association for Tamil Research (IATR) and organising the first World Tamil Conference *

Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer Christie Jayaratnam Eliezer ( ta, கிரிஸ்டி ஜெயரத்தினம் எலியேசர், translit=Kirisṭi Jeyarattiṉam Eliyēcar; 12 June 1918 – 10 March 2001) was a Ceylon Tamil mathematician, physicist an ...

, appointed a Member of the Order of Australia *

Sanjay Subrahmanyam Sanjay Subrahmanyam (born 21 May 1961) is a historian who specialises in the early modern period and in Connected History. He is the author of several books and publications. He holds the Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences at ...

, awarded the Infosys Prize in the field of humanities (history) in 2012 *

Indira Samarasekera Indira Vasanti Samarasekera (née Arulpragasam; April 11, 1952) is the former president and former vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta. She has been a member of the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, which advises on ...

, 12th and current president and vice-chancellor of the University of Alberta *

Vilayanur S. Ramachandran Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 10 August 1951) is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a disti ...

, neuroscientist known primarily for his work in the fields of behavioral neurology and visual psychophysics

Agriculture

G. Nammalvar G. Nammazhvar (Tamil : கோ. நம்மாழ்வார், 6 April 1938 – 30 December 2013) was an Indian green crusader, agricultural scientist, environmental activist and organic farming expert best known for his work on spreading ...

, Indian organic farming scientist * M. S. Swaminathan, agricultural scientist and

Botanists

Ganapathi Thanikaimoni Ganapathi Thanikaimoni (1 January 1938 – 5 September 1986), often referred to as Thanikaimoni was an Indian palynologist. Early life and education Born on New Year's Day, 1938 in Madras, India, Thani received the Master of Science degree ...

(1938–1986) *

M. O. P. Iyengar Mandayam Osuri Parthasarathy Iyengar (15 December 1886 – 10 December 1963) was a prominent Indian botanist and phycologist who researched the structure, cytology, reproduction and taxonomy of algae. He is known as the "father of Indian phycol ...

* Dr. C. Livingstone

Computer science

Ramanathan V. Guha Ramanathan V. Guha (born 1965) is the creator of widely used web standards such as RSS, RDF and Schema.org. He is also responsible for products such as Google Custom Search. He was a co-founder of Epinions and Alpiri. He currently works at Googl ...

, known for his work on Cyc, Schema.org, Meta Content Framework,

Resource Description Framework The Resource Description Framework (RDF) is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standard originally designed as a data model for metadata. It has come to be used as a general method for description and exchange of graph data. RDF provides a variety of ...

; developed the first version of

RSS RSS ( RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is a web feed that allows users and applications to access updates to websites in a standardized, computer-readable format. Subscribing to RSS feeds can allow a user to keep track of many di ...

Madhu Sudan Madhu Sudan (born 12 September 1966) is an Indian-American computer scientist. He has been a Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences since 2015. Career He received ...

(1966–), professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; member of MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory *

Hari Balakrishnan Hari Balakrishnan is the Fujitsu Professor of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT, and the Co-founder and CTO at Cambridge Mobile Telematics. Early life and care ...

, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; member of MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory *

(1944–), Professor of

Electrical Engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

; a pioneer of wireless smart antenna technology * Shiva Ayyadurai *

Ravindran Kannan Ravindran Kannan ( ta, ரவீந்திரன் கண்ணன்; born 12 March 1953, Madras) is a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research India, where he leads the algorithms research group. He is also the first adjunct faculty of C ...

, a principal researcher at ''Microsoft Research India'' *

T. V. Raman T. V. Raman (born 4 May 1965) is a computer scientist who specializes in accessibility research.Gibbs, W.W. (1996) ''Profile: T. V. Raman – Envisioning Speech'', ''Scientific American'' 275(3), 52-54. His research interests are primarily i ...

* Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google

Finance and economics

Marti Subrahmanyam Marti G. Subrahmanyam is the Charles E. Merrill Professor of Finance at the Stern School of Business at New York University. He also teaches for the Master of Science in Global Finance (MSGF), which is a joint program between Stern and the H ...

, professor at New York University (NYU); on board of directors of Infosys and ICICI *

, professor at the

Kellogg School of Management The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...

Ravi Jagannathan Ravi Jagannathan is an American economist. He is a chaired professor at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. With the exception of the period 1989–1997 when he was a professor at the University of Minnesota, Jagannatha ...

, economist and professor at the

H. V. R. Iyengar Haravu Venkatanarasingha Verada Raj "H. V. R." Iengar CIE, ICS (23 August 1902Reserve Bank of India (1957–1962) *

S. Jagannathan Sarukkai Jagannathan (18 May 1914 – 1996) was the tenth Governor of the Reserve Bank of India from 16 June 1970 to 19 May 1975. Educated at the Presidency College, Madras, Jagannathan was a member of the Indian Civil Service, and had served wit ...

, ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1970–1975); executive at the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) *

M. Narasimham Maidavolu Narasimham (3 June 192720 April 2021) was an Indian banker who served as the thirteenth governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) from 2 May 1977 to 30 November 1977. For his contributions to the banking and financial sector in Indi ...

, banker; ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1977); executive at the World Bank and IMF *

, ex-Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (1990–1992) *

K. Ramachandran K. Ramachandran (born 9 August 1951) is an Indian politician and the Minister for Forests in Tamil Nadu. He was born in Coonoor. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly as a Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam(DMK) candidate from Gudalur ...

, Director and CFO of ''Barclays Wealth'', India (2008–) *

T. N. Srinivasan T. N. Srinivasan, in full Thirukodikaval Nilakanta Srinivasan (27 March 1933 – 11 November 2018), was an Indian economist who had taught and worked in the United States. He was the Professor#Retired faculty 2, Emeritus Samuel C. Park, Jr. Prof ...

(1933–), economist; Samuel C. Park Jr. Professor of Economics at Yale University *

, Professor at University of Chicago Booth School of Business, ex- Governor of Reserve Bank of India (2013–2016), Chief Economist, International Monetary Fund (IMF), (2003–2007) * Sendhil Mullainathan, co-founder of Ideas-42 * Jomo Kwame Sundaram *

Ramon Navaratnam Ramon Navaratnam (born January 1935) is a Malaysian economist. He is the former Secretary-General of the Malaysian Ministry of Transport, and is currently a corporate advisor to the Sunway Group. He is of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Biography Nava ...

Raj Chetty Nadarajan "Raj" Chetty (born August 4, 1979) is an Indian-American economist and the William A. Ackman Professor of Public Economics at Harvard University. Some of Chetty's recent papers have studied equality of opportunity in the United States an ...

, listed in 2008 by '' The Economist'' as one of the top eight young economists in the world *

Swaminathan Gurumurthy Swaminathan Gurumurthy is a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) Ideologue. He is also a journalist editing the Tamil political weekly ''Thuglak'' and a Chartered Accountant. He is also the editor of Rajasthan Patrika. He is the co-convenor of the ...

, Indian economist *

Arvind Subramanian Arvind Subramanian is an Indian economist and the former Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, having served from 16 October 2014 to 20 June 2018. Subramanian is currently a Senior Fellow at the Watson Institute for International ...

, Indian Economist,

Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India ThChief Economic Adviser (CEA)is a post in Government of India and is equivalent to rank of Secretary to the Government of India. The CEA is the ex-officio cadre controlling authority of the Indian Economic Service. The CEA is head of Economi ...

(2014–2018) *

Krishnamurthy Subramanian Krishnamurthy Venkata Subramanian (born May 5, 1971) is an Indian economist who served as the 17th chief economic adviser to the Government of India. Subramanian is a leading expert on economic policy, banking and corporate governance, who was ...

, Indian Economist, Associate Professor in Indian School of Business and current

(2018-)

Law

K. Sripavan Justice Kanagasabapathy J. Sripavan ( ta, கனகசபாபதி சிறீபவன் ''Kaṉakacapāpati Ciṟīpavaṉ'', si, කනකසපාපති ශ්‍රීපවන් ; born 29 February 1952) is a Sri Lankan Tamil lawyer ...

, Chief Justice of Sri Lanka; former Deputy Solicitor General; judge and president of the Court of Appeal; Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka * Rajesh Sreenivasan *

Karthy Govender Karthy Govender is a commissioner for the South African Human Rights Commission. Karthy Govender, along with Commissioner Jody Kollapen are two Commissioners of minority South African Tamil ancestry. Karthy Govender is also an associate professor i ...

Commissioner A commissioner (commonly abbreviated as Comm'r) is, in principle, a member of a commission or an individual who has been given a commission (official charge or authority to do something). In practice, the title of commissioner has evolved to in ...

of the

South African Human Rights Commission The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was inaugurated in October 1995 as an independent chapter nine institution. It draws its mandate from the South African Constitution by way of the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994. Commissioner ...

; law professor at the University of Natal * K. S. Rajah, former Supreme Court Judge – Singapore * Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; South African of Indian origin and Tamil descent; first non-white woman on the High Court of South Africa; has served as a judge of the International Criminal Court and President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda * M. Patanjali Sastri, Second Chief Justice of India *

V. Bhashyam Aiyangar Diwan Bahadur Sir Vembakkam Bhashyam Aiyangar (January 1844 – 18 November 1908) was an eminent lawyer and jurist who served as the first Indian Advocate-General of Madras Province and also as a Judge of the Madras High Court. Posts h ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal qualification in law and often a legal practitioner. In the Uni ...

A. Vaidyanatha Iyer A. Vaidyanatha Iyer (16 May 1890 – 23 February 1955), also known as Madurai Vaidyanatha Iyer or Ayyar was an Indian activist, politician and freedom-fighter who spearheaded the temple entry movement in Madras Presidency in 1939. Early lif ...

(1890–1955), Tamil Indian activist; participated in the Indian independence movement and organized the temple entry movement in the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai; President of the Tamil Nadu Harijan Seva Sangh *

Mythili Raman Mythili Raman is a Tamil American lawyer and the former acting Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice's Criminal Division. Early life and family Mythili is the daughter of Athishdam Tharmaratnam and grand daughte ...

, Tamil American lawyer; current acting Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division * Sri Srinivasan, United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit *

Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah Muthucumaraswamy Sornarajah (born 24 April 1942)Curriculum vitae
from Singapo ...

, C. J. Koh Professor of Law at the

National University of Singapore The National University of Singapore (NUS) is a national public research university in Singapore. Founded in 1905 as the Straits Settlements and Federated Malay States Government Medical School, NUS is the oldest autonomous university in the c ...

* Malliha Wilson, Former Assistant Deputy Attorney General of the Government of Ontario

Mathematics

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan (; born Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar, ; 22 December 188726 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial contributions to mathematical analysis ...

(1887–1920), known for his contributions to mathematical analysis, number theory, infinite series and continued fractions * Swami

Bharati Krishna Tirtha Jagadguru Shankaracharya Swami Bharatikrishna Tirtha (International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration, IAST: Jagadguru Śaṅkarācārya Svāmī Bhāratīkṛṣṇa Tīrtha) (1884–1960), born Venkataraman Shastri (IAST: Veṅkatarāma ...

, known for his book ''

Vedic Mathematics ''Vedic Mathematics'' is a book written by the Indian monk Bharati Krishna Tirtha, and first published in 1965. It contains a list of mathematical techniques, which were falsely claimed to have been retrieved from the Vedas and containing math ...

'' *

Ramachandran Balasubramanian Ramachandran Balasubramanian (born 15 March 1951) is an Indian mathematician and was Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai, India. He is known for his work in number theory, which includes settling the final g(4) case o ...

, Indian number theorist; Director of the Institute of Mathematical Sciences in Chennai, India * Subbayya Sivasankaranarayana Pillai (1901–1950), known for his work in number theory *

Kollagunta Gopalaiyer Ramanathan Kollagunta Gopalaiyer Ramanathan (13 November 1920 – 10 May 1992) was an Indian mathematician known for his work in number theory. His contributions are also to the general development of mathematical research and teaching in India. K. G. Ra ...

(1920–1992), known work in number theory *

(1918–2001), mathematician and

rights activist from

; recipient of the Order of Australia * C. S. Seshadri, Director of the

Chennai Mathematical Institute Chennai Mathematical Institute (CMI) is a higher education and research institute in Chennai, India. It was founded in 1989 by the SPIC Science Foundation, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in physics, mathematics and compute ...

; Trieste awardee *

S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan Sathamangalam Ranga Iyengar Srinivasa Varadhan FRS (born 2 January 1940) is an Indian American mathematician, widely recognised as one of the most influential mathematicians of the 20th century. He is known for his fundamental contributions to ...

, mathematician and fellow of the Royal Society,

Abel Prize The Abel Prize ( ; no, Abelprisen ) is awarded annually by the King of Norway to one or more outstanding mathematicians. It is named after the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel (1802–1829) and directly modeled after the Nobel Prizes. ...

winner. Pioneer of LargeDeviations Theory. *

C. P. Ramanujam Chakravarthi Padmanabhan Ramanujam (9 January 1938 – 27 October 1974) was an Indian mathematician who worked in the fields of number theory and algebraic geometry. He was elected a fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1973. Like his ...

(1938–1974), worked on number theory and

algebraic geometry Algebraic geometry is a branch of mathematics, classically studying zeros of multivariate polynomials. Modern algebraic geometry is based on the use of abstract algebraic techniques, mainly from commutative algebra, for solving geometrical ...

* T. S. Vijayaraghavan (1902–1955), worked on Pisot–Vijayaraghavan number *

, Professor of Computer Science and Mathematics at Yale University; joint winner of the 1991 Fulkerson Prize in

discrete mathematics Discrete mathematics is the study of mathematical structures that can be considered "discrete" (in a way analogous to discrete variables, having a bijection with the set of natural numbers) rather than "continuous" (analogously to continuous f ...

for work on the volumes of convex bodies *

Kannan Soundararajan Kannan Soundararajan (born December 27, 1973) is an India-born American mathematician and a professor of mathematics at Stanford University. Before moving to Stanford in 2006, he was a faculty member at University of Michigan where he pursued hi ...

Ramaiyengar Sridharan Ramaiyengar Sridharan is a mathematician at Chennai Mathematical Institute, formerly at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Early life He was born in Cuddalore in 1935. He obtained his Ph.D. from Columbia under the guidance of Samu ...

Srinivasacharya Raghavan Srinivasacharya Raghavan is an Indian mathematician. He was born on 11 April 1934. He works in number theory. He was awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Mathematical Science in 1979 He is also a Fellow of th ...

* Madabusi Santanam Raghunathan * A. A. Krishnaswami Ayyangar, exponent of Vedic mathematics *

Mudumbai Seshachalu Narasimhan Mudumbai Seshachalu Narasimhan (7 June 1932 – 15 May 2021) was an Indian mathematician. His focus areas included number theory, algebraic geometry, representation theory, and partial differential equations. He was a pioneer in the study of ...

, mathematician and fellow of the Royal Society (1996) * K. R. Parthasarathy, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Statistical Institute of New Delhi *

, mathematician at

; awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Mathematical Science *

Raman Parimala Raman Parimala (born 21 November 1948) is an Indian mathematician known for her contributions to algebra. She is the Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor of mathematics at Emory University. For many years, she was a professor at Tata Instit ...

, known for her contributions to algebra *

S. Ramanan Sundararaman Ramanan (born 20 July 1937) is an Indian mathematician who works in the area of algebraic geometry, moduli spaces and Lie groups. He is one of India's leading mathematicians and recognised as an expert in algebraic geometry, esp ...

, works in algebraic geometry *

Kavita Ramanan Kavita Ramanan is a probability theorist who works as a professor of applied mathematics at Brown University. Education and career Ramanan was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to Anuradha Ramanan and algebraic geometer S. Ramanan. Ramanan ear ...

, daughter of S. Ramanan. Mathematician at Brown University

Medicine

Balamurali Ambati Balamurali Krishna "Bala" Ambati (born July 29, 1977) is an Indian-American ophthalmologist, educator, and researcher. On May 19, 1995, he entered the ''Guinness Book of World Records'' as the world's youngest doctor, at the age of 17 years, 294 ...

, world's youngest doctor at age 17 *

Rangaswamy Srinivasan Rangaswamy Srinivasan (born February 28, 1929 in Madras, India) is a physical chemist and inventor with a 30-year career at IBM Research. He has developed techniques for ablative photodecomposition and used them to contribute to the development of ...

, ultraviolet excimer laser / LASIK inventor at IBM Research *

V. S. Ramachandran Vilayanur Subramanian Ramachandran (born 10 August 1951) is an Indian-American neuroscientist. He is known for his wide-ranging experiments and theories in behavioral neurology, including the invention of the mirror box. Ramachandran is a disti ...

, neuroscientist; Director Professor at UC San Diego * S. S. Ratnam, pioneer in Singapore in-vitro fertilisation; Sri Lankan Tamil ancestry *

palynologist Palynology is the "study of dust" (from grc-gre, παλύνω, palynō, "strew, sprinkle" and ''-logy'') or of "particles that are strewn". A classic palynologist analyses particulate samples collected from the air, from water, or from deposits ...

at French Institute of Pondicherry; awarded the Fyson Prize in Natural Science * Govindappa Venkataswamy, founder of

Aravind Eye Hospital Aravind Eye Hospitals is a hospital chain in India. It was founded by Govindappa Venkataswamy, Dr. Govindappa Venkataswamy (popularly known as Dr.V) at Madurai, Tamil Nadu in 1976. It has grown into a network of eye hospitals and has had a majo ...

Ravi Iyengar Ravi Iyengar, is a principal investigator at The Mount Sinai Medical Center. Trained as a biochemist, Iyengar studies cellular signaling networks using both experiments and computer simulations. His laboratory focuses on how cell signals are rout ...

, professor and founder of the ''Iyengar Laboratory'',

Mount Sinai School of Medicine The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (ISMMS or Mount Sinai), formerly the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, is a private medical school in New York City. It is the academic teaching arm of the Mount Sinai Health System, which manages eigh ...

Gunamudian David Boaz Gunamudian David Boaz (31 March 1908 – 8 July 1965) was the first Indian psychologist. He received his PhD from The University of Oxford in 1935, and graduated from Scott Christian College. The department of Psychology was instituted at t ...

, Indian

psychologist A psychologist is a professional who practices psychology and studies mental states, perceptual, cognitive, emotional, and social processes and behavior. Their work often involves the experimentation, observation, and interpretation of how indi ...

* Paul Kalanithi, Neurosurgeon *

Manoj Durairaj Dr Manoj Durairaj is an Indian heart transplant surgeon, based in Pune. He was awarded “Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice” in November 2021. He has been working as Director, Marian Cardiac Centre and Research Foundation, Pune, India, the firsts hea ...

, Cardiac surgeon,

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

and winner of Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice * Soumya Swaminathan, Chief Scientist of WHO * Celine Gounder, is an American Tamil infectious disease physician, internist, epidemiologist, filmmaker, and medical journalist who specializes in infectious disease and global health * Raghavan Varadarajan, Molecular Biologist At Indian Institute Of Science, Bangalore *

V. Shanta Viswanathan Shanta (11 March 1927 – 19 January 2021) was an Indian oncologist and the chairperson of Adyar Cancer Institute, Chennai. She is best known for her efforts towards making quality and affordable cancer treatment accessible to all ...

, Cancer Specialist Head Of Adyar Cancer Institute

Engineering (scientists)

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata 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 ...

, 1930 Nobel Prize Winner in physics *

, 1983 Nobel Prize Winner in physics * Dr.

K. Kasturirangan Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan (born 24 October 1940) is an Indian space scientist who headed the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) from 1994 to 2003. He is presently Chancellor of Central University of Rajasthan and NIIT University. He ...

, former Chairman of

ISRO The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO; ) is the national space agency of India, headquartered in Bengaluru. It operates under the Department of Space (DOS) which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India, while the Chairman ...

; director of the National Institute of Advanced studies (NIAS) * Raja Ramanna, former Chairman of Department of Atomic Energy; presided over India's first nuclear test in 1974 * Dr. P. K. Iyengar, former Chairman of Department of Atomic Energy *

M. R. Srinivasan Malur Ramasamy Srinivasan (born 5 January 1930),Profile
asset.org.in; ac ...

, former Chairman of the Department of Atomic Energy *

R. Chidambaram Rajagopala Chidambaram (born 11 November 1936) is an Indian Physicist who is known for his integral role in India's nuclear weapons program; he coordinated test preparation for the Pokhran-I (1975) and Pokhran-II (1998). Previously served ...

, scientific adviser to the

Prime Minister of India The prime minister of India (IAST: ) is the head of government of the Republic of India. Executive authority is vested in the prime minister and their chosen Council of Ministers, despite the president of India being the nominal head of the ...

and ex-Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission *

S. R. Ranganathan Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan ( 9 August 1892 – 27 September 1972) was a librarian and mathematician from India. His most notable contributions to the field were his five laws of library science and the development of the first major fa ...

, devised the five laws of library science *

A. Sivathanu Pillai A Sivathanu Pillai is an Indian scientist who formerly served as Honorary Distinguished Professor at Indian Space Research Organisation (2015-2018) and an honorary professor at Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, IIT Delhi in the Department o ...

, defence scientist; CEO of the

Indo-Russian Brahmos company The BrahMos Aerospace is an Indo-Russian multinational aerospace and defense corporation, with core manufacturing concentrations in Cruise missiles. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, it was founded as a joint venture between the India's Defe ...

G. N. Ramachandran Gopalasamudram Narayanan Ramachandran, or G.N. Ramachandran, FRS (8 October 1922 – 7 April 2001) was an Indian physicist who was known for his work that led to his creation of the Ramachandran plot for understanding peptide structure. He wa ...

(1922–2001), made major contributions to biology and physics * R. V. Perumal, former Director of the Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre *

Ramanuja Vijayaraghavan Ramanuja Vijayaraghavan (born 3 January 1931) is an Indian physicist, specializing in condensed matter physics. Vijayaraghavan pioneered active research in the areas of metal physics, magnetic resonance in biophysical systems, and fine partic ...

(1931–), physicist at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research * Udaya Kumar, designer of the Indian rupee sign * Vallampadugai Srinivasa Raghavan Arunachalam *

Poondi Kumaraswamy Ponnambalam Kumaraswamy (often referred to as Poondi Kumaraswamy) (October 4, 1930 - March 9, 1988) was a leading hydrologist from India. He was elected a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences in 1972 although his only formal education was a ...

, only person to have received both the ''Homi Bhabha Fellowship'' 1967–69 and the Jawaharlal Nehru Fellowship 1975–77, two of the country's top research awards; hydrologist * P. S. Krishnaprasad, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Maryland *

S. Somasegar Sivaramakrishnan Somasegar is an Indian-American technology business executive in the Greater Seattle Area. He is a Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, a venture capital firm based in Seattle. Somasegar joined Madrona in November 2015 afte ...

, recipient of the Asian American Engineer of the Year Award * S. Vanajah, the only woman among four finalists who outlasted 11,000 other Malaysians who applied for the

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

selection process in 2003 *

Ramamurti Shankar Ramamurti Shankar (born April 28, 1947) is the Josiah Willard Gibbs professor of Physics at Yale University, in New Haven, Connecticut. Education He received his B. Tech in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, I ...

, John Randolph Huffman Professor of Physics at Yale University *

B. C. Shekhar Balachandra Chakkingal Sekhar (17 November 1929 – 6 September 2006 ) modernised Malaysia's natural rubber industry. He was also involved in the development of the nation's palm oil industry. Personal history Sekhar was born on 17 November 19 ...

, modernised Malaysia's natural rubber industry * Raman Sundrum, developed a class of models called the Randall–Sundrum models * Siva Sivananthan, awarded the "Champion of Change" (Immigrant Entrepreneurs and Innovators category) by the White House

Zoologists

Mahadeva Subramania Mani Mahadeva Subramania Mani aka Dr MS Mani ( ta, மகாதேவா சுப்ரமணிய கரங்கள்; 2 March 1908 in Tanjore, Tamil Nadu - 8 January 2003 in Bangalore) was an Indian entomologist especially famous for his studie ...

entomologist Entomology () is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arach ...

Music

Tamil music

* Muthu Thandavar, one of the Tamil Trinity * Marimutthu Pillai, one of the Tamil Trinity *

Arunachala Kavi Arunachala Kavi ( ta, அருணாசல கவி) (1711–1779) was a Tamil poet and a composer of Carnatic music. He was born in Tillaiyadi in Thanjavur District in Tamil Nadu. The three Tamil composers Arunachala Kavi, Muthu Thandavar a ...

, one of the Tamil Trinity * *

Kollangudi Karuppayee Kollangudi Karuppayee ( ta, கொல்லங்குடி கருப்பாயி) is a Tamil folk singer who has also performed in films. She is considered one of the pioneers of Tamil folk music; as the first of her genre and background t ...

Nagore E. M. Hanifa Nagore Esmail Mohammed Hanifa (25 December 1925 – 8 April 2015) was a Tamil Muslim lyricist, playback singer and politician. He was known as ''Isai Murasu'' for his deep stentorian voice. His signature song was "Iraivanidam Kaiyendungal". It ...

Carnatic music

* Ranjani & Gayatri * Papanasam Sivan * Sikkil Gurucharan * Lalgudi Jayaraman * Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan * Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar * T. M. Krishna * Madurai Mani Iyer *

Veena Dhanammal Veenai Dhanammal ( ta, வீணை தனம்மாள்) (1867–1938) was a highly accomplished Carnatic musician, and the torchbearer of the school of Carnatic music that goes by her name. She was both a vocalist and a performer on the S ...

E. Gayathri Echampati Gayathri (née Gayathri Vasantha Shoba), popularly known as "Veena Gayathri"(born 9 November 1959) is a veena exponent of the traditional Carnatic music. She was appointed by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, J.Jayalalithaa, as the fir ...

D. K. Pattammal Damal Krishnaswamy Pattammal () (19 March 1919 – 16 July 2009), popularly known as D. K. Pattammal or DKP, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer for film songs in Tamil. Pattammal, along with her contemporaries M. S. Subbulakshm ...

* Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer * Muthuswami Dikshitar *

N. Ramani Dr. Natesan Ramani (15 October 1934 – 9 October 2015), commonly known as N. Ramani or N. Flute Ramani, was an Indian Carnatic flautist. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1996. Ramani is also credited with introdu ...

Aruna Sairam Sangita Kalanidhi Aruna Sairam is an Indian classical vocalist and carnatic music singer. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri award from the Government of India and has been elected as Vice Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy (India's premier ...

T. Brinda Thanjavur Brinda (1912-1996) was one of the representatives of the Veenai Dhanammal school of Carnatic Music. She was primarily a vocalist, although she also played the Veena. She is affectionately referred to as 'Brindamma', by her fans. Musica ...

T. Muktha Thanjavur Muktha, also spelt Mukta and often referred as Mukthamma, (1914–2007) was one of the foremost representatives of the Veena Dhanammal school of Carnatic Music. She, along with her elder sister T. Brinda, formed one of the first women d ...

T. Viswanathan Tanjore Viswanathan (13 August 1927 – 10 September 2002) was a Carnatic musician specializing in the Carnatic flute and voice. Early life and background Viswa, as T. (Tanjore/Thanjavur) Viswanathan is often called, was born in Madras, In ...

R. Vedavalli Vidushi R. Vedavalli (born 9th November 1935) is a Carnatic music, Carnatic vocalist. Early life R. Vedavalli was born in Mannargudi, Tamil Nadu, India to Ramaswami Iyengar and Padmasani Ammal. Career R. Vedavalli's talent for music was identif ...

* Sirkazhi Govindarajan * Maharajapuram Santhanam *

Sanjay Subrahmanyan Sanjay Subrahmanyan (born 21 January 1968 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu) is a Carnatic vocalist from India. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 2015. Biography Sanjay Subrahmanyan was born on 21 January 1968 in Chennai ...

* T. M. Krishna *

T. M. Soundararajan Thoguluva Meenatchi Iyengar Soundararajan (24 March 1923 – 25 May 2013), popularly known as TMS, was an Indian Carnatic musician and a playback singer in Tamil cinema for over six and a half decades. He sang over 10,138 songs from 3,162 fi ...

* Nithyashree Mahadevan * Nisha Rajagopalan *

Chinmayi Chinmayi Sripaada is an Indian playback singer, working mainly for the South Indian film industry. She is also a voice actor, television presenter, radio jockey, and an entrepreneur. She is the founder and CEO of a translation services company ...

* Mahathi *

Aruna Sayeeram Sangita Kalanidhi Aruna Sairam is an Indian classical vocalist and carnatic music singer. She is a recipient of the Padma Shri award from the Government of India and has been elected as Vice Chairman of the Sangeet Natak Academy (India's premier ...

Alathur Brothers Alathur Brothers Srinivasa Iyer (1911–1980) & Sivasubramania Iyer (1916–1965) were Carnatic vocalists. The world of Carnatic music knows them as the star duo of the twentieth century. They learnt under Alathur Venkatesa Iyer, the father ...

, Alathur Brothers Srinivasa Iyer (1912–1964) and Sivasubramania Iyer (1916–1980) * Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar *

Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar Poochi Srinivasa Iyengar (1860 - 1919), whose real name was Ramanathapuram Srinivasa Iyengar, was a singer and composer of Carnatic music. He was born in Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu on August 16, 1860. He studied music under Patnam Subramania Iy ...

Patnam Subramania Iyer Patnam Subramania Iyer (1845 – July 31, 1902) was a composer and singer of Carnatic music. Subramaniya Iyer followed the traditions of the great composer Tyagaraja. He has left behind almost one hundred compositions. Subramaniya Iyer was bor ...

G. N. Balasubramaniam Gudalur Narayanaswamy Balasubramaniam (6 January 1910 – 1 May 1965), popularly known as GNB, was an Indian Carnatic singer. He innovated the art through emphasis on ''laya ''control and reducing the ''gamakas'' which eventually made Carnatic ...

S. Sowmya S. Sowmya (born 16 April 1969) is a Carnatic music singer. She learnt music initially from her father Dr. Srinivasan, and later from Dr. S. Ramanathan and Smt.T. Muktha. She received the Sangeetha Kalanidhi title by Madras Music Academy in 2 ...

M. L. Vasanthakumari Madras Lalitangi Vasanthakumari (popularly referred to as MLV) (3 July 1928 – 31 October 1990) was a Carnatic musician and playback singer for film songs in many Indian languages. MLV and her contemporaries D. K. Pattammal and M. S. Subbulak ...

Charumathi Ramachandran Charumathi Ramachandran (born 12 July 1951) is a Carnatic music singer. She is a disciple of M.L. Vasanthakumari. She was a gold medalist and stood first in music from the Madras University The University of Madras (informally known as Madr ...

* Vasundhara Devi * Vyjayanthimala * Abraham Pandithar, musicologist and siddha medicine practitioner from

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

, British India

Film music

K. V. Mahadevan Krishnankoil Venkadachalam Mahadevan (14 March 1918 – 21 June 2001) was an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, music producer, and musician known for his works in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Telugu cinema, Telugu, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, and Kann ...

(1918–2001), composer; winner of the National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1968 & 1980) *

T. K. Ramamoorthy Trichirappalli Krishnasamy Ramamoorthy (15 May 1922 – 17 April 2013) was an Indian Tamil music composer and violinist. Ramamoorthy was known as ''Mellisai Mannar'' ( ta, மெல்லிசை மன்னர்; "The King of Light Music") ...

(1922–2013), composer *

V. Kumar V. Kumar ( ta, வரதராஜுலு குமார், ) (28 July 1934 – 7 January 1996) was a yesteryear Tamil cinema music director, born in Chennai, Tamilnadu on 28 July 1934 to Varadharajulu and Dhanabhakiyam couple, in July 1969 ...

(1934–1996) * Ilayaraja *

Gangai Amaran Gangai Amaran is an Indian music composer, singer, lyricist, writer, film director and actor in Tamil films. Personal life Gangai Amaran was born in Pannaipuram in Theni district, Tamil Nadu in December 1947, as the youngest son of Daniel Ram ...

(1947–), composer, singer, director * Chandrabose (?–2010), composer * Shankar–Ganesh, composer *

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

(1950–), composer, singer *

S. A. Rajkumar S. A. Rajkumar is an Indian composer and lyricist. He has made music for all South Indian language films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada. Early life Rajkumar's father was a vocalist performing in stage shows conducted by popular mu ...

(1964–), composer *

Sirpy Narayanan, known by his stage name Sirpy ( ta, சிற்பி; born 25 May 1962), is an Indian film score and soundtrack composer. He has predominantly scored music for Tamil films apart from working in Telugu and Malayalam films. He has als ...

(1962–), composer *

(1967–), composer, singer, winner of

, National Film Award for Best Music Direction (1993, 1997, 2002 & 2003) * Yuvan Shankar Raja (1979–), composer, singer, winner of Cyprus International Film Festival Award in 2006 for ''Raam'' * Harris Jayaraj (1975–), composer * Kavita Krishnamurti (1958-), singer *

D. Imman Immanuel Vasanth Dinakaran (born 24 January 1983), better known as D. Imman, is an Indian film composer and singer, predominantly working in Tamil cinema. Also worked in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi film industry. His first film as mu ...

(1983–), composer, singer *

Srikanth Deva Srikanth Deva is an Indian music director of Tamil films. He made his debut as music director in the Tamil movie '' Doubles'' in 2000. He is the son of composer Deva, nephew of the famous music director duo Sabesh–Murali and the cousin of actor ...

, composer, singer *

Bobo Shashi Shashikanth, better known as Bobo Shashi ( ta, போபோ சஷி : born 12 October 1981) is an Indian film composer and singer. Biography and career Shashi was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India to a musically affluent family. His father M ...

, composer, singer *

Karthik Raja Karthik Raja is an India composer based in Chennai, India. He made his debut as film composer in the Tamil film ''Pandiyan'' (1992) and went on to score music for many critically and commercially acclaimed feature films. Personal life Karthik ...

(1973–), composer * Bharathwaj (1960–), composer, singer *

G. V. Prakash Kumar G. V. Prakash Kumar is an Indian composer, actor, producer and singer known for his work in Tamil films and a few Telugu films as well. His first film was S Pictures' ''Veyil'' (2006) and he became popular in Tamil cinema by the early 2010s. He ...

(1987–), composer, singer, actor * Vijay Antony (1975–), composer, singer, actor * Anirudh Ravichander (1990–), composer, singer * James Vasanthan, composer * Santhosh Narayanan (1983–), composer * Mohamaad Ghibran (1980–), composer * Joshua Sridhar (2004-), composer * Nivas K. Prasanna (2014-), composer

Western music

* Master Dhanraj, Mentor of

and

* M.I.A. (rapper), M.I.A. (Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam), British musician * Sketchy Bongo (Yuvir Pillay), South African musician and DJ * Clarence Jey (Clarence Jeyaretnam), Sri Lankan American record producer * Poetic Ammo, Yogi B (Yogeswaran Veerasingam), Malaysian hiphop artist, founder of Poetic Ammo * Kamahl (Kandiah Kamalesvaran), Australian cabaret/easy listening singer * Tharini Mudaliar, Australian singer and violinist * Tommy Genesis, Canadian rapper * Shan Vincent de Paul, Canadian singer-songwriter, Rapper * Jacintha Abisheganaden, Singaporean singer * Rudra (band), Rudra, Singaporean death metal band * Shruti Haasan, western singer, daughter of Tamil actor

* Blaaze, rap artist and playback singer * Lord Kossity * Siva Kaneswaran, band member of The Wanted * Arjun Coomaraswamy, UK R&B singer * Dinesh Kanagaratnam, Sri Lankan hiphop artist * Hiphop Tamizha, Tamil rap duo * Vidya Vox, American singer * Yanchan, Canadian music artist * Priya Ragu, Swiss singer

Other

* Jaclyn Victor, Malaysian singer, winner of inaugural Malaysian Idol * Chen Gexin, Chinese songwriter * Chen Gang (composer), Chen Gang, Chinese composer * Lydian Nadhaswaram, child prodigy, Indian pianist, winner of The World's Best, 2019 * Ashan Pillai, Sri Lankan born British violist and professor

Dance

* Chitra Visweswaran * Padma Subramanyam * Rukmini Devi Arundale * Anita Ratnam * Vyjayanthimala * Rajee Narayan

Cinema

Directors

Actors

*Gemini Ganesan *

*Suriya *Silambarasan *Vijay (actor), Vijay *R. Madhavan *Saravanan (actor), Saravanan * Sivaji Ganesan *Arun Vijay *Vijayakanth *Harish Kalyan *Siddharth (actor), Siddharth *Karthi *Vijay Sethupathi *Sivakarthikeyan *Vadivelu *Goundamani *Senthil *Ramarajan *Vivek (actor), Vivek *Santhanam (actor), Santhanam *Sathyaraj *Sathish *Sibi Sathyaraj *Vikram (actor), Vikram *M. K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar *N. S. Krishnan *P. U. Chinnappa *T. R. Mahalingam (actor), T. R. Mahalingam *Yogi Babu *Manivannan *Thengai Srinivasan *Manobala *Mansoor Ali Khan (actor), Mansoor Ali Khan *Vennira Aadai Moorthy *Karunas *Delhi Ganesh *Singamuthu *Kumarimuthu *Vinu Chakravarthy *Vijay Antony *

*T. Rajendar *Sam Anderson (Tamil actor), Sam Anderson *Jayam Ravi, half Tamil *Prashanth Thyagarajan, half Tamil

Actresses

*Trisha (actress) *Nivetha Pethuraj *Shruti Haasan, half Tamil *Menaka (actress) *Keerthy Suresh, half Tamil *Priya Anand, half Tamil *Regina Cassandra *Priyamani *Rekha, half Tamil *Meena (actress), Meena, half Tamil *Sridevi, half Tamil *Priya Bhavani Shankar *Vyjanthimala *Madhoo *Meenakshi Seshadri *Vidya Balan, half Tamil *Riythvika *Suhasini Maniratnam *Hema Malini *Esha Deol, half Tamil *Priyanka Arul Mohan, half Tamil *Indhuja Ravichandran *Janani (actress) *Amritha Aiyer *Ramya Krishnan *Sai Dhanshika *Meera Mithun

Music composers

:''See: List of Tamil people#Film music, Film music *

* Yuvan Shankar Raja *

* Harris Jayaraj *

*Ghibran *Vivek-Mervin *Anirudh Ravichander *Justin Prabhakaran *Santhosh Narayanan *

*Deva (composer) *Sam C. S. *Vijay Antony *

*Darbuka Siva *Sean Roldan

In Hollywood

* Sendhil Ramamurthy, actor in NBC drama ''Heroes (U.S. TV series), Heroes'' and Netflix series Never Have I Ever (TV series), ''Never Have I Ever''; half Tamil * Ashok Amritraj, filmmaker, producer * Merle Oberon, actress * Geraldine Viswanathan, actress from Blockers (film); half Tamil * Sunkrish Bala, actor in American Broadcasting Company, ABC show ''Notes from the Underbelly'' * Mindy Kaling, actor in NBC sitcom ''The Office (U.S. TV series), The Office''; half Tamil * Aziz Ansari, actor and comedian * Poorna Jagannathan, actress in Netflix series Never Have I Ever (TV series), ''Never Have I Ever'' * Chandran Rutnam, award-winning director for the movie ''A Common Man (film), A Common Man'' at the Madrid International Film Festival; half Tamil. * M. Night Shyamalan, director; half Tamil * Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, actress in Netflix series Never Have I Ever (TV series), ''Never Have I Ever'' * Selva Rasalingam, actor; half Tamil * Nimmi Harasgama, actress in Funny Boy (2020 film); half Tamil * Amara Karan, actress in The Darjeeling Limited * Simone Ashley, actress in Bridgerton * Charithra Chandran, actress in Bridgerton

Other entertainers

* Padma Lakshmi, American model and television host * Waheeda Rehman, Indian actress and dancer * Michelle Saram, Chinese-Singaporean actress and singer * Romesh Ranganathan, British comedian * Sindhu Vee, British stand-up comedian; half Tamil * Aurore Kichenin, French model * Deborah Priya Henry, Malaysian-Irish model and television personality

Sports and games

Athletics

, winner of the gold medal in Paralympics, high jump * Santhi Soundarajan, first World Peace Sports Festival Ambassador from India; first Tamil woman to win a medal at Asian Games * Mani Jegathesan * Sathish Sivalingam * Gomathi Marimuthu, winner of the gold medal in Asian athletics championship

Basketball

* Anitha Pauldurai, basketball player

Boxing

* Venkatesan Devarajan was the second Indian to win a medal at the Boxing World Cup after Pu Zoramthanga (boxer), from Mizoram. He is from Chennai, India. He was awarded the Arjuna Award in 1995. He competed in the men's bantamweight event at the 1992 Summer Olympics. V. Devarajan has been a fighter on and off the boxing ring. He broke new ground by becoming the first Indian to win a World Cup medal on foreign soil in 1994. * Kalaivani Srinivasan is a female boxer from Tamil Nadu who won a silver medal at the Indian Seniors National Boxing Championship in Vijayanagar in 2019. She was named the ‘Most Promising Boxer’ at the Indian National Boxing Championship in 2019. She later won a gold medal at the South Asian Games in Kathmandu, Nepal in 2019.

Carrom

* A. Maria Irudayam, world carrom champion and Arjuna Award winner for carrom (1996) * R. Arokiaraj, carrom champion * B. Radhakrishnan, carrom champion

Volleyball

* A. Palanisamy, first Arjuna Award winner for volleyball (1961) * G. E. Sridharan, Arjuna Award winner * Kumaran, played for Indian team and currently playing for IOB, Chennai * Sivabalan, played for India and currently playing for IOB, Chennai

Chess

* Viswanathan Anand, world chess champion; first Indian to earn the title of International Grandmaster, Grandmaster * Manuel Aaron, first Indian to earn the title of International Master * Murugan Thiruchelvam, chess player from United Kingdom * Krishnan Sasikiran, Grandmaster and Arjuna Award winner for chess (2002) * S. Vijayalakshmi, six-time women's national champion of India; first woman Grandmaster from India; Arjuna Award winner for chess (2000) * Aarthie Ramaswamy, woman Grandmaster and under-18 girls' world chess champion * Baskaran Adhiban, chess Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu * S. P. Sethuraman, chess Grandmaster from Tamil Nadu * Srinath Narayanan, Chess Grandmaster From Tamil Nadu * Rameshbabu Praggnanandhaa, Chess Grandmaster From Tamil Nadu

Cricket

India

* M.J. Gopalan (1909–2003), represented India in both international field hockey and cricket * C. R. Rangachari (1916–1993), fast bowler, pace bowler, India national cricket team, Indian Cricket Team * M. Suryanarayan (1930–2010), batsman, Indian Test cricketer * C. D. Gopinath (1930–), batsman, Indian Cricket Team * Ravichandran Ashwin, all rounder, Indian Cricket Team * Srinivas Venkataraghavan, S. Venkataraghavan (1945–), ex-Captain of Indian Cricket Team and test cricket, Test and One Day International, ODI umpire (cricket), umpire * Krishnamachari Srikkanth, K. Srikkanth (1959–), ex-Captain and current Chief Selector of Indian Cricket Team * T. A. Sekhar (1956–), fast bowler, pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team * Thiru Kumaran (1975–), pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team * Tirumalai Srinivasan, T.E. Srinivasan, batsman, Indian Cricket Team * Laxman Sivaramakrishnan, L. Sivaramakrishnan (1965–), spin bowling, spin bowler, Indian Cricket Team * Margasahayam Venkataramana (1966–), test cricketer, off-spinner * V. B. Chandrasekhar, batsman, Indian Cricket Team * Bharat Arun (1962–), pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team * Murali Kartik (1976–), spin bowling, spin bowler, Indian Cricket Team, Kolkata Knight Riders, Pune Warriors * Sadagoppan Ramesh (1975–), batsman, Indian Cricket Team * Subramaniam Badrinath (1980–), batsman, Indian Cricket Team, Chennai Super Kings * Murali Vijay (1984–), batsman, Indian Cricket Team, Chennai Super Kings * Lakshmipathy Balaji (1981–), pace bowler, Indian Cricket Team, Chennai Super Kings, Kolkata Knight Riders * Dinesh Karthik (1985–), wicketkeeper, Indian Cricket Team, Delhi Daredevils, Kings XI Punjab, Mumbai Indians * Washington Sundar (1999–), all-rounder, Indian Cricket Team, Royal Challengers Bangalore * Thangarasu Natarajan, pacer From Salem Tamil Nadu * Varun Chakravarthy, spinner * Murugan Ashwin, leg spinner

Other countries

* Muttiah Muralitharan (1972–), highest wicket taker in test cricket, test and One Day International, ODI cricket from

* Angelo Mathews, Sri Lankan all rounder and captain * Russel Arnold, Sri Lankan cricketer and journalist * Roy Dias, former Sri Lankan test cricketer/vice captain; a Tamil of Negombo Chetty * Sridharan Jeganathan (?–1996), former NCC and Sri Lankan test cricketer/off spin bowler; first Sri Lankan test cricketer to die * Vinodhan John, pace bowler, first Sri Lankan Tamil people, Sri Lankan Tamil Test cricketer 1982 * Pradeep Jayaprakashdaran, Sri Lankan One Day International (ODI) cricket player * S. Illangaratnam, Sri Lankan cricketer, stalwart of Moratuwa and Bloomfield cricket clubs prior to the Test era * Mahadevan Sathasivam, one of the best cricket batsmen produced by Ceylon * K. T. Francis, Kandiah Thirugnansampandapillai Francis, international test cricket, Test and One Day International, ODI Umpire (cricket), umpire from

* Nasser Hussain (1968–), former Essex and England cricketer, test captain * Sanjayan Thuraisingam (1969–), pace bowler, Canadian cricket team, Canadian Cricket Team * Alvin Kallicharan, former West Indies Guyana cricket captain * Mahendra Nagamootoo, former West Indies and Guyana cricketer, nephew of Alvin Kallicharan * Veerasammy Permaul, West Indies and Guyana cricketer

Football

* Peter Velappan (1935–2018), General Secretary of Asian Football Confederation; member of FIFA Strategic Studies Committee & Organising Committee for the FIFA World Cup * Samuel Moutoussamy Professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for FC Nantes and represents the DR Congo internationally. * Gurusamy Kandasamy * Syed Sabir Pasha, represented Indian football team in the early 1990s; also played for and coached Indian Bank-Chennai

Hockey

* Vasudevan Baskaran, captain of the India men's national field hockey team, Indian hockey team that won Olympic medal, Olympic Gold in 1980 Moscow Olympics; Arjuna Award winner (1979–1980) * Dhanraj Pillay (1968–), ex-India men's national field hockey team, Indian hockey team Captain, Arjuna Award winner (1995); winner of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award (1999–2000) * Adam Sinclair, member of the Indian hockey team at the 2004 2004 Summer Olympics, Athens Olympics

Mountain climbing

* M. Magendran, conquered the highest peak in the world, Mount Everest

Racing

* Karun Chandhok, Formula 1 driver * Naren Kumar, four time National Rally Champion * Ajith Kumar, mechanic, F2 racer, Moto gp racer

Squash

* Nicol David, former world number 1 * Joshna Chinappa, Indian women Squash Champion

Tennis

* Vijay Amritraj, international champion and actor * Anand Amritraj, international player * Ashok Amritraj, international player * Prakash Amritraj, international player * Ramanathan Krishnan, international player * Ramesh Krishnan, international player * Nirupama Vaidyanathan, international player

Entertainers

* Vyjayanthimala, Bharatanatyam dancer; introduced semi-classical dance in Bollywood * Rukmini Devi Arundale, Bharatanatyam dancer; founder of Kalakshetra * Balasaraswati, Bharatanatyam dancer * Alarmel Valli, Bharatanatyam dancer * Chitra Visweswaran, Bharatanatyam dancer * Padma Subramanyam, Bharatanatyam dancer * Pithukuli Murugadas, musician * K. B. Sundarambal, actress andsinger * Sirkazhi Govindarajan, vocalist and Carnatic music exponent * Dr.Sirkazhi G. Sivachidambaram, vocalist and Carnatic music exponent

Religion and spirituality

* Bodhidharma (5th/6th century), Buddhist monk and 28th patriarch of Buddhism; traditionally credited as the leading patriarch and transmitter of Zen to China; spread Shaolin Kung Fu in China * Ayya Vaikundar (1809–1851), founder and preceptor of the Ayyavazhi sect * Arutprakasa Vallalar Chidambaram Ramalinga Swamigal, Ramalinga Swamigal (1823–1873), popularly known as Vallalar * Ramanuja (1017–1137), philosopher and saint of Vaishnavism * Appayya Dikshidar (1520–1593), philosopher, followed the Advaita school of Indian philosophy * Anandabharati Aiyangar (1786–1846), poet * Ramana Maharshi (1879–1950) * Yogaswami (1872–1964) * Bangaru Adigalar (1941–) * Swami Sivananda, Sivananda Saraswati (1887–1963), proponent of Yoga and Vedanta * Duraisamy Simon Lourdusamy (1924–2014), Cardinal Priest of S Maria delle Grazie alle Fornaci fuori Porta Cavalleggeri, Vatican City * Dayananda Saraswati (Chinmaya Mission), Dayananda Saraswati (1930–2015), founder of the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam * Bala Prajapathi Adikalar, Pattathu Ayya of Swamithope pathi and leader of the Ayyavazhi religion * Bishop Vedanayagam Samuel Azariah (1874–1945), first Anglican Indian bishop, consecrated as the first bishop of the diocese of Dornakal in 1912 * Thirumuruga Kirupananda Variyar * D. G. S. Dhinakaran, Christian Evangelism, Evangelist; founder of Jesus Calls Ministries * Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Spiritual Guru, Founder, Art of Living Foundation * Perumal Rasu, philosopher and painter * Laxmisena, of the Mel Sithamur Jain Math, primary religious head of the Tamil Jain community * Sadhu Kuppuswami, instrumental in the establishment of the Tamil Sangams, Sangam organisation in Fiji * Swami Vipulananda, Hindu social reformer, literary critic, author, poet, teacher and ascetic from the Eastern province of

* Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Sufism, Sufi Muslim mystic hailing from

* Iyothee Thass, Buddhist philosopher and activist

Tamil literature

Classical literature

* Tholkappiar, author of the ''Tholkappiyam'' * Thiruvalluvar, poet and author of the ''Tirukkuṛaḷ'' * Tirumular, poet and author of ''Tirumantiram'' * Kambar (poet), Kambar, author of ''Ramavataram'' * Avvaiyar, author of ''Ātticcūṭi'' * Eelattu Poothanthevanar, classical Sri Lankan poet of the Sangam period

Spiritual literature

Murugan

* Nakkeerar author of ''Tirumurukāṟṟuppaṭai'' * Arunagirinathar, author of ''Thiruppugazh''

Shaivism

* Sekkizhar, author of ''Periapuranam'' * Manikkavasagar, author of ''Thiruvasagam'' and one of the Nayanmars * Siva prakasar, author of ''Nanneri'' * Thirumular, author of ''Thirumandhiram''

Vaishnavism

* Nammalvar, author of ''Tiruvaymoli'' and one of the Alwars * Thirumazhisai Aazhwar, Thirumazhisai Alvar, author of ''Tiruchanda-virutham'' and one of the Alwars * Andal, author of ''Tiruppaavai'' and one of the Alwars * V. Akilesapillai, scholar, poet and author of ''Thirukonasala Vaipavam'' from Sri Lanka

Islam

* Umaru Pulavar (1605–1703), author of ''Seerappuranam'', Islamic Spirituality, spiritual work on the life of Muhammad, Nabi under the commission of Seethakaathi, the altruist son of entrepreneur Periya Thambi Nainar Marakkayar.

Jain

* Ilango Adigal, Illango Adigal, poet and author of ''Silappathikaram'' * Tirutakakatevar, author of ''Jivaka-chintamani, Jivaka Chintamani'' * Mandalapuruder, author of ''Vira Mandalaver'' is ''Sudamani Nigandhu'' * Svarupananda Desikar

Modern literature

India

* Subramania Bharati, social and literary writer * Bharathidasan (1891–1964), poet and rationalist * Pattukkottai Kalyanasundaram, wrote revolutionary Tamil poems in common language * Pudhumaipithan (1906–1948), fiction writer * Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai, first Tamil novelist *

, novelist * Ramalingam Pillai * Thi. Janakiraman, novelist * Mahavidwan Vasudeva Mudaliar, scholar * Kalki Krishnamurthy (1899–1954), novelist and journalist * Jayakanthan (1934–), writer and novelist * G. P. Rajarathnam (1909–1979), Tamil-born Kannada poet and writer * T. P. Kailasam (1884–1946), playwright and writer in Kannada literature from Karnataka * Masti Venkatesha Iyengar (1891–1986), Kannada writer and recipient of Jnanpith Award * Kannadasan (1927–1981), popularly called as Kavi Arasu; poet and film lyricist; winner of National Film Award for Best Lyrics (1969) * Vairamuthu (1953–), poet and film lyricist; winner of National Film Award for Best Lyrics (1986, 1993, 1995, 2000, and 2003) * Leena Manimekalai * Indira Soundarajan, novelist and short story writer * Ashoka Mitran (1931–), novelist and short story writer * R. K. Narayan (1906–2001), English novelist and essayist * Makaral Karthikeya Mudaliar, scholar * Pa. Subramania Mudaliar, scholar * Varadarasanar, novelist * Sandilyan, novelist * Pa. Vijay, film lyricist; winner of National Film Award for Best Lyrics (2005) * Vaali (poet), Vaali, film lyricist * Sujatha (writer), Sujatha (1935–2008), novelist, haiku poet, film screenplay writer * R. Raghava Iyengar * K. S. Maniam * S. Abdul Rahman, Kavikko Abdul Rahman * Inkulab, Makkal Pavalar Inqulab, left-leaning poet * Mu Metha * Ka. Mu. Sheriff, Kavi Ka. Mu. Sheriff, film lyricist * Manushyaputhiran * Salma (writer), Rajathi Salma, novelist *Balakumaran (5 July 1946 – 15 May 2018)[1], Indian Tamil writer, author of over 200 novels, 100 short stories, etc. *Pattukkottai Prabakar, Indian Tamil writer. He is a king of crime and thrill novels and also a versatile writer. *Rajesh Kumar (writer), pseudonym of KR Rajagopal, Tamil author of crime fiction. Kalaimaamani Awardee.

Other countries

* Ronnie Govender, South African playwright, actor, activist, won the 1997 Commonwealth Writers' Prize * Kessie Govender, South African playwright, actor and theatre director; founded the Stable Theatre * Kandappu Murugesu, Sri Lankan poet * Shyam Selvadurai, Sri Lankan-Canadian novelist; half Tamil * Sharon Bala, Canadian writer * Akwaeke Emezi, Nigerian writer and video artist; half Tamil * Rani Manicka, Malaysian novelist, won the Commonwealth Writers' Prize in 2003 for South East Asia and South Pacific region * Edwin Thumboo, Singaporean writer; half Tamil * T. K. Doraiswamy (Nakulan) (1921–2007), poet, novelist, translator, professor of English Singapore writer; President of Singapore Law Society * Gopal Baratham (1935–2002), Singaporean writer and neurosurgeon

Others

* Arumuka Navalar (1822–1879), pioneer of Tamil prose; champion of Hinduism from Jaffna, Sri Lanka * Siva prakasar, Saiva Siddantha, scholar, wrote 32 books in Tamil (Nanneri, Thiruchendur ula) * Maraimalai Adigal, scholar and activist * U. V. Swaminatha Iyer (1855–1942) * Paventhar Bharathidasan, poet, also known as "Puratchi Kavignar" * Kalyanasundara Mudaliar, writer * Varadarasanar, novelist * Erode Tamilanban, poet * Solomon Pappaiah, scholar and debate judge * Pudhumaipithan, revolutionary writer from the Tirunelveli Saiva Pillai community * Jayakanthan, writer * Kavimani Desigavinayagam Pillai, poet * Manonmaniam Sundaram Pillai, writer * Perumal Rasu, writer, poet, painter * Ramanuja Kavirayar, poet

Modern art

* S. Chandrasekaran, nominated for the APBF Signature Art Prize 2008 as one of the top ten * Vivan Sundaram, Vivian Sundaram, History of the Jews in India, Indian Jewish contemporary artist * Manohar Devadoss, 2020 Padma Shri recipient

References

{{Portal bar, Tamils, Asia, India, Sri Lanka Lists of people by ethnicity, Tamils Tamil people, List