Lieutenant Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

Sabdharatnajyoti "Thambirajah" Saravanamuttu,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(1898 – 17 July 1957; also known as S. Sara) was a Ceylon Tamil lawyer, politician, military officer, cricketer and sports administrator.

Early life and family

Saravanamuttu was born in 1898 in Colombo,

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 ...

. He was the son of Vetharniam Saravanamuttu, a physician from Colombo. His mother's family were from

Vaddukoddai Vaddukoddai (also spelt Vattukkottai, Vatukotai, Vattukotai) ( ta, வட்டுக்கோட்டை, si, වඩුකෝඩයි) is small but important town in the minority group, minority Sri Lankan Tamils, Sri Lankan Tamil dominated J ...

in northern Ceylon. His paternal grandfather Vetharniam is reputed to be the founder of

Chunnakam Chunnakam ( ta, சுன்னாகம், translit=Cuṉṉākam; si, චුන්නාකම්, translit=Chunnakam) is a town, located north of Jaffna. It is one of the important commercial centres in Jaffna. The original name of the tow ...

, a small town in northern Ceylon. Saravanamuttu had five eminent brothers: Ratnasothy, Nanasothy, Tharmasothy, Paikiasothy and Manicasothy. He was educated at

S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia , motto_translation = Be Thou Forever , song = Thomian Song , athletics = Yes , sports = Yes , nickname = Thora , denomination = Anglican , patron ...

where he was captain of the cricket team (1916–18) and scored the fastest century in Ceylon. He was also head prefect and boxing champion at S. Thomas. He then joined

St Catharine's College, Cambridge St Catharine's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1473 as Katharine Hall, it adopted its current name in 1860. The college is nicknamed "Catz". The college is located in the historic city-centre of Camb ...

to study engineering. He played cricket at Cambridge between 1921 and 1923 but failed to win a blue for Cambridge University Cricket Club.

Career

Saravanamuttu was a member of Colombo Municipal Council from May 1937 to December 1946. Saravanamuttu served in the

Ceylon Defense Force The Ceylon Defence Force (CDF) was established in 1910 by the Ceylonese legislation ''Ceylon Defence Force Ordinance'', which reformed the Ceylon Volunteer Force (CVF) that existed previously as the military reserve in the British Crown colony ...

during World War II, rising to the rank of

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. He was in command of one of the two

Ceylon Light Infantry 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 ...

battalions deployed along the eastern coast of Ceylon to protect against Japanese invasion. After the war he qualified as a lawyer and practised law. Saravanamuttu was captain of the

Ceylon national cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා ජාතික ක්‍රිකට් කණ්ඩායම, ta, இலங்கை தேசிய கிரிக்கெட் அணி) nicknamed The Lions ...

twice and of Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club in 1934 and from 1936 to 1941. He played in the European-Ceylonese Test series and for Ceylon against Australia, New Zealand and Marylebone Cricket Club. He was president of the

Board of Control for Cricket in Ceylon Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) is the governing body for cricket in Sri Lanka. It was first registered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Sports as the Board of Cricket for Sri Lanka (BCCSL) on 30 June 1975 as a national sports body. The board was renamed ...

. Saravanamuttu was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in the

1953 Coronation Honours The 1953 Coronation Honours were appointments by Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours on the occasion of her coronation on 2 June 1953. The honours were published in ''The London Gazette'' on 1 June 1953.New Zealand list: The reci ...

. He died on 17 July 1957 in Colombo aged 59.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saravanamuttu, Sabdharatnajyoti 1898 births 1957 deaths All-Ceylon cricketers Alumni of S. Thomas' College, Mount Lavinia Alumni of St Catharine's College, Cambridge Ceylonese Members of the Order of the British Empire Ceylonese military personnel of World War II Colombo municipal councillors People from Colombo People of British Ceylon Sri Lankan Tamil lawyers Sri Lankan Tamil military personnel Sri Lankan Tamil politicians Sri Lankan Tamil sportspeople Cambridge University cricketers Sri Lankan cricketers Cambridgeshire cricketers Ceylon Light Infantry officers Ceylonese lieutenant colonels