T. N. Sabapathy Mudaliar
Vallal Tiruvarur Nagappa Sabapathy Sengunthar (18 April 1886 - 1953) was an Indian Philanthropist and Pioneer in the Sengunthar community. In 1926 he founded the Madras Palayakat Company to manufacture and trade in textiles primarily with Sri Lanka under the trade mark Sangumark. Further in 1927, he was one of the founding members of the South India Senguntha Mahajana Sangam. As a mark of respect, he was posthumously given the Vallal (Philanthropist) title for his contributions and long-term vision for the Sengunthar Community.
Birth and Early life
Tiruvarur Nagappa Sabapathy (TNS) was born on April 18, 1886 to Nagappa Mudhaliar in Thajavur District (Tiruvarur town), part of Madras Presidency, British India. TNS only studied till Grade 5 in Tiruvarur after which he started to work with his Father. From his early day, he worked closely with his father in the area of textile exports to Sri Lanka and became trained in textile trade. During the early days, there was lot of competition from fellow Sengunthars from Manjakollai, T.R. Pattinam, Karaikal which resulted in uncompetitive behaviour and lesser profits. During that time, he was able to provide far sighted vision and perspective to fellow Sengunthars to minimize infighting and maximize profit and benefit to the society.
Founder: Madras Palayakat Company
TNS started the Madras Palayakat Company in 1926. Later in 1930 he brought 11 of his friends into the company and expanded it further. The Madras Palayakat Company then started trading in Betel Nut with Colombo.
Founder: South India Sengunthar Mahajana Sangam
Even though TNS was successful in business, he always felt lack of a stronger organization to help the poor textile workers in the Sengunthar Community. With this in mind, TNS founded the South India Sengunthar Mahajana Sangam in 1927 by bringing the 72 branches of sengunthar community under one unified organization[1] He also emphasized the rich cultural and historical values the Sengunthars had which is reported in tamil literature.
TNS was appointed as the third president of South Indian Sengunthar Mahajana Sangam in 1936 when he turned around 50 and served till 1953. During his tenure, on March 17, 1945 he organized the first major meeting for all Sengunthars based in Thanjavur district. He was well known for his oratorical and leadership abilities. In that famous meeting he remarked, "If Sengunthars want to prosper collectively, then they need to collectively contribute capital and work hard with diligence to ensure that there is good return for our capital. During this journey, there will be lot of hardships but if we work together with conviction we can overcome all of them together".
A Man Against Odds
TNS always had a never say never attitude. This was quite evident in one particular incident where TNS was fighting a land rights case in Nagapatnam court in 1937 pertaining to land in Dyanapuram village. In that particular case the opposition composed of different communities (Naidu and Pillai) had bought out all lawyers in Nagapatnam Bar so TNS could not find anyone to appear on his behalf. He then went to Chennai to hire a British lawyer of the name Norton and paid a whopping Rupees 3000 for a day work in Nagapattinam and won the case.
King Maker of Tiruvarur
TNS was widely respected in Tiruvarur, his birth town. He was the Vice Chairman of the Tiruvarur Municipal Council for 16 years (XXXX-XXXX).
Marriage and children
TNS was married to Logambal Ammal. They had 2 Sons (T. S. Dakshanamoorthy Mudhaliar and T. S. Karthigeya Mudhaliar) and 2 Daughters (Gowri Ammal and Danalakshmi).
TNS died in 1953 from brief illness due to acute Diabetes.
Philanthropist
TNS has a Philanthropist who was later posthumously awarded the title of Vallal (means Philanthropist in Tamil). TNS also had deeper vision for his Sengunthar Community and in addition to founding the South India Senguntha Mahajana Sangam, he also bought a building at 31 Armenian Street in then Madras in 1939 and named the building as "Sengunthar Maligai" which meant Sengunthar Palace. This building was officially opened on 15 September 1939.
References
- ↑ "Founding Member of South India Senguntha Mahajana Sangam". Senguntha Mithran.