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(ARCHIVE) Vol. XVIII No. 8, august 1-15, 2008
Building a home for The Home
(Karthik Bhatt)

S.G. Srinivasachariar, then District Munsif of Nagapa­ttinam, donated 15 grounds of land in his property on Sullivans Garden Road, known as Arip­pan Pattarai, by instrument of gift dated 25.5.1916, and Srini­vasa­chariar himself bore all related costs. Eight months later, Sir Alexander Gordon Carden, Member of the Council, Madras, visited The Home and, satisfied by what he saw, advised Ramu to meet Sir J.H. Stone, Director of Public Instruction, to seek his advice on the building to be raised on the gifted land.

The plan and estimates for the building were prepared with the help of Dewan Bahadur A.A. Ramalinga Iyer, the then Chief Engineer of the PWD. The foundation stone for the building was laid on May 10, 1917 by Swami Brahmananda, the President of the Mission. It was Akshaya Tritiya day. Prominent persons who agreed to contribute Rs. 2000, the cost of a room, included C.P. Rama­swamy Aiyar, Alladi Krishna­swamy Iyer, and V.C. Seshacha­riar. M. Ct. Petachi Chettiar contributed a then princely sum of Rs. 15,000 towards construction of a prayer hall. The hall has his name etched on it. An appeal was also forwarded to the Government for funds.

The work was entrusted to T. Appavu Mudaliar and was later taken over by A. Loga­natha Mudali, who was originally a maistry under Appavu Mudaliar. Nagappa was entrusted with the task of making an idol of Goddess Saraswati out of white marble. This statue is worshipped even today. The Maharajah of Bobbili donated Rs. 5000 towards the construction of a medical ward. Other notable contributors to the building were Abraham Pandi­thar of Tanjore, C. Rajalinga Chettiar, Zamindar of Elam­balli, and Satchidananada Desikar, the Pandara Sannidhi of Dharma­puram. In 1921, Ramu visited Colombo to raise funds from the Nagarathar community which was carrying on a flourishing business ­there. Initially, he met with little ­success, but when he met Sunda­ram Pillai, who was ­Controller of Food Supplies in Colombo and who had made ­influence with the Nagarathars, Rs. 16,000 was soon raised.

The buildings were, by and large, completed by 1921. Swami Brahmananda, who had laid the foundation stone in 1917, agreed to inaugurate them. He once again chose Akshaya Tritiya day, May 10, 1921.

On that day, a large procession started at 8 a.m. from ‘Chamundi Vihar’, 25, Kutchery Road (to where The Home had been shifted in 1914, after functioning from Car View in Kapalee­swarar East Mada Street from the summer of 1913) carrying a portrait of Sri Ramakrishna and the saligra­masila. That evening there was a vocal recital by San­geeta Vidwan Nallur Vishwanatha Iyer.

Swami Brahmananda stayed in The Home for some time. The room in the first floor in the main building where he stayed is now maintained as a shrine. The building operations continued, as an additional 14 grounds were purchased to the north of the main buildings and about 2.5 acres to its south for a playground. The cost of construction of the medical ward was met by the Maharajah of Bobbili, whose letter accompanying the cheque bore a black border commemorating the death of the Maharajah’s son. Swami Brahmananda called the building a “Palace for the Poor.”

The residential High School was started in 1922. A separate block of buildings was raised for the school and named the ‘Nattukottai Nagarathar Vidya­sala’ in recognition of the contribution made by the community. This building was later given to the Vivekananda College when it was started in 1946. The next step was the starting of the Industrial School. The silver jubilee of The Home was held in 1930 and the Governor of Madras, who presided over the celebrations, laid the foundation stone for the Jubilee Workshop of the Industrial School.

In 1932, The Home took over the management of a middle school started in Thya­ga­ra­yanagar with a strength of about 180. During the year Ramu, the founder and guiding force, passed away. His cousin Ramanujachariar, who was his lifelong associate and who had just retired as Undersecretary to the Government of Madras, took over his responsibilities. During the same year, The Home got donation of substantial lands in Malliankaranai village, near Uthiramerur, from Venkata Varada Iyengar. In 1936, the birth centenary year of Sri Ramakrishna, the Centenary Elementary School came into existence, initially under an independent committee, then, in 1945, taken over by the Home committee. In 1938, Sri Sarada Vidyalaya, started in 1921 by Sister Subbalakshmi, was handed over to the Rama­krishna Mission. 1940 saw the inauguration of the completed new buildings of the Boys’ High School at Thyagarayanagar. And in 1941, The Home undertook training of the War Technicians in its Industrial School.

In 1944, the statue of C. Ramaswami Iyengar was unveiled just outside The Home.

In 1945, an elementary school was started in Mallian­karanai, where, two years later, a hostel for poor and destitute boys was also started as an extension to the main Home. In 1948, the boys’ school in Thya­garayanagar was placed under a separate committee independent of The Home and the school and hostel at Mallian­karanai were brought directly under the Home Committee.

Ramanujachariar, the versatile cousin of Ramu, passed away in 1956. The Residential High School was shifted back to Madras in June 1958. In 1962, the foundation stone for the Vivekananda Centenary Hall was laid and the hall was inaugurated the following year, coinciding with the birth centenary of Swami Vivekananda.

The Centenary celebrations of The Home were held in February 2005 on a grand scale. It was at this function that the foundation stone for a new building to house the Polytechnic College and a new prayer hall was laid. The building was inaugurated in December 2006.

At present, The Home has 630 students undergoing various courses of study, in the Polytechnic, College, Residential High School and Centenary Primary School as well as in other city colleges.

(Concluded)

 

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