Pachaiyappa's College is one of the oldest educational institutions in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, in the

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...

n state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. In addition, it is the first sole Indian college in

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 ...

History

Pachaiyappa's College, Chennai is the result of an act of

philanthropy 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 ...

of its

progenitor In genealogy, the progenitor (rarer: primogenitor; german: Stammvater or ''Ahnherr'') is the – sometimes legendary – founder of a family, line of descent, clan or tribe, noble house, or ethnic group.. Ebenda''Ahnherr:''"Stammvater eines G ...

Pachaiyappa Mudaliar Vallal Pachaiyappa Mudaliar (1754–1794) or Arcot Pachayyappa Mudaliar was a Madras merchant, philanthropist, and dubash of the 18th century. Commemorative stamp on Vallal Pachaiyappa was released 31 March 2010. Early life Vallal Pachaiy ...

, who was a financier and merchant by the age of 22. Inspired and motivated by the preciousness and large-heartedness of the benevolent founder. This college had its genesis in the famous will of Pachaiyappa Mudaliar. The college was established as Pachaiyappa's Central Institution at Popham's Broadway on 1 January 1842, from money given in Pachaiyappa Mudaliar's will. It was the first educational institution in South India which was not funded by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

. The architecture of the institution is monumental, consisting of

Indo-Saracenic Indo-Saracenic architecture (also known as Indo-Gothic, Mughal-Gothic, Neo-Mughal, or Hindoo style) was a revivalist architectural style mostly used by British architects in India in the later 19th century, especially in public and government ...

and the architecture of South India. It gained college status in 1889, and until 1947 only admitted Hindu students. In addition, Pachaiyappa's College (1842) is the 4th oldest institution in the country, next to

Madras Christian College Madras Christian College (MCC) is a liberal arts and sciences college in Chennai, India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. The college is affiliated to the University of Madras but functions as an autonomous institu ...

(1837) and Presidency College (1840) as 3 from the top 5 oldest institutions in the country are from South India.

Administration

The Pachaiyappa's College Administration is governed by a board of trustees called Pachaiyappa's trust board. The Board oversees the long-term development and plans of the Institution and manages

fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...

efforts. The board also control's various other Institutions in the state.

List of colleges under Pachaiyappa's Trust Board

* Chellammal Women's College * C. Kandaswami Naidu College for Men *Kandasamy Naidu College for Women (KNC),

Cuddalore Cuddalore, also spelt as Kadalur (), is the city and headquarters of the Cuddalore District in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Situated south of Chennai, Cuddalore was an important port during the British Raj. While the early history of Cudda ...

. *Pachaiyappa's College for Men,

Kanchipuram Kanchipuram ('; ) also known as ''Conjeevaram,'' is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu in the Tondaimandalam region, from Chennaithe capital of Tamil Nadu. Known as the ''City of Thousand Temples'', Kanchipuram is known for its temple ...

. *Pachaiyappa's College for Women, Kanchipuram.

Awards

As a remembrance and a devotion, the college awards a prize to the student who stands first among all mathematics students in the name of S.P. Singaravelu Mudaliar, who was a teacher of renowned mathematician

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 ...

Academic departments

Undergraduate (U.G.)

SHIFT I: Aided

Arts

*B.A. (History) *B.A. (Tamil Lit.) *B.A. (English Lit.) *B.A. (Economics) *B.A. (Philosophy)

Commerce

*B.Com. (General) *B.Com. (Corporate)

Science

*BSc (Mathematics) *BSc (Physics) *BSc (Chemistry) *BSc (Plant Biology & Plant Biotechnology) *BSc (Advanced Zoology & Biotechnology) SHIFT II: Self-financed

Commerce

*B.Com. (General) *BSc (Computer Science) ::Co-education *B.Com. (Bank Management) *B.Com. (Accounting & Finance) *B.B.A. *B.C.A

Postgraduate (P.G.)

SHIFT I : Aided

Arts

*M.A. (Tamil Lit.) *M.A. (Economics) *M.A. (English Lit.) *M.A. (History) *M.A. (Philosophy)

Commerce

*M.Com. (General)

Science and philosophy

*MSc Mathematics *MSc Chemistry *MSc Physics *MSc Botany *MSc Zoology *M.Phil. English *M.Phil. Mathematics *M.Phil. Philosophy *M.Phil. History *M.Phil. Economics *M.Phil. Chemistry *M.Phil. Botany *M.Phil. Zoology *M.Phil. Commerce *M.Phil. Tamil PhD *PhD Tamil *PhD English *PhD Maths *PhD Philosophy *PhD History *PhD Economics *PhD Physics *PhD Chemistry *PhD Botany *PhD Zoology *PhD Commerce

Notable alumni

A listing of notable alumni is published by the college. Some of those named are as follows.

Physicist

* Anna Mani

Mathematicians

(did not graduate),

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

Politicians

Kasu Brahmananda Reddy Kasu Brahmananda Reddy (28 July 1909 – 20 May 1994) was the Chief Minister of United Andhra Pradesh, India, from 29 February 1964 to 30 September 1971. On 3 June 1977, he was elected president of the Indian National Congress. Early life Kas ...

, Chief Minister of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

, 1964–71 *

Murasoli Maran Murasoli Maran (17 August 1934 – 23 November 2003) was an Indian politician and an important leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party which was headed by his maternal uncle and mentor, M. Karunanidhi. A Member of Parliament for ...

, politician * Prof. K. Anbazhagan, politician * Navalar Nedunchezhiyan,

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

, Interim Chief minister, Minister for 25 years *

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 ...

, politician and one of the founders of

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...

* C. Vijayaraghavachariar, former President of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British Em ...

K. C. Reddy Kyasamballi Chengaluraya Reddy (4 May 1902 – 27 February 1976) was the first Chief Minister of Mysore State (Now Karnataka). Reddy later served as the Governor of Madhya Pradesh. Early life K.C. Reddy was born on 4 May 1902 into a Vokkaliga f ...

, first Chief Minister of old state of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

Boddepalli Rajagopala Rao Boddepalli Rajagopala Rao (12 March 1923 – 22 February 1992) was an Indian politician. Political history Boddepalli Rajagopala Rao represented Srikakulam (Lok Sabha constituency) in Andhra Pradesh for six terms between 1952 and 1967 (1st, 2n ...

, parliamentarian *

C. N. Annadurai Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai (15 September 1909 – 3 February 1969), popularly known as Anna also known as Arignar Anna or Perarignar Anna (''Anna, the scholar'' or ''Elder Brother''), was an Indian Tamil politician who served as the fo ...

, Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, 1967–69 * Nanjil .K. Manoharan, Finance Minister during MGR's Government and Revenue Minister during M. Kaunanidhi's Government * E. Pugazhendi, Cuddalore Legislator thrice *

Durai Murugan Durai Murugan (born 1 July 1938) is an Indian politician and lawyer. He is the Minister for Water Resources under the government of M. K. Stalin since 2021. He is the general secretary of the DMK party since 9 September 2020. He graduated in ...

, Kadpadi, Vellore Legislator and Senior Most Cabinet Minister of TN State in the last 4 decades * Chengee Ramachandran, Union Minister and Senior Parliamentarian * Erode Ganesamurthy, Senior Parliamentarian, thrice as Member of Parliament * Nellikuppam Krishnamoorthi Senior Parliamentarian 1967, and Senior Legislative assembly member in 1962, 1971 and 1980. Public Accounts Committee Chairman in 1980.

IAS and IPS Officers

* P. Natesan,

IAS IAS may refer to: Science * Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, New Jersey, United States * Image Analysis & Stereology, the official journal of the International Society for Stereology & Image Analysis. * Iowa Archeological Society, Uni ...

Officer * R. Sekar,

IPS IPS, ips, or iPS may refer to: Science and technology Biology and medicine * ''Ips'' (genus), a genus of bark beetle * Induced pluripotent stem cell or iPS cells * Intermittent photic stimulation, a neuroimaging technique * Intraparietal sulcus, ...

Officer * C. K. Gandhirajan,

Officer * M. C. Sarangan,

Officer Public Relations * S.P.Ezhilazhagan, Additional Director (Information) Information and Public Relations Department, Government of Tamilnadu, Officer Chennai District All college students Tamil Forum President 1979-80 Orator and Debator of Pachaiyappa's college, 1979-1981

Literary figures

Paravastu Chinnayasuri Paravastu Chinnayasuri (1806/7–1861/2) (Telugu: పరవస్తు చిన్నయ సూరి) was a Telugu writer who played a prominent role in the elevation of prose to importance in Telugu literature. He was the first Telugu Pandit ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

poet and professor of

Telugu language Telugu (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken by Telugu people predominantly living in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, where it is also the official language. It is the most widely spoken member of the Dravidian language fami ...

Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar Pammal Vijayarangam Sambandham Mudaliar (1873–1964), who has been described as "the founding father of modern Tamil theatre", was a playwright, director, producer and actor of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries. He was a recipi ...

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, nativ ...

playwright *

Mamidipudi Venkatarangayya Mamidipudi Venkatarangayya (8 January 1889 – 13 January 1982) was a financial and political scientist and historical writer from Andhra Pradesh, India. He was recipient of the Padma Bhushan in 1968 by the Indian Government. Early life He ...

, history writer *

Vairamuthu Vairamuthu Ramasamy (born 13 July 1953) is an Indian lyricist, poet, and novelist working in the Tamil film industry. He is a prominent figure in the Tamil literary world. A master's graduate from the Pachaiyappa's College in Chennai, he first ...

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

* K. D. Thirunavukkarasu, Tamil scholar and

Sahitya Akademi Award The Sahitya Akademi Award is a literary honour in India, which the Sahitya Akademi, India's National Academy of Letters, annually confers on writers of the most outstanding books of literary merit published in any of the 22 languages of the ...

winner *

Tapi Dharma Rao Thapi Dharma Rao Naidu (1887–1973) was a Telugu writer, lyricist and social reformer. He wrote dialogues and lyrics for the films like ''Mala Pilla'', ''Drohi'', ''Thathaji'', ''Bhishma'', and ''Patni''. He was awarded the Sahitya Akademi Awar ...

, Telugu journalist and Sahitya Akademi Award winner

Filmmakers

R. S. Manohar Rasipuram Subramaniyan Iyer Manohar was an Indian actor who performed roles ranging from hero to villain to comedic characters. He was born at Namakkal in 1925. He acted in over 200 films. He is known for his versatility and dominating personal ...

, drama and

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

actor *

A. M. Rajah Aemala Manmadharaju Rajah, popularly known as A. M. Rajah, was an Indian playback singer and music director. Early life A. M. Rajah was born on 1 July 1929 in Cchamanchipuram, Chittoor District, Andhra Pradesh. His father died when he was thr ...

, singer and music director *

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 ...

, music director *

Na. Muthukumar Nagarajan Muthukumar (12 July 1975 – 14 August 2016) was a Tamil poet, lyricist, and author. Best known for his Tamil language film songs, he received the most Filmfare Awards for Best Lyricist in Tamil and was a two-time recipient of the Nat ...

, Tamil Lyricist

Other

N. Madhava Rao Sir Nyapathi Madhava Rau (8 June 1887 – 28 August 1972) was an Indian civil servant, administrator, and statesman who served as the 23rd dewan of Mysore from 1941 to 1945 and later as a member of the Drafting Committee of the Constituent Asse ...

- Former Diwan of

Kingdom of Mysore The Kingdom of Mysore was a realm in South India, southern India, traditionally believed to have been founded in 1399 in the vicinity of the modern city of Mysore. From 1799 until 1950, it was a princely state, until 1947 in a subsidiary allia ...

, Member of Drafting Committee, Mysore Civil Service (ICS Officer) * Robin Singh, former Indian cricketer * Bharath Reddy, former Indian cricketer * S. Yesudhason, former Principal, NMS S. Vellaichamy Nadar College, Madurai * M.Periayasamy, academist, poet
Prof. M. Ilanchezhian
-Tamil Scholar and Writer, Professor, Rationalist * M. B. Nirmal, environmentalist and founder of

Exnora International Exnora International is a non-governmental environmental service organization started in 1989 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, by M. B. Nirmal, a social activist. It focuses on preserving nature and preventing environmental degradation. The nam ...

*P. Sambandam, former director of NSDRC, professor of Marine engineering

IIT Madras Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a public technical university located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. As one of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), it is recognized as an Institute of National Importance and has be ...

, Alumni

IIT Kharagpur Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) is a public institute of technology established by the Government of India in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. Established in 1951, the institute is the first of the IITs to be established ...

Postage stamp

On 31 March 2010, the

Indian Postal Service India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ha ...

released a commemorative postage stamp on Pachaiyappa Mudaliar. The multi colour stamp was designed by

India Security Press The India Security Press is a government press is a subsidiary of the Security Printing & Minting Corporation of India Limited (SPMCIL), a public undertaking of the Indian government. The company is charged with the task of printing passports, vi ...

Nasik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

References

{{Education in Tamil Nadu Educational institutions established in 1842 Arts and Science colleges in Chennai Colleges affiliated to University of Madras