P V Rajamannar

Early life

P. V. Rajamannar was born to Dewan Bahadur P. Venkataramana Rao Naidu, an eminent lawyer who was a Madras High Court Judge and later Chief Justice of Mysore High Court. He completed his schooling at Thondamandalam Thuluva Vellala High School in Mint Street, Madras and did his graduation in the Presidency College, securing First Class in English and Philosophy in B.A in 1921. In B.L he won the Jurisprudence prize in 1923.

Career in Law

In 1924, Rajamannar started his law practice joining his father's chambers.In 1944 P.V. Rajamannar was appointed Advocate-General in succession to Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar. His appointment also made Rajamannar one of the youngest Advocate-General at 43 years of age. He also appeared as the Public Prosecutor in one of the most sensational murder cases in South India, Lakshmikanthan murder case involving two popular actors and a Journalist with criminal history.

Chief Justice

Later in 1945, P. V. Rajamannar was appointed as Judge of Madras High Court and in 1948 Rajamannar became the first Indian to be elevated as Chief Justice of Madras High Court. He retired in1961 and continued his active services for government by heading various committees .

Finance Commission

During the years 1966-1969 P. V Rajamannar was also the Chairman of The Fourth Finance Commission of India.

In addition Pajamannar was also the Chairman for the Fourth Law Commission and the Banking Laws Committee.

Educational Boards

P.V.Rajamannar was also the Chairman of Board of Studies of Law and Chaired the Board of Studies in Telugu at Sri Venkateswara University and Theater Art Faculty at Andhra University. He was also the Member of Syndicate of Madras University.

State Autonomy Committee

In 1969, P.V. Rajamannar was appointed as the Chairman of a 3-member committee P.V. Rajamannar committee to study the State Autonomy and Centre-State relations by the then newly elected DMK government under its Chief Minister Dr. M. Karunanidhi.

Arts of Literature

In addition to his career in Law and administration P. V. Rajamannar was active in Arts and was the first appointed chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi in New Delhi. During his college years and later he edited a Telugu literary journal called Kala and winning the Ramarayaninger Prize for a Telugu Work 'Representative Government in Ancient India. 1964, he was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship the highest honour conferred by Sangeet Natak Akademi, India's National Academy for Music, Dance and Drama.

Honours and Legacy

P. V. Rajamannar was conferred Honorary Doctorates from Madras University, Andhra University and Annamalai University. Justice P V Rajamannar Salai (Road) in K. K. Nagar, Chennai is named in his honour.He was also nominated twice to Upper House in Madras and on two occasions acted as Governor.

Works and Publications

India: Republic Day 1956 (1956) – English - (Co-Author John Haynes Holmes, K. M. Panikkar, P. V. Rajamannar and N. C. Mehta)

Aesthetic experience, (Sir George Stanley endowment lectures) (1960) - English

Rajamannaru natikalu: Ayidu ekanka natikalu (1968) – Telugu

Report on negotiable instruments law, 1975 (1976) - English

Report on indigenous negotiable instruments (hundis), 1978 (1979) - English

Report on personal property security law, 1977 (1978) - English

First report of the Study Group Reviewing Legislation Affecting Banking: banking legislation (1971) - English

Tamil Nadu Report, 1971 by P. V. Tamil Nadu Rajamannar (1971) - English

"P. V. Rajamannar is a well-known playwright. His Dayyala Lanka (Island of Ghosts) has been staged with great success. Written when he was a rising lawyer and an idealist who could express himself freely, the play deals with a social problem of great concern—the state of the young widow who sees all the urges of youth freely accessible to her married sister but which, for no justifiable reason, are denied to her. A second play of Rajamannar, Yemi Magavallu (Oh, These Men!) is a powerful condemnation of obsolete yet tenaciously clinging ideas of propriety and the still popular insistence on one law for the man and another for the woman. Nagu Bamu (The White Cobra) is a recent one-act play by him. The story takes place in the Ajanta caves during the times when the great Buddhist monk-artists embellished the walls with their wonderful frescoes. The dialogue is very effective through out, and the problem has a universal and almost topical appeal as it concerns the conflict between utter devotion to duty and the irresistible urge for emotional fulfilment—a problem which confronts each one of us today. In all his writings, Rajamannar follows Franz Kafka's advice: 'Test yourself on Humanity. It makes the doubtful doubt, the believer believe"

Sahitya Akademi Telugu Drama Author(s): A. Janaki Ram Source: Indian Literature, Vol. 1, No. 2 (Apr.—Sept. 1958), pp. 133-139 Published by: Sahitya Akademi Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/23329304 Accessed: 22-04-2017 15:07 UTC

http://www.jstor.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/stable/pdf/23329304.pdf