Vellalore Annaswamy Sundaram (2 February 1896 – 11 March 1967) was an activist in the Indian Independence movement, an associate of Mahatma Gandhi, a confidant of Madan Mohan Malaviya, and a fundraiser and secretary to the Benares Hindu University (BHU).

[1] Sundaram was born in the South Indian city of Coimbatore to a family of orthodox Tamil Brahmins tracing their ancestry back to the 16th century Sanskrit scholar Appayya Dikshita.

[5] Based at Coimbatore and Madras, Sundaram began implementing Gandhi's concept of village development, introducing weaving and spinning activities at Vellalore.

[7] Gandhi's Circular letter of October 1919, calling for a nationwide hartal with reference to the Khilafat movement was addressed to 28 of India's leading Independence activists, among them Motilal and Jawaharlal Nehru, C. Rajagopalachari, C. F. Andrews, Rajendra Prasad, and also V. A.

[8] Sundaram built up close and cordial relationships with leading Independence activists of Tamil Nadu, namely C. Rajagopalachari, C. Vijayaraghavachariar and Sir Subramania Iyer.

[9] He was arrested in Madras in early 1931 – an incident that attracted considerable public attention and prompted Gandhi to send a note of protest to Viceroy Lord Irwin as well as a press statement to Reuters.

[11] His message of high ideals and fervent patriotism, typically presented in an emotional and passionate language, made him a successful public speaker, and some of his later speeches were broadcast on All India Radio.

[12] Prior to attending the second Round Table Conference in London, Gandhi decided to send Sundaram to Europe as an ambassador of his political message.

[16] In the course of his European tour, Sundaram met numerous writers, intellectuals, artists and political activists, among them Stephen Spender, Arthur Mee, Christopher Isherwood, Birger Forell, Wilfrid Israel, André Maurois, Paul Birukoff, Franziska Standenath and Piero Misciattelli.

In his last chapter of life, after retiring from the BHU in 1956, Sundaram and his wife Savitri moved to Bombay and spent their final years together with their eldest son.