The strange case of Thodla Raghavaiah
For years, I’ve been visiting the Raghavendra Temple in Raghavaiah Road, T. Nagar, that I’ve always wondered who this Raghavaiah might be. Like all roads in T. Nagar, this one, too, would have been named after some V. I. P. of the 1920s. (Or was it just another name by which Guru Raghavendra was affectionately called? Very much plausible!) But when my forays into old books helped me piece together Raghavaiah’s life I was truly surprised by the end result. I found it difficult to digest the fact that the Justice Party which was allegedly founded to fight caste-based discrimination had named one of T. Nagar’s roads after someone perceived to be one of the main villains of the Vaikom Satyagraha. Born in a Telugu Brahmin family, Thodla Raghavaiah entered the provincial civil service on completing his studies. After serving in the forest and revenue departments, Raghavaiah was made an official of the Madras Corporation which he headed as President in 1911. In 1920, Ragh...