Background
Chunnakam Kumaraswamy Pulavar was born to Ampalavanar and Chithamparammai on January 18, 1854 as only son, among two daughters.
Chunnakam Kumaraswamy Pulavar was born to Ampalavanar and Chithamparammai on January 18, 1854 as only son, among two daughters.
He lived from 1854 to 1922. He along with other activists were instrumental in the revival of native traditions in Sri Lanka that had been long dormant during the previous 400 years of colonial rule by various European powers. When the Pulavar was 5, he started studying Tamil under Namasivaya Desikar and also started studying at Mallakam English School.
At the age of 8 he started learning Tamil literature from Murukasu Panditar.
In 1878 Rao Bhahadur C. West. Thamotharampillai asked the Pulavar to teach at his Saivapracasa Tamil School at Elalai, and two years later Pulavar was promoted to be the principal of the school. He was there for 22 years and earned high recognition for his hard work.
During this time Pulavar wrote a number of research papers on ancient Tamil literature. He also wrote and published several articles on greatness of Saiva religion to counter the insulting articles published by Christian clergy at that time in Jaffna and Tamil Nadu.
In 1900 Jaffna Tamil Sangam was established by Kailasa Pillai, with the Pulavar as the chief examiner and member of the scholarly panel.