S. Pathmanathan | |
---|---|
4th
Chancellor of the University of Jaffna | |
Preceded by | M. Sivasuriya |
Personal details | |
Born | Araly, Ceylon | 20 March 1940
Alma mater |
Jaffna College University of Ceylon University of London |
Profession | Academic |
Professor Sivasubramaniam Pathmanathan (born 20 March 1940) is a Sri Lankan Tamil historian, academic, author and current chancellor of the University of Jaffna. [1]
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]