Palakkad’s Ramaswami Iyer: The Man Who Took Ramayana To The Masses
M N Ramaswami Iyer was an ambassador of the Ramayana and worked hard to spread the essence of this “national treasure” among the people.
The Palakkad region has produced several stalwarts who have added to the lustre of India’s cultural heritage. One such exponent was M N Ramaswami Iyer or MNR (1892-1962), whose efforts resulted in the publication of Valimiki’s Ramayana in Tamil by Rao Saheb P S Krishnaswamy Iyer (PSK), who translated the epic word for word.
MNR’s chance meeting with PSK’s son Dr Sanjivi helped in bringing the patrons of Ramayana together, and the Dharmalaya Edition of Srimad Valmiki Ramayanam came into being.
The library edition of Valmiki Ramayana consisted of eight volumes, whereas the regular edition consisted of 17 volumes. The book was initially printed at the Scholar Press in Palakkad and was published by R S Vadhyar & Sons, Kalpathy, with the help of Ramaswami Iyer.
Thereafter, MNR founded the Ramayana Publishing House, Ramayana Printing Press, Sree Ram Publishers etc, in order to print and publish Valmiki Ramayana, Narayaneeyam (translated by Brahmasri N Somasundara Dikshithar), Srimad Bhagavatam and a number of other religious books.
MNR, who called the epic is a “national treasure” carried copies of the complete set of the Srimad Valmiki Ramayana from house to house, and requested people to buy them. Even if the people said they may not read it, he insisted that the presence of this sacred text, which served as a “beacon of light to India”, will “bless their families at all times”.
Later on, he came up with the novel idea of selling the complete works, wherein if a person paid Rs 10 per instalment over four years, he or she would get the money back at the end of the term along with a complete set of Srimad Valmiki Ramayana. Most of the copies used to bear his autograph.
MNR always carried a copy of Sundara Kandam, the segment of Ramayana that is related to Lord Hanuman finding Sita in Lanka. He ensured that his wife and children assimilated Srimad Valmiki Ramayana, and the family came to be known as the “Ramayana family”.
Ramaswami Iyer was the second of the four sons of Melarkode Narasupattar. Having lost his father early in life, he entered family business. His elder brother advocate M N Krishna Iyer went on become the first district judge in Palakkad, and the M N K Memorial School at Chitalamcheri in Palakkad district is named after him.
MNR belonged to the banking tradition of his times and was the force behind the popular Melarkode Bank all his life. MNR supported his siblings in their academic pursuits while he administered the bank. The institution had branches in Palakkad, Coimbatore and Chennai (then Madras).
The bank’s business tradition was such that it lent money to the dependants of the breadwinners, who in those times left Palakkad to work in far off places like Mumbai and Delhi. The family managed the household affairs with the money borrowed, which was later settled by the breadwinners during their visits to the hometown, when they also left a small surplus amount in the custody of MNR in case of an exigency. This approach of Ramaswami Iyer earned him the title, ‘god among bankers’.
Ramaswami Iyer and his wife Alamelu Ammal were blessed with seven chidlren - Narayani Ammal, M R Narasimhan, M R Krishnan, Rajam, Visalam, Janaki and Uma.
When Ramaswami Iyer passed away in the year 1962, his son M R Narasimhan (1924-2007) assumed his father’s mantle, and for several years published editions of a number of religious books, and this in spite of severe financial problems.
The grandsons of Ramaswami Iyer, Major General (retd) Dr M R Sree Ram, M N Varadarajan (promoter of Tapovan, a home for retirees located in Coimbatore), M K Ramkumar and M K Ganesh have continued the family tradition by reprinting Sriman Narayaneeyam by Melputhur Narayana Bhattathiri in the memory of their venerable grandfather.
In a tribute to the ‘ambassador’ of Srimad Ramayana rendered by adikavi Valmiki, retired IAS officer V Sundaram, said: “When I survey the exemplary life of creative fulfillment led by M N Ramaswami Iyer and his son M R Narasimhan, the beautiful words of the famous Greek novelist and Nobel laureate, Nikos Kazantzakis, come to my mind: ‘The soul of man is a flame, a bird of fire that leaps from bough to bough, from head to head, and that shouts - I cannot stand still, I cannot be consumed, no one can quench me’”.