S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar (15 December 1859 – 12 December 1923) was an Indian lawyer,

Indian independence activist The Indian independence movement consisted of efforts by individuals and organizations from a wide spectrum of society to obtain political independence from the British, French and Portuguese rule through the use of a many methods. This is a l ...

, politician and journalist who served as the managing director 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 ...

'' from 1 April 1905 till his death.

Ancestry and family

His eldest brother, Diwan Bahadur

S. Srinivasa Raghavaiyangar Diwan Bahadur Sesha Iyengar Srinivasa Raghavaiyangar (18 July 1849 – 11 December 1903) was an Indian civil servant and administrator who served as the Diwan of Baroda from 15 July 1896 to 2 October 1901. He was the elder brother of Indi ...

, served as the Inspector General of Registration in the

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 ...

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'' * ...

, Pg 43 Srinivasa Raghavaiyangar, in 1893, wrote ''Memorandum of Progress of the Madras Presidency during the last forty years of British administration'' to refute the charges of economic exploitation made by nationalists. Yet another elder brother, Soundararaja Iyengar, was the father of

Sangeetha Kalanidhi Sangeetha Kalanidhi or Sangeeta Kalanidhi (Tamil: சங்கீத கலாநிதி, Sanskrit : संगीत-कला-निधि) (''sangeetha'' = music, ''kala'' = art, ''nidhi'' = treasure or ocean) is the title awarded yearly to ...

awardee T. Brinda, and he was Deputy Collector in Madras and Kumbhakonam, and was associated with

Madras Music Academy Madras Music Academy is one of the earliest established music academies in South India. Before the concept of infrastructure was introduced to India in the early 1920s, it was a gathering for elite musicians simply called (and is still more ...

. The Music Academy confers an award in the memory of Kasturi Ranga Iyengar.

Early life

Kasturi Ranga Iyengar was born on 15 December 1859 in the village

Innambur Innambur is a village in the Kumbakonam taluk of Thanjavur district, Tamil Nadu, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest ...

in Kumbakonam. On completion of his education, he moved to

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

to commence practice as a lawyer. He set up a prosperous vocation and moved to

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 ...

to try his luck there. He was not as successful in Madras as he had been in Coimbatore. Eventually, in 1895, he became a legal correspondent with ''The Hindu'' which was run by

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 ...

. He wrote a well known column in the newspaper ''The Coimbatore Letters''. During this period, he also got ample encouragement from

C. Karunakara Menon Diwan Bahadur Cozhisseri Karunakara Menon (1863–1922) was an Indian journalist and politician from the erstwhile Madras Presidency. He was the second editor of The Hindu after G. Subramania Iyer and the founder of the ''Indian Patriot''. Kar ...

. The rich and prosperous Kasturi Ranga Iyengar purchased the newspaper for a price of INR 75,000 on 1 April 1905. He became the editor of ''The Hindu'' and became the powerful voice of people's aspiration.

As Managing Director

In July 1905, Kasturi Ranga Iyengar appointed his nephew

A. Rangaswami Iyengar A. Rangaswami Iyengar (July 1877 – 4 February 1934) was an Indian journalist, lawyer and politician who served as a member of the Central Legislative Assembly and as the chief editor of ''The Hindu'' from 1928 till his death in 1934. He was a ...

as assistant editor. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar worked to rescue ''The Hindu'' by increasing advertisements and terminating subscriptions to customers who did not pay in advance. The tactic proved successful and Kasturi Ranga Iyengar was able to clear his debts by 1910. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar subscribed to the

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

news service and allotted space for weather reports,

court cases Lists of case law cover instances of case law, legal decisions in which the law was analyzed to resolve ambiguities for deciding current cases. They are organized alphabetically, by topic or by country. Alphabetical lists These lists are pan- ...

trade Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. An early form of trade, barter, saw the direct excha ...

and

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

as well as sports. In 1905, ''The Hindu'', in its editorial, demanded partial autonomy but not independence for India. It also strongly criticised

Annie Besant Annie Besant ( Wood; 1 October 1847 – 20 September 1933) was a British socialist, theosophist, freemason, women's rights activist, educationist, writer, orator, political party member and philanthropist. Regarded as a champion of human f ...

and her

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

, including her lavish promotional campaign of J. Krishnamurti as the

Maitreya Buddha Maitreya (Sanskrit: ) or Metteyya (Pali: ), also Maitreya Buddha or Metteyya Buddha, is regarded as the future Buddha of this world in Buddhist eschatology. As the 5th and final Buddha of the current kalpa, Maitreya's teachings will be aimed at ...

. However, ''The Hindu'' offered its enthusiastic support to her

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 ...

and protested her internment at the orders of Lord Pentland. It also strongly condemned the protests and the resultant killings of

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, to protest against the Rowlatt Act and arrest of pro-independence ...

Death

Kasturi Ranga Iyengar died on 12 December 1923, three days before his 64th birthday. He was succeeded as editor by his nephew,

S. Rangaswami Iyengar Srinivasa Raghavaiyangar Rangaswami Iyengar (6 January 1887 – 23 October 1926) was an Indian lawyer and journalist who served as the editor of ''The Hindu'' from 1923 till his own death in 1926. He was the son of S. Srinivasa Raghavaiyangar a ...

. and as Managing Director of ''The Hindu'' by his eldest son,

K. Srinivasan Kasturi Srinivasan (7 August 1887 – 21 June 1959) was an Indian journalist and businessman. He was the eldest son of S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar. Biography Srinivasan was born to well-known lawyer and journalist, S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar, in ...

Legacy

Prior to Kasturi Ranga Iyengar's purchase of ''The Hindu'', he was not much interested in entering public life. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar had the courage to buy a struggling newspaper and embark upon a new enterprise he had no experience in. He was also comparatively new to politics when he made a plunge into the political scenario; yet he was extremely successful for a newcomer. There was always the concern that at some point or the other, he might abandon his anti-British and Indian nationalist attitude. However, this estimation proved to be false. Contemporaries assert that he was just as intelligent and talented as his illustrious brother.

, Pg 44 During his tenure as Managing-Director, Kasturi Ranga Iyengar locked horns with V. Krishnaswami Iyer,

and Sir Valentine Chirol to whom he gave the rejoinder: "I am not here to learn journalistic etiquette from you," when the former made rude comments on the latter.

, Pg 45

, Pg 46 Kasturi Ranga Iyengar also fought with Governors Sir

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 ...

and Lord Pentland. Iyengar exerted as much influence by his fabulous wealth as he did with his writing. Instead of being chastised and compelled to undergo ritual cleansing on his arrival from England, he was instead given a grand welcome with all honours by the Vaishnavite orthodoxy.

, Pg 47 Iyengar's descendants now own

The Hindu Group The Hindu Group is an Indian publishing company based in Chennai. Its first publication was ''The Hindu'', a daily newspaper that began publication in 1878. Hindu Group Publications The Hindu Group publishes a number of newspapers and magazines ...

through their family's company,

Kasturi & Sons ''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 Newspaper of record, newspapers of re ...

. Ltd.

Ancestry and family

Early life

As Managing Director

Death

Legacy

Notes

References

Further reading