S. Pathmanathan

Pathmanathan was born on 20 March 1940 in Araly in northern Ceylon.[2][3][4] He is the son of Sivasubramaniam, a teacher at Vaddukoddai Hindu College, and Sivapakkiyam.[2] He was educated at Jaffna College.[2] After school he joined the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya from where he received a BA special degree in history in 1963.[2][4]

Pathmanathan in married to Pathmaleela.[2] They have three sons (Hariharan, Sriharan and Sivasankar) and two daughters (Sudharshni and Sivadharshni).[2]

Pathmanathan joined the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya in 1963 as an assistant lecturer in history. He was promoted to lecturer (1969), senior lecturer (1975) and associate professor (1981).[2] In 1969 he received a Ph.D in South Asian history from the University of London.[2][4] He was also a visiting lecturer of history/Hindu civilisation at the University of Ceylon, Colombo (1970–72) and visiting lecturer of history University of Sri Lanka Vidyalankara campus (1975–77).[2] He joined the University of Jaffna in 1986 as professor of history, serving until 2004.[2][3] He returned to the University of Peradeniya as professor of history in 1995, serving until 2006.[2][3] He was head of the Department of History at Peradeniya between 2001 and 2002.[3] He was a visiting professor at the University of Cologne's Institute of Indology and Tamil Studies (2003–04) and Uppsala University (2004).[3] He retired in May 2006.[3]

After retirement Pathmanathan became an emeritus professor of history at University of Peradeniya.[5] He was a visiting professor at Eastern University, Sri Lanka (2007–08) where he helped establish the Hindu Civilisation discipline.[3] In 2008 he served as a consultant in Hindu studies at the South Eastern University of Sri Lanka.[3] He later became chancellor of the University of Jaffna.[6][7]

Pathmanathan has served in various positions including vice chairman of the University Grants Commission (1994–99) and a member of the National Education Commission (1991-2001).[2][3] He was a consultant to the Ministry of Hindu Affairs between 2002 and 2003.[3] Pathmanathan was awarded the Sri Lanka Sikhamani title in the 2017 Sri Lankan national honours.[8][9]

Pathmanathan is a prolific writer — he has written/edited several books and authored dozens of papers.[2][3]

• The Vanniyar (Tamil) (1970, Peradeniya)
• The Kingdom of Jaffna, Part 1 (Circa A.D. 1250-1450) (1978, Arul M. Rajendran)
• The Laws and Customs of the Sri Lankan Tamils (Tamil) (2001, Kumaran Press)
• Hindu Culture in Sri Lanka, Volume 1: Temple Art & Architecture (editor) (Tamil) (2001, Department of Hindu Religious & Cultural Affairs, Sri Lanka)
• Hindu Culture in Sri Lanka, Volume 2: Dances & Paintings (editor) (Tamil) (2002, Department of Hindu Religious & Cultural Affairs, Sri Lanka)
• The Vanni Principalities in Sri Lanka (Tamil) (2003, Kumaran Press)
• Tamil Literature and Historical Traditions in Sri Lanka (Tamil) (2004, Kumaran Press)
• Hinduism in Sri Lanka (Tamil) (2004, Kumaran Press)
• Tamil Inscriptions in Sri Lanka (Tamil) (2006, Department of Hindu Religious & Cultural Affairs, Sri Lanka)