Professor Kandasamypillai Kanapathypillai (2 July 1902 – 1968) was a leading

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 ...

academic, author and head of the Department of Tamil at 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 Univ ...

, Peradeniya for 18 years.

Early life and family

Kanapathypillai was born on 2 July 1902. He was from

Puloly Puloly () is a region in Jaffna Peninsula, Northern Sri Lanka. It is located approximately 30 km from City of Jaffna. Its north part is Point Pedro town. Some scholars suggest that region was named after several scholars lived there (mean ...

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 educated at Velauthar School and

Hartley College Hartley College ( ''Hāṭlik Kallūri'') is a provincial school in Point Pedro, Sri Lanka. Founded in 1838 by British Methodist missionaries, it is one of Sri Lanka's oldest schools. The school is named after Wesleyan priest and missionary Rev. ...

. After school he joined the

Ceylon University College Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...

from where he graduated with a

First Class Honours The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading structure used for undergraduate degrees or bachelor's degrees and integrated master's degrees in the United Kingdom. The system has been applied, sometimes with significant var ...

BA degree in

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

. He then went to

Annamalai University The Annamalai University (AU) is a public state university in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu, India. The sprawling campus offers courses of higher education in arts, science, engineering, management, humanities, agriculture, and physical education. ...

in India to study

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

, obtaining the vidvan title. He gained a

Phd A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

after producing a

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

Chola The Chola Empire, which is often referred to as the Imperial Cholas, was a medieval thalassocratic empire based in southern India that was ruled by the Chola dynasty, and comprised overseas dominions, protectorates and spheres of influence ...

inscriptions in 1935.

Career

Returning to Ceylon, Kanapathypillai was appointed Lecturer of Tamil at

, becoming Professor of Tamil in 1948. He was appointed head of the Department of Tamil at the university in 1947, succeeding

Swami Vipulananda Swami Vipulananda (; 27 March 1892 – 20 July 1947), also known as Vipulananda Adigal, was a Sri Lankan Tamil Hindu social reformer, literary critic, author, poet, teacher and ascetic from the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Vipulananda was an e ...

. He held that position until his retirement in 1965. Kanapathypillai wrote a number of books including dramas. In his later years as Professor of Tamil at Peradeniya, he made valuable contributions in the field of Sri Lankan Tamil

epigraphy Epigraphy () is the study of inscriptions, or epigraphs, as writing; it is the science of identifying graphemes, clarifying their meanings, classifying their uses according to dates and cultural contexts, and drawing conclusions about the wr ...

. At a time when there was no trained Tamil epigraphist to decipher, edit and publish the many ancient Tamil inscriptions in Sri Lanka, Kanapathypillai undertook this task and published articles on the Tamil inscriptions from Makanai, Moragahawela and Panduvasnuvara in the 1960 and 1962 issues of the ''University of Ceylon Review''. He created a new interest in this field and inspired his students to continue this work after his retirement.

References

External links

A Study of the Language of the Tamil Inscriptions of the 7th and 8th Centuries A.D. by Prof. K. Kanapathypillai
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kanapathypillai, K. 1902 births 1968 deaths Academic staff of the University of Ceylon Alumni of Hartley College Alumni of the Ceylon University College Alumni of the University of London People from Northern Province, Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan academics Sri Lankan Tamil writers