Navaneetham Pillay Is The Most Famous South African Tamil Of Our Times
by D.B.S. Jeyaraj-30 August 2013,
Navi Pillai is a name which has become very familiar to most Sri Lankans in recent times.The past week has seen the Sri Lankan media flooded by references to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. Emotions are on the rise and expectations are high as the week long visit to Sri Lanka by the 72 year old UN Human Rights chief continues to receive extensive media focus.
High Commissoner Ms. Navaneetham Pillay-Painting by Shan Sundaram, Pennsylvania, USA
Navi is a shortened form of the name Navaneetham. It is derived from the Hindu religion and means freshly churned butter. Lord Vishnu in his avatar as Krishna was very fond of freshly churned butter known as Navaneetham. Among the many names by which Krishna is known are Navneethakrishnan and Navaneethan. Just as butter pervades milk the Lord is pervasive in the universe.Though the usual spelling is Navaneetham or Navaneedham in English, Navi Pillay’s name is spelled as Navanethem in official documents at present.
