Ponnambalam Coomaraswamy (7 December 1849 – 7 June 1906) 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 ...

lawyer 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

Coomaraswamy was born on 7 December 1849. He was the son of Gate Mudaliyar A. Ponnambalam. He was the brother of P. Ramanathan and P. Arunchalam. Coomaraswamy was educated at

Colombo Academy Royal College, Colombo also known as; Royal Colombo, Colombo Royal College or Colombo Royal) is a Single-sex education, boys' school located in Cinnamon Gardens, Cinnamon Gardens, Colombo, Sri Lanka. Started by Joseph Marsh (priest), Joseph Mar ...

, Colombo and

Presidency College, Madras Presidency College is an art, commerce, and science college in the city of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, India. On 16 October 1840, this school was established as the Madras Preparatory School before being repurposed as a high school, and then a gra ...

Career

Coomaraswamy joined the legal profession after finishing his education. Coomaraswamy was a member of

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, and elected 119 municipal councilors. The council was f ...

from January 1873 to October 1879 and from November 1885 to December 1889. He was appointed to the

in 1893 as the unofficial member representing

Tamils The Tamils ( ), also known by their endonym Tamilar, are a Dravidian peoples, Dravidian ethnic group who natively speak the Tamil language and trace their ancestry mainly to the southern part of the Indian subcontinent. The Tamil language is o ...

, replacing his brother Ramanathan. Coomaraswamy was a Tamil scholar and a publisher of Tamil literature. He was president of Jaffna Saiva Paripalana Sabai and helped establish

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 ...

. He also established a Hindu temple on

Slave Island Slave Island, officially known as Kompagngna Veediya (; ), also known as Kampong Kertel and Kompanna Veediya and formerly known as Javanam Quarters (Javanese Quarter) during Dutch rule, is a suburb in Colombo, Sri Lanka, located directly south of ...

. Coomaraswamy died on 7 June 1906 in Colombo. P. COOMARA SWAMY had the honor of welcoming Swami Vivekananda and delivering the welcome address on 15 January 1897, after the latter's return from the West. This lecture can be seen in Swami Vivekananda's Lectures from Colombo to Almora.

References

1849 births 1906 deaths Alumni of Royal College, Colombo Colombo municipal councillors P Members of the Legislative Council of Ceylon Mudaliyars of Ceylon People from British Ceylon Presidency College, Chennai alumni Sri Lankan Tamil people Sri Lankan lawyers Tamil politicians {{WesternLK-politician-stub