Ponnambalam Ramanathan

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Ponnanbalam Ramanathan in 1906 with his future wife Ms. Harrison (right).

Sir Ponnambalam Ramanathan KCMG, KC (born 15 April 1851 -died 30 November 1930) was a former Solicitor-General and Tamil political leader in Ceylon.

1 Early life
2 Political Career
- 2.1 Sinhalese Muslim Riots
3 Selected writings
4 References

[edit] Early life

His father was Gate Mudaliyar Arunachalam Ponnambalam and mother was Sellachchi Ammaiyar. He was leader brother of Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam who was another famous Ceylonese tamil leader. P. Ramanathan educated at the Colombo Academy (current Royal College), Colombo was enrolled as an Advocate from 1873 to 1886.

[edit] Political Career

He was nominated as an unofficial Member of the Legislative Council of Ceylon from 1879 to 1892 representing the Tamil-speaking people. He posed himself as a representative of all communities in the Island. He was then appointed by the Governor of Ceylon as Solicitor-General in 1892 and functioned as such until 1906, and acted as Attorney-General on several occasions during this period. He married Leelawathy Ramanathan in 1906. Then he was nominated by the Government to represent Ceylon as a delegate to the Golden Jubilee celebrations of Queen Victoria in 1897 at London. He was described by Lord Salisbury as the most accomplished speaker in the British Empire and the Queen awarded him a gold medal on the occasion.

Ramanathan was elected representing the educated Ceylonese to the Legislative Council of Ceylon by a sweeping majority in 1911^[1]. It was a historic event, as he was the very first candidate to be elected to the Legislature of the country by an all-Ceylon electorate, prior to the introduction of universal franchise in 1931. He was re-elected to this seat in the Legislative Council in 1916 and held it until 1921.

He was the founder of Uduvil Ramanathan Girls College[1] and Parameshwara College College of Jaffna which was formed as the University of Jaffna later.

[edit] Sinhalese Muslim Riots

It is reported that during the widespread and prolonged Sinhalese-Muslim Riots of 1915,the British Governor came down with a heavy hand on the Sinhalese community and declared Martial law and ordered the Police and the Army to arrest and imprison several prominent Sinhalese leaders. Among those imprisoned were D. S. Senanayake, D. R. Wijewardena, Dr. Cassius Pereira, E. T. De Silva, F.R. Dias Bandaranaike, H. Amarasuriya, A.H. Molamure and several others. It is said that some other leaders were shot without trial. Ramanathan thereupon came to the rescue of the Sinhalese community and fought hard and long against the tyranny of the British Government.

[edit] Selected writings

Ramanathan availed himself of this period of service as a senior Law Officer of the Crown to introspect and produce very illuminating writings on Christian and Hindu spiritual themes.