On April 15, 1959, then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru got here all the way down to A. Thekkur, a village in Tirupattur, close to Sivaganga to inaugurate a highschool constructing. That the Prime Minister deemed it match to grace the event, maybe needed to do with the person who ran the college — ‘Kalaithanthai’ Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar. In a life, which spanned eight a long time, he forayed into a number of domains and tasted success like none different. He’s primarily remembered for his reign over the textile house in south India, which earned him the moniker of ‘Textile Baron’ and contributions to schooling, launching a slew of faculties and institutes below the model identify of Thiagarajar.
Born on June 16, 1893 within the prosperous Karumuttu household, Thiagarajan was the youngest son of the second spouse of Muthukaruppan Chettiar — who broke the development of Chettiars taking on the money-lending career, and forayed into the textile house as an alternative, in 1866. The Karumuttu household imported various kinds of garments and offered them in India and Ceylon, Radha Thiagarajan, spouse of Thiagarajan, factors out in his biography Karumuttu Thiagaraja Chettiar, The Textile King.
On the age of 9, after his father’s demise, Thiagarajan moved to Ceylon and was below the care of his elder brother, who was taking good care of the household enterprise. His tryst with textiles originated right here. “The Karumuttus imported saris and gown materials from European nations, and had particular dhotis manufactured in Lancashire and Manchester. The Karumuttu trademark can be imprinted on dhotis…,” the late creator remembers within the e-book.
In 1916, in the course of the First World Warfare, the enterprise in Colombo (which was run on a partnership by three of the Karumuttu brothers) dissolved, publish which Thiagarajan returned to India. It was solely after the 1921 strike at Harvey Mills, which led to large layoffs, did a path open up for him within the textile area. The laid-off staff appealed to Indian industrialists and businessmen for assist, and thus brewed the concept of Sree Meenakshi Mills, his first personal enterprise.
The thought to start out the mills was proposed by Gujarati businessman Kalyanji Ramji, and Thiagarajan was on board. Nevertheless, when the administrators backed out owing to monetary constraints, Thiagarajan took cost in 1923. All through 1924, he travelled to gather capital for the mills. Subsequently, he scouted for a location and drew up a plan for the construction. The operations lastly started on Could 4, 1927, remembers Radha.
“All through the last decade, he constructed his empire and purchased financially and functionally defunct mills. He was financially prudent, served on the boards of different mills, helped entrepreneurs and set the benchmark for yardstick…,” Hari Thiagarajan, chairman of Thiagarajar Faculty of Engineering (TCE) and the grandson of the late baron, says.
Nevertheless, the challenges have been aplenty. Two years after the mill’s operations commenced, the Nice Melancholy hit nations throughout the globe. The consequences trickled all the way down to south India, and Thiagarajan confronted challenges in elevating cash and clearing loans. He wanted half 1,000,000 rupees. Nevertheless, he took the unorthodox method to resolve the issue by looking for assist from his competitor, Harvey Mills.
The British big, nevertheless, imposed one-sided circumstances to bail him out. “The London Workplace of Harvey Mills dominated that Sree Meenakshi Mills mustn’t promote its yarn at a lesser value than Harvey’s…,” Dr. Radha factors out. Thiagarajan not solely repaid the quantity effectively earlier than the due date, but in addition expanded his enterprise. The empire he constructed comprised 16 mills throughout States. By 1940, Sree Meenakshi Mills grew to become the most important mill in south India.
The e-book additionally highlights the fiscal prudence of Thiagarajan, whereby he had arrange a unit of the Sree Meenakshi Mills in Manapparai, throughout the limits of Pudukottai (which was then an unbiased State), to flee the clutches of the Yarn Worth Management Order handed by the federal government within the Forties. The order enabled the federal government to regulate the charges of yarn.
“One different high quality of Kalaithanthai was his perseverance, and the flexibility of not compromising on something. Kalaithanthai had voiced his dissent to the order because the transfer affected the whole business. In these days, there weren’t many associations to problem such selections, however he stood by the business …,” remembers Mr. Hari.
Instructional enterprise
Among the many outstanding legacies left behind by him are his academic establishments, says Kailash Palaniappan, a researcher who specialises within the historical past of Chettiars.
The primary establishment of upper studying arrange by Thiagarajan was the Thiagarajar Arts Faculty in 1949, of which Mr. Hari is the secretary. All through the span of 1940-65, he arrange a school for preceptors (for trainer coaching), a mannequin highschool, the TCE, a college for administration, a polytechnic school, and several other major colleges. In all, he spent over Rs. 60 million in direction of academic establishments, Radha says in her e-book.
“We have a good time the Founders’ Day on July 29 in every of the establishments [the TCE and the arts college]. Tiruvacagam was near his coronary heart. Within the arts school, we organise a Tiruvacagam lecture and conduct contests for college students. Within the engineering school, we invite eminent personalities to ship lectures. We additionally run a belief below our grandfather’s identify. A number of alumni of the faculty donate to the belief, and the corpus is invested. The curiosity accrued is used to grant scholarships and allowances to college students on a benefit foundation. That is completed on the twenty ninth of July yearly…,” Mr. Hari provides.
Ardour in direction of Tamil
One other noteworthy enterprise of Thiagarjan was in journalism, the muse for which was laid throughout his days in Ceylon when he labored for a Sri Lankan Day by day, The Morning Chief. He had extensively reported on the plight of plantation staff within the island nation. A report in The Hindu Archives calls him the primary Nagarathar to have change into a full-time journalist with an English Day by day.
In Madurai, he launched a Tamil every day, Tamil Nadu, on October 10, 1951 to sensitise folks to the great thing about literary Tamil. “The newspaper employed eminent Tamil students, and got here up with Tamil equivalents for a number of English phrases…,” Mr. Hari remembers.
Furthermore, Mr. Kailash remembers, “Although he was within the Congress [which he left in 1937], he was towards the imposition of Hindi. He gave his college students the liberty to protest towards the transfer in 1965 [the Bhaktavatsalam Ministry]. He was additionally one of many first individuals to have organised a significant convention for Tamil in Madurai, inviting audio system from Sri Lanka…”
The references to the convention (Tamizh Vizha) will be discovered within the e-book Chettinadum Senthamizhum, penned by Somale, which says that this convention set the development for the others to comply with.
Different details
An fascinating reality, in accordance with Mr. Kailash, is that Gandhi had resolved to adorn solely loincloths and dhotis at Thiagarajan’s visitor home in Melamasi Veethi in Madurai in 1921, after witnessing the plight of the poor. “Kalaithanthai’s first spouse, Vishalakshi Aachi, had served him meals…,” says Mr. Kailash.
He had additionally forayed into the fields of insurance coverage and banking, beginning with the Financial institution of Madura, which later merged with the ICICI. He additionally held the best shares in PoRR and Sons. He was a staunch vegetarian, impressed by the Shaivite custom and the Tirukkural – a apply that’s staunchly adopted by his descendants. He breathed his final on July 29, 1974.
“He taught that in case you don’t stand by one thing, you’ll fall for all the pieces. This can be a worth that may be inculcated in youth…,” concludes Mr. Hari.
Revealed – December 06, 2024 02:09 am IST
