[2] According to Kamil Zvelebil, he was the first person to be "engaged in the rediscovery of the earliest classical literature" of Tamil, and that his "greatness and merits have never been acknowledged".

[4] After finishing his college education in 1852 at Batticotta Seminary,[5] Thamotharampillai taught for some years under the mission and then proceeded to Madras to head a mission-run daily.

Jaffna born Pillai was the earliest scholar to systematically hunt for long-lost manuscripts and publish them using modern tools of textual criticism.

[7] These included: Pillai, along with his contemporaries such as U. V. Swaminatha Iyer, was responsible for collecting and cataloguing numerous old Sangam manuscripts and preparing them into compilations and modern form.

After passing the examination, he worked as a lawyer in Kumbakonam and in 1884 he was appointed as a Judge of the Pudukottai High Court.