Diwan Bahadur Dewan Bahadur or Diwan Bahadur was a title of honour awarded during British rule in India. It was awarded to individuals who had performed faithful service or acts of public welfare to the nation. From 1911 the title was accompanied by a special ...

Sir'' Vembakkam Bhashyam Aiyangar Kt. (January 1844 – 18 November 1908) was a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

and

jurist A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyzes and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar, mostly (but not always) with a formal education in law (a law degree) and often a Lawyer, legal prac ...

who served as the first Indian Advocate-General of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency i ...

and later, as a Justice of the

High Court of Madras The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is one of the oldest high courts of India along with Calcutt ...

. As a

Vakil Vekil or Vakil was the term used for the deputies and ''de facto'' prime ministers of the Mughal Emperor in Mughal administration. He was considered the most powerful person after Emperor in the Mughal Empire. ''Vakil'' was one of the highest posi ...

he was easily the undisputed leader of the Madras bar; he was described as in his heyday, the 'greatest jurist in India', 'India's foremost lawyer', 'perhaps the great Indian lawyer of modern times', and 'a gigantic intellect' who was 'ultimately worshipped as a legal genius', credited with establishing the fundamental credibility of the office of

against that of

Barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

. He was a central figure in the first generation of the

Mylapore clique The Mylapore Clique (also termed an oligarchy, faction, group, set, and cabal), was a small group of politically moderate and elite Brahmin, Brahmins (primarily Tamil Brahmins), — many of whom were noted lawyers, administrators, academics or ...

, and the patriarch of the

Vembaukum family The Vembaukum or Vembakkam family were one of the two preeminent Brahmin dynasties in the Madras Presidency, dominating the Mylapore clique alongside the Calamur clan, and 'possess(ing) an enormous presence in the... bureaucracy of the capital and ...

Posts held

Bhashyam Aiyangar served as the Acting Advocate General of Madras from February 1897 to March 1898 and September 1899 to March 1900.''

India Office List 1905 India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area; the most populous country since 2023; and, since its independence in 1947, the world's most populous democracy. Bounded by ...

'', p. 439 He was the first Indian to hold the post. In February 1897, Bhashyam Aiyangar was nominated to the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was initia ...

as an official member He was nominated for two more terms in November 1899 and March 1900.''

'', p. 75 In July 1901, Bhashyam Aiyangar was appointed a Judge of the High Court at Madras, in which position he served until 1904.

Honours

Bhashyam Aiyangar was created a

Companion of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire, ...

in May 1895. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

on 5 February 1900, after a knighthood had been announced in the 1900 New Year Honours list. Venbakam Bashyam Aiyangar

A statue of Bhashyam Aiyangar was donated by M. S. Nagappa in 1927 and has been installed in the Madras High Court campus, just outside the Madras Bar Association entrance.

Personal life

Bhashyam Aiyangar was part of the large and celebrated

. His brother-in-law was

C. V. Rungacharlu Chettipunyam Veeravalli Rungacharlu (c. August 1831 - d. 20 January 1883), also spelt Rangacharlu, was an Indian civil servant and administrator who served as the 14th Dewan of Mysore from 1881 to 1883. Early life Rungacharlu was born in ...

, Diwan of Mysore. He had a number of daughters. His third daughter was married to eminent lawyer and freedom fighter

S. Srinivasa Iyengar Seshadri Srinivasa Iyengar CIE (11 September 1874 – 19 May 1941), also seen as Sreenivasa Iyengar and Srinivasa Ayyangar, was an Indian lawyer, freedom-fighter and politician from the Indian National Congress. Iyengar was the Advocate-Gener ...

Some Madras Leaders Some may refer to: *''some'', an English word used as a determiner and pronoun; see use of ''some'' *The term associated with the existential quantifier *"Some", a song by Built to Spill from their 1994 album ''There's Nothing Wrong with Love'' *S ...

, Pg 11 who apprenticed under him, alongside his Vembaukum relatives

V. C. Desikachariar Sir Vembakkam Comanduru Desikachariar (31 December 1861 – 14 November 1919) was an Indian lawyer, politician and Indian independence activist who served as a member of the Madras Legislative Council from 1904 to 1908. Desikachariar also parti ...

and

V. C. Seshachariar ''V.'' is a satirical postmodern novel and the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published on March 18, 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohe ...

. The Indian independence activist

Ambujammal Ambujammal Desikachari née Srinivasa Iyengar (1899-1983) was an Indian independence activist and women's rights activist. A Gandhian, she participated in the Civil Disobedience Movement and served as vice-president of the Tamil Nadu Congres ...

is his granddaughter. Actor

Utkarsh Ambudkar Utkarsh Ambudkar ( ; born December 8, 1983), also known by his stage name UTK the INC, is an American actor, rapper, and singer. He is known for his film roles including '' Pitch Perfect'' (2012), '' Game Over, Man!'' (2018), '' Blindspotting'' ( ...

is a descendant of Aiyangar.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhashyam Aiyangar, V 1844 births 1908 deaths 19th-century Indian lawyers Lawyers in British India Companions of the Order of the Indian Empire Indian Knights Bachelor Lawyers awarded knighthoods Advocates general for Tamil Nadu Members of the Madras Legislative Council 20th-century Indian lawyers People from Tiruvannamalai district Dewan Bahadurs Mylapore clique