S. Arumugam

Sanmugam Arumugam (31 August 1905 – 6 March 2000) was a Ceylon Tamil irrigation engineer and writer.

Early life and family Arumugam was born on 31 August 1905 in Nallur in northern Ceylon. He was the son of Vairavanther Sanmugam. He then went to study civil engineering at King's College, London, graduating in 1930. Whilst parts of the projects were completed in the 1950s and 1960s, the crucial Mulliyan channel linking Chundikkulam Lagoon with Vadamarachchi Lagoon was never built and therefore the project was never completed.

Arumugam was Deputy Director of Irrigation for ten years and acted as Director of Irrigation. He retired from the Irrigation Department in 1965. However, he continued to be Chief Engineer and Director of the Water Resources Board until 1972. He was president of the Institution of Engineers Ceylon in 1966–67 and president of the engineering section of the Ceylon Association for the Advancement of Science.

Arumugam spent his retirement researching and writing books on Tamil culture and Hindu civilisation in Sri Lanka. He moved the United Kingdom and died on 6 March 2000.

Works Arumugam wrote several books and technical papers during his life: Development of Village Irrigation Works (1957) Maintenance of Major Irrigation Works Ground Water in the Jaffna Peninsula Development of Water Resources of Ceylon (1969) Some Ancient Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka (1980) Lord of Thiruketheeswaram (1981) Stone Sculptures in Colombo Hindu Temple (1990) Thiru Koneswaram (1990) Lombok and its Temples (1991) More Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka Dictionary of Biography of the Tamils of Ceylon (1997) Hundred Hindu Temples of Sri Lanka: Ancient, Medieval and Modern (2014) Thiruketheeswaram: One of the Pancha-Iswarams of Ancient Sri Lanka (2020)