Dewan 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 ...

'' Calamur Viravalli Viswanatha Sastri was an Indian jurist and statesman who served as a justice of the High Court 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 ...

, following and alongside his elder brother ''Dewan Bahadur'' Sir C. V. Kumaraswami Sastri. He was awarded the

Kaisar-i-Hind Medal The Kaisar-i-Hind Medal for Public Service in India was a medal awarded by the Emperor/Empress of India between 1900 and 1947, to "any person without distinction of race, occupation, position, or sex ... who shall have distinguished himself (o ...

in 1934. During Indian independence, he aroused controversy by his opposition to caste-based reservation policies and

affirmative action Affirmative action (also sometimes called reservations, alternative access, positive discrimination or positive action in various countries' laws and policies) refers to a set of policies and practices within a government or organization seeking ...

. Born into the Calamur Viravalli lineage of Vadadeśa Vadama

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

Iyer Iyers () (also spelt as Ayyar, Aiyar, Ayer, or Aiyer) are an ethnoreligious community of Tamil-speaking Brahmins. Most Iyers are followers of the '' Advaita'' philosophy propounded by Adi Shankara and adhere to the Smarta tradition. This is ...

Brahmins Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

, he was a grandson to polyglot and judge

C. V. Runganada Sastri The Right Hon. ''Calamur Viravalli'' Runganada Sastri (c.15 February 1819/1820 – 5 July 1881) was an Indian interpreter, civil servant, jurist, civil servant, polyglot (person), polyglot, and Social reformers of India, social reformer, wh ...

, son to litigator

C. V. Sundara Sastri Calamur Viravalli Sundara Sastri (also spelt Sundram or Sundaram, and Sastry, Sastriar, Sastriyar, or Sastrigal) was a leading Vakil of the High Court of Madras, second in the Calamur line to bear the style ''Viravalli,'' and of a family line occu ...

, brother-in-law to Advocate-General and

Travancore The kingdom of Travancore (), also known as the kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor () or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvanan ...

prime minister-regent Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer, uncle to Minister of Law

C. R. Pattabhiraman Chetput Ramaswami Pattabhiraman (; 11 November 1906 – 19 June 2001) was an Indian lawyer and politician from the Indian National Congress. He was the eldest son of Indian statesman C. P. Ramaswami Iyer. He served as a Member of Indian Parliam ...

, cousin to ''Shankaracharya''

Bharati Krishna Tirtha ''Saraswati'' P. Venkataraman Sastri (IAST: P. Veṅkatarāmaṇ Śāstrī), hieratically titled ''H.H. Jagadguru'' ''Shankaracharya'' Swami Bharatikrishna Tirtha (IAST: Jagadguru Śaṅkarācārya Svāmī Bhāratīkṛṣṇa Tīrtha) (1884� ...

, C. Aryama Sundaram, and C. Sivaramamurti, among others. His great-grandson, fellow Madras High Court justice C. V. Karthikeyan, serves on that court today, marking six generations of Calamur Viravalli presence in the judiciary.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sastri, C. V. Viswanatha Year of birth missing Year of death missing Judges of the Madras High Court Recipients of the Kaisar-i-Hind Medal