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 Calamur Viravalli Kumaraswami Sastri Kt. (19 July 1870 – 24 April 1934) was an Indian jurist, statesman, and Sanskrit scholar who was leader of the Madras Bar 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 ...

of the High Court, before being appointed as a

puisne justice Puisne judge and puisne justice () are terms for an ordinary judge or a judge of lesser rank of a particular court. The term comes from a combination of the two French words, (since, later) and (born) which have been combined as or ; meaning ...

of the Madras High Court in 1914, and, later, Chief Justice of the

Madras High Court The High Court of Judicature at Madras is a High Courts of India, High Court located in Chennai, India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It is one of ...

. He also served on numerous special committees; most notoriously, the Rowlatt Committee - service on which nearly imperiled his later service as Chief Justic

The great-grandson, great-great-grandson, and great-great-great-grandson of celebrated Sanskritists, he himself was noted for achieving "brilliant success, with speed" from his first days practicing law. In his heyday, he was considered "the most brilliant representative of the Madras Judicial Service", and the successor to V. Bhashyam Aiyangar.

Family

He gave the hand of his daughter Lakshmi in marriage to V. N. Viswanatha Rao, who would become Law, Education, and Finance Secretary of the Madras Presidency, as well as Collector of

Tinnevelly Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British Raj, British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the List of cit ...

and of

Tanjore Thanjavur (), also known as Thanjai, previously known as Tanjore,#Pletcher, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the 12th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian c ...

Early life

Kumaraswami Sastri was born in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

in 1870, the eldest son of C. V. Sundara Sastri. Kumaraswami Sastri was the grandson of

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 ...

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. When the languages are just two, it is usually called bilingualism. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolin ...

and one of the first Indians to serve in 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 ...

. Kumaraswami Sastri graduated from the Presidency College and Law College, Madras, where he won the Elphinstone Thompson and Morehead Law scholarships. He also won the Innes Medal.

Career

Sastri started his career as a lawyer of the Madras High Court in 1894 and was rapidly raised to the rank of ''

Rao Bahadur Rai Bahadur (in North India) and Rao Bahadur (in South India), R.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British Raj, British rule in India to individuals for outstanding service or acts of public welfare to the British Empire, Empire. From ...

'' After serving as a vakil, Sastri eventually became Judge of the Madras Small Causes Court. He was awarded the ''

'' title while serving as the District Judge of

Berhampur Berhampur (; also known as Brahmapur) is a city on the eastern coastline of Odisha, India. Known as the "Silk City" it is the headquarter of Ganjam district, Ganjam district and home to Odisha's one of the major and the oldest railway station ...

in 1911, shortly before his elevation to the High Court, In 1914, Sastri was appointed judge of the Madras High Court. He was a member of the infamous Sedition Committee - also known as Rowlatt committee - under Justice Sidney Rowlatt, which resulted in the infamous

Rowlatt Act The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act, was a law, applied during the British India period. It was a legislative council act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on 18 March 1919 ...

. He was knighted in the

1924 New Year Honours The 1924 New Year Honours were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published in ''The London Gazette'' on 1 January 1924. The recipients of ...

list. In 1932 his criticism of rising education costs, delivered in a convocation address to the

University of Mysore The University of Mysore is a public state university in Mysore, Karnataka, India. The university was founded during the reign of Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV and the premiership of Sir M. Visvesvaraya. The university is recognised by t ...

, drew attention. A paper of his averring that law was an impractical means of eradicating

untouchability Untouchability is a form of social institution that legitimises and enforces practices that are discriminatory, humiliating, exclusionary and exploitative against people belonging to certain social groups. Although comparable forms of discrimin ...

spurred commentary in the Harijan by Gandhi, who took him as the exemplar of ' Sanatanists', and a later monograph. Following a paper by K. A. Nilakanta Sastri on the identity of Mahīpāla, the emperor lauded by Kṣemīśvara in the opening of the ''Caṇḍakauśika'', in 1933 he dated the Sanskrit playwright Rājaśekhara to c. 850-920 AD, consequently identifying Mahīpāla as the

Gurjara-Pratihara The Pratihara dynasty, also called the Gurjara-Pratiharas, the Pratiharas of Kannauj or the Imperial Pratiharas, was a prominent medieval Indian dynasty which ruled over the Kingdom of Kannauj. It initially ruled the Gurjaradesa until its vi ...

emperor of that name, and not Māhipala I of the

Pala dynasty The Pāla Empire was the empire ruled by the Pala dynasty, ("protector" in Sanskrit) a medieval Indian dynasty which ruled the kingdom of Gauda. The empire was founded with the election of Gopāla by the chiefs of Gauda in late eighth centu ...

, as conjectured by

Hara Prasad Shastri Hara Prasad Shastri (; 6 December 1853 – 17 November 1931), also known as Hara Prasad Bhattacharya, was an Indian academic, Sanskrit scholar, archivist, and historian of Bengali literature. He is most known for discovering the Charyapada, th ...

and accepted by

R. D. Banerji Rakhal Das Banerji, also Rakhaldas Bandyopadhyay (12 April 1885 – 23 May 1930), was an Indian archaeologist and an officer of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI). In 1919, he became the second ASI officer deputed to survey the site of ...

and

Jnan Chandra Ghosh Sir Jnan Chandra Ghosh or Jnanendra Chandra Ghosh (4 September 1894 – 21 January 1959) was an Indian chemist best known for his contribution to the development of scientific research, industrial development and technology education in In ...

. He collaborated with M. Hiriyanna, P. S. Subrahmanya Sastri and S. K. De in selecting and editing Sanskrit plays by

Bhāsa Bhāsa is one of the earliest Indian playwrights in Sanskrit, predating Kālidasa. Estimates of his floruit range from the 4th century BCE to the 4th century CE; the thirteen plays attributed to him are commonly dated closer to the first or se ...

Śūdraka Shudraka (IAST: ) was an Indian playwright, to whom three Sanskrit drama, Sanskrit plays are attributed: ''Mrichchhakatika'' (''The Little Clay Cart''), ''Vinavasavadatta'', and a ''bhana'' (short one-act monologue), ''Padmaprabhritaka''. Accordi ...

Kālidāsa Kālidāsa (, "Servant of Kali (god), Kali"; 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on Hindu Puranas and philosophy. ...

Śrīharṣa Shri-harsha (IAST: Śrīharṣa) was a 12th century CE Indian philosopher and poet. Śrīharṣa works discuss various themes in Indian Philosophy, such as pramana. He has been often interpreted as promoting Advaita Vedānta in his ''Sweets of Re ...

, Bhavabhūti, and Viśākhadatta for an English-language anthology of translations, which was first published in the year of his death with his foreword as ''Tales from Sanskrit Dramatists: the Famous Plays''.

Death

Sastri died in Madras in 1934, aged 63.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sastri, Calamur Viravalli Kumaraswami 1870 births 1934 deaths Presidency College, Chennai alumni Judges of the Madras High Court Indian Knights Bachelor Dewan Bahadurs 19th-century Indian lawyers 20th-century Indian judges Mylapore clique