The Tamil world knows him as a poet and the honorific title, Kavimani, says it all. But Kavimani Desigavinayagam Pillai was also an epigraphist and essayist, who had published many research papers based on his studies in Tamil and English.
One of his famous essays was on the Chola period inscription, Kanthalur Salai Kalamarutharuli, which talks about Raja Raja’s battle against the Chera kingdom. Though his findings were proved wrong by subsequent discoveries, his article remains a reference point for the historians.
“In his last days, Kavimani did not like himself to be called a poet. He wanted to be identified as an epigraphist,” writes A.K. Perumal, editor of Kavimani Katturaikal (Kavimani’s Essays).
