The VGM Foundation and the Rotary Club of Coimbatore East jointly organised an event to release the biography of freedom fighter ‘Bar-at-Law’ Adhinarayana Chettiar at the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial, Podanur, on 14th August 2025.
The book was released by Krishnaraj Vanavarayar, Chairman of Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, and the first copy was received by Krishnan, Managing Director of Sri Krishna Sweets.
The launch took place in the esteemed presence of Kavidasan, Director of the Roots Group of Companies; Dr. Mohan Prasad, Founder & Chairman of VGM Hospital; and Manickam, Chief Executive Officer of Rathinam Group of Institutions.
‘Bar-at-Law’ Adhinarayana Chettiar is the great-grandfather of Dr. Mohan Prasad, and this biography is being released in commemoration of his 150th Birth Anniversary.
Rtn. Raveendran Genguswamy; Rtn. Vijay Krishna, President of the club; Rtn.Selvakumar, the Secretary and a few other special invitees were also present during the release of this book.
The Freedom Fighter Adhinarayana Chettiar
Adhinarayana Chettiar was born on 22 September 1874 at Kumbakonam, Tanjore District, to Pattabirama Chetty, Adhinarayana Chetty completed his schooling locally before pursuing higher education at Madras Christian College.
After marriage to Adilakshmi Ammal in 1899, he travelled with his wife and son Radhakrishnan to Ireland in 1914, studied law at Trinity College, Dublin, and was called to the Irish Bar in 1917.
He returned to India in 1919, enrolling in the Madras High Court, though he chose public service over legal practice.
A staunch nationalist, Adhinarayana Chetty worked closely with C. Rajagopalachari in the freedom movement. He was an active Congress leader, organising major party sessions in Salem, including the landmark 1918 conference attended by over 1,500 delegates.
His association with Mahatma Gandhi was personal and profound – Gandhi even named his daughter Sarojini, linking her weight in hand-spun khadi yarn to the welfare of many.
He played key roles in national movements such as the 1919 Anti-Rowlatt Act Hartal, the Non-Cooperation Movement, the Salt Satyagraha, and the 1921 boycott of the Prince of Wales’ visit.
Arrests and repression never deterred his activism. As a Madras Legislative Council member (1923–1930), he championed farmers’ rights, opposed unjust colonial policies, and promoted prohibition, rural reconstruction, khadi, and cooperative development.
Adhinarayana Chetty was a close friend and supporter of mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. When Ramanujan fell ill in England and returned to India, he received him at Madras railway station and treated him at his Mylapore residence at Chennai for 1 month.
He also shared a historic moment with poet Subramania Bharati during Bharati’s sole meeting with Gandhi in 1919, later defending Bharati’s works when they were banned by the colonial government.
He founded the Salem District Central Cooperative Bank (1906) and Salem Urban Bank (1909), spearheaded rural cooperative societies, and is remembered as the Father of the Cooperative Movement in Salem.
He worked with eminent administrators and agricultural scientists to uplift farmers through irrigation, credit access, and local industry.
Apart from being Salem District Congress President, he served as the Vice-President, Salem Taluk Board; President, Salem Urban Bank; Founder, Salem District Cooperative Bank and Leader in prohibition campaigns and rural industrial initiatives.
His Salem residence, “Baramahal”, became a hub of nationalist activity. He spent much of his wealth in the cause of India’s freedom and social upliftment.
In his 1934 address at the All India Swadeshi Exhibition, he outlined a self-reliant India built on indigenous industries, price stability, and reduced dependence on imports – principles that resonate with today’s “Make in India” policy.
