Famous Persons of Karaikudi

 Chettinadu has given birth to many great persons who significantly contributed for the good of humanity.

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Lists

Vallal Alagappa Chettiar

Padma Bhushan Sir K.V.A.R. (Kottaiyur Veerappa Alagappa Ramanatha) Alagappa Chettiar, (6 April 1909 – 5 April 1957), was an Indian businessman and philanthropist. He was awarded Padmabhushan award in 1956.He attended Presidency College at Chennai, where he became friendly with Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a model teacher who later on became President of India. In 1930 at the age of 21 he was the first M.A. (English Language and Literature) from the community of Nattukottai Nagarathars.

 After his graduation he went to England to pursue the study of Law. He qualified for the Bar at Middle Temple in England and became a ' Bar-at-Law ' to be cherished by the people of Chettinad. Adventurous by nature he was awarded a pilot certificate at Croydon, London. During this time he became the first Indian trainee in the Chartered Bank, London.

Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar

Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar (1890–1967), popularly known as Ariyakudi, was a Carnatic Music vocalist, born in Ariyakudi a town in the Karaikudi district, present Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu. Ariyakudi developed unique style of singing came to be known as The Ariyakudi Tradition and is followed by his students. He established the modern katcheri (concert) traditions in Carnatic music.The doyen of Carnatic Music, Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer is known to have remarked "I was greatly influenced by Ariyakudi Ramanuja Iyengar.

Kaviyarasu Kannadasan

Kannadasan (24 June 1927 – 17 October 1981) was a Tamil poet and lyricist, heralded as one of the greatest and most important writers in the Tamil language.

Frequently called Kaviarasu (King of Poets), Kannadasan was most familiar for his song lyrics in Tamil films and contributed around 5000 lyrics apart from 6000 poems and 232 books,including novels, epics, plays, essays, his most popular being the 10-part religious essay on Hinduism, captioned Arthamulla Indhumatham (Meaningful Hindu Religion).He won the Sahitya Akademi Award for his novel Cheraman Kadali in the year 1980 and was the first to receive the National Film Award for Best Lyrics, given in 1969 for the film Kuzhanthaikkaga.