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Vedanayagam Pillai | |
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| Born | Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai 11 October 1826 Inam Kulathur, Trichinopoly District, Madras Presidency, British India (now Tiruchirappalli District, Tamil Nadu, India) |
| Died | 21 July 1889 (aged 62) |
| Pen name | S.V.P. |
| Occupation | Tamil scholar, poet, writer, civil servant |
| Relatives | P.J.X. Vedanayagam (ex-public prosecutor, great-grandson) Vijay Antony (great-grandson) |
Samuel Vedanayagam Pillai (1826–1889), also known as Mayavaram Vedanayagam Pillai, was an Indian civil servant, Tamil poet, novelist and social worker who is remembered for the authorship of Prathapa Mudaliar Charithram (1879), recognized as the "first modern Tamil novel". Vedanayagam's ideals of women's liberation and education are reflected in the novel. He has a well-known great-grandson, Vijay Antony, who is an actor in the Tamil film industry.