Visvanatha Sastriyar

Visvanatha Sastriyar (or Visvanathan) (1756–1845) was a Tamil poet and astronomer of Sri Lankan Tamil ancestry. Sir Emerson Tennent called him "the most celebrated astronomer in Ceylon". Visvanatha Sastriyar was born in Araly in the Vaddukoddai region near Jaffna to Narayana Sastri in a Tamil Brahmin family in 1756. Visvanathan published a yearly almanac or panchangam till his death. This almanac was known for its accuracy. Visvanathan was praised for his work and was awarded the sole privilege of being considered "Almanac Maker for His Majesty, George IV". Sir Emerson Tennent, in his book "Christianity in Ceylon", wrote of Visvanatha Sastriyar thus: Visuvenathen was the most celebrated of the astronomers of Ceylon, in as much as he concentrated in his own person the accumulated science of his ancestors, who for nine generations had been cultivators of the same study