Famous Personalities from Thanjavur

Every region produces its own share of luminaries and Thanjavur is no less. With this ancient city being famous for its arts, dance and music, there are many who have perfectly mastered the dance forms of Bharatnatyam and Carnatic music. Here is a brief look at some of the notable personalities from this culturally-rich region:

Srinivasa Ramanujan

He lived from 1887 to 1920 and was a renowned Indian mathematician and well-known globally for his contributions on the theory of numbers.

U.V. Swaminatha Iyer

He lived from 1855 to 1942 and was a renowned Tamil scholar, Dravidologist, linguist and music composer. He was fondly known as ‘Tamil Thatha’.

Pattukottai Chinnaiya Iyer

He was a philanthropist who lived from 1700 to 1750 and among other accomplishments, built several rest houses for pilgrims travelling on foot from Kashi to Rameswaram and Kanyakumari, through Pattukottai. In recognition of his contributions, a street is named after him in Pattukottai.

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

He was born in 1956 and is well known globally as a spiritual leader, a yogi and founder of the ‘Art of Living’ NGO. He also established a charity ‘International Association for Human Values’.

Sir T. Madhava Rao

He lived from 1828 to 1891 and was a renowned administrator. He was the Diwan of the Kingdom of Travancore and also one of the early leaders of the Indian National Congress.

G.A. Natesan

He was one of the pioneering journalists and authors who lived from 1837 to 1948. He was also the editor of ‘The Indian Review’ and founder of the publishing company G.A. Nateson & Co.

N. Srinivasan

He is a famous award-winning pioneering digital artist born in 1972. He blends technology with traditional materials to create works of art that he showcases as drawings, 3-D sculptures, digital prints, installations and videos.

S. A. Saminatha Iyer

He was a renowned lawyer and loyal freedom fighter who died in the year 1899. He was a politician, theosophist as well as a landowner too. He served as the chairman of the Thanjavur municipality and was a delegate to a number of sessions of the Indian National Congress where he spoke out against salt taxation. He was also a part of the team that wrote the constitution of the Congress.

R. Venkatraman

He was an Indian freedom fighter and politician who lived from 1910 to 2009. He served as the president (1987-1992) and vice-president (1984-1987) of the country too.

Numerous other luminaries from Thanjavur also include cine artists like Hema Malini, S. Shankar, Vijayakumar, Rajesh and Sivaji Ganesan.