यद्यदाचरति श्रेष्ठस्तत्तदेवेतरो जन: | स यत्प्रमाणं कुरुते लोकस्तदनुवर्तते || Bhagavad Gita, Chapter 3, Shloka 21 What a great man does is followed by others. People follow the example he sets. We don’t know or haven’t heard of many great women and men of Bharat. It is a travesty of history that we have whitewashed the deeds of many great women and men in the zeal to promote a few chosen ones. Now is the time to learn about such great people and follow their examples. Salem Chakravarti Vijayaraghavachariar is one such forgotten hero. “Sri Vijiaraghavachariar had become almost an institution. He was a great patriot and a great fighter for India’s freedom. It was under his Presidentship the Congress adopted non-violent non-cooperation as its creed. Sri Vijiaraghavachariar had great belief in the doctrine of non-violence and he applied it to the affairs of the world. I know that he had a soft corner for me in his heart.” – Mahatma Gandhi’s tribute1 to Salem Vijayaraghavachariar (Achariar) “Vijiaraghavachariar was the pride and glory of South India for the past sixty years. He was one to whose undaunted courage and parliamentary skill India owes a very great deal. Nurtured in the traditions of civil liberty as expounded by the political philosophers of the 19th century, he was its greatest exponent and defender among all Indian politicians throughout his life. I remember with what persistence he pressed for the incorporation of Fundamental Rights in the Congress declaration which finally was incorporated at Karachi.” – C Rajagopalachari2 (Rajaji), November 1950 Did they name this village knowing a man of gold would be born here? Sri Sadagopachariar was a Sanskrit scholar of repute in a village called Ponvilainda Kalathur (Translates to – Where gold bloomed on fields/Simile for a very fertile place/ village) near Maduranthakam in Chengalpet district. He and his wife, Smt Kanakavalli had twelve children. Chakravarti Vijayaraghavachariar was born the second son of this couple. Achariar was a very intelligent, high-energy kid with fantastic leadership qualities. He and his band of friends created a ruckus in the village, hunting mangoes and coconuts from the groves that dotted his village. Achariar had a fantastic memory even as a kid, which helped him excel in his Patashala while doing Vedhadhyayana (learning Vedas). He mastered his lessons well by the time he was twelve and wanted to venture into learning and mastering English. Sadagopachariar wanted his son to become an even greater Tamil and Sanskrit scholar than he was and disliked the idea of his pursuing English. Achariar’s thirst was so acute that he won a tough battle convincing his father to stay with his uncle, a Tahsildar in Madurantakam, to join a local English school. The school saw the spark in him and offered admission with a scholarship. The fact that he started his education late didn’t matter as the spark in him propelled him to secure distinction in everything he took up, and he was given double promotions to catch up with time. In 1870, he matriculated from Pachiappa’s High School, Madras, ranked second in the Madras Presidency. Later, he would quip that he lost first place because it was very difficult to score high in Tamil and Sanskrit, unlike his peer, who scored high in Latin to claim first place. He was a great debater even during his school days. At Pachiappa’s, he got a special prize for being the best debater and the Jayaram Chetty Gold Medal. He joined the Presidency College, Madras, in 1871, won many laurels, and graduated in 1875. He then worked as an acting master at his alma mater before leaving for Mangalore to become a lecturer at the Government College there. A European administered the Government College, Mangalore as Principal. He believed in corporal punishment to discipline the students and was very unpopular among the student community. One of the first things Achariar did was to break the cane that was kept on his table. His demeanour, depth of knowledge and the way he delivered his lectures endeared him to his students in a very short time. The European principal couldn’t stand Achariar’s courage and straightforwardness, so Achariar resigned and left Mangalore. The story of the Salem prefix From Mangalore, Achariar came to Salem to join Salem Municipal College as a Lecturer of English and Mathematics. A little later, the legal bug bit him, and he took the Pleader’s Licence examination as a private candidate to qualify as a first-grade pleader. And started working in Salem as a Lawyer. Thus, the man born in the fields that grew gold (Ponvilainda Kalathur) became Salem Vijayaraghavachariar. Within two years of entering the legal practice, he was so popular that in 1882, he became one of the eight elected members of the Salem Municipal Council. His popularity, predictably, brought in a lot of envy, and he had a group of people quietly scheming against him. The Salem riots and the transportation order In August 1882, riots broke out in Sevvaipettai in Salem between Hindus and Muslims. The reason is a familiar one – music before a mosque. This was a new mosque that had come up in Sevvaipettai, and the Muslims had started objecting to Hindus conducting religious processions on the road. The Hindus went to the High Court to get their right to conduct processions and got it, but still, the Muslims would have none of it. This time, the riots were so heavy that there wasn’t any semblance of British government in Salem for three days. There was a heavy loss of life and property on both sides. Achariar, as a young lawyer, assisted a few Hindus accused of rioting. His detractors grabbed this opportunity to frame Achariar as the lynchpin, the mind behind the arson and riots and brought a case against him. He was tried in the court of the special sessions judge, Salem, H. Wigram. On November 20, 1882, the special sessions judge sentenced Achariar and a few others to ten years of transportation (to be lodged in the Andaman Cellular Jail). Achariar appealed in the High Court against the sentence. Something very interesting happened during the hearings. Achariar was represented by Eardly Norton, one of the leading criminal lawyers in Madras Province. During the hearing, the judge adjudicating the case, Chief Justice Sir Charles Turner, saw Norton reading from a piece of paper. He questioned Norton about what he was reading. He answered, saying that those were the arguments sent to him by Achariar from his prison cell. Imagine a leading criminal lawyer dictated to by his client, such was Achariar’s legal acumen and arguments. Credit should also go to Eardly Norton for his open-mindedness and egolessness in taking instructions from his client. January 9, 1883 – Achariar was honourably acquitted. And, he didn’t leave it there; he sued the defence witness who falsely deposed against him for perjury. Not just that, he also took up the case of the witnesses who were dismissed from government service for deposing truthfully (supporting Achariar’s case) and ensured they were reinstated honourably. Even after being acquitted, Achariar was dismissed summarily from his membership in the Salem Municipal Council. He sued the Secretary of State for India seeking damages for his unjust removal and reinstatement. The full bench of the Madras High Court ordered his reinstatement, granted him nominal damages of Rs 100, and ordered that the case cost be recovered from the defendant (the government). Acquainting AO Hume, the founder of the Indian National Congress While representing his co-accused to get them discharged from the Salem riots case, he worked with many friends in India and England. During this time, he came in contact with Allan Octavian Hume, who would later found the Indian National Congress. He won the case, representing his co-accused before the then Viceroy of India, Lord Rippon. All his co-accused in the Salem riot case were acquitted. The co-accused, who had already been transported to Andaman, were brought back to a jubilant welcome, and Achariar was celebrated as the Hero of Salem across the country. This also brought out Achariar’s legal acumen. He was admired for his grasp of the Evidence Act and forensic abilities. Soon, he became one of the highest-paid criminal lawyers who argued for clients across all the district courts where he was allowed to practice. He continued to be the leading lawyer for more than forty years. Achariar, the legislator He was elected a Member of the Legislative Council of the Madras Presidency in 1895. In those days, the Council was dominated by nominated members and officials. Due to this skew, the government steamrolled many unpopular bills in the name of reforms. Achariar participated in every debate and ensured his voice was heard. He supported the Post-Puberty Marriage Bill championed by VS Srinivasa Sastri. Also, he advocated changes to the Hindu Law to allow women the right to inherit their father’s property. Mind you, this was in the late 1800s, while a few claim that advocating for a woman’s right to inherit property is a Dravidian Party invention. After six years of serving the Madras Presidency Legislative Council, he was elected to represent the Presidency in the Imperial Legislative Council presided over by Lord Hastings of Penshurst in 1913. His contributions to the debate on the Criminal Law Amendment Bill of 1913 (Conspiracy Bill) were immense and much talked about. The Press Act of 1910 amendment was another instance where Achariar showcased his splendid legal and debating capabilities in the House. Achariar and the Indian National Congress Some believe that Achariar wrote to AO Hume advocating a union of various organisations across India under one umbrella with a political outlook. This later became AO Hume’s conception, the Indian National Congress. Fittingly, Achariar was invited to be among the founding members in the first session of the Indian National Congress held in Gokuldas Tejpal Sanskrit College in Bombay on December 28, 1885. During the fifteenth session of the Congress in Lucknow in 1899, Achariar was appointed to the Propaganda Committee to popularise the Indian National Congress among the masses across India. After the Surat Congress, Archariar went with the Bal Gangadar Tilak-led nationalist faction and decided to stand aloof from the Congress. Later, during the Lucknow Congress, the nationalist faction joined the fold, and so did Achariar. On December 20, 1917, Edwin Montague, the Secretary of State for India, came to Madras as part of the Montague-Chelmsford Commission. He met Achariar in Madras. Montague cherished his meeting with Achariar and recorded in his diary, “Then I met one of the most interesting men I have come across, a man called Achariar of Salem. He is really a great man. He was a member of the Municipal Council, and was sentenced to ten years’ rigorous Imprisonment for a Muhammaden-Hindu row that occurred in his time. The Government dismissed him from membership of the Council. He appealed; won his appeal and was acquitted; brought actions for perjury against the witnesses and got them condemned; sued the Government for wrongful dismissal and got damages. He is an astute thinker; he objects very strongly to all forms of imprisonment without trial. I think he is on the right lines in these things. He objects to Provincial Autonomy, and wants a development of the Government of India, with a Parliament of three hundred people, subordinate administrations, but with no sovereign powers or Legislative Councils, and the annexation of Ceylon. He is the most vigorous thinker that I have met, even though some of his ideas are impracticable.” We live in a day when it is just a matter of months before we learned that the erstwhile central government led by Congress and the Tamil Nadu state government led by DMK were complicit in giving Katchatheevu away to Sri Lanka in 1974. Here, we have evidence from as early as 1917, when there were voices in India advocating that Sri Lanka be an integral part of India. The man who proposed Satyagraha or Non-cooperation as a tool of protest to Gandhi When Gandhi visited Madras, a group of leaders including Achariar met him at the residence of Kasturi Ranga Iyengar. In this meeting, Achariar suggested that Gandhi prepare a detailed scheme of Satyagraha. In his autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth, Gandhiji records this, “Srijut Kasturi Ranga Iyengar called together a small conference of leaders to thrash out the matter. Among those who took a conspicuous part in it was Srijut Vijiaraghavachariar. He suggested that I should draw up a comprehensive manual of the science of Satyagraha embodying even minute details. I felt the task to be beyond my capacity and I confessed as much to him.” In 1887, during the Madras session of Congress under Badruddin Tyabji’s leadership, it was decided to draft a constitution of the Indian National Congress. Later known as the Swaraj Constitution for India, it was entirely drafted by Achariar. In 1920, he became the President of the Indian National Congress – the first from Tamil Nadu. His name was proposed by Pandit B. D. Shukla and seconded by a galaxy of leaders including Mahatma Gandhi, Lala Lajpat Rai, CR Das, TV Venkatrama Iyer and Maulana Mohammad Ali. Lala Lajpat Rai remarked, “‘It is a great pleasure to me to rise to support the proposition that is before you for the election of Mr Vijayaraghavachariar as President of this Session. I have only to make this one remark that in the whole country you can find no truer, braver and more devoted servant of the motherland than the President elect of this assembly.” Not many know that Achariar, along with Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya, Bhai Paramanand, Swami Shradhananda, Dr Moonje, and Lala Lajpat Rai, was among the originators of the idea for a Hindu Mahasabha. This organisation’s objective was to consolidate Hindus, reform Hindu society, and remove its evils. Achariar presided over the thirteenth session of the Mahasabha in 1931 in Akola. Achariar was one of the early proponents of what Hindu means. He believed it should include all Indic religions or religions of Indian origin. He also identified Hindu interests with national interests. The Lion of South India departs A principled man, Achariar rejected the offer of the Imperial Government to honour him with a Diwan Bahadur title. The offer for Knighthood also met the same fate. Someone asked him what his secret to life was. He said, “I never miss my exercises. I eat to live and not live to eat.” His wife, Smt. Lakshmi took good care of him and the family while he was busy with his professional and public life. On April 19, 1944 at around noon, he told his only daughter Sita that he was going to die today. Soon, he slipped into a coma-like state, and the many efforts to revive him went in vain. The Lion of South India, Salem Vijayaraghavachariar, departed for Vaikunta at 6:45 pm that evening. Salem Vijayaraghavachariar was a great thinker, patriot, champion of the people and their rights, and a Dharmic personality. When one considers how great people like Salem Vijayaraghavachariar have been whitewashed from history, a Thirukural comes to mind. பணியுமாம் என்றும் பெருமை சிறுமை அணியுமாம் தன்னை வியந்து. Paniyumaam Endrum Perumai Sirumai Aniyumaam Thannai Viyandhu Tirukkural, Greatness, 978 Greatness is ever unpretending and modest: but littleness vaunteth its merits before all the world – The Kural or The Maxims of Thiruvalluvar by VVS Aiyar. Raja Baradwaj is a marketing communications professional who is currently working with a leading technology multi-national company. He is an avid reader, a history buff, cricket player, writer, Sanskrit & Dharma Sastra student. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. 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