Arunachalam Sabapathy (1853 – 1924) was a

Ceylon Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province an ...

newspaper editor, politician and member of the

Legislative Council of Ceylon The Legislative Council of Ceylon was the legislative body of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) established in 1833, along with the Executive Council of Ceylon, on the recommendations of the Colebrooke-Cameron Commission. It was the first form of represe ...

Early life and family

Sabapathy was born in 1853 in Thalaiyali,

Kokkuvil Kokuvil () is a suburb in the northern Sri Lankan city of Jaffna. Transport * Kokuvil railway station Schools * Kokuvil Hindu College Notable People *Appadurai Muttulingam - Popular Tamil Writer * Arunachalam Sabapathy - member of Legis ...

near Vannarpannai in northern

Ceylon Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. He was the son of Murugan Arunachalam and S. Annapillai. He was educated at

Jaffna Central College Jaffna Central College ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Mattiya Kallūri'', JCC) is a national school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1816 by British Methodist missionaries, it is one of Sri Lanka's oldest schools. History In 1813 the Methodist's British ...

. Sabapathy married Sinnamma, daughter of Saravanamuthu Udayar and had two sons.

Career

Sabapathy was appointed to the

on 9 January 1917 as the second Tamil member He was founder secretary and president of the Jaffna Association, a political organisation representing the Tamils of Jaffna. The Jaffna Association and Sabapathy were persuaded to join the Ceylon National Congress (CNC) after P. Arunachalam gave them assurances in 1918 that the Sinhalese leaders of the CNC would do all that they could do to secure "as large a representation as possible to the Tamils". The ''First Manning Reforms'' did not live up to the assurances given by the CNC and in 1921 Sabapathy joined the newly formed Tamil Mahajana Sabha as its vice-president. Sabapathy a founding member of the Saiva Paripalana Sabhai and a member of the Jaffna Local Board. He was editor of the ''Hindu Organ'' for 34 years. He was one of the founders of

Jaffna Hindu College Jaffna Hindu College (; ; abbreviated as JHC) is a National school (Sri Lanka), national school in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1887 by a group of Hinduism in Sri Lanka, Hindu people who wanted an English language alternative to the Christi ...

and served as its manager from 1913 to 1924.

Death

Sabapathy died on 5 May 1924 at his home in Thalaiyali.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sabapathy, A. 1853 births 1924 deaths Alumni of Jaffna Central College Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon People associated with Jaffna Hindu College Politicians from Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan newspaper editors Tamil politicians People from British Ceylon