Major Mariappan Saravanan (10 August 1972 – 29 May 1999), was an officer in the prestigious Bihar Regiment of the Indian Army who was martyred during the Kargil War.

Colonel Adi Mariappan died in a road accident in Bangalore on 19 June 1989 while serving in the Indian Peace Keeping Force during Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka.

On the night of 28 May 1999, Major Saravanan was assigned the task of capturing a well-fortified Pakistani position at 14,229 feet (4,337 m) in the Batalik sector.

It reads:[2] Gazette Notification: 113Pres/98,15-8-99 Operation: – Date of Award: 15 Aug 1999 Citation: Major M Saravanan was the Company Commander of one of the companies of 1 Bihar launched in the battalion attack on Point 4268 In the Batalik sector during "Operation Vijay” While moving forward to eliminate the last position held by the enemy, Major Saravanan was fired upon by the enemy with a heavy volume of small arms fire.

Eight years post Kargil war, a memorial was unveiled on the collector office road in Tiruchirapalli.

On the occasion of Kargil Vijay Divas on 26 July 2008, the Postal Department brought out a special cover in memory of Major M. Saravanan.