T. V. VISWANATHA AIYAR
A Man of
Rare Integrity
Dr. D. ANJANEYULU
He
lived right in front of the temple–the Kapaleeswar
temple in Mylapore. From his drawing-room on the
first floor he could possibly catch a clear glimpse of the glorious temple
tower. His house itself was a kind of temple from which no man in need was ever
turned away.
Diagonally
opposite his house is the
The
temple, along with the value system that it represented, was the main source of
his strength–metaphorically speaking. For he was a devout
believer in the ancient Hindu tradition. The Bhavan
was one of the main objects of his affection. For it stood for a creative blend
of ancient insights and modern perceptions to keep alive the Indian stream of
knowledge.
His
name is T. V. Viswanatha Aiyar, who died in
Born
at Tirupattur in North Arcot
District in November 1902, Tirupattur Venkata Viswanatha Aiyar, was
educated at
An
advocate of over 50 years’ standing in the Madras High Court, he was an
acknowledged leader of the profession for more than a generation, who specialised in the Law of Taxation. But he was something
more than that. He was a public man without being a politician. For he was a
man of high public spirit, who gave of his best to the cause of education,
traditional culture and social welfare, according to his own lights. And his lights
were never dim. The spiritual light, he derived from His Holiness Sri Sankaracharya of Kanchi Kamakoti Peetham.
It was Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, now the Senior Acharya, of whom he was
one of the devoutest of disciples, who conferred on
him the title of “Samskriti Seva
Ratna.”
The
temporal light he had obviously derived from the professional tradition,
associated with the name of Sir C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar. Its hallmarks are:
integrity, efficiency and generosity. It was an undying source of inspiration
to him. If he was not exactly Sir C. P.’s “sishya”,
he was certainly one of his “prasishyas.” He could
not be a direct junior in his chambers, for the simple reason that by the time
he enrolled himself as a vakil in the High Court in
1926, C. P. had technically left the bar, having become a member of the
Governor’s Executive Council in the Diarchy Days. He, therefore, worked with
two of his juniors, first with N. Chandrasekhara
Aiyar (who later rose to be a Judge of the Supreme Court) and on his elevation
to the Bench, with M. Subbaroya Aiyar, one of the
leading experts in Tax Laws.
Like
his senior, Viswanatha Aiyar himself became an honoured
expert in Tax Laws, including Income-tax, and Sales Tax, Company Law,
Mercantile Law and allied fields. In the latter half of his professional career
his visits to the High Court became less and less, as his chamber practice grew
more and more. His expert advice was much in demand by the State as well as
private parties. He was the Founder-President of the Revenue Bar Association,
After
establishing himself as a member of the profession and attaining a level of
prosperity, Viswanatha Aiyar decided that he had to do something for the
society that had served to keep him in comfort. It was the cause of education
that drew him most, especially in view of the lack of encouragement to students
of merit and the state of neglect that was the lot of Sanskrit learning for
many years.
He
took a lot of interest in the Lady Sivaswami Iyer Girls’
But
it was the cause of Sanskrit that commended itself most to him. He was an
ardent lover of Sanskrit language and literature, rather than a scholar. As
President of the
As
the prime mover behind the Sanskrit Education Society, Viswanatha Aiyar drew
freely and generously out of his own resources and facilitated the publication
of many useful books, besides a periodical in Sanskrit, Samskrita
Sri.
In
more recent years, two institutions claimed a lion’s share of his attention.
One is the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, of whose
Another
is the Foundation named after his idol Sir C. P. Ramaswami Aiyar, which came
into existence in 1967, less than a year after his sudden death in
As
a committee man, Viswanatha Aiyar was very strict – meticulous about rules,
conscientious about accounts and about every little detail concerning the work
on hand. He did not spare himself nor did he spare the others. Nothing sloppy or slipshod about him. Nor would he tolerate
such a thing in any of the others. Naturally, this habit was unlikely to make
him popular among those who tended to take this easy. I could testily to this, having
had occasion to watch him on quite a few committees–the
As
a man, he was straight as a lance. He would not be a party to anything that is
not a hundred per cent overboard. In fact, friends and colleagues would be
afraid of mooting such a thing before him, if they were unsure of clearing it
with him, before doing so with the official scrutinising
agencies.
Courteous
he always was. But he would not suffer fools gladly. Not that he was tactless
or unaware of the value of public relations. But he chose to draw a line where
P. R. would involve obsequiousness and politeness would mean hypocrisy. He was
shrewd enough to know the knaves for what they are, but his innate human
quality would not allow him to be inconsiderate to anyone in trouble, even when
that person did not deserve any better.
Always
correct in his dress and his address, Viswanatha Aiyar was apt to appear a
little too stern to strangers who did not know him. Even his prospective
beneficiaries would be afraid to approach him in the first instance. But in
deserving cases, he would be generous beyond their dreams. Countless are those
in
As
a benefactor, his bark was worse than his bite. He was a good man who did not
seem to wear his heart on his sleeve. Persons like him have always been too
few. Now, they are fewer still. His example shines like a good deed in a
naughty world.