C. V. Runganada Sastri
Calamur Viravalli Runganada Sastri | |
|---|---|
 Portrait of C. V. Runganada Sastri | |
| Born | 1819 |
| Died | 5 July 1881 |
| Occupation(s) | civil servant, judge |
| Known for | polyglot, scholar |
| Children | C.V. Sundara Sastri P. Anandacharlu (adopted) |
The Right Hon. Calamur Viravalli Runganada Sastri (c.15 February 1819/1820 – 5 July 1881) was an Indian interpreter, jurist, civil servant, polyglot, and social reformer, who was known for his mastery over Indian and foreign languages alike in both classical and vernacular forms, as well as his general erudition and command of jurisprudence.
In a time where higher positions were foreclosed to Indians, Sastri, in recognition of his brilliance, was nonetheless appointed a Fellow of the University of Madras, rapidly thereafter becoming the first native Indian appointed to the judicature as a judge of the Small Claims Court, and, ultimately, to the Legislative Council of Madras.
He was the first President of the revived Madras Native Association, and. a noted champion of women's rights,[1] advocating female education[2] and the reform of Hindu customary law and practice in child marriage,[3][4] and founding the Hindu Widow Marriage Association with Sir T. Muthuswamy Iyer and Rai Raghunatha Rao in 1872 to promote widow remarriage.[5]
He was progenitor of the Calamur Viravalli family of Iyer Brahmins, a line renowned for brilliance as jurisst and Sanskritists which would go on to dominate the highest echelons of Indian law, as well as political administration and Hindu theology; similarly, he was the guru or teacher to many of the eminent Iyer and Deshastha Brahmin scholars who would go on to preeminence as civil servants and administrators.
Early life
C.V. Runganada Sastri was born in a poor Brahmin family from a village near Chittoor in the then North Arcot district in the year 1819.[6]
Later career
In April 1859, there was a vacancy in the Small Claims Court Bench and Runganada Sastri was appointed to the post by the then Governor of Madras Sir Charles Trevelyan after encountering heavy opposition and racial prejudice. Runganada Sastri served as a judge of the Small Claims Court from April 1859 until his retirement with a pension on 16 February 1880.
Soon after his retirement, Runganada Sastri was nominated to the Madras Legislative Council. However, he died on 5 July 1881.
Family and descendants
Runganada Sastri's son C.V. Sundara Sastri was a celebrated lawyer of the High Court Bar who had four sons and a daughter. His grandsons Dewan Bahadur Sir C. V. Kumaraswami Sastri and Dewan Bahadur C.V. Viswanatha Sastri served as justices on the Madras High Court while his son-in-law Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer declined appointment to the High Court in favor, variously, of being the highest-remunerated private counsel in India, serving as Advocate-General of Madras and member of the Executive Councils of both the Governor of Madras and the Viceroy of India, before taking up the role of Dewan, regent, and enlightened despot of Travancore.
Among his great-grandsons, Venkataraman Sastri became Shankaracharya and pontiff of the Dwaraka Math for a brief stint, as Swami Bharati Krishna Tirtha Maharaj, before succeeding as supreme pontiff of the Govardhan Math and highest authority in Smarta Hinduism, in which capacity he would become the first Shankaracharya to visit the West, being additionally known for the formulation of Vedic mathematics; C. R. Pattabhiraman Iyer was an elected MP and served as Minister of Law and Justice under Indira Gandhi; while Dewan Bahadur V.N. Viswanatha Rao would serve as the Tehsildar of Tirunelveli, and later Finance Secretary of the Madras Presidency.
Other descendants include Aryama Sundaram, variously justice of the Supreme Court of India, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, and justice of the Supreme Court of Singapore; C. V. Ranganathan, Joint Foreign Secretary and successive Indian Ambassador to the Soviet Union during Perestroika, Ambassador to China post Tiananmen Square, and France; archaeologist Sharada Srinivasan, as well as in-law M. R. Srinivasan, celebrated Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India and Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy, who was awarded the Padma Bhushan for his work with Homi J. Bhabha developing Apsara (disambiguation), the first Indian nuclear reactor, and then the Pressurized heavy-water reactor.
References
- ^ Jagadeesan, P. (1990). Marriage and Social Legislations in Tamil Nadu. Elatchiappen Publications.
- ^ Oddie, Geoffrey A. (1979). Social Protest in India: British Protestant Missionaries and Social Reforms, 1850-1900. Manohar. ISBN 978-0-8364-0195-0.
- ^ Gungwu, Wang (June 1973). "C. M. Turnbull: The Straits Settlements, 1826–67: Indian presidency to crown colony. (University of London Historical Studies, XXXII.) X, 428 pp., 2 maps. London: University of London, Athlone Press, 1972. £5.50". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 36 (2): 503–504. doi:10.1017/s0041977x00134767. ISSN 0041-977X. S2CID 161707929.
- ^ History of Christianity in India: pt. 2. Tamilnadu in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Church History Association of India. 1990.
- ^ Sumathikamalam, Dr S. (8 November 2019). WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH SELF HELP GROUPS A special Reference with Tiruchirapalli city (1990-2008). Lulu.com. ISBN 978-1-7947-2248-4.
- ^ Buckland, Charles Edward (1906). Dictionary of Indian biography. London: Swan Sonnnenschein & CO. pp. 375.
- Govinda Parameswaran Pillai (1897). Representative Indians. Routledge. pp. 143–156.