Diwan Bahadur Rai Raghunatha Rao (7 February 1831 – 3 May 1912) was an Indian civil servant, administrator, politician and Indian independence activist who served as the Diwan of Indore from 1875 to 1880 and 1886 to 1888. He was related to Indian statesman

Sir T. Madhava Rao Raja Sir Tanjore Madhava Rao, KCSI (20 November 18284 April 1891), also known as Sir Madhava Rao Thanjavurkar or simply as Madhavarao Tanjorkar, was an Indian statesman, civil servant, administrator and politician who served as the Diwan of T ...

Early life and education

Raghunatha Rao was born in a prominent

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

Deshastha Brahmin Deshastha Brahmin is a Hindu Brahmin subcaste mainly from the Indian state of Maharashtra and northern area of the state of Karnataka. Other than these states, according to authors K. S. Singh, Gregory Naik and Pran Nath Chopra, Deshastha B ...

family on February 1831 in Kumbakonam. He was the son of

R. Venkata Rao Rai Raya Rai Venkata Rao (born T. Venkata Rao, also spelt Venkatta Row; died 1843), was an Indian administrator and statesman who served as Diwan of Travancore 18211829 and 183839. He was the father of R. Raghunatha Rao, brother of R. Ranga Ra ...

former Diwan of Travancore and a cousin of Sir T. Madhava Rao who later served as Diwan of

Travancore The Kingdom of Travancore ( /ˈtrævənkɔːr/), also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor, was an Indian kingdom from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. A ...

Indore Indore () is the largest and most populous city in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It serves as the headquarters of both Indore District and Indore Division. It is also considered as an education hub of the state and is the only city to ...

and

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capi ...

. Raghunatha Rao had his early schooling in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

Fort and did his proficient's course at Government High School, Madras (now Presidency College, Madras). Rao studied law in private and obtained a pleader's diploma in 1856 but did not practise. Instead, he entered the Madras Provincial Civil Service.

Madras Civil Service

Raghunatha Rao started his career as a translator in the office of the

District Collector A District Collector-cum-District Magistrate (also known as Deputy Commissioner in some states) is an All India Service officer of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre who is responsible for ''land revenue collection'', ''canal revenu ...

and rose to become Sheristadar and eventually Deputy Collector of Madras District. He was placed on special duty in the Tungabhadra Project for sometime but was later transferred to Trichinopoly and then, Coimbatore districts. In 1873, Raghunatha Rao met

Tukojirao Holkar II Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai Shri Sir Tukoji Rao II Holkar XI Bahadur (3 May 1835 – 17 June 1886) was the Maharaja of Indore (Holkar State) belonging to the Holkar dynasty of the Marathas. His birth name was Shrimant Yukaji Jaswant H ...

, the Raja of

. Two years later, the Holkar requested Rao to serve the state as Special Settlement Officer. Later that same year, Rao replaced his cousin Sir T. Madhava Rao as Diwan of Indore.

Diwan of Indore

In 1875, Raghunatha Rao was appointed Diwan of Indore and he took over succeeding his cousin Madhava Rao. Raghunatha Rao's administration is regarded as one of progress and the Diwan is recorded as selecting the most qualified men for judicial positions in the state. Raghunatha Rao returned to Madras in 1880 and returned to Indore in 1886 to serve for a brief span of two years.

Social life

Raghunatha Rao was one of the founders of the Madras Mahajana Sabha and the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British ...

. The Indian National Social Conference, the first of its kind, was inaugurated at Raghunatha Rao's house in Madras in December 1887. The conference was presided over by Sir T. Madhava Rao. A statue of

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is on ...

was installed in front of the Kumbakonam Town Hall (also called Porter Hall) in 1913 and was dedicated to Raghunatha Rao.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, R. Raghunatha 1831 births 1912 deaths Indian dewans People from Thanjavur district Companions of the Order of the Star of India Presidency College, Chennai alumni Dewan Bahadurs