‘Mahapurusha’ recalled on his 150th b’day

CHENNAI: Mahatma Gandhi called him a mahapurusha (great man). In a relatively short life span of 48 years, he wore many hats — lawyer, judge, Congressman, philanthropist — and founded institutions like Madras Sanskrit College, Indian Bank and Mylapore Club.
On the 150th birth anniversary year of V Krishnaswami Iyer, the enduring allure of the institutions founded by him remains a matter of pride for his descendants.At one such institution, the Venkataramana Ayurvedic College cum dispensary on Kutchery Road in Mylapore, Iyer’s great grandson R Raghunandan leafs through the visitors’ log book to point to an entry made by Gandhi in 1915: “I am immensely pleased to see this institution. This reminds me of the generosity of the late mahapurusha, V Krishnaswami Iyer.”
Iyer founded Madras Sanskrit College in 1906, partly inspired by Gokuldas Tejpal Sansksrit College in Bombay Presidency where Indian National Congress was formed on December 28, 1885. “He was also provoked to start Sanskrit College in Madras as a reaction to Viceroy Lord Curzon’s derogatory attitude towards Indian mythology, culture and languages,” says Raghunandan.
As a lawyer, it was his cross examination that led to the conviction of Sir George Arbuthnot for criminal breach of trust, cheating and fraud in the Arbuthnot bankruptcy case, says Radhunandan. “Desiring to start an indigenous venture for banking services, Krishnaswami Iyer then founded Indian Bank for which he asked Annamalai and Ramasamy Chettiar to mobilize deposits,” says Raghunandan, an investment banker and chartered accountant. Indian Bank, registered on March 5, 1907 at the Luz Church Road residence of Krishnaswami Iyer, shifted on August 15 the same year, it shifted to the EID Parry building in Parry’s.
He was elected secretary of the Madras Vakil Association in 1889 and was appointed a judge of the high court in 1909. He also served as a member of the Governor of Madras’s executive council. A moderate Congressman, Krishnaswamy Iyer held liberal views supporting the Widow Remarriage Act of 1856 and the age of consent Act in 1891 as major social reforms in British India.
In 1891, Iyer started the Madras Law Journal along with others, joined the public agitation in 1896 against the government’s decision to dig the Buckingham Canal through Mylapore and was also part of a protest against a British proposal to lay a railway track abutting the Marina Beach.
“Recalling the eventful life of my great grandfather written by his son K Chandrasekaran and also in recollections of his daughter K Savitri Ammal, I am struck by the coherent completeness of his personality, his spirit of compassion that held the key to a life of purpose, charity and oneness. Krishnaswami Iyer achieved this effortlessly in a short life span of 48 years,” recalls Sudha Ratnam, a Sanskrit scholar and interpreter of Italian.