| Honorific Prefix: | Professor |
| K. Kailasapathy | |
| Native Name: | க. கைலாசபதி |
| Native Name Lang: | ta |
| Birth Date: | 5 April 1933 |
| Birth Place: | Kuala Lumpur, British Malaya (now Malaysia) |
| Death Place: | Colombo, Western Province, Sri Lanka |
| Alma Mater: | Jaffna Hindu College Royal College, Colombo University of Ceylon University of Birmingham |
| Occupation: | Academic |
Kanagasabapathy Kailasapathy (5 April 1933 - 6 December 1982) was a Sri Lankan journalist and academic. He was the first president of the Jaffna Campus of the University of Sri Lanka.
Kailasapathy was born on 5 April 1933 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaya.[1] His family moved from Malaya to Ceylon.[2] He was then educated at the Jaffna Hindu College and Royal College, Colombo.[2] [3] After school he joined the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya.[1] [4] Whilst at Peradeniya Kailasapathy wrote for Virakesari and Tholkappiyam.[4] He then went to University of Birmingham from where he obtained a Phd after producing a thesis on Tamil heroic poetry in 1968.[2] [4]
Kailasapathy married Sarvamangalam, daughter of N. Manicka Idaikaddar.[1] They had two daughters.[1]
After university Kailasapathy joined Lake House as a journalist.[1] He became editor of the weekly edition of Thinakaran and then served as its editor-in-chief of between 1959 and 1961.[1] [4] [5]
Kailasapathy then left journalism to take up a career in academia. He served as president of the Jaffna Campus of the University of Sri Lanka between August 1974 and July 1977.[5] [6]
Kailasapathy wrote numerous articles and more than ten books during his life.[2]
Kailasapathy died on 6 December 1982 at the Colombo General Hospital.[1] [5]