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PAGASALAI
                  Foreword and Acknowledgements

The brief history of Pagasalai is an extract from Rao Bahadur Arulanandam Pillai's autobiography. He published his book on 21 March 1949, which contains the history, the genealogy of eight families, and numerous family photographs. He had credited the following members for the information:
1. Anthoniammal from Nedugadu
2. Perianayagasamy Pillai from Ponpeti
3. Gnanammal from Kurumbagaram
4. Danapakiammal from Annavasal
5. Amirthammal from Annavasal
6. Gnanapoornathammal from Annavasal  

The family trees have been updated from AMA Nathan's hand written notes contained in three volumes, which was given to me by Ms Clare Nathan after demise of her husband in 1987. The  (twenty four) family trees left out by D Arulanandam were compiled by AMA Nathan, which has been incorporated in this publication. AS Paul has painstakingly compiled details of families settled in Malaysia and Singapore. This information too has been included. I commenced this task of collecting and collating the genealogy in Jan 2000 from available data and was able to update them. The task still remains to get the missing chains linked. The following members actively participated in obtaining inputs of the numerous Pagasalai families contained in this publication:
1. Ms Kanagarajam
2. Ms Amelie
3. SJS Nathan and Theresa
4. Ms Rosaline Rosario
5. William Arulraj and Flora
6. AS Paul
7. A Rajendran and Vasunthra
8. Denis Ranjan and Pauline
9. Ms Renuka Christopher
10. Vanitha Rani Jerome
11. Priya Pushparaj 
12. Latha Doris Fiona (script reading)

My parents, late Dr A Kanagaraj and Josephine Chandra, were very proud of their ancestry and treasured Arulanandam Pillai's autobiography as a priceless family heirloom. They would refer to it constantly and were always keen to show it off to their friends and relatives. 
This volume is dedicated to my parents.
Special credit goes to my wife Bina, and both my daughters Preetha and Nithya, and my sons in law Pandian and Deepak, who assisted me to get this whole project going. This website has been designed by Mariadoss Pandian who completed this project in a very short time in spite of his busy schedule of work.
I also thank all those who have given me valuable suggestions and the encouragement to undertake this task. 
Any author, especially a first time one, finds the task of compiling a book of genealogy, spanning three centuries, to be bigger than he or she expected. By the time this one was finished my family, relatives, and friends - who had tolerated my nuisance were glad to see the ordeal finished as I was. To them, I give my heartfelt thanks: for their patience, support, and their love.

James Kanagaraj
Date: 01 Oct 2003