Veteran Tamil activist in Trincomalee passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 23:11 GMT]
Veteran Federal Party member and leading Hindu religious worker, Mr.Kanagarajah Muthiah, fondly called Muthiah Swamiyar, who had been staying in a hut opposite the Hindu pilgrim rest located in close proximity to the historic Trincomalee Koneswaram temple for more than thirty years, passed away at the age of 91 Saturday morning, sources said.

His funeral was held Sunday morning at the Trincomalee Hindu cemetery, the sources said.

Muthiah Swamiyar

His body was kept at the "Palamuthirsolai" Home for the Aged, which is run by the Trincomalee Urban Council and it was taken to the Hindu cemetery by his long-standing friends and well wishers Sunday morning. His wife predeceased him several years ago and he has no children, sources said.

Born on June 03, 1912, he was employed in the British Navy when Sri Lanka was under colonial rule. Later, he became an active member of the Federal Party (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi) during the 1950s.

Mr. Muthiah participated in the non-violent campaigns organized by the Federal party in 1960. He was an active participant of the Satyagraha campaign launched by the Federal Party in the 1960s in Trincomalee to win Tamils' demands, sources said.

In later years, he completely dedicated his services for the development of Hinduism and restoring destroyed historic Hindu temples found in the jungles of Trincomalee district.

He was instrumental in finding the ruins of a historic Kaliamman temple in the jungles of Paraiyankulam in Pankulam, which was built under the rule of Chola Kings, about 25 km north of Trincomalee town twenty five years ago, sources said.

Muthiah Swamiar played a vital role when the first consecration (Maha Kumabisheham) ceremony of the historic Koneswaram temple was held in 1963 after about four hundred years since Portuguese destroyed it, sources said.