Ramaswami Iyengar-- A British Raj civil servant

and a compassionate and passionate lover.

Vasan Sri
This is the story of a traditional minded
Iyengar brahmin in British India--educated in a
Christian Missionary college, with teachers
mainly from Ireland and Scotland, who became a
civil servant in the accounts department in
Madras, now called Chennai. I knew him well
because he was distantly related to me and used
to visit us and talk to my father once a month .
His career , work and social/personal life all
are interesting if you look back to a time when
traditional minded Indians [that too brahmins]
lived among the European rulers.
Ramaswami Iyengar ,after graduation from
college with a liberal Arts degree [B.A], got


selected after a tough civil service examination
in Accounts department which took care of 'pay
and accounts' for government servants. Iyengar
was honest to the core that he would not pilfer
even a pencil from office for his home use. He
kept a meticulous listing of all expenses so
that no one can question him about the way he
spent the government money in his office.
Because of his hard work ,sincerity and honesty,
he was quickly promoted to higher positions
,often 'out of turn' --that is ,skipping the
'seniority list' or roster which was maintained
based on the years of service in the department.
He was the darling of the Head of the Department
[HOD] who was often a British officer,educated
in Oxford or Cambridge or London and who would
spend only a couple of hours in the office and


spend more time in sports or gambling/horse
racing.
At the same time , Iyengar was orthodox in his
ways. He used to wear white dhoti ,freshly
starched and stiff with pleats. He would put on
a cotton coat or jacket with thick brown
buttons. From the button hole, a chain would
hang with a pocket watch at the other end. The
watch was tucked into the coat pocket, along
with a white handkerchief , folded into a small
square jutting out of the pocket. He always wore
a white muslin 'turban' or head gear, which was
a long piece of cloth, folded like a tape,
wrapped around a cap like former and secured
with pins. It had an inverted 'V' shape at the
front framing his face; it could be removed and
kept aside. He wore only thick leather sandals


.He would wear black shoes only years later
when he was in a very senior position in the
department.
Being an economical person, he would carry a
small lunch bag, with a steel container and
with a thermos flask of coffee. He traveled by
electric suburban train to the office which was
near 'beach' station in Madras.
He was soon an authority on government rules
regarding salary calculations and was also
up-to-date in all amendments made by the
government. So he was regularly consulted for
clarification ,not only by his staff in his
section, but also by superior officers,
including British babus.
Besides honesty, one great quality of
Iyengar was his humility. The position he held


and the respect he earned for his 'knowledge' of
govt rules and regulations did not go to his
head. He was always available to help a
colleague or a superior officer in these
matters. Often he trained young 'apprentices'
who were selected from among very bright fresh
college graduates . Soon he became a member of
many investigative committees to detect
financial frauds or misappropriations in
government departments. He was a kind of
detective for financial frauds in the municipal
corporation administration of Madras.
Iyengar was culturally very advanced in that
he knew a lot about Carnatic [South Indian
style] classical music and encouraged local
musical 'sabhas' or societies which arranged
concerts and encouraged young artists.


He had a charming wife ,slender and fair, who
was also interested in music concerts and who
had learned to play violin in her younger days.
The Iyengars had three children --one daughter
and two boys.
Iyengar was also athletic--though not a
sportsperson ,he was interested in physical
exercises---yoga, calisthenics and running. I
have seen him walking long distances with ease.
Those were the days when town buses were very
few and would require a long wait time. Iyengar
used to walk from his house in Chintadaripet to
Triplicane beach at least once a week. He would
also visit the famous Parthasarathi temple
,dedicated to Lord Vishnu ,the deity being
depicted as the charioteer for Arjuna, as told
in the epic battle of Mahabharata.


It was on one of those visits he talked to a
woman standing in one of the temple corridors to
receive some 'prasadam'[sacramental food] from
the priest. He found that the woman lived near
the temple in one of the row houses that lined
the next street--- a kind of 'brahmin quarters',
called "agraharam" --narrow one bed room houses
. Her name was Radha and she was quite tall and
well-built for an Indian woman, with ample hips
and heavy legs. Radha was a widow and had only
one son who was studying in a college. She
invited Iyengar to her house nearby,for some
snacks,called 'tiffin' by local people. Iyengar
developed an instant liking for her because of
her sweet words and gentle movements. On
reaching the house, Iyengar found that she must
be struggling to make both ends meet and was


living a sparse life. At first it was compassion
for her--Iyengar was a compassionate man by
nature----always ,always, trying to help those
who are in need of money . Radha fed Iyengar
with large samples of her snacks. Next, Iyengar
felt like talking to her for a long time--for
Iyengar himself was given to long conversations
. Iyengar also felt that he should help her for
her son's college education which was pretty
expensive those days and scholarships were very
few.
Iyengar reasoned that Radha was lonely for the
most part. She also needed physical intimacy.
Iyengar held her close and kissed her
smooth,soft cheeks---a thing he had not done
with his wife for many,many years. Radha ,in
turn, gripped him with her folded arms at his


waist, pressing her bosom on his broad chest.
Both of them were alone in that small house
which was quiet and private. Radha was in her
mid-forties and very alluring to look at.
Iyengar got into the habit of visiting Radha at
least once a week, under the pretext of going to
the temple. He gave her small amounts of money
from time to time and also became friendly with
Venkat, Radha's son. Radha's food suited the
taste buds of Iyengar very well and he would
savor the dishes she prepared for him every
week. He would also stay for a couple of hours
to keep talking to her and fondling her which
gave warmth to both of them.
There were always several brahmin women in the
neighborhood or in the same street who were
watching the visits of Iyengar ,often using a


rickshaw--a hand pulled vehicle. In Madras
,being a small city then, news traveled fast and
Iyengar's wife of thirty years, Jaya, came to
know about his visits to a woman in Triplicane.
Jaya, like most middle class Indian women of
that generation, did not mind her husband having
an affair or mistress, though she was irritated
by his apparent lack of concern for certain
domestic issues. One day she confronted her
husband and questioned whether he had a mistress
in another part of the city; but Iyengar ,though
not denying, gave an evasive reply. She never
asked him after that. After all there were very
few family responsibilities for her to share
with him or to worry about at that time ; she
hardly needed her husband's support since the
children were getting settled easily. Only one


son was yet to be married and Jaya chose not to
interfere with his marriage to a Gujarati girl
in the neighborhood---the saving grace being
that the girl's family was one of perfect
vegetarians like Southey brahmins ; they were
also wealthy!
Iyengar was very happy with his both official
and personal life and had a big promotion just
two years before retirement. In those days,
government civil servants retired at the age of
55 years. He was satisfied that he had reached
the top position in his department and his
salary was substantial for a middle class
family.
Iyengar slowly took to religious studies,
especially the works of 'Alwars', the Vaishnava
saints [of 5th to 9th century] whose hymns are


compiled into a ' Holy Book of 4000 verses". He
knew many verses by heart and would delight his
close relations and friends by his recitals in
some tune or 'raga' known to him. I have heard
him sing these verses many times before my
father in our house.
His visits to Radha increased by now--often
twice a week. He duly retired with a fat pension
and had plenty of time to spare for religious
practices and to frequent Radha's house. There
was a certain 'glow' in his brown face which his
relations attributed to his religious fervour.
Radha always claimed that the brightness in his
flushed face was due to her food. His
relations remarked that he looked like a person
of forty years.
It so happened that Jaya went to Mumbai to be


with her ailing sister for about two months.
During that period, two weeks after Jaya left ,
Iyengar was sick with a stomach appendicitis
which needed surgery. Iyengar got the surgical
procedure done in a private hospital in Mylapore
and was slowly recovering in his house. Radha
was on hand to help him like a house nurse and
also cook for him for about two weeks. This
episode left a deep impression in the mind of
Iyengar who not only praised Radha for her
nursing skills, but became indebted to her--he
showered her with costly gifts and also gave a
large cash amount of Rs 10,000 which she
refused to accept. Iyengar instead gave a set of
gold jewels for Shanti ----Venkat's
wife--Radha's daughter-in-law. When Jaya heard
about this service of Radha, she seemed to


accept the role of Radha in Iyengar's life. The
jealousy felt by her a few years ago melted
away.
Now it was Radha's turn to fall sick. She had a
bulging thyroid which needed surgery. Iyengar
supported her throughout her difficult days and
then spent greater part of his time when she was
recovering at home with her.
Venkat's father-in-law, Chalapathy Rao,
was an Andhra brahmin, dark in complexion and
middle aged. He used to go to Radha's house. He
was attracted to her pinkish complexion and good
height for an Indian woman. But Radha detested
him for his jet-black color , rough features and
rustic ways. She was ,however, always polite
with him. On one such visit, Radha gave him a
cup of standard Madras coffee and politely told


him that he should come to her house only with
Venkat. Rao grew livid with anger and spewed
out; he told her: " Yes, I understand; you are a
widow and widows are usually suspicious of men".
He left the house in a huff. When Radha related
this incident to Iyengar, he was overjoyed and
held Radha close in his arms.
Meanwhile Iyengar was turning more towards
spiritual pursuits, often bordering on frenetic
obsession. He wanted to visit several Vaishnava
pilgrim centers---a set of 108 sacred '
sthalas' or places are specified for the devout.
Jaya's health was declining and she had no
interest in traveling to obscure villages to
offer worship in the company of her unfaithful
husband. Again Iyengar, breaking the
conventional tradition of doing pilgrimage with


lawfully wedded wife, was prepared to visit them
with Radha. In many Hindu temples and mutts
[monasteries] a widow would be debarred from
entering the inner sanctorum in those days. But
Iyengar would boldly take Radha with him on his
pilgrimages , pretending that she was his
sister's daughter ---from Rameshwaram to
Benaras[ Varanasi] and a few Himalayan shrines
near Nepal.

After his nearly two years of travel in
pilgrimages, Iyengar was physically weak but
mentally alert and strong-willed. His weekly
visits to Radha's house continued as before. His
religious practices included daily chanting for
nearly an hour of Lord Rama's name [Nama japa]
and singing a few hymns of Alwars from the book


of 4000 verses, soon after taking bath and
before his main meal.
It was one of those days when a special
festival was held in Parthasarathy temple for
the deity --- when the bronze icon would be
decorated like a warrior ,with bow and arrow
and taken out for a 'hunting trip'. The idol
was taken in a procession towards a spot in the
Marina beach and kept on a raised wooden
platform and worshiped by devotees with singing
of hymns.
Iyengar joined in the singing of hymns and Radha
stood at some distance from him. After the
worship, Iyengar came to Radha's house and had a
sumptuous meal, served by her hands. It was the
custom that Radha would have her meal only after
him. After chewing 'pan' [ betel leaves ,with


lime] Iyengar stretched himself on the couch in
the front room of the narrow house. Radha sat on
the edge of the couch and started pressing his
legs. . Iyengar placed his hand on her hips and
patted her waist. He was almost dozing and
heaving a few breaths . He gently told Radha
that he was seeing 'devas' [angelic beings] with
flapping wings , dressed in fine, silk clothes.
Radha admonished him for his fanciful dreaming
and asked him to close his eyes and get sleep.
Iyengar got up and planted a kiss on Radha's
smooth cheeks, like he did 15 years ago on his
first visit and told her that she was also
indeed an angel. Radha demurred and asked him to
think of the Lord and sleep for a while. Iyengar
replied : "Yes, I will " and sank on his pillow.
He closed his eyes, with a beatific smile on his


lips. He never woke up again. He had merged with
his Lord.

Epilogue
Iyengar's eldest son, Vijayaraghavan, flew from
Singapore to perform the last rites for his
father. Jaya was inconsolable and joined the
ranks of widows in that traditional town. Radha
moved to temple town of Sri Rangam and served as
a cook in a priest's house. Venkat would start
a scholarship fund for poor students in
Iyengar's name . Iyengar's friend Sridharan
Iyengar collected all his Vaishnava books and
built a library in his house, with a large photo
of Iyengar adorning the main hall.
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