Sankaradas Swamigal

Swamigal was born in Tuticorin in 1867 to Damodaran Pillai and Kanthimathi Ammal. He studied Tamil under the tutelage of his father and later, Palani Dandapani Swamigal before joining a salt factory as an accountant.

Swamigal was more interested in composing Tamil venbas and songs and in 1891, he quit his job at the age of twenty four. With the support of two drama producers, Ramudu Iyer and Kalyanarama Iyer, Swamigal began acting in plays. After a short while, Swamigal joined the drama company of Samy Naidu.

Ar the insistence and encouragement of Manpoondia Pillai, Swamigal began writing plays. His first success was Pammal Sambandha Mudaliar's Manoharan for which he wrote the songs.

• "Father of Tamil theatre: Sankaradas Swamigal". Namma Chennai. Archived from the original on 2015-04-18.