AN AMBASSADOR OF GOODWILL

K. SAMPATHGIRI RAO

Sri K. Ramakotiswara Rau (or Ramakoti, as his friends loved to call him) launched Triveni with the goodwill of friends early in 1928, attempting to make it a “worthy exponent of the Indian Renaissance, as reflected in the various linguistic units of India.” He wrote some months after the journal was started: “Triveni is ultimately the Lord’s work, and He in His infinite wisdom and mercy, will vouchsafe to the Editor, an humble and frail individual, the requisite strength, physical and moral, to carry on his self-imposed but inexpressibly joyous task,” and hoped that the journal will lay the foundations for that inter-provincial harmony and goodwill which is the prelude to a federation of Indian cultures.”

The journal in Madras had the ardent support of Tamil friends. Fourteen years later it shifted to Bangalore and was nourished by Kannada friends. Ramakoti became a self-constituted ambassador of goodwill and secured the willing co-operation of men of culture from different provinces. If he had the energy and the resources he would no doubt have gone round all the provinces of India. His personal contacts were, however, confined to South India.

Ramakoti himself was not a poet, nor a painter, nor a musician. But he was like a catalyst which united kindred spirits from different provinces to feel like members of one family through the Triveni, at a time when the politicians belonging to these various regions had no love lost for one another. It has been often remarked that unity in diversity is the key to the understanding of Indian culture; and Ramakoti had this key with him.

This spirit of goodwill which permeated Ramakoti was what made him so loved and respected. His faith in the mission of Triveni was childlike, almost angelic in its simplicity. He never enjoyed robust health and yet whenever he went round to any town or city to solicit help for Triveni, he made it a point to meet men of letters, artists and other cultured people, and cultivate their acquaintance. Often this resulted in lasting friendships. Ramakoti’s capacity for affection was immense; it almost looked as if he had no use for anything else in the world but love and affection.

Though not rich in earthly possessions, he cheerfully sacrificed what he had to nourish his pet child, Triveni and never slackened his efforts to make it a quality journal, distinguished both in regard to its contents and its get-up. Those who knew only of his proneness to a soft life would hardly believe that he was capable of such heroic determination and sacrifice.

He was not merely a purveyor of art and culture: he lived and practised them in his own life. His dress, his talk, his taste in food and drinks, his reading–all these proclaimed him to be a man of refinement, festidious to a fault. He disliked shoddiness and pettiness. He hated to be hustled. He detested vulgarity and noise which so disfigure our modern life in towns and cities in increasing measure as we seem to be getting ‘progressive’ and ‘civilized’. Ramakoti created his own world; had his own circle of friends and was supremely happy in it.

His memory is like a priceless and fragrant possession for all those who had the privilege of his friendship.

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