Dr. U.V. Swaminatha lyer, popularly known as 'Tamizh Thattha' was a great Tamil scholar who made the most outstanding; contribution to the enriching of the Tami l language.

Born on 19th February 1855, Swaminatha lyer spent his days till 1871 in searching for master. His father was his first teacher but it was under the tutelage of Mahavidwan Meenakshisundar am Pillai when the foundation  of  his scholarship and genius were laid. Later, Swaminatha lyer studied for some time under the Head of the Tiruvaavadutura i Mutt.

He acquired a thorough and extensive mastery of Tamil literature. He joined the Government College at Kumbakonam as Tamil Pandit in February 1880. His literary research also began in this year. In 1903, he came to the Presidency College, Madras on transfer from Kumbakonam and in 1919 he retired from service as a college teacher but he continued his research work in Tamil. He served for three years as Principal of Sri Meenakshi Tamil College at Chidambaram.

First he worked on Jeevaka Chintamani, a Jain classic. He delved deep into the ancient classic without allowing his religious beliefs to come in the way, and made it intelligible to all. He also introduced a set of ten poems of the Sangam age known as Pattu Paattu and the other set of eight known as Ettutokai, at the time, when no one knew anything about the classics of the Sangam age. It was his efforts that made Tamilnadu and the whole world aware of the way of life, the wealth of thought and the wonderful literary output that had been there two thousand years ago but was since forgot en.

Another work that came out with his imprint was Manimekalai, a Buddhist classic. After the publication of Manimekalai, he published 'Perunkathai', an epic of considerable literary merit, various  collections like Ainkuru Nooru, Pajjtruppattu and Paripaadal, and a large number of puranams and minor poems of various kinds, in addition to a paraphrase and commentary on  the Sangam classic, 'Kuruntokoi'.

The Government of India conferred on him the distinction of Mahamahopadhyay in 1906 and the University of Maaras, an honorary Doctorate in 1932.

Dr. lyer won the respect of pupils by his profound scholarship. He set an example of a well-ordered life for his pupils to emulate.

Dr. lyer's prose works include literacy criticism as well as reminiscences showed him at his best as an expert in research. He was also a poet and wrote hundreds of poems. Of these, a short work called 'Dandapani Viruttam' was printed.

He passed away on 28th April 1942 but his legacy lives on.

The Department of Posts is proud to issue a commemorative postage stamp on Dr. U.V. Swaminatha lyer, a great scholar of Indian classical literature.

Source : Information Folder issued by Indian Posts & Telegraph Department, Government of India