Kanthaiya Kunarasa or Senkaiahliyan (In Tamil : செங்கை ஆழியான்) was a Sri Lankan Tamil writer who emerged after the 1960s. He is also the author of several non-fiction books. He also served as the registrar of the University of Jaffna.

Kunarasa was born in 1941 in Jaffna and died on 28 February 2016.^[1] He graduated from the University of Ceylon, Peradeniya and later on obtained his Doctorate in Geography (Land use and Land settlement) from the University of Jaffna. Not only a prolific writer, he was also a well known critic in the literary world. He has more than thirty novels and three accomplishments in the sphere of fictional history to his credit. Kunarasa was awarded the Sahithiya Mandala awards more than six times for his achievements in writing Novels and short stories. Some of his short stories had been translated into Sinhala and published in weeklies such as Silumina, Vivarana, Ravaya, and so on. One of his novels, named 'The Beast', was translated into English.^{[citation needed]}

• List of Tamils of Sri Lanka
• Tamil language
• Tamil literature