J. Tyagaraja

Jaganathan Tyagaraja (born 18 October 1895) was a Ceylon Tamil barrister, politician and member of the State Council of Ceylon.

Tyagaraja was born on 18 October 1895.^[1] He was the son of Namasivayam Tyagaraja, a wealthy landed proprietor from Colombo, the capital of Ceylon.^[1] Tyagaraja was educated at Royal College, Colombo.^[1] After school he joined Christ's College, Cambridge, graduating with LLB and master's degrees.^[1] He was subsequently called to the bar.^[1]

Tyagaraja tried unsuccessfully to obtain a seat on the Legislative Council of Ceylon following the death of P. Ramanathan.^[1] He abided by the Jaffna Youth Congress' call to boycott the 1931 State Council election.^[2] The following year most of the Tamil politicians who had boycotted the election, including Tyagaraja, condemned the boycott.^[3]

Tyagaraja contested the 1944 State Council by-election as a candidate in Mannar-Mullaitivu and was elected to the State Council of Ceylon.^[4][5] Tyagaraja supported G. G. Ponnambalam's call for balanced representation in the Ceylonese legislature but nevertheless voted for self-government as recommended by the Soulbury Commission.^[6]

Tyagaraja contested the 1947 parliamentary election as a United National Party candidate in Mannar but was defeated by C. Sittampalam.^[7] His defeat has been attributed to his support for the Soulbury Constitution.^[8]

Tyagaraja played a key role in the establishment of the Central Bank of Ceylon and was an appointed member of its monetary board for 21 years (1950–71).^[9][10][11]