C. P. RAMASWAMI AIYAR

Dr. A. S. RAMAN

In the pre-independence years India had two C. P.’s. The British paid special attention to both. One was an administrative unit and the other, an administrator. The British had to watch critically the goings-on in Central Provinces because Gandhiji’s base, Sevagram, was there and it was then India's de facto capital, not New Delhi. The British made a close study of C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar’s character, personality and achievement because he was their man. At least they fancied he was. So in those days whenever one referred to C. P., one had to make sure that there was no ambiguity in the context.

The British imagined that C. P. was their man, not only because of his temperamental incompatibility with the leaders of the freedom movement but owing to his own intellectual resistance to anything that was slovenly and substandard. He was a champion of total, all round excellence which he thought was inconsistent with the spirit of the mass based national movement. In words he was uncompromisingly elitist in his basic attitudes and values.

In the ’30s and early ’40s somehow I found myself more in tune with intellectuals who stayed outside the freedom struggle than with their political counterparts involved in a direct and aggressive, though non-violent, confrontation with the British. I must say in fairness to them that the non-political elite were as patriotic as the political firebrands. No wonder that I had great admiration for men like Dr. C. R. Reddy, Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru, Sir Mirza Ismail, the Rt. Hon’ble V. S. Srinivasa Sastry, M. R. Jayakar, Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar and others. I had a feeling that those in the freedom struggle – with a few obvious exceptions–had feet of clay while those out of it were men of substance. Have not the post-independence developments fulfilled Churchill’s cynical prophesy that Attlee and his men had handed over power to “men of straw?” I’m one of those pragmatists who believe that freedom came to us too soon. Indirectly it was I think Hitler who gave us freedom. No Hitler, no war. No war, no economic bankruptcy for Britain. No economic bankruptcy, no freedom for Britain’s colonies. Perhaps I’m taking too simplistic a view of it all. But one cannot deny that there is an clement of truth in it.

To revert to the two C. P.’s. Both are gone, physically. The province is not only gone but forgotten too. Not the other C. P., one of the immortals of India’s cultural history. Politically I thought he had deliberately chosen to assume the role of a mini-Caesar not only to assert his faith in his superior wisdom but to be effective as an administrator. If Visweswarayya was the maker of the old Mysore State, C. P. was the maker of the old Travancore State, which remained the most progressive and enlightened unit in the princely India till the politicians, in the name of integration, took over and set the clock back. I’m not suggesting that integration – or merger, whatever you call it – was bad. But the process of politicisation, nakedly negative and cynical, which it set in motion and which has since acquired uglier and uglier forms, is bad. I am aware that while C. P. remained at the helm he gave ample evidence of his political maladroitness which caused unnecessary tensions and conflicts. He was a good administrator but a bad politician. India I think needs more and more bad politicians and good administrators!

I didn’t know C. P. well enough because of the generation gap that divided us. But there was no communication gap. I first came into contact with him in the early ’40s when my former teacher, Dr. James H Cousins, asked me to see him. I was then in New Delhi. C. P. was about to leave Trivandrum to assume his new responsibilities as Member of the Viceroy’s Executive his new Council in charge of Information and Broadcasting. I wrote to him suggesting that, as advised by Dr. Cousins, I might see him after making an appointment with him. I was honest enough to disclose the purpose of my likely visit: To seek placement in the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Prompt was his reply. He said that he would be happy to see me and try to give me a suitable assignment provided he lasted at the Viceroy’s Council long enough. And he didn’t. He knew only how to rule and not how to serve. He resigned after three weeks and returned to Trivandrum. He cared for power, not glamour. So he returned to his empire: Travancore. But he saw me and advised me not to become a mere cog in the wheel of an alien bureaucracy. He wished he could give me a chance in Travancore, but he regretted that the scope for outsiders there–except the British! –was very limited. I lost touch with him till his quixotic declaration of independence and sovereignty for Travancore–which only confirmed his political immaturity and irrelevance. Meanwhile I had been in close contact with Dr. Cousins who was “Art Advisor to the Government of Travancore”–what a fine thing to be!

Dr. Cousins and I had regular correspondence on a diversity of subjects, relating almost exclusively to the art politics in the country, i.e., Bengal School vs the Ecole de Paris, quarrels among art critics, schisms within this all India art society or that, controversies centring on Government patronage, etc. He and I were in opposite camps, but he would graciously add the PS that “CP has been the impartial umpire in our quarrel.” I was happy that, with the help of Dr. Cousins, I managed to get the ear of C. P. on subjects into which surprisingly he had the insight of an expert. He was essentially a humanist involved in the stirrings of the spirit.

Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar–not be but those close to him were particular about his doctorate and the spelling of Aiyar–had all the graces of the East and all the skills of the West. He was proud of his traditional scholarship and Western sophistication. His vision was sharp because his foundation was strong. He was genteel, sensitive and remarkably alert and resilient to the ferment of intellectual interaction between the East and the West. Indeed he was one of the finest representatives of the Western elan and Oriental elegance. He gracefully retreated into the realm of ideas when he realised that he was a misfit in the post-independence India of horse-traders. He kept himself busy writing and speaking on the perennial relevance and unfailing healing touch of Indian culture and civilisation to a topsy-turvy world of turmoil, pollution and nihilist blasphemies. Whatever he said or wrote had a thrust and a polish because of his own innate poise and refinement.

Wide and various talents

“The tribute of the world’s admiration is rightly paid to thinkers and philosophers to men of learning, taste and culture, to eminent professional men, to statesmen of vision and to philanthropists–for each of them is a benefactor of society and an inspiration to his own as well as succeeding generations. How very great indeed should be our admiration when these wide and various talents are united in a single person as in the case of Dr. C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar! The many facets of his brilliant personality have shed their lustre on the public life of our country for over half a century, and in honouring him we are at the same time celebrating the achievements of Indian character and intellect at their best.”

–His Highness Sri Jaya Chamaraja Wadiar (Maharaja of Mysore)

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