Diwan Bahadur Cozhisseri Karunakara Menon (1863–1922) was an Indian journalist and politician from the erstwhile

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

. He was the second editor of

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

after

G. Subramania Iyer Ganapathy Dikshitar Subramania Iyer ( ta, கணபதி தீக்ஷிதர் சுப்பிரமணிய ஐயர்) (19 January 1855 – 18 April 1916) was a leading Indian journalist, social reformer and freedom fighter who f ...

and the founder of the ''Indian Patriot''. Karunakara Menon was born at Parappanangadi, Malabar district (Cozhisseri Tharavadu, Neduva) and had his higher education in Madras. He served as a sub-editor of ''The Hindu'' till 1898 and as editor from 1898 to 1905. In 1905, he started the ''Indian Patriot'' which was closed in 1924. He was a prominent public man and took part in the political events of his time. Menon died in 1922 in his residence 'Cozhisseri' at Parappanangadi, Kerala State due to complications following a stroke. He was highly regarded by V. Krishnaswamy Iyer, Veeraraghavachariar,

and

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized be ...

, Sir Arthur Lawley.

Early life

Karunakara Menon was born in a

Nair The Nair , also known as Nayar, are a group of Indian Hindu castes, described by anthropologist Kathleen Gough as "not a unitary group but a named category of castes". The Nair include several castes and many subdivisions, not all of whom histor ...

family (Cozhisseri Tharavadu) of

Parappanangadi Parappanangadi, , is a major town and a municipality in Tirurangadi taluk of Malappuram district, Kerala, India. It is a coastal town located close to the Arabian sea. Parappanangadi railway station is one of the oldest railway stations in Kera ...

, Malabar district,

. He graduated in law from the

University of Madras The University of Madras (informally known as Madras University) is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and among the most prestigiou ...

and joined

as a sub-editor.

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 88 On graduation, he plunged into public life in 1890 when he opposed the Malabar Marriage Bill of T. Muthuswamy Iyer.

, Pg 87 A short essay by Karunakara Menon on the Malabar Marriage Bill Menon's opposition to the bill impressed Muthuswamy Iyer to such an extent that a close friendship developed between the two. During this time, Menon also developed friendship with

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 ...

Rise to prominence

When

, the editor of ''The Hindu'', travelled to the United Kingdom to give evidence before the Welby Commission, Menon managed the newspaper in his absence with the assistance of Mr. Natarajan, who later became the editor of the ''Indian Social Reform''.

, Pg 89 When Veeraraghavachariar took over The Hindu in October 1898, he appointed Karunakara Menon as the editor. Menon edited The Hindu till 1905 when he founded ''The Indian Patriot''. In 1903, Veeraraghavachariar said of Karunakara Menon:

Editorship of ''The Indian Patriot''

The Indian Patriot toed a difficult path. It was one of the few newspapers of the time which openly supported 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 Em ...

, Pg 90 It strongly opposed the perpetuators of the

Alipore bomb case ''Emperor vs Aurobindo Ghosh and others'', colloquially referred to as the Alipore Bomb Case, the Muraripukur conspiracy, or the Manicktolla bomb conspiracy, was a criminal case held in India in 1908. The case saw the trial of a number of Indi ...

and claimed to stand on the side of law and order. The British responded by honouring Karunakara Menon with a "Diwan Bahadur" for his assistance . Menon antagonised both the

extremists Extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" or "the advocacy of extreme measures or views". The term is primarily used in a political or religious sense to refer to an ideology that is considered (by the speaker or by some implied shar ...

as well as the British establishment and devoid of support, he was forced to sell his newspaper to meet expenses.

, Pg 91

Death

Menon died in 1922 at his residence Cozhissery House in Parappanangadi due to complications of stroke.

As a statesman

V. Krishnaswamy Iyer Venkatarama Iyer Krishnaswamy Iyer CSI (15 June 1863 – 28 December 1911) was an Indian lawyer and High Court judge of Madras. He was involved in the prosecution of a partner of the British banking Company Arbuthnot & Co after the bank crashed ...

had a very high opinion of Menon's abilities. He felt that Menon was a statesman of good calibre and that he was wasting his time in the journalism profession. He is believed to have remarked once: Krishnaswamy Iyer's views were supported by the fact that the then Governor of Madras,

Arthur Lawley Arthur Lawley, 6th Baron Wenlock, (12 November 1860 – 14 June 1932) was a British colonial administrator who served variously as Administrator of Matabeleland, Governor of Western Australia, Lieutenant-Governor of the Transvaal, and Governo ...

consulted Menon regularly. It is believed that Menon had enough statesmanship ability to serve as a

Diwan of Travancore The Diwan of Travancore was the head of government of Travancore, a princely state in South India. Appointed by the Maharaja of Travancore, the office of Diwan existed from 1729 to 1948, when it gave way to the office of Prime Minister of Trava ...

or Chief Minister of Madras.

, Pg 93

Ideology

Menon supported the

Home Rule Movement Home rule is government of a colony, dependent country, or region by its own citizens. It is thus the power of a part (administrative division) of a State (polity), state or an external dependent country to exercise such of the state's powers o ...

. Even while he opposed the political ambitions of the non-Brahmin movement he still supported their social reform activities.

Notes

References

Works

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Menon, C. Karunakara 1922 deaths People from British India 19th-century Indian journalists Malayali politicians 1863 births Dewan Bahadurs 20th-century Indian journalists Malayalam-language journalists Indian male journalists Journalists from Kerala People from Malappuram district