Profiles of Murukan Conference Participants

First International Conference Seminar on Skanda-Murukan (Chennai, 28-30 Dec 1998)

1. Dr. V. Abiramasundaram, M.A., M.Phil., B.Ed., Ph.D. is Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit at Vivekananda College in Chennai.
2. Dr Alagappa Alagappan, M.A., M.Sc (Econ) London, PhD, Barrister at law. Career UN official. (1953-1983). Founder Hindu Temple Society of North America in 1970. Chairman Arupadai Veedu Trust and the Śrī Jyothi Trust.
3. M.M. Alex is Executive Director of the Vedik-India Society of Chennai. A former Malayali actor in some sixty films, he now produces video documentaries and CD-ROMs on such themes as Sabari Malai Pada Yatra, Sri Tirupati Devasthànam and most recently, Lord Murukan's Aru Patai Vitu.
4. Amirthalingam Selliah, M.A. (Teol. lic), B.A, is a Ph.D. candidate, in the Department of History of Religions at Uppsala University in Sweden.
5. Mrs. Padmaja Anantharaman is Professor of English at M.D.T. College in Tirunelveli. Jeyaalaki Arunagirinathan, M.A. wrote her master's degree thesis in South Asia Studies from the University of London School of Oriental and African Studies on the topic Devotional and Classical Music.' Approaches to Tiruppukal in 1994
6. S.R.S. Ayyar, former Executive Director of the Industrial Development Bank of India, is the author of Grandeur of Thiruppugazh: The Ha//owed Hymns of Arunagirinatha published by Bharataya Vidya Bhavan. He has also lectured on topics relating to Saint Arunakirinathar in India and the USA.
7. Dr. K. Balachandran is a Reader in the Department of English at Annamalai University. He has translated and published five books into English from Tamil and Punjabi.
8. M.R. Bala Ganapathi, B.A. (1937) L.T. (1939) is retired headmaster of Vivekananda High School, Nadi, Fiji. He now lives in New Zealand where he has published several books including Kandar Anubhuti.
9. Dr. Mrs. V. Balambal is retired Professor of History, University of Madras. She has published four books and some sixty research articles on the social, religious and cultural history of Tamil Nadu.
10. M. Bala Murugan, M.A., is Tamil lecturer at Angappa College in Coimbatore. His specialty is Saiva Siddhanta philosophy.
11. Valli Malai Balananda Sadhu is a servant and devotee of Valli Malai Pongi Amman and chief custodian of Śrī Vallimalai Sacchidananda Swamigal Tiruppukazh Asramam. A direct disciple of Śrī Vallimalai Sacchidananda Swamigal, he was a successful automotive engineer in a previous incarnation.
12. Rajes Balasubramaniam (Rajes Bala), M.A. (medical anthropology), RSCN, is a journalist, human rights campaigner, independent filmmaker and mother of three. She has published six novels, three collections of short stories and over seventy short stories.
13. Dr. A. Baskara Paul Pandian M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., is Head of the Department of Tamil at Aditanar College in Tiruchendur. He has written two books and nearly fifty articles
14. Carl Vadivella Belle, M.A. is a former diplomat whose career in the Australian Foreign Service was terminated on account of his devotional activities in Malaysia and Australia.. He is the author of An Australian Spiritual Journey Towards Truth and a practicing journalist and farmer outside Adelaide, Australia.
15. Dr. G. Bhaskaran is Professor and Director of the School of Philosophy, Tamil University at Tanjavur. He has published five books and more than twenty articles mainly about Saiva Siddhanta.
16. Vidya Bhavani Suresh is a research-oriented Bharata Natyam artiste with an M.A degree in folklore. A corporate secretary by profession, she choreographs, sets musical scores and presents novel productions through the medium of dance.
17. Dr. A. Velusamy Suthanthiran is Professor and Head of the Department of Sculpture of Tamil University in Tanjavur. He has published and lectured extensively on themes of Indian art, architecture and sculpture.
18. Dr. P. Suyambu, M.A., Ph.D., teaches Tamil grammar at Aditanar College, Tiruchendur. He has published two books and some sixty papers on traditional grammar and literature. S. Thalapathy, M.A., M.Phil., is a Research Associate in the Department of Tamil at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai. He has published five research articles, mainly on post-Modernism in Tamil fiction.
19. Kathirkamam Thangeswary is an archaeology graduate with honours from Kelani University in Sri Lanka. Currently Cultural Officer at the District Secretariat in Batticaloa, she is author of three books and some fifty articles in English on history, folklore, religion and sociology.
20. Arumugam Theva Rajan retired from public service in Sri Lanka in 1979 to engage full-time in academic research. He has written both in Tamil and English on literature, culture, history and archaeology.
21. Dr. K.G. Vasanthamadhava is Senior Research Fellow in the Dept of History of Calicut University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society since 1983.
22. Dr. Marimuthu Vedanathan is Research Scholar in the School of Philosophy at Tamil University. His research interests include religions and philosophy.
23. C. Veeraraghavan, M.A. (History) is principal of J.G. Matric. Hr. Sec. School in Villupuram, Tamil Nadu. His interests include archaeological surveying and Brahmi inscriptions.
24. Miss Ambikai Velmurugu lectures at the Department of Tamil of the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Her first book, Aruccunan Tapacu (Arjuna's Penance) was published in December, 1998.
25. Dr. A. Veluppillai is Professor of the History of Religions at Uppsala University in Sweden.
26. Mr. R. Venkatraman, professor of history at DRBCC Hindu College in Chennai, has published A History of Tamil Nadu. He is also Secretary of the Vallakkottai Murugan Bhakta Sabha.
27. Dr. Saraswathi Venugopal is Director of the Centre for Tamil Folklore Research at Madurai Kamaraj University.
28. Dr R. Vijayalakshmy is the principal investigator in the UGC major project on A companion to religion and philosophy: Tevaiam and Ti'uviyappirapantam, at the International Institute of Tamil Studies, Taramani, Chennai. Miss. S. Geetha is working as a research assistant to Dr. Vijayalakshmy.
29. Dr R. Vijayaraghavan, M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D. took his doctorate in linguistics from Mysore University in 1993. He has published dozens of technical articles mainly on linguistic themes.
30. Dr. Seethalakshmi Viswanath, M.A., B.Ed., Ph.D., is Principal of St. Britto's Academy in Adyar, Chennai.
31. Dr. T. Wignesan, Ph.D., is a Research Scholar at the National Centre for Scientific Research at the School of Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris. He has published and lectured extensively on themes of comparative religion and ancient poetry, particularly the prosody of the epic Manimèkalai and comparative studies of classical Indian and Chinese philosophies.
32. A. Chandra Bose is Research Scholar at the Centre for History of Bharathidasan University in Tiruchirapalli.
33. Tiru D. Chandrasekaran, lAS, is Managing Director of the Tamil Nadu Housing Board and an ardent devotee of Lord Murukan. He has written four books and recently released two audio cassettes on saints Ramalinga Vallalar and Pamban Swamigal.
34. Dr. K. Chellappan is Director of the Tamil Nadu State Institute of English (Autonomous) in Chennai.
35. Jeevendiren Chemen is presently Lecturer of Tamil at Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Mauritius. He is also Chief Examiner for Tamil examinations conducted jointly by Cambridge University of England and Mauritius Examinations Syndicate.
36. Isabel Cuetara, M.A. is a specialist in comparative European and Indian art history. A native of Spain, she now teaches yoga in Pudukkottai District of Tamil Nadu.
37. Dr. Alexander Dubianski, Ph.D. is Associate Professor in the Department of Indian Philology at the Institute of Asian & African Studies at Moscow State University. He has published about 70 titles in Russian and English on Indian culture, religion and literature.
38. Dr. S.A.K. Durga, Ph.D. (India and USA),. Founder-Director of the Center for Ethnomusicology, Chennai, is a musicologist, ethnomusicologist and performer of Indian classical (North and South) music. She has numerous publications to her credit and has been mentioned in the International Who's Who Women of Achievement (1988) as the world's most highly-qualified woman musicologist.
39. Mohamed HussainAbdul Gaffar Hadjiar has played a leading role in the restoration of Dutch colonial-period architecture in Galle Fort,.Sri Lanka. He is also the Sole Ttustee of Kataragama Mosque & Shrine and a prominent figure in the Muslim community.
40. Dr. G. Ganesan is a Chief Engineer at the Space Shuttle Systems Program of NASA in Houston, USA. He is also a frequent contributor to online academic discussions about Tamil literature.
41. Dr. N. Gangadharan is retired Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Madras and ex-­Director of the Ananthacharya Indological Research Institute, Bombay. He is now Joint Director of the Sree Sarada Education Society Research Centre, Chennai.
42. Dr. Naganathan Gnanakumaran is Head of the Department of Philosophy at the University of Jaffna. He has published five books including Concept ofAdvaita in Saiva Siddhanta as well as numerous research articles presented at international seminars. Dr. R. Ponnu Swamy Goundar, MBBS, DCP, FRCPA, is a Consultant Pathologist and General Practitioner residing in Fiji. He also takes an active interest in studying and promoting Hindu culture in Fiji.
43. Patrick Harrigan, B.A., M.A. (University of Michigan) has published more than twenty-five articles on Kataragama and helped to produce six TV documentaries about the Kataragama jungle shrine since 1987. He is currently Editor and Webmaster of the Murugan Bhakti website network.
44. Francoise L'Hernault is a research fellow with the Ecole Française d'Extrēme-Orient in Pondicherry (French Institute for Oriental Studies) who has specialized in the architecture and the iconography of South India. She has undertaken studies on the Darasuram, Gangaikondacholapuram and Tiruvannamalai temples and on the iconography of Subrahmanya in Tamil Nadu.
45. Dr. Dennis Hudson is World Religions Professor in the Department of Religion at Smith College, USA. A member of the American Academy of Religion, he works in English, Tamil, Sanskrit, French and German and specialises in South Indian Vaisnavism.
46. Dr. S.S. Janaki (M.A., M.Litt and Ph.D. in Sanskrit from Madras University, D.Phil. from Oxford) is former Director of Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Chennai. The author of some 40 monographs and 150 research articles, she received the President's Award for Sanskrit in 1992.
47. Dr. Saba Jayarajah is Senior Lectuter in the Dept of Education at Jaffna University.
48. Dr. N. Jayavidhya teaches music at Tamil University, Tanjavur. She is also a prize­winning vocal artiste in both Karnatic and folk music.
49. Prof. R. Kalidos is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Chairman of the Department of Sculpture of Tamil University in,Tanjavur.. He has published and lectured extensively on topics of Indian sculpture, architecture and iconography and has been voted ‘Man of the Year 1997' by the American Biographical Institute.
50. Dr Thilagawathi Kanagaretnam lectures in the Department of Indian Studies of the University of Malaya in Malaysia.
51. Dr. S.N. Kandaswamy has taught for 35 years at Annamalai University, University of Malaya and Taniil University. The author of 25 books and many articles in Tamil and English, he specialises in Buddhism, Saiva Siddhanta and Tamil prosody and poetics.
52. Dr. A. Kandiah, PhD (London) is language specialist at the Institute of Languages, University of New South Wales, Australia. In his 35 years of teaching and research experience, he has published over 25 books.
53. Dr. S. Kanmani wrote her PhD thesis for Madurai Kamaraj University on ‘Countries and Towns in the Cilapatikaram'in 1992. Sheis now Reader in Tamil at S.F.R. College, Sivakasi.
54. Dr. M. Kannan, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., is lecturer in Tamil at Aditanar College in Tiruchendur. He has published some twenty papers on Tamil folklore and modern literature.
55. Prof. R. Kannan lectures in the Department of Indian Culture at Arulmigu Palaniandavar College of Arts & Culture in Palani. He was organizing secretary of the national seminar on Tamil Tradition and Muruga Worship at Palani in 1998.
56. Dr. J.G. Kannappan, MDS, FICD, FCIP, FFSc is Emeritus Professor at the Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University and President of the Indian Society for Dental Research.
57. Dr. K. Kathiresan, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., is Lecturer in the Department of Tamil of Aditanar College in Tiruchendur. He has published three research books and fifteen major articles.
58. Gauri Parimoo Krishnan is a curator in charge of the South Asian collection at the Asian Civilisations Museum in Singapore. She has taught Indian and Western art history and aesthetics at M.S. University, Gujarat.
59. Pazhayanur Subramania Krishnan Iyer, b. 1912, is President and Founder of the Sri Vallimalai Swami Satchidananda Tiruppugazh Sabha and Trustee of Śrī Vaishnavi Shrine, Tirumullaivayil. He was personally associated with such saints as Ramana Maharshi and Śrī Vallimalai Swami Satchidananda.
60. Valayapettai Ra. Krishnan is a prominent Muruka devotee and scholar in the Chennai area having a .large number of Tamil publications to his credit. He has also produced many audio cassettes, musical discourses and lecture demonstrations. His spouse T.V. Sundaravalli is a popular vocal recording artiste specialising in Tiruppukazh and Muruka bhakti songs.
61. Dr. Vimala Krishnapillai, B.Sc., M.Ed., M.Phil., Ph.D, is Lecturer in Educational Psychology in the Faculty of Education of the University of Colombo. She has published research articles and books in the fields of education and religion.
62. Dr. Somasundram Krishnarajah, PhD. is Associate Professor in the Dept. of Philosophy, University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. His numerous publications since 1989 include Saiva Siddhanta Theory ofKnowledge.
63. Dr. M. Kuruvanimal is Dean of the Faculty of Tamil Indian Languages and Rural Arts at Gandhigram Rural University in Tamil Nadu. She specialises in folklore, women s studies and ancient Tamil literature.
64. Gnanapurani Madhavanath, M.A., M.S.is the grand-daughter of V.T. Subramania Pillai and daughter V.S. Chengalvarayan, com­pilers and publishers of Arunakirinatar's Tiruppukal. She is also a co-publisher of MurugaixlPanniru Tirumurai.
65. Iravatham Mahadevan, I.A.S. (Ret'd) joined the Indian Administrative Service in 1954 and took voluntary retirement in 1980 to devote himself exclusively to academic pursuits. Among his contributions to Indian epigraphy, especially in the fields of the Indus and Brahmi scripts, his book The Indus Script: Texts, Concordance and Tables (1977) is recognised as a source-book for research in the Indus script. His book Early Tamil Paleograpby will be published shortly.
66. Dr. P. Marudanayagam is Professor and Head of the Department of English at Pondicherry University. He has taught at the Universitiy of Hawaii (USA), Carleton University (Canada) and Rennes University (France) and has published more than eighty articles in American and Indian journals including the JIAS.
67. K. Radhakrishnan, M.A. alias Marudha­muthu, is Language Editor at the Institute of Asian Studies in Chennai. He has published a number of articles on socio­cultural and religious themes, especially with respect to Buddhist influence upon Tamil literature.
68. Dr. Mj. Mohan, M.B.B.S., M.S. is Secretary and Correspondent of the Venkatesha
69. Education Society of Bangalore founded by his father Dr. M.V. Jayaraman. Like his father, Dr. Mohan is also a philanthropist and patron of South India's cultural and linguistic heritage.
70. Dr. N. Murugan, M.A., Ph.D. or ‘Cheyon' as his is also known, is Assistant Station Director of All India Radio in Chennai. He is also the author of twelve books in Tamil and recipient of numerous awards.
71. Nellai Sn. Muthu is a scientist in the Department of Space at the Shar Space Launch Facility. A poet and author, he has published widely on scientific and literary themes.
72. Dr. (Mrs.) S. Muthu Chidambaram is a reader in sociology at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tiruneveli. Her main research interests are sociology of occupations and professions and women's studies.
73. Dr. I. Muthuramalingam, B.Sc., M.A., B.L., D.Litt., is former Chairman of the Tamil Nadu State Agro-Marketing Board and Tamil Nadu Fisheries Developmeht Corporation. He is also Founder-President of the Rajiv Gandhi Intellectuals' International Academy.
74. M. Muthuswami, M.A., M.L.I.S., is Secretary of Murugalayam in Chennai. He has published numerous articles in Tamil on themes concerning Muruka bhakti.
75. Dr. M.S. Nagarajan was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Chicago and California and later became Professor and Head of the Department of English at the University of Madras. He is now Head of the Department of Translation at the Institute of Asian Studies and Editor of the JIAS.
76. Maheshvari Naidu is lecturer in the Dept. of Hindu Studies and Indian Philosophy at the University of Durban, South Africa.
77. Kandiah Neelakandan, Attorney-at-Law, Partner of the Law Firm of Murugesu & Neelakandan, Colombo., is General Secretary of the All Ceylon Hindu Congress (Federation of Hindu Religious Associations and Trusts in Sri Lanka. He is also Secretary of the Hindu Educational Society and Office-bearer of several other religious & cultural associations.
78. Acharya Dr S. Nilamegame is President of STYM Yoga (Scientific and Tradititional Yoga Motivation) Association in Reunion Island. He lectures widely and also publishes the monthly newspaper Margame ou le cheman
79. Pala Palaniappan, General Manager of the Murugappa Group by profession, is secretary of the Kanban Academy, Chennai and Karaikudi. He is the author of three books and many research articles in Tamil.
80. P. Pandian, I.A.S. (Retd) is advisor to Kumbha Investment Pvt Ltd of Chennai. He has published extensively on topics of Tamil literature and religion and is an accomplised vocal artiste as well.
81. Dr. A. Pandurangan has been teaching graduate courses in Tamil at Madurai University and government colleges in Pondicherry since 1971. He is Principal Investigator for the UGC-funded Sangam Literature Dictionary Project.
82. Dr. Asko Parpola is Professor of Indology and South Asian Studies at the Institute for Asian and African Studies of the University of Helsinki, Finland. Dr. Parpola has published extensively on the subject of the Indus Valley inscriptions and is considered to be one of the world's great authorities on the subject.
83. Prof. S. Pathmanathan took his PhD in South Asian social history from the London School of Oriental and African Studies in 1969. Since 1994 he has been Vice-Chairman of the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka.
84. Dr. Kailash Pattanaik is a Reader in the Department of Oriya at Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, West Bengal. He has written a number of books and scholarly articles on folklore and Oriya literature.
85. Dr. R.M. Periakaruppan was Professor and Head of the Department of Tamil Studies at Madurai Karnaraj University for fourteen years. His studies have focused upon ancient Tamil literature.
86. Dr. Mrs. A. Pitchai lectures at the Gandhigrarn Rural University in Tamil Nadu.
87. D. Ponnusamy, M.B.A. is Programme Director at Anna Institute of Management in Chennai.
88. Dr. J. Rāmachandran Ph.D. (Eng. M ech.) is Professor of Applied Mechanics at Indian Institute of Technology in Madras. He is also a Tamil Nadu Government-authorised practitioner of Siddha medicine.
89. Dr. M.C. Rajamanickam (M.B.B.S., M.S., Ph.D.) is by profession an orthopaedic and general surgeon in charge of Arut Perurn Jothi Hospital in Erode. A talented singer of hundreds of Tiruppukal, he is also an accomplished actor, painter and author of several books on medicine and religion.
90. Dr. D. Rajaram M.B.(Born), M.S. (Born) is Professor of Anatomy at K.J. Sornaiya Medical College in Mumbai.
91. Sadhu Ram Swamigal was a direct and beloved disciple of Śrī Vallimalai Tiruppukal Saccidananda Swamigal. He travels almost constantly at the invitation of Murukan devotees across much of Tamil Nadu until his untimely passing in April 2000.
92. M. Ramachandran, M.A., M.Phil. is lecturer in Tamil at Aditanar College of Arts and Sciences, Tiruchendur. He has published 11 articles on Tamil folklore and literature
93. M. Ramakrishnan is Research Scholar in Semiotics at the Centre of Linguistics & English of Jawaharlal Nehru University.
94. P. Joseph Dharma Raj is Research Scholar in folklore at the Folklore Resource & Research Centre of St. Xavier's College in Palayamkottai.
95. Dr. D. Rajaram, M.B. (Born), M.S. (Born), is Professor of Anatomy at K.J. Somaiya Medical College in Mumbai.
96. Prof. B. Raman is retired Head of the Dept of Tamil at Vivekananda College in Chennai.
97. M.K. Raman is retired Curator of palmleaf manuscripts in the Department of Manuscriptology at the Institute of Asian Studies, Chennai. A gifted poet, he has authored 17 poetical works.
98. Dr. Aru. Ramanathan is Associate Professor in the Department of Folklore at Tamil University. He has published twelve books and more than 25 research articles on folklore.
99. Dr. S.P. Sabharathnam is Director of the Indian Institute of Indology in Chennai. Dr. Sabharathnarn is also Professor at Vastu Vedic Research Foundation and Associate Editor of Vastu Purusha.
100. Dr. K. Sadasivan is Professor and Head of the Department of History of Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli.
101. Dr. Alexandra Safronova is Associate Professor at the Institute of Asian and African Studies of Moscow State University. She has published extensively on the religious and political history of Sri Lanka.
102. Jayalakshmi Sakthivelan is Executive Director of JK Combines Multimedia in Chennai.
103. Dr. P.V. Sankaranarayanan is retired professor of English literature at Arulmigu Palani Andavar College of Arts and Culture, Palani. He writes in English and Tamil on literature, religion, philosophy, etc. and speaks in both languages.
104. Dr. K. Santhanaraman, M.A., D.Litt., Ph.D. is Assistant Treasurer at the Reserve Bank of India in Chennai. He is also a well-known orator and author of eleven books and numerous articles on aspects of Taniil culture. His spouse Prof. V. Hema did her doctoral research on ‘Tanikai Puranam'. She has trained thousands of science teachers in India and abroad and is associated with five Tamil Nadu universities.
105. Dr. Arysio Nunes dos Santos holds a Ph.D. in nuclear physics. He is currently a Free-Docent Professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Brazil). His interests include archaeology, linguistics, archaeo­astronomy, symbolism, egyptology, comparative religion and mythology, and the occult sciences.
106. Dr. Prof. M.S. Saravanan, M.Sc., Ph.D., F.M.S., F.G.S. is an an earth scientist and mineralogist and former Director of the Tamil Nadu Department of Geology & Mines and Chairman of Tarnilnadu Minerals Limited. A one-time close associate of Kripananda Variar, he was appointed Head of the Palani Andavar Idol Replacement Committee.
107. M.P. Sathyavelmurugan, B.E., is Senthamil Velvi Chadhurar Siddhanta Kavimani and Siddhant.aKa'uimani.
108. Dr. T. Senthilwerl is a prominent Sri Lankan Tamil businessman and Murukan devotee. He is Trustee of five Murukan temples in Colombo.
109. Dr. N. Seshadri, M.A., M.Ed., Ph.D. is Reader in the Department of Tamil at National College in Tiruchirapalli.
110. Dr. R.K. Seth, Reader in Hindi at the University of Delhi, writes in Hindi on Tamil cultural themes as well as translations from Tamil to Hindi. His books include a complete Hindi translation of Tirukkural.
111. Dr. V.L. Sethuraman is retired professor of Sanskrit at Madras Christian College, Chennai. He is also Secretary of the Sree Sarada Education Society Research Centre in Adyar.
112. Shankarananda Swamigal is one of Lord Murukan's servants whose pleasure it is to serve other devotees. He is also the head of Om Murugashramam in West Mampalam, Chennai.
113. Dr. N. Shanmugalingam is Head of the Department of Political Science and Sociology at the University of Jaffna.
114. Sinnathamby Shanmugam, S.L.A.S., is Additional Government Agent, Batticaloa District, Sri Lanka. He is actively involved in religious and cultural functions of Hindu organizations in Batticaloa district.
115. Late Prof. M. Shanmugam Pillai, started his teaching career at Annamalai University in 1945 and over the course of a long and productive academic career published thirty books and some 300 papers in English and Tamil. His headship of the Tamil Department of Madurai Kamaraj University for more than ten years is considered to be a golden period for the development of Tamil Studies. After serving as a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania and other foreign universities, he became Head of the Department of Tamil at the Institute of Asian Studies. In early 1997 he proposed that the Institute of Asian Studies organise and host an international conference of scholars studying the deity Skanda-Murukan. His untimely passing in September 1998 robbed Tamil scholarship of one of its most eloquent and devoted savants.
116. Dr. S. Shanmuga Sundaram, M.A., Ph.D., (Sinhara Pandian) is Head of the Department of Tamil at St. Joseph's College in Bangalore.
117. G. Shunmugham is the author of Avvaiyar's VinayagarAgava/ in Tamil. He has received several awards including Senthamizh Selvamani presented by Śrī Kripananda Variyar Swamigal at Vallimalai.
118. Dr. S.K. Sitrampalam, M.A., Ph.D. (Poona) is a specialist in South Asian history and archaeology and professor of history at the University of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. His five published books include HistoryofHinduism in Sri Lanka (1996).
119. Dr. L.K. Sivanesan is reader in history at Periyar E.V.R. College in Tiruchirappalli. He has published 57 articles and five books, including Further Studies in the History of Ancient TondaimandaLwi (1998).
120. Ramanujam Sooriamoorthy is Education Officer (French & English) at secondary level in Mauritius. He lectures and writes chiefly in French and has produced a series of articles on various subjects ranging from philosophy to linguistics and from anthropology to history.
121. Ven. Dr. Aluthwewa Soratha Thero, Ph.D. is chief incumbent of Kirivehera Raja Maha Viharaya in Kataragama, Sri Lanka. His doctoral dissertation and continuing interest are in the field of ritual and comparative folklore in the Buddhist and Hindu traditions. Khesaven Sornum, M.A., is Lecturer in the Department of Tamil of the Mahatrna Gandhi Institute in Moka, Mauritius.
122. Angannan Subramanian, M.A., has done his M.Litt. level research on the concept of Indian culture and spirituality at the Centre for Advance Study in Philosophy of the University of Madras. He has been a lecturer and principal for 36 years.
123. Dr. N. Subramanian, M.A., Ph.D., has rendered a long career as Government administrator and Professor of Ancient History at the University of Madras and Madurai Kamaraj University until his retirement in 1976. In 1980 he founded the International Institute of Tamil Studies at Madurai. He is the author of some ninety books.
124. Dr. P. Subramanian is reader in the Department of Tamil at Arulmugu Palani Andavar College of Arts and Culture. He was Secretary of the 1998 national seminar on ‘Tamil Tradition and the Murukan Cult'.
125. Dr. V. Subramaniam is Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of Political Science at Carleton University, Ontario, Canada. His wife Jaya Subramaniam is a librarian at Carleton University.
126. Dr. S. Subramaniyan teaches in the Department of Indian Languages at the University of Durban-Westville in South Africa.
127. Dr. S. Suresh, M.A., M.Phil. Ph.D. took his doctorate in Numismatics from Jawaharlal   University, New Delhi.

For information contact the Secretary of the Working Committee: Patrick Harrigan kataragama@gmail.com.