S. Dharmaretnam

{{Use dmy dates |date=March 2019}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|honorific-prefix = Honourable

|name = S. Dharmaretnam

|native_name =

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|honorific-suffix = MSC

|image =

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|office1 = Member of the State Council of Ceylon

|constituency1 = Batticaloa South

|term_start1 = 1938

|term_end1 = 1943

|predecessor1 = S. O. Canagaratnam

|successor1 =

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|death_date = 1952

|death_place = Colombo, Ceylon

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|blank1 = Ethnicity

|data1 = Ceylon Tamil

}}

Andrew Sabapathipillai Dharmaretnam (died 1952) was a Ceylon Tamil politician and member of the State Council of Ceylon.

Dharmaretnam had been a Vanniyar since the age of 17.{{cite book |last1=Whitaker |first1=Mark P. |title=Learning Politics From Sivaram: The Life and Death of a Revolutionary Tamil Journalist in Sri Lanka |date=2007 |publisher=Pluto Press |location=London, U.K. |isbn=978-0-7453-2353-4 |page=45 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAFlAAAAMAAJ}} He and his brother Rajaratnam owned large pieces of land in the old Batticaloa District, from Verugal to Pottuvil.{{cite news |last1=Jeyaraj |first1=D. B. S. |authorlink1= |title="Taraki" Sivaram: From Gun Toting Militant to Pen Wielding Journalist |url=http://www.dailymirror.lk/dbs-jeyaraj-column/taraki-sivaram-from-gun-toting-militant-to-pen-wielding-journalist/192-70293 |accessdate=2 March 2019 |work=The Daily Mirror |date=24 April 2015 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}} Dharmaretnam's son Puvirajakeerthi (known as Keerthy or Dharmakeerthy) was one of the first Batticaloa Tamils to attend the University of Cambridge. Dharmaretnam was the paternal grandfather of Taraki Sivaram, a journalist murdered during the Sri Lankan Civil War.{{cite web |last1=Sivasubramaniam |first1=V. |title=The Origin of Sivaram, a great human [Maamanithar] |url=https://www.sangam.org/2010/05/Origin_Sivaram.php?uid=3934 |publisher=Ilankai Tamil Sangam |accessdate=2 March 2019 |date=2008}}

Dharmaretnam was elected to the State Council of Ceylon in September 1938 following the death of S. O. Canagaratnam.{{cite book |last1=Whitaker |first1=Mark P. |title=Learning Politics From Sivaram: The Life and Death of a Revolutionary Tamil Journalist in Sri Lanka |date=2007 |publisher=Pluto Press |location=London, U.K. |isbn=978-0-7453-2353-4 |page=37 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SAFlAAAAMAAJ}}{{cite book |last=Rajasingham |first=K. T. |title=Sri Lanka: The Untold Story |chapter=Chapter 8: Pan Sinhalese board of ministers - A Sinhalese ploy}} He represented the Batticaloa South constituency until November 1943 when he resigned due to ill-health.{{cite news |last1=Jeyaraj |first1=D. B. S. |authorlink1= |title=From gun to pen: The story of Sivaram |url=http://www.thesundayleader.lk/archive/20050508/focus.htm |accessdate=2 March 2019 |work=The Sunday Leader |date=8 May 2005 |location=Colombo, Sri Lanka}}

Dharmaretnam was in an abusive relationship with his wife Alagamma and was known to have had extra-marital affairs. After slitting his wrist Dharmaretnam went to into the jungle to die. He didn't die and was found a few days later in a jungle clearing, delirious, his physical and mental health irrecoverably damaged. Sick and dependent on others, he died seven years later in 1952 at a Colombo hospital.