Sankaradas Swamigal (7 September 1867 – 13 November 1922) was a Tamil writer, actor, playwright, songwriter and drama producer whose boys company is known for launching the careers of Tamil artists such as

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and

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. Sankaradas Swamigal is considered one of the pioneers of Tamil theatre along with

Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar Pammal Vijayarangam Sambandham Mudaliar (1873–1964), who has been described as "the founding father of modern Tamil theatre", was a playwright, director, producer and actor of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries. He was a recipi ...

Early life

Swamigal was born in

Tuticorin Thoothukudi (formerly Tuticorin) is a port city, a municipal corporation and an industrial city in Thoothukudi district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. The city lies in the Coromandel Coast of Bay of Bengal. Thoothukudi is the capital a ...

in 1867 to Damodaran Pillai and Kanthimathi Ammal. He studied Tamil under the tutelage of his father and later, Palani Dandapani Swamigal before joining a salt factory as an accountant.

Career

Swamigal was more interested in composing Tamil ''

venba Venba may refer to: * Venpa or Venba, a form of Tamil poetry * Venba (actress), an Indian film actress in Tamil-language films, lead role in the 2017 film ''Kadhal Kasakuthaiya ''Kadhal Kasakuthaiya'' () is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language romantic ...

''s and songs and in 1891, he quit his job at the age of twenty four. With the support of two drama producers, Ramudu Iyer and Kalyanarama Iyer, Swamigal began acting in plays. After a short while, Swamigal joined the drama company of Samy Naidu. Ar the insistence and encouragement of Manpoondia Pillai, Swamigal began writing plays. His first success was Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar's ''Manoharan'' for which he wrote the songs.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Swamigal, Sankaradas 1867 births 1922 deaths Writers in British India Tamil dramatists and playwrights Indian theatre managers and producers Indian theatre directors