A Full Life

K. CHANDRASEKHARAN
Tagore Professor of Humanities, Madras University

Nothing in recent times so much shook people out of their wits as the Radio broadcast from Madras on the evening of 26th September 1966 announcing the collapse of Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, in the National Liberal Club, London. To those who knew him very closely the shock was greater because of the feeling that Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, who would never own defeat in any of his encounters in life, should have, without a fight, surrendered himself to the merciless foe, death.

There was something in C. P., which cannot be easily defined, that accounted for the perennial glamour about him, not for one decade or two, nor for one generation or two, but for successive periods extending to nearly sixty years, from the time he entered the profession of law till he actually left us. As a matter of fact, none at present living, among the oldest even, would remember when C. P. was not a well-known figure in the public life of this country. Others who started much later than he, as well as those who had earlier been in the public eye, have all, one byone, left the scene. He alone remained, encompassing a very extensive section of our history during times both stirring and vicissitudinous. For it was the age of the Mahatma, whose appearance on the Indian stage was later than the year of actual prominence for C. P., as an intrepid fighter for a cause, namely, the Narayanaiah vs. Beasant case. In spite of the fact the case was purely a legal one, the issues involved seemed then very much bearing upon a public movement, the Theosophical Society, whose influence was not favourably considered by a section of the public in Madras. Needless now, at this distance of time, to go into the details of the particular matter. Suffice it to point out that Mrs. Besant, whose great work for the revival of Indian Culture and the Indian freedom fight were incalculable, lost the fight against C. P. Mrs. Besant herself argued the case, and one can imagine how much of self-confidence should have actuated the younger person to measure his powers of eloquence and argument against such an orator and international figure as Mrs. Besant. It is said (Dr. Ramaswami Aiyar himself had confirmed it) that Mrs. Besant who showed generous appreciation of talents and abilities in any one, and much more in this instance in a younger person who opposed her without betraying any diffidence or personal antagonism, held out her hand for a hearty shake, accompanying it with a request to C. P. to join her in her Home-Rule agitation in politics.

What a doting lady she turned to be on C. P.! Every bit of C. P.’s activities became a subject for publicity in her paper the ‘New India’ which as an English Daily, before the twenties of this century, touched the peak of circulation. Naturally C. P. was a top man with, no doubt, intrinsic abilities of an impressive order. In the legal arena he was no mean cross-examiner on the Original side of the Madras High Court which then was enjoying a great reputation. It was the time when some of the legal luminaries like K. Srinivasa Ayyengar, S. Srinivasa Ayengar and Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar were displaying legal talents worthy of any great Bar. He was not only capable of forensic debates but, outside the court, was the beau ideal of students of colleges and members of cultural bodies for addressing them on any topic germane to their interests. Not that he was an artist to the finish, in speech, like the Rt. Hon. Mr. Sastri, but he was none the less, facile of oratory and flow of ideas. He was not a stickler for correct expression and idiom in English as Mr. Sastri, though he was any day a much more enthusiastic performer on the dais, especially when the audiences were large and varied in temper and outlook. Again, more than points of contrast, the similarities between the two men in their general acceptance by the public were born of their striking personalities. In appearance, if Sastri was captivating in his long coat and white turban and ever drew people by his lofty demeanour, C. P. possessed a handsome face and a powerful voice which, when added to his polish of behaviour and readiness of speech, proved irresistable to both the older and the younger groups. Probably in their outlook on life and their divergent careers they showed quite a mark contrast. If Sastri, from the outset of his public life, courted renunciation and self-abnegation and sought only the higher virtues of selfless devotion to causes like the Servants of India Society, C. P. was spurred by legitimate ambitions at the Bar, in his earlier years, and by later successes, one leading to another in his middle age, never culminating, but ever opening out vistas for further laurels to be won and further conspicuousness to be gained in a widening field of activities.

At the Bar he was noticeable from his early days as a person of extraordinary ability and accommodation to the claims of his clients and of the Bench. He never fought with hardihood, though ever alert to secure the best for the causes and clients whom he espoused. In short, as an advocate he was conscious of his duties, as a member of the Bar unwilling to surrender his independence or dignity, and as a senior, with a growing practice, always approachable by his juniors and apprentices at law gathering in his chambers. With many an important contest on the Original side, C. P.’s name was associated on one side or the other, and if his venturesomeness in the circumscribed jurisdiction of the High Court, as then constituted, has to be mentioned, he was almost the first to file a writ of Certiorari–a direct method of seeking redress by invoking the inherent powers of the High Court of the land to quash proceedings pending before any Court below.

People who were dazzled by C. P.’s prominence hardly troubled themselves to find out how his father, himself a lawyer of no small reputation, and later a Judge of the City Civil Court, had been responsible in a way for the vigorous and varied attempts at meeting life on many points that C. P. eminently disclosed throughout his life. Sanskrit, no doubt, was taught to him as a lad by a teacher specially to impart correct knowledge to him. French and Latin too, at a time when in no other home of well-to-do parents, were given as part ofthe instructions in the early years of a schoolboy, enriched C. P.’s linguistic fervour. School and college imposed discipline en C. P. while young, but the parental vigils over the onlyson’s progress in studies was not of the kind ordinarily met with. If the pencil had to be sharpened, the father helped the son in order to save both time and distraction from studies. Still, games and amusements were not eschewed; why, C. P. was even a tournament player in tennis and brought credit to the college team in football. There was an inborn desire in C. P. to learn everything worth trying one’s hand at, and also to strive not to be the second best in anything he employed his mind or his skill to succeed in.

Many were the expectations when C. P. stood for the election, contesting for the Legislative Council in the city of Madras, under the Montford Reforms which had been worked in 1920. But no sooner his flush of success in a hard-won election fight could subside than came to him offer of office from the Government to become the Advocate-General of Madras–a post which had a line of antecedent occupants, the like of whom no other country could have had in such superb succession. Bhashyam Ayyengar, Sankaran Nair, Sivaswami Aiyar, K. Srinivaaa Ayyengar, S. Srinivasa Ayyengar are not names which can ever be surpassed for either their legal acumen or their thorough study of problems requiring solutions for legislative proposals. C. P. succeeded such a galaxy of intellects; but before, in the new office, he had served the Government for three years, there was another opportunity, in a higher sphere as Member of the Executive Council of the Government of Madras, he had to function. It was all a drama of action for him. Every scene of it was one of sensation. There was not a day passing without his standing before the footlights in their full glare. He seemed then possessed by a fiendish spirit to travel the entire Presidency of Madras from corner to corner, breadthwise and lengthwise, by train and car, in order to inspect and assess the needs and requirement of the country, through personal knowledge. Every railway station waited with garlands; every public place, he was scheduled to visit, anxiously organised meetings and welcomes to the honoured guest. Speaking at more than one place in a day became the normal programme of his. The Pykara Electric Scheme originated under his initiative. The Mettur Dam emerged under his direction from the blue print; Canals in Tanjore Delta for carrying extra water to the fields during the watering season for the crops were planned and started for execution in his regime, despite a foreign Government’s lukewarmness and unreadiness–all showed remarkable strides taken, as in no previous period.

His retirement from Government service was only auguring  the advent of more beneficient activities in other fields and in other places. If as an adviser to the many ruling princes, both in the north south of India, he had to exert himself constantly in their then ambiguous relations with the British Crown, he was no less active in preparing himself to become the Dewan of Travancore, which under its young ruler just then emerging from the Regent Rani’s care, sought most of his ungrudging advice and cooperation. Perhaps in the annals of no other Dewanship of the Native States of India was there a greater variety of achievement and brighter record of useful work for improving conditions of the subjects in Native States than in Travancore. Along with Sir T. Madhava Rao and Sir Seshadri Aiyer, his name will be ever cherished as the most dynamic one that ever planned and succeeded in a great measure in placing a Native State of the extent of Travancore on the map of India. Every industry with natural resources of raw materials available within the State was started, improved and set on its wheels for unimpeded movement. Every cultural activity was encouraged, to become a model for other States to follow. Drama, museum, parks, care of wild life, picture gallery–not one of the symbols of advance and civilization was left uncared for. There was an all round Welfare State, responsibility shouldered, and work finished, with record speed and efficiency. The crowning stroke of his genius was apparent when the Temple Proclamation was declared by the Maharajah, thereby taking a lead, before the Mahatma and his followers were able to bring almost a change of outlook in the caste Hindus, concerning the untouchable problem, and their reclamation from the attempts at conversion by other religionists. Through the corridors of time the paens of his fame will ring as of no others, and for long will India recognise the most benevolent of administrations in his Dewanship.

Still as everything amazingly successful too, may have another side to it, his Dewanship of splendid achievements created ill-will and disaffection in some quarters and groups. They waited for their opportunity to create vicious propaganda and reaction against him. There was one act of C. P., which however laudable from his sense of loyalty to the Ruler of Travancore, was not quite in consonance with the spirit of the times–a spirit which at the dawn of Freedom for the entire country strove for unity and strength as a requisite preparation for an Akhila Bharat–one in dream and action. His opposing the Post-Independent move for the consolidation of the New Bharat, by bringing in all the States then under different rulers under one single administration, was fraught with risk to himself and his reputation. He was, only that instance, below the usual mark of shrewdness and alertness, or perhaps he was feeling the conditions existing in the country were not quite propitious for an India with a really new hope and programme. Whatever might have been his motive, he was solely tried in his pursuit of a path that ultimately showed he was not, as usual, right and wise in his step. There was for a short time a shadow of defeat cast on his generally successful life. But as innate spirit and capacity for adventure always carried him aloft as one who wings to the azure skies, he regained himself in no time, which meant he was cheerful and steady in his progressive strides of encompassing, within his range, educational institutions. To Benares he went as the Vice-Chancellor of the Hindu University; to Annamalai University he hastened to leave the impress of his personality on its affairs. More than once in high level commissions set up by the Union Government under Nehruji he acted as a member, sharing in the voluminous reports that were prepared as a result of the labours of those Bodies. Everywhere he was listened to with attention; his wisdom and persuasive manner of approach to problems were welcome to persons not having had the same richness of his experience. To China as India’s Envoy he was asked to go leading a delegation. He was the earliest to warn people of their living in smug complacency and of the enormous work done in China and their unprecedented advance in methods of warfare. His public exhortation to wake up from the torpor was not heeded to by authorities then with any sense of realities. He showed no rancour or disappointment against persons in authority for their indifference. If at all, he remained to the last without any grouse against a Government which seemed totally oblivious of the great storehouse of executive ability and administrative talent in him.

In Ootacamund his ‘Delisle’ is a delightful spot to witness for visitors to the place. His cosy study, not to speak of his taste and orderliness in presenting an inviting place to all, are standing monuments to his elegant taste and methodical life. His ambition not to eschew anything worthwhile acquiring stood him in good stead. He was not an epicurian but an aesthete; his range of interest was ever on the increase, from possessing a kennel for dogs to purchasing the latest editions of any new literature.

Reviews he often wrote to journals; his study was revealed in the markings of quotations he made. Whatever was given him, he took particular care to look into; wherever he was invited, whether by the youngest or the oldest, he was sure to be present; whichever assignment he was offered in the higher grades of service to the nation, he was none too slow to take up. Buoyant of spirits, courteous of behaviour, alert both of body and of mind, ready of speech and quick of action, there was no time within any one’s memory when he was not all these.

His morning engagements were of a kind really worthy of emulation. Getting up from bed before dawn, attending to all personal details, without the help of any member of the household or any servant, performing Yoga Asanas in scheduled time, shaving and bathing completed with no prolonged ceremony, he could be found ready in his reception room to raise his voice of welcome on your approach. His uniform word of kindness imparted to anyone and everyone was a long-ingrained habit. Harshness of speech, heated arguments, uncouth behaviour to people and un-welcome habits of carelessness in the general conduct of oneself were certainly alien to his nature and self-imposed discipline. To the last he maintained a suavity of manners hardly expected of people ever busy and on the move. He was a rare Phenomenon of a full life lived, combined with untiring energy and application to every sort of claim on him.

Often in men placed on high you cannot find attentiveness to minor matters of daily or domestic occurrence. To the driver of his car he could be as considerate as to a guest in his house. He would note the time for his chaffeur’s food, dispense with his services during the interval, inform him of the places he had to visit in his rounds and never show extra haste or clumsiness of any kind in execution of his demands.

Maybe he struck people a bit theatrical as he made his entry into or exit from a public place or as he greeted you in his own fashion with a smile and folded hands. But the affectations of the man were soon forgotten the moment either he began to harangue to an audience or plunge with zest into any appointed task. In a way some of the intense moments of his life were only lived in public, for it looked he never had confidences to impart, neverhadpersonal afflictions to unburden to others, never even had sore problems to be solved with others’ help.

He will never fade out of memory of those who have seen him or heard him. He was even in his last days the same familiar figure, only a bit shrunk of body, lean of cheeks, balder of head and slightly short of hearing. But he would not like to be on any occasion recognised as aging. He walked with the same steady gait. wore clothes inthe same time-honoured fashion; talked in the same pleasant manner and dealt himself the same treatment in food and raiment. He knew no noonday siesta; nor a lounging chair.” He sat always erect in his seat and was sharp of attention. He was, it is reported, at the last breath he took, saying to the lady sitting opposite him, ‘No, I’ll never fall ill’. He was not far wrong in his statement; for illness he did not have of any duration. Only his heart stopped at the amazing vitality of the man. In death his body too showed no slackening of its usual compactness. It was cruel to watch the flames consume his handsome person. He knew no unpunctuality in keeping to his engagements. His last act of mixing with the elements was only delayed by others.