Erode Venkata Ramasamy was born on 17 September 1879 to a Kannada Balija merchant family in Erode, then a part of the Coimbatore district of the Madras Presidency.Ramasamy’s father was Venkatappa Nayakar (or Venkata), and his mother was Chinnathyee Muthammal. He had one elder brother named Krishnaswamy and two sisters named Kannamma and Ponnuthoy. He later came to be known as “Periyar”, meaning ‘respected one’ or ‘elder’ in Tamil.
PATCA acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and future.
