Biography of Sri. Venkatesa Iyer - Part 1

Today is the special guru pradosham, see Guru Pradosham on 20th November 2014. On this auspicious day, I am posting the first part of a 3-part biography of taatha, compiled from edited extracts from the "Venkatesa Iyer and Poornambal Memorial Trust" booklet and also the centenary celebration souvenir.

Biography of Sri Venkatesa Iyer 

Horoscope of Sri Venkatesa Iyer

Sri V. Venkatesa Iyer (born Sep 2, 1898, विलम्बी ஆவணி , Uttara Bhādrapadā or Uttṛṭṭāti (उत्तरभाद्रपदा, உத்திரட்டாதி) was born as the only son to his parents Smt. Sundarambal and Sri Venkatarama Iyer of Ganapati Agraharam village, Tanjavur District, (old) Madras State (modern day TamilNadu).

Smt. Sundarambal andSri Venkatarama Iyer, parents of Sri V. Venkatesa Iyer.

Sri Iyer's paternal grandfather Sri  Anantakrishna Vaadhiyaar was a scholar in the vedā-s. He earned great respect from the people of Ganapathi Agraharam, which is 5 miles east of Thiruvaiyaaru, where Sadguru Tyagaraja Swami lived. His son and Venkatesa Iyer's father, Sri Venkatarama Iyer obtained the group certificate of the London Chamber of Commerce, and was working for the Nizam's (ex-Hyderabad state) government. Venkatesa Iyer lost his mother Smt. Sundarambal when he was only 5 years old. His father then married Smt. Janaki Ammal of Kothangudi (which was also where Venkatesa Iyer's wife Smt. Poornambal hailed from).

Retirement of Sri. Lakshminarayana Iyer, cousin of Sri Vekatarama Iyer, who is sitting on the ground, left corner.

Venkatarama Iyer's was a transferable job and he could not stay permanently in the same place. Hence, he placed his son in the care of his aunt. Being poor, his financial aid to his son was meagre. Venkatesa Iyer used to walk a distance of nearly 6km each way from Kandamangalam village to his school at Tirukatupalli. He had to cross a river en route to his school. His financial position was such that he could not afford the fare for the ferry every day. This forced Venkatesa Iyer to swim across the river on some days to go to school, even when it was flowing full. The hardships that he experienced during boyhood left a deep impression on Venkatesa Iyer. He felt it a as duty to help any poor student who experienced hardship to pursue his education.

In 1914, when his father was posted at Warangal, Venkatesa Iyer shifted to his father's town to continue his education. The principal of the school was a Britisher by the name Mr. Shawcros. He noticed the brilliance of Venkatesa Iyer and promised to get him financial aid for higher education in engineering in England. Venkatesa Iyer had secured the 7th rank in the State where only 57  candidates had passed the High School Leaving Certificate (HSLC) examination. But Venkatarama Iyer did not agree to his only son going abroad for further education. He desired that Venkatesa Iyer pursue a suitable course in Accountancy and get professionally trained rather than take up the engineering course. Being an obedient son, Venkatesa Iyer agreed to write the said exam.

In the examination held in November 1915, he passed the fourth grade of Accountancy in the Public Works Department (PWD) from Thomson College of civil engineering, scoring 78% and stood first in the state and 7th in the country. He also passed the exams conducted by the Institute of Commerce, Birmingham, England, in Advanced Bookkeeping in 1920, and also passed with Honours the Intermediate Examination of the Corporation of Accountants, Glasgow, England in 1922.

Even though Venkatesa Iyer's first choice was engineering, he showed brilliance in the unrelated subject of accounts. In recognition of his brilliance, he was promoted as accountant and posted at Raichur. Thus,he fulfilled his father's ambition that his son should become accountant.  On hearing his son's achievement, Venkatarama Iyer rushed from Ganapati Agraharam to Raichur to congratulate him. Such are the cruel ways of fate that his father was denied the happiness; for he died as soon as he arrived in Raichur. Venkatesa Iyer overcame this calamity with equanimity and continued to face and find solutions to the problems of his family.

As mentioned earlier, he suffered privations and poverty in his boyhood; and when he successfully conquered his adversities and achieved his promotion, he lost his father. Thus, at the prime of his life, he lost the support and guidance of his father and had to look after his 2 sisters (details in following paragraphs). Many other persons in similar circumstances would have lost their balance and will to survive. But Venkatesa Iyer had great self-confidence and rare spiritual strength, which helped him to surmount both personal tragedy and adverse circumstances.

Smt. Janaki Ammal, in her dying moments, made a fervent appeal to Venkatesa Iyer to look after and educate her eldest daughter Smt. Sundarambal's son, Sri G.V. Ramamurthy. Venkatesa Iyer regarded this as a sacred commitment and fulfilled it totally. Not only did he educate his nephew, but he looked after him affectionately as his own son. Sri G.V. Ramamurthy, who worked at different points of his life for the Deccan Dominion Bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and the United Nations, still acknowledges his deep and lasting gratitude to Venkatesa Iyer. Venkatesa Iyer also got his sister Smt. Sundarambal's daughter Smt. Dharmambal married to his second son Venkatraman,and helped in getting the other 2 daughters married.

His second sister (second daughter of Smt. Janaki Ammal) Smt. Savitri was married to Sri.Gopalan, who worked in the A.G.'s office. Based on a misinterpretation of the law, Sri Gopalan was demoted from officer to superintendent. Venkatesa Iyer took up his case with the highest authority, and restored his promotion as officer. After the demise of Sri. Gopalan,  his sister Savitri,  and her family, were taken care of by Venkatesa Iyer.

Incidentally, when he experienced the lack of any facility in his personal life, he endeavoured to create the same for the benefit of others. For instance, at the time of his father's untimely death, he felt the absence of religious persons/services, and so in his later years, he was  instrumental in setting up the facility for अपरकार्य  (aparakārya) at Bansilalpet, Secunderabad, under the wishes of Kanchi Shankaracharya.

He envisaged the difficulties encountered in a new place by the many people who traveled from the south to Central/North Indian cities. This awareness made him assist all those who came to Hyderabad from other parts of India. His wife and he  were a source of strength to many  newcomers to the city, whom they helped by providing shelter and food until such time they settled down (on their own). Many people (including several relatives) recall with deep gratitude  this magnanimity of Venkatesa Iyer and his wife.  (to be contd.)