Srinivasa Iyengar |
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Date of Birth | : | 1874 |
Date of Death | : | May 19, 1941 |
Place of Birth | : | Madras |
S.
Srinivasa Iyengar was a distinguished lawyer, Indian freedom fighter
and political leader. The son of an orthodox Vaishnava brahmin and
respected landowner of Ramanathapuram district, Srinivasa Iyengar was
born in 1874 in the erstwhile Madras Presidency. Attending college, he
trained to become a lawyer, specializing in constitutional law.
Srinivasa Iyengar commenced practice the Madras High Court in 1898, and
advanced to the top of the profession in a short time. His intimate
knowledge of Hindu Dharmasastra and of the great classics of
jurisprudence and constitutional law coupled with his original inquiring
mind, made him a legal thinker in his own right and his edition of
Mayne's Hindu Law (1939) was hailed as a classic. Besides law, Srinivasa
Iyengar's other interest were education, social reform, and politics.
Among his early influences were Sir Sankaran Nair, C.
Vijayaraghavachariar, two former Congress leaders. He was also an
admirer of Gopal Krishna Gokhale (in whose name he endowed a prize) and
later of Mahatma Gandhi. Upon the commencement of the Non-Cooperation
Movement, Iyengar resigned the office of Advocate General and joined the
Indian National Congress. He presided over the Madras Provincial
Conference (1920) at Tirunelveli, gave up his princely practice at the
Bar, resigned the membership of the Legislative Council (to which he had
been returned by the Registered Graduates) returned his titles to the
Government and took a leading part in Congress affairs. Iyengar actively
participated in the Congress sessions from Ahmedabad (1921) to Lahore
(1929) and gave an unparalleled lead to the Congress in Madras for about
ten years. After the Congress had decided on Council-Entry he led the
party to victory in Madras in 1926 and was himself elected from Madras
to the Central Assembly and also acted as Leader for a time when Motilal
Nehru was away from India.