Arumugam Canagaratnam

Arumugam Canagaratnam
Personal details
Religion	Hindu

Arumugam Canagaratnam is the founder of the college Canagaratnam Maha Vidyalayam (formerly Stanley College) in Jaffna, Sri Lanka.

Biography

His nephew Late Cathiravelu Sittampalam, was the first Cabinet Minister of Posts and Telecommunications in the independent Sri Lanka.^[1][2] Another illustrious descendant of Visvanathar was A. Canagaratnam, the younger brother of C.Sittampalam’s grandfather A. Cathiravelu. Canagaratnam followed in the footsteps of his uncle V. Casipillai in devotion to public service. In 1924 he became the member of the Northern Province, Southern division in the legislative council and agitated for the establishment of a University of Ceylon. As a keen nationalist he edited and published the 'Ceylon Patriot' at his own expense and is credited with strengthening the independent movement in Jaffna. In 1927 he was the leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Conference. With his own money, on his own land, he built Stanley College, initially named after the British Governor and subsequently named Canagaratnam Maha Vidyalayam in his honour. As chairman of the first urban Council of Jaffna. He set the stage for another descendants of the above Visvanathar to follow, 2 of them serving as Mayor of Jaffna. He had been largely instrumental in the establishment of the urban council, though the previous establishment of the Jaffna local board.

See also

• List of political families in Sri Lanka

References

1. ^ "Stamp to honour Cathiravelu Sittampalam". The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd [Daily News]. 2004-02-26. http://www.dailynews.lk/2004/02/26/new18.html. Retrieved 2008-03-01. 
2. ^ "First cabinet had only 14 ministers". Wijeya Newspapers Ltd, Sri Lanka[The Sunday Times]. 2007-09-23. http://sundaytimes.lk/070923/FunDay/heritage.html. Retrieved 2008-03-01. 

Persondata
Name	Canagaratnam, Arumugam
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death