Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy
Encyclopedia
| Date of Birth: | 10 December 1880 |
|---|---|
| Date of Death: | 24 February 1951 |
| Educationalist, Founder & Vice-chancellor of Andhra University | |
Cattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy OM
Order of Merit
The Order of Merit is a British dynastic order recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
(December 10, 1880 – February 24, 1951), also popularly known as Sir C.R. Reddy, was an educationist and political thinker, essayist and economist, and poet and literary critic. He wrote his works in Telugu and English, which reveal his deep love and learning of classics as well as modernity of his outlook.
Reddy was the foremost educationalist who played a major role in shaping the educational policy in India. He was also the recipient of Knighthood by the British crown in honour of his service to the country.
He was the founder of Andhra University
Andhra University
Andhra University or Andhra Viswa Kala Parishad , located in Visakhapatnam, north east coastal Andhra Pradesh, is one of the older premier universities in India with a broad focus...
and also served as its Vice-Chancellor from 1926 to 1931 and in a further second term from 1936 to 1949.
Early life
Chittoor
Chittoor also known as Chittur, is a City and municipal corporation located in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is conveniently located on major highways linking the cities of Bangalore and Chennai....
. He was the second son of Subramania Reddy who had built up a lucrative legal practice as a pleader in Chittoor and was known for his high sense of principles and right conduct. Reddy completed his high school education in PCR High School in Chittoor with distinction in 1896 and joined the prestigious Madras Christian College
Madras Christian College
The Madras Christian College, commonly known as MCC, is a liberal arts and sciences college in Madras , India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. Currently, the college is affiliated to the University of Madras, but functions as an autonomous institution from its campus...
in 1897. Rev Dr Miller was the principal of the college and Dr Skinner was the professor of Philosophy there. Professor Kellet took English classes. All of them were greatly impressed by Reddy's performance as a student and noted the qualities of his sharp and incisive mind. Even while in college, he was noted for his Telugu scholarship. He got a prize for writing a story in Telugu verse, called 'Musalamma Maranamu'. It had some unique features and was viewed as an avant-garde effort in the field of Telugu poetry, quite different from the traditional prabhanda style.
Career
In 1901, he graduated with distinction in philosophy and history securing several University prizes. Soon thereafter, he won a Government of India scholarship to study in University of CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
in England. He joined St Johns College at Cambridge in 1902, the college where the great English poet William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
had studied. His career at St Johns College, Cambridge, was no less distinguished than it had been at Madras Christian College
Madras Christian College
The Madras Christian College, commonly known as MCC, is a liberal arts and sciences college in Madras , India. Founded in 1837, MCC is one of Asia's oldest extant colleges. Currently, the college is affiliated to the University of Madras, but functions as an autonomous institution from its campus...
. Apart from being a brilliant student, he made his mark as an outstanding speaker and debater. He was elected Secretary of the Liberal Club and later Vice President of the Union Society. He was the first Indian student to be chosen for that office in the Union Society. When he was the Vice President of the Union Society, John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes
John Maynard Keynes, Baron Keynes of Tilton, CB FBA , was a British economist whose ideas have profoundly affected the theory and practice of modern macroeconomics, as well as the economic policies of governments...
(destined to be a world-famous economist later) was the Secretary of the Union Society. On 31 October, 1905, Reddy invited Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Gopal Krishna Gokhale
Gopal Krishna Gokhale, CIE was one of the founding social and political leaders during the Indian Independence Movement against the British Empire in India. Gokhale was a senior leader of the Indian National Congress and founder of the Servants of India Society...
to address the Union Society. When Gokhale met John Maynard Keynes, he instantaneously recognised the genius of Keynes and commented that: 'You are eminently fitted to be a Finance Member in the Viceroy's Executive Council in India'.
Even as a student in Cambridge, Reddy campaigned on behalf of the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
in the Parliamentary Elections held in 1906
United Kingdom general election, 1906
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
which swept the Liberal Party into power that year. Many British politicians admired Reddy's gifts of intellect and eloquence and predicted a great future for him.
On his return to India in 1907, he joined Baroda college at Baroda as Vice-Principal in the place vacated by Sri Aurobindo Gosh. He was a brilliant teacher and some of his students have left memorable records about his wit and wisdom.
His next appointment was at Maharaja's College in Mysore as professor of History in 1913. He was then promoted as principal of the same college in 1916 and simultaneously appointed as Inspector General of Education in Mysore State. It was during this period that Reddy with great foresight threw open all the schools to Panchama children much against the local orthodox opposition. This was long before the days of Mahatma Gandhi
Mahatma Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi , pronounced . 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948) was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of India during the Indian independence movement...
's programme of temple entry for Harijans. Reddy is a revered name in Karnataka even today for this epoch-making step of social reform.
In 1921, he entered politics. He was elected to the Madras Legislative Council as an outstanding educationalist. For a short while he was in the Justice party. The Justice Party (India)
Justice Party (India)
The Justice Party , officially known as South Indian Liberal Federation, was a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. The party was established in 1917 by T. M. Nair and Theagaroya Chetty as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency...
found him far too brilliant and individualistic for keeping proper party control over him. In 1926 January, when it was decided to establish Andhra University at Waltaire, Reddy was the natural choice for appointment as its first Vice-Chancellor. He made Andhra University
Andhra University
Andhra University or Andhra Viswa Kala Parishad , located in Visakhapatnam, north east coastal Andhra Pradesh, is one of the older premier universities in India with a broad focus...
a great centre of higher education and outstanding research in both sciences and humanities. Towards the end of 1930, he did the extraordinary thing of resigning his Vice-Chancellorship in protest against the repressive policy of the Government of India in arresting the great leaders of Congress Salt Satyagraha
Salt Satyagraha
The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagrahah began with the Dandi March on March 12, 1930, and was an important part of the Indian independence movement. It was a campaign of tax resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in colonial India, and triggered the wider...
movement. He wrote a classic letter in this context to the Governor of Madras. When he resigned his post as Vice-Chancellor, he was succeeded by Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Sir Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan , OM, FBA was an Indian philosopher and statesman. He was the first Vice President of India and subsequently the second President of India ....
.
Reddy was back again in the field of politics. He became the president of Chittoor
Chittoor
Chittoor also known as Chittur, is a City and municipal corporation located in the Chittoor District of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is conveniently located on major highways linking the cities of Bangalore and Chennai....
District Board. In 1936 at a Senate meeting of Andhra University
Andhra University
Andhra University or Andhra Viswa Kala Parishad , located in Visakhapatnam, north east coastal Andhra Pradesh, is one of the older premier universities in India with a broad focus...
, it was decided to invite Reddy to return again to Andhra University
Andhra University
Andhra University or Andhra Viswa Kala Parishad , located in Visakhapatnam, north east coastal Andhra Pradesh, is one of the older premier universities in India with a broad focus...
as its Vice-Chancellor. He came back in 1936 to Waltaire for the second time as Vice-Chancellor and retained this position till 1949. During this period Andhra University
Andhra University
Andhra University or Andhra Viswa Kala Parishad , located in Visakhapatnam, north east coastal Andhra Pradesh, is one of the older premier universities in India with a broad focus...
became internationally known. Dr S Bhagavantam, Dr T R Seshadri, Dr V K R V Rao and Dr V S Krishna, K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar
K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar
Kodaganallur Ramaswami Srinivasa Iyengar popularly known as K. R. Srinivasa Iyengar M.A., D.Litt. was Indian writer in English, former Vice Chancellor of Andhra University. He was a multifaceted literary genius with Aurobindian knowledge and ideas of Indian culture and renaissance...
and many other great professors made a beeline to Waltaire, inspired by the idealism and unique moral leadership of Reddy. In 1949, he became the Pro-chancellor of Mysore University. He died in Madras on 24 February, 1951.
K.R Srinivasa Iyengar, in his book "Essays and Addresses", describes Reddy as a great educationist, a first-class teacher, humanist, a bold thinker and a reformer. Reddy's lectures on `University reforms' delivered in Madras under the presidency of Dr S. Subramania Iyer
S. Subramania Iyer
Sir Subbier Subramania Iyer KCIE was an Indian lawyer, jurist and freedom fighter who, along with Annie Besant, founded the Home Rule Movement. He was popularly known as the "Grand Old Man of South India"....
, S. Srinivasa Iyengar and T. V. Seshagiri Iyer
T. V. Seshagiri Iyer
Tiruchendurai Vaidyanatha Seshagiri Iyer was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as a judge of the Madras High Court and represented the University of Madras in the Madras Legislative Council...
had set the tone for university reforms in India.
Quotes
- 'The youths of today are more ready to give than to receive advice'.
- 'If man cannot find a satisfactory axiom, he invents a hypothesis'.
- 'We may be poor, but we need not be paupers'.
- 'Applied science is Herculean power'.
- 'Will without reason, reason without will, either is an unhappy combination. The two must go together balancing each other'.
- 'Government and parties are agreed in this, they prefer creatures to creators of ideas who are always a troublesome lot'.
- 'Great Britain next year may give us a self-governing State, but nobody can give us a self-disciplined nation excepting ourselves'.
- 'Every form of government, especially democracy, rests on two foundations. The first is a strong character and the second a sane and balanced judgement'.
- 'Brevity is the soul of curfew'.
- 'Self government implies self-help'.
- 'Democracy is a means to an end. The end is not partisan party government. The end is good government'.