Natesan moved to
Ceylon after being invited by P. Ramanathan and in 1924 was appointed principal of
Parameshwara College, Jaffna. He was re-elected at the
1936 state council election. He was one of the founding members of the
United National Party (UNP) in 1946. Natesan stood as the UNP's candidate in
Kankesanthurai at the
1947 parliamentary elections but was defeated by the
All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) candidate
S. J. V. Chelvanayakam. However, he won the
1952 parliamentary elections and entered
Parliament. He was appointed Minister of Posts and Information in the
First Dudley Senanayake cabinet following the resignation of
V. Nalliah. He retained his cabinet position, which was renamed Minister of Posts and Broadcasting, when the
Kotelawala cabinet was formed in 1953. Natesan resigned from the government on 19 January 1956 and, like many Tamil UNP politicians, left the UNP over its support of the
Sinhala Only policy. He stood for re-election in the constituency at the
1956 parliamentary election as an
independent candidate but was defeated by the
Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (Federal Party) candidate S. J. V. Chelvanayakam. Natesan later joined the ACTC, became its president and was appointed to the
Senate of Ceylon. He was a
Tamil scholar and historian - his works included
The Northern Kingdom and
Glimpses of the Early History of Jaffna. He was awarded an
honorary D.Litt. degree by the
University of Ceylon for his contribution to Tamil literature. He died on 15 January 1965. ==See also==