On April 15, 1959, then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru came down to A. Thekkur, a village in Tirupattur, near Sivaganga to inaugurate a high school building. That the Prime Minister deemed it fit to grace the occasion, perhaps had to do with the man who ran the school — ‘Kalaithanthai’ Karumuttu Thiagarajan Chettiar. In a life, which spanned eight decades, he forayed into several domains and tasted success like none other. He is primarily remembered for his reign over the textile space in south India, which earned him the moniker of ‘Textile Baron’ and contributions to education, launching a slew of colleges and institutes under the brand name of Thiagarajar.
Born on June 16, 1893 in the affluent Karumuttu family, Thiagarajan was the youngest son of the second wife of Muthukaruppan Chettiar — who broke the trend of Chettiars taking up the money-lending profession, and forayed into the textile space instead, in 1866. The Karumuttu family imported different types of clothes and sold them in India and Ceylon, Radha Thiagarajan, wife of Thiagarajan, points out in his biography Karumuttu Thiagaraja Chettiar, The Textile King.
At the age of nine, after his father’s demise, Thiagarajan moved to Ceylon and was under the care of his elder brother, who was taking care of the family business. His tryst with textiles originated here. “The Karumuttus imported saris and dress fabrics from European countries, and had special dhotis manufactured in Lancashire and Manchester. The Karumuttu trademark would be imprinted on dhotis…,” the late author recalls in the book.
In 1916, during the First World War, the business in Colombo (which was run on a partnership by three of the Karumuttu brothers) dissolved, post which Thiagarajan returned to India. It was only after the 1921 strike at Harvey Mills, which led to massive layoffs, did a path open up for him in the textile domain. The laid-off workers appealed to Indian industrialists and businessmen for help, and thus brewed the idea of Sree Meenakshi Mills, his first own venture.
The idea to start the mills was proposed by Gujarati businessman Kalyanji Ramji, and Thiagarajan was on board. However, when the directors backed out owing to financial constraints, Thiagarajan took charge in 1923. Throughout 1924, he travelled to collect capital for the mills. Subsequently, he scouted for a location and drew up a plan for the structure. The operations finally began on May 4, 1927, recalls Radha.
“Throughout the decade, he built his empire and acquired financially and functionally defunct mills. He was financially prudent, served on the boards of other mills, helped entrepreneurs and set the benchmark for yardstick…,” Hari Thiagarajan, chairman of Thiagarajar College of Engineering (TCE) and the grandson of the late baron, says.
However, the challenges were aplenty. Two years after the mill’s operations commenced, the Great Depression hit countries across the globe. The effects trickled down to south India, and Thiagarajan faced challenges in raising money and clearing loans. He needed half a million rupees. However, he took the unorthodox way to resolve the problem by seeking help from his competitor, Harvey Mills.
The British giant, however, imposed one-sided conditions to bail him out. “The London Office of Harvey Mills ruled that Sree Meenakshi Mills should not sell its yarn at a lesser price than Harvey’s…,” Dr. Radha points out. Thiagarajan not only repaid the amount well before the due date, but also expanded his business. The empire he built comprised 16 mills across States. By 1940, Sree Meenakshi Mills became the largest mill in south India.
The book also highlights the fiscal prudence of Thiagarajan, wherein he had set up a unit of the Sree Meenakshi Mills in Manapparai, within the limits of Pudukottai (which was then an independent State), to escape the clutches of the Yarn Price Control Order passed by the government in the 1940s. The order enabled the government to control the rates of yarn.
“One other quality of Kalaithanthai was his perseverance, and the ability of not compromising on anything. Kalaithanthai had voiced his dissent to the order as the move affected the entire industry. In those days, there were not many associations to challenge such decisions, but he stood by the industry …,” recalls Mr. Hari.
Educational venture
Among the prominent legacies left behind by him are his educational institutions, says Kailash Palaniappan, a researcher who specialises in the history of Chettiars.
The first institution of higher learning set up by Thiagarajan was the Thiagarajar Arts College in 1949, of which Mr. Hari is the secretary. Throughout the span of 1940-65, he set up a college for preceptors (for teacher training), a model high school, the TCE, a school for management, a polytechnic college, and several primary schools. In all, he spent over Rs. 60 million towards educational institutions, Radha says in her book.
“We celebrate the Founders’ Day on July 29 in each of the institutions [the TCE and the arts college]. Tiruvacagam was close to his heart. In the arts college, we organise a Tiruvacagam lecture and conduct contests for students. In the engineering college, we invite eminent personalities to deliver lectures. We also run a trust under our grandfather’s name. A lot of alumni of the college donate to the trust, and the corpus is invested. The interest accrued is used to grant scholarships and allowances to students on a merit basis. This is done on the 29th of July every year…,” Mr. Hari adds.
Passion towards Tamil
Another noteworthy venture of Thiagarjan was in journalism, the foundation for which was laid during his days in Ceylon when he worked for a Sri Lankan Daily, The Morning Leader. He had extensively reported on the plight of plantation workers in the island country. A report in The Hindu Archives calls him the first Nagarathar to have become a full-time journalist with an English Daily.
In Madurai, he launched a Tamil daily, Tamil Nadu, on October 10, 1951 to sensitise people to the beauty of literary Tamil. “The newspaper hired eminent Tamil scholars, and came up with Tamil equivalents for several English words…,” Mr. Hari recalls.
Moreover, Mr. Kailash recalls, “Though he was in the Congress [which he left in 1937], he was against the imposition of Hindi. He gave his students the freedom to protest against the move in 1965 [the Bhaktavatsalam Ministry]. He was also one of the first persons to have organised a major conference for Tamil in Madurai, inviting speakers from Sri Lanka…”
The references to the conference (Tamizh Vizha) can be found in the book Chettinadum Senthamizhum, penned by Somale, which says that this conference set the trend for the others to follow.
Other facts
An interesting fact, according to Mr. Kailash, is that Gandhi had resolved to adorn only loincloths and dhotis at Thiagarajan’s guest house in Melamasi Veethi in Madurai in 1921, after witnessing the plight of the poor. “Kalaithanthai’s first wife, Vishalakshi Aachi, had served him food…,” says Mr. Kailash.
He had also forayed into the fields of insurance and banking, starting with the Bank of Madura, which later merged with the ICICI. He also held the highest shares in PoRR and Sons. He was a staunch vegetarian, inspired by the Shaivite tradition and the Tirukkural – a practice that is staunchly followed by his descendants. He breathed his last on July 29, 1974.
“He taught that if you don’t stand by something, you will fall for everything. This is a value that can be inculcated in youth…,” concludes Mr. Hari.
Published – December 06, 2024 02:09 am IST
