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 T ...

Sir Kasaragod Patanashetti Lakshmana Rao (15 December 1887 - ?) was an Indian lawyer who served as a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

of the

Madras High Court The Madras High Court is a High Court in India. It has appellate jurisdiction over the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory of Puducherry. It is located in Chennai, and is the third oldest high court of India after the Calcutta High C ...

Early life

Lakshmana Rao was born in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

on 15 December 1887 in a

Goud Saraswat Brahmin Gaud Saraswat Brahmins (GSB) (also Goud or Gawd) are a Hindu Brahmin community of the north. The Konkani speaking Gaud Saraswat of Goa and southern India claim to be descendents of these Gaud Saraswat Brahmins of the north that migrated to K ...

(GSB) family which traced its origins to

South Canara South Canara was a district of the Madras Presidency of British India, located at . It comprised the towns of Kassergode and Udipi and adjacent villages, with the capital in Mangalore city. South Canara was one of the most heterogeneous areas o ...

. Lakshmana Rao had his education in Madras and graduated from the Presidency College, Madras. On graduating, Lakshmana Rao studied law at the

Madras Law College Dr. Ambedkar Government Law College, commonly known by its former name Madras Law College, is a law school, located in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. It is also referred to as Government Law College or GLC, Chennai. It was established in ...

and enrolled as a ''vakil''.

Career as judge

In 1930, Lakshmana Rao was appointed acting judge of the Madras High Court. His appointment was confirmed after a few years. One of the important cases heard by him in his tenure was the Lakshmikanthan Murder Case. He was knighted in the

1946 Birthday Honours The 1946 King's Birthday Honours, celebrating the official birthday of King George VI, were announced on 13 June 1946 for the United Kingdom and British Empire. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new h ...

list, the year before independence.The London Gazette, 13 June 1946
/ref>

Other activities

Lakshmana Rao also played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

and was a

fast medium Fast bowling (also referred to as pace bowling) is one of two main approaches to bowling in the sport of cricket, the other being spin bowling. Practitioners of pace bowling are usually known as ''fast'' bowlers, ''quicks'', or ''pacemen''. T ...

bowler for the Madras Cricket Club.

Muthiah Deshabandu Muttiah Muralitharan ( si, මුත්තයියා මුරලිදරන්, ta, முத்தையா முரளிதரன், also spelt Muralidaran; born 1972) is a Sri Lankan cricket coach, former professional c ...

, p 245 In 1936, he was elected to the club, one of the first Indians to be accepted and in 1947, he became one of the club's office-bearers.

, p 441

, p 448 Lakshmana Rao, however, was more popular as a lawn tennis player and was a part of the team which won the doubles' title in the first South Indian Lawn Championship Tournament held in Madras in 1917.

, p 332

, p 336

Notes

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rao, KP Lakshmana 1887 births Presidency College, Chennai alumni Indian Knights Bachelor Judges of the Madras High Court Year of death missing Dewan Bahadurs 20th-century Indian judges 20th-century Indian lawyers