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Vallal Tiruvarur Nagappa Sabapathy Sengunthar (18 April 1886 - 1953) was an Indian philanthropist and businessman from the Sengunthar community. In 1926 he founded the Madras Palayakat Company to manufacture and trade in textiles primarily with Ceylon under the trade mark Sangumark. In 1927, he was one of the founding members of the South India Senguntha Mahajana Sangam, a caste-based organisation. As a mark of respect, that body he was posthumously given the title of Vallal (Philanthropist) for his contributions and long-term vision for the Sengunthar community.
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Birth and early life
Tiruvarur Nagappa Sabapathy (TNS) was born on 18 April 1886 to Nagappa Mudhaliar in Tiruvarur, Madras Presidency, British India. He studied unil Grade 5 in Tiruvarur and then started to work with his father in the field of textile exports to Ceylon. During the early days, there was lot of competition from fellow Sengunthars from Manjakollai, T.R. Pattinam and Karaikal which resulted in reduced profits. He encouraged the competitors to minimise infighting and maximize profit and thus to benefit their community.
Business
TNS started the Madras Palayakat Company in 1926. Later in 1930 he brought 11 of his friends into the company and expanded it further. The Madras Palayakat Company then started trading in betel nuts with Colombo, Ceylon.
Social work
TNS desired to improve the organisation of poor textile workers in the Sengunthar community. With this in mind, he co-founded the South India Sengunthar Mahajana Sangam in 1927 by bringing the 72 branches of the community under one unified organisation. He also emphasised the rich cultural and historical values of the Sengunthars as depicted in Tamil literature.
TNS was appointed as the third president of South Indian Sengunthar Mahajana Sangam in 1936 and served until 1953. On 17 March 1945 he organised the first major meeting for all Sengunthars based in Thanjavur district. He was known for his oratorical and leadership abilities and in that meeting he remarked that "If Sengunthars want to prosper collectively, then they need to collectively contribute capital and work hard with diligence to ensure that there is good return for our capital. During this journey, there will be lot of hardships but if we work together with conviction we can overcome all of them together".
In 1937, TNS fought a land rights case in Nagapatnam court. This related to land in Dyanapuram village. In that particular case the opposition comprised different communities (Naidu and Pillai) had bought out all lawyers in Nagapatnam Bar so TNS could not find anyone to appear on his behalf. He then went to Madras to hire a British lawyer of the name Norton and paid a whopping Rupees 3000 for a day work in Nagapattinam and won the case.
TNS was widely respected in Tiruvarur, his birth town. He was the Vice Chairman of the Tiruvarur Municipal Council for 16 years.
Family
TNS was married to Logambal Ammal. They had two sons and two daughters. He died in 1953 after a brief illness due to acute diabetes.
Philanthropist
TNS was posthumously awarded the title of Vallal (means Philanthropist in Tamil). TNS also had deeper vision for the Sengunthar community and in addition to co-founding the South India Senguntha Mahajana Sangam, he also bought a building at 31 Armenian Street in then Madras in 1939 and named the building as "Sengunthar Maligai" which meant Sengunthar Palace. This building was officially opened on 15 September 1939.