Diwan Bahadur Thodla Raghavaiah CSI was an Indian administrator who served as the 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. At ...

from 1920 to 1925. He was a favourite of the Maharaja

Moolam Thirunal Sir Moolam Thirunal Rama Varma (1857–1924) was Maharajah of the princely state of Travancore between 1885 and 1924, succeeding his uncle Maharajah Visakham Thirunal (1880–1885). Early life and education Mulam Thirunal Rama Varma was bo ...

. His refusal to allow low-caste to enter Hindu temples is believed to have led to the

Vaikom Satyagraha Vaikom Satyagraha, from 30 March 1924 to 23 November 1925, was a Nonviolence, nonviolent agitation for access to the prohibited public environs of the Vaikom Sree Mahadeva Temple, Vaikom Temple in the Travancore, Kingdom of Travancore. Kingdom o ...

Early life

Raghavaiah was born in a Telugu-speaking family from the northern part of the Madras Presidency. He had his education in Madras city and entered the provincial civil service when he was posted as Deputy Collector in 1893. He also served as Special Forest Settlement Officer from 1904 to 1906 and Revenue Officer, Madras Corporation from 1906.

Diwan of Travancore

Raghavaiah was appointed Diwan of Travancore in 1920, replacing M. Krishnan Nair. Ragahvaiah's administration is considered to be a mixture of progress as well as discontent. He is credited with having reformed the electoral system in Travancore. However, Raghavaiah's diwanship is remembered as a period of turbulence and discontent. In 1920, he raised the tuition fees for students in government colleges. This was followed by protests all over the state. Untouchables had been prohibited from entering the

Vaikom Vaikom, , is a municipal town and a capital town of Vaikom Taluk, situated in the northwest of Kottayam district in the state of Kerala, India. The town is also noted for its role in the Indian independence movement for being the venue of Vaikom ...

temple since time immemorial. In the early 1920s, however, though the efforts of politician

T. K. Madhavan T. K. Madhavan (2 September 1885 – 27 April 1930) was an Indian social reformer, journalist and revolutionary, who was involved with the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana (SNDP) Yogam. He hailed from Kerala and led the struggle against untoucha ...

, the Indian nationalist

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 E ...

resolved to put an end to the practice. Madhavan petitioned Raghavaiah, the then Diwan in 1924, to introduce a legislation enabling untouchables to enter the Vaikom temple and other temples in the kingdom. But Raghavaiah being a staunch, orthodox, upper-caste Hindu, refused. This led to widespread agitations throughout and made the administration highly unpopular.

Honours

Raghavaih was made a Diwan Bahadur in 1921 and a Companion of the Order of the Star of India in 1924. {{DEFAULTSORT:Raghavaiah, T. Companions of the Order of the Star of India Pudukkottai state Diwans of Travancore Dewan Bahadurs