An Emeritus Professor of Tamil in the University of Jaffna, Karthigesu Sivathamby,  is considered an outstanding Tamil scholar. He has written more than 70 books and monographs and presented and published 200 papers at international seminars and journals. In recognition of his scholarly achievements in Tamil Studies, the Tamil Nadu government conferred on him in 2000 the Thiru V. Kalyanasundara Mudaliar Award. Sivathamby is a Visiting Professor of Tamil to Universities in India (the University of Madras and the Jawaharlal Nehru University), England (Cambridge), Finland and Norway.