K. A. P. Viswanatham Pillai (10 November 1899 – 19 December 1994) 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, orator and social activist. Despite having no formal education he developed an interest towards the

Tamil literature Tamil literature has a rich and long literary tradition spanning more than two thousand years. The oldest extant works show signs of maturity indicating an even longer period of evolution. Contributors to the Tamil literature are mainly from T ...

and

Siddha medicine Siddha medicine is a form of traditional medicine originating in southern India. It is one of the oldest systems of medicine in India. In rural India, have learned methods traditionally through master-disciple relationships to become loca ...

and learned them by himself. His father Periyanna and his elder brother Krishnan and Arumugam living as a joint family. They also doing a joint venture business (tobacco) with the name of K.A.P. That precedes Viswanathan as K.A.P Viswanathan. He also took part in politics and was an active member of Justice Party. He became the first General Secretary of the party, a position which he continued to hold till 1940 after which

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 ...

took over. He also took part in the Anti-Hindi agitation of 1937–40 and was imprisoned. Viswanatham was also instrumental in launching the

Tamil University The Tamil University is a public state university located in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, India. It was established to provide higher research in the Tamil language. Location The university is situated in a campus of about , granted by the ...

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 ...

Biography

K. A. P. Viswanatham was born in 1899 in Tiruchirappalli,

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 The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

to Periyanna Pillai and Subbammal. As a child, he did not attend any school but developed an interest towards Tamil literature. At the age of five, he began learning the language and would go on to become an established scholar. He was also passionate about

. He entered politics and joined the Justice Party and was made the General secretary, a position he would serve till 1940. He resigned as the secretary due to the differences of opinion that he had with the party leader

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'Fa ...

, after which

succeeded him. Viswanatham died on 19 December 1994 at the age of 95.

Legacy

* During his lifetime, Viswanatham was awarded with two

doctorates A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...

. * Higher secondary school established on his memory in Tiruchirappalli, his hometown *

K.A.P. Viswanatham Government Medical College K.A.P. Viswanatham Medical College is a medical college started in 1997 and named after famous Tamil scholar K.A.P. Viswanatham. It started with a capacity to accommodate 100 Under graduate students. Since the year 2007, Post graduate courses ...

is named after him. * A postage stamp was issued under Viswanatham's name on 10 October 2010 by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

References

Cited sources

* * * 1899 births 1994 deaths Politicians from Tiruchirappalli Tamil scholars Justice Party (India) politicians Tamil activists Indian reformers Tamil-language writers Recipients of the Thiruvalluvar Award {{India-activist-stub