Subaiya Natesan ( ta, சுப்பையா நடேசன்; also known as Subbaiya Nadesapillai; 21 May 1895 – 15 January 1965) was a

Ceylonese Sri Lankan or Ceylonese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Sri Lanka * A person from Sri Lanka, see Demographics of Sri Lanka ** Sinhalese people, the ethnic majority ** Sri Lankan Tamils, an ethnic minority ** Sri L ...

politician,

Member of State Council A Member of State Council (MSC) is a term used for an individual who has, by election or appointment, been a member of a State Council (disambiguation), State Council, a legislature of many nations and colonies. Parliamentary titles {{gov-job-stu ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

and senator.

Early life and family

Natesan was born on 21 May 1895. He was the son of Subaiyapillai from

Thanjavur Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the Gr ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Natesan married Sivagamasundari, daughter of

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 ...

, a leading Ceylon Tamil statesman.

Career

Natesan moved to

Ceylon 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 ...

after being invited by P. Ramanathan and in 1924 was appointed principal of

Parameshwara College, Jaffna Parameshwara College ( ta, பரமேஸ்வரா கல்லூரி ''Paramēsvarā Kallūri'') was one of the leading Hindu schools in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). It was founded by Sir P. Ramanathan in 1921. His idea was to make the school ...

. He was also Ramanathan's

private secretary A private secretary (PS) is a civil servant in a governmental department or ministry, responsible to a secretary of state or minister; or a public servant in a royal household, responsible to a member of the royal family. The role exists in t ...

. Natesan stood as a candidate in Kankesanthurai at the 1934 state council

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

s. He won the election and entered

State Council State Council may refer to: Government * State Council of the Republic of Korea, the national cabinet of South Korea, headed by the President * State Council of the People's Republic of China, the national cabinet and chief administrative auth ...

. He was re-elected at the 1936 state council election. He was one of the founding members of the

United National Party The United National Party, often abbreviated as UNP ( si, එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය, translit=Eksath Jāthika Pakshaya, ta, ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி, translit=Aikkiya Tēciyak Kaṭci), ...

(UNP) in 1946. Natesan stood as the UNP's candidate in

Kankesanthurai Kankesanthurai (, , lit. ''Port Kankesan''), colloquially known as KKS, is a port suburb, fishing division and resort hub of the Jaffna District, Northern Province, Sri Lanka. Formerly an electoral district, Kankesanthurai is home to the Kankesan ...

at the 1947 parliamentary elections but was defeated by 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 ...

(ACTC) candidate S. J. V. Chelvanayakam. However, he won the 1952 parliamentary elections and entered

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. He was appointed Minister of Posts and Information in the

First Dudley Senanayake cabinet The First Dudley Senanayake cabinet was the central government of Ceylon led by Prime Minister Dudley Senanayake between 1952 and 1953. It was formed in March 1952 after the death of Senanayake's predecessor D. S. Senanayake and it ended in Oct ...

following the resignation of V. Nalliah. He retained his cabinet position, which was renamed Minister of Posts and Broadcasting, when the

Kotelawala cabinet The Kotelawala cabinet was the central government of Ceylon led by Prime Minister John Kotelawala between 1953 and 1956. It was formed in October 1953 after the resignation of Kotelawala's predecessor Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton ...

was formed in 1953. Natesan resigned from the government on 19 January 1956 and, like many Tamil UNP politicians, left the UNP over its support of the

Sinhala Only The Official Language Act (No. 33 of 1956), commonly referred to as the Sinhala Only Act, was an act passed in the Parliament of Ceylon in 1956. The act replaced English with Sinhala as the sole official language of Ceylon, with the exclusion ...

policy. He stood for re-election in the constituency at the 1956 parliamentary election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate but was defeated by the Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party) candidate S. J. V. Chelvanayakam. Natesan later joined the ACTC, became its president and was appointed to the

Senate of Ceylon The Senate was the upper chamber of the parliament of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1947 by the Soulbury Commission. The Senate was appointed and indirectly elected rather than directly elected. It was housed in the old Legislative Counci ...

. He was a member of the University College Council and Ceylon University Court. He was appointed to the National Education Commission in 1961. He 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, nativ ...

scholar and historian - his works included ''The Northern Kingdom'' and ''Glimpses of the Early History of Jaffna''. He was awarded an honorary

D.Litt. Doctor of Letters (D.Litt., Litt.D., Latin: ' or ') is a terminal degree in the humanities that, depending on the country, is a higher doctorate after the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree or equivalent to a higher doctorate, such as the Doctor ...

degree by the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univer ...

for his contribution to Tamil literature. He died on 15 January 1965.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Natesan, S. 1895 births 1965 deaths All Ceylon Tamil Congress politicians Indian Tamil politicians of Sri Lanka Members of the 2nd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the Senate of Ceylon Members of the 1st State Council of Ceylon Members of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon People from British Ceylon Sri Lankan people of Indian descent Tamil lawyers Tamil writers Posts ministers of Sri Lanka United National Party politicians

Early life and family

Career

See also

References