A concise biography* of a controversial person, the legendary C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar, by A. Raghu, an Associate Professor in a college in Kollam, Kerala, this is a book that is sure to generate more controversy.

CP was a Tamil Brahmin who was highly Anglicised. He was a lawyer who had drunk the waters of the Cauvery but was also a person who did not mind drinking the water of the Thames if the situation warranted it, writes Raghu.

CP’s rise in the legal profession was through the unexpected inheritance of the cases of his brother-in-law and also because three other leading lawyers of the original side had either withdrawn from the profession or passed away. In less than a decade, he became the undisputed leader of the original side of the Madras High Court .

Narianiah vs. Besant, a landmark case in CP’s life, brought him close to Annie Besant and paved the way for his joining Congress in 1904. CP became Besant’s chief political lieutenant.

“CP’s close friendship with Besant was to become the first of a series of intense personal relationships with powerful women that were to serve as the building blocks of his career. The second was Lady Willingdon and the third was Maharani Setu Parvati Bayi, mother of the boy-king Sree Chitra Tirunal of Travancore,” records Raghu.

When Besant, President of the Indian National Congress and who had focussed on Home Rule, was defeated by the Gandhians for the next presidentship, CP resigned from the Congress.

After he won a seat in the Madras Legislative Council in 1919, CP sailed for England to give evidence regarding the reform bill before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC). “What he did in England became the subject of feverish gossip back home in Madras. It was during this time that the collecting virus entered his system, marking the beginning of CP’s career as an enthusiastic assembler of an immense variety of beautiful things. He would buy whatever caught his fancy, regardless of its price,” relates Raghu.

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Sir CP (extreme left) with the Willingdons

Lord Willingdon arrived in Madras in 1919 as Governor. CP became a close friend of the Willingdons and his relationship with Lady Willingdon became the subject of much scurrilous drawing room gossip.

Willingdon made CP the Advocate General; at 41, he was the youngest AG in Madras judicial history. During the brief period he was AG, he tendered advice to the Madras Government on more than 650 cases.

In the Madras Executive Council to which he was appointed by Lord Willingdon, CP was made member in charge of law, police, public works (irrigation), ports and electricity. His first great achievement was piloting the irrigation bill. Several massive irrigation and hydro-electric schemes were introduced. CP also helped in streamlining the judiciary and police establishment.

From his days in the Executive Council, he walked straight into the headquarters of the National Liberals – a semi-independent splinter group of the Congress. CP wanted all Indians to join hands to persuade the British Government to give India dominion status which was opposed by the conservatives in Britain.

To break the impasse, three Round Table Conferences were held in London. CP took an active part in the first conference in 1930-1931 in London and even persuaded Mahatma Gandhi to participate in the second.

But, while CP lived laborious days, he did not scorn delights, writes Raghu. “He was a party animal. The dazzling tea parties and dinner parties at The Grove, an immense mansion in Alwarpet, where CP lived, were major events for the elite of Madras which established CP as one of the towering figures in the sociocultural world of Madras.”

Because of his opulent lifestyle, he found himself in dire financial straits and had to resume practice and started appearing for several wealthy clients, including many Maharajas.

A significant source of support came from the junior Maharani of Travancore, who was trying feverishly to place her son on the throne of Travancore. Thus began CP’s tryst with Travancore, leading to an eventful but  controversial chapter in his life.

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CP and Setu Parvati Bayi met for the first time in Ootacamund in 1924 shortly after the proclamation of the regency. She wanted to wrest control of the Government of Travancore from the hands of the regent. While the immediate termination of the regency was not possible, for the Maharaja was still a minor, she managed, with help from CP, to become a part of the Regency Council. When Lord Willingdon became Viceroy of India in 1931, CP was successful in having the regency terminated and full reigning powers handed to the young Maharaja, who promptly declared the appointment of CP as the legal and constitutional adviser to the Maharaja, making CP the most powerful man in Travancore.

Travancore under CP pioneered many social measures: untouchability was done away with through direct governmental action, capital punishment was abolished, a free midday meal scheme for schoolchildren was introduced, and agricultural income tax levied. Countering opposition to the idea, the University of Travancore was inaugurated its 1937.

Free and compulsory primary education was introduced throughout the State, with handicrafts, music and physical training included in the curriculum. The industrialisation of Travancore also proceeded apace.

But some of the educational policies initiated by CP sowed the seeds of bitter conflict between the Christian Church and State. Writes Raghu, “CP was seen as the leader of the much hated Tamil Brahmin clique that was ruling and ruining Travancore in the name of the impotent Maharaja. CP was frequently compelled to take unpopular steps because the Maharani wanted him to. Thus the image of CP as Travancore’s Rasputin was generated.”

The crash of the Christian-led Travancore National and Quilon Bank (TNQB) in 1938 followed the conflict between Church and State.

The officers of the Bank openly participated in anti-government politics – funds of the Bank were used to finance agitation against the Government, particularly the Dewan. When the Government used its muscle, TNQB went into liquidation and criminal proceedings were launched against the directors. This aroused widespread anti-government feelings in the Syrian Christian community, particulalry against CP.

He weathered the storm but remained a love-hate figure.

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More controversy was to follow. Before India became free, the Maharaja announced that the State would become an independent nation on August 15, 1947. There was bitter opposition to the move. An attempt was made on CP’s life. CP, it is said, opposed the stand taken by the Maharaja, but as a loyal employee of the State he was compelled to project the Maharaja’s view.

Widespread agitation followed. Fortunately for all, after discussions between CP and Lord Mountbatten, the Viceroy, CP committed himself, subject to ratification by the Maharaja and Maharani, to the merger of Travancore with the Indian Union. On August 19, 1947 CP relinquished office as Dewan.

The modern flagstaff of the past (on left), and the steel flagstaff of 1994 (on right).

CP spent the next two decades in Ootacamund. He went on extensive tours. He took up prestigious teaching assignments. He was a Vice Chancellar three times. He served on national commissions. He read and he wrote.

On one of his overseas visits, he passed away in the National Liberal Club , London, on September 26, 1966, shortly before his 87th birthday. Philippa Burrel, a journalist and his last mistress, was by his side when he died. He had gone to London to gather material for his autobiography and to lecture at the Universities of London and Oxford. His body was flown in an Air Force plane to Madras. Huge crowds gathered at the airport to receive the body

According to Raghu, “What is surprising is that despite his aristocratic birth, despite his imperial tastes, despite the splendour of his lifestyle, despite his racy private life, despite all the controversies in which he willy-nilly enmeshed himself, ordinary people, especially the ordinary people of his beloved home town Madras, deeply mourned his passing.”

– by R.V. Rajan
rvrajan42@gmail.com