M.C.Alasinga
Perumal was born in Chickmagalur in 1865 in an orthodox Vaishnavite
family as the eldest of two brothers and a sister. His father,
Chakravarthy Narasimhacharya, was employed with the local municipality.
Alasinga Perumal had his
elementary
education at a local school. With his job being unable to sustain the
family, Narasimhacharya left Chickmagalur in the 1870s and came to
Madras, where he managed to get a job with the Customs Department with
the help of a few contacts.
The family settled down in
Triplicane near the residence of Yogi Parthasarathy, Alasinga’s
maternal uncle. Alasinga continued his education at the Hindu High
School and after completion, joined the Presidency College for his pre
university course. It was around this time that his marriage was
performed to Rangamma, a girl from an Iyengar family from Karnataka.
Alasinga then entered the Madras Christian College for his graduation,
where he caught the eye of William Miller, who was then the Principal of
the college. Thanks to Miller, Alasinga got a scholarship, which helped
him financially. He graduated with a B.A degree in Science in 1884. He
then started pursuing the law course which he however discontinued due
to family circumstances.
In 1885, leaving his family behind in
Madras, Alasinga moved to Kumbakonam where he took up a job as a
temporary science teacher at a school. He left Kumbakonam for
Chidambaram in 1887, where he joined the Pachaiyappa’s High School as an
assistant Master of Science. However, this stint too lasted only for a
couple of years as he had to return to Madras in 1889 due to the death
of his father, which left the family in need of support. On his return
to Madras, he took up an opportunity to teach at the Pachaiyappa’s
School in George Town. He was soon promoted to the post of Headmaster, a
position he held almost till the end of his life. Just a year before
his death, he was appointed as Professor of Physics at the Pachaiyappa’s
College.
Alasinga Perumal was a patriot at heart. He was
concerned by the many problems that were plaguing the motherland. The
hoary past and heritage of the country was being forgotten with modern
education taking shape. He started frequenting places like the
Triplicane Literary Society and the Theosophical Society, where he and a
group of friends discussed the various problems of the country and
steps to stem the rot.
It was around this time that
the news of the upcoming Parliament of World Religions reached Madras.
Alasinga learnt of it through his uncle, Yogi Parthasarathy Iyengar who
by virtue of his connections with the Hindu League of America and
scholarly reputation had been invited to participate. Representatives
from various communities except the Hindu community had been named.
Alasinga and his friends saw the Parliament to be a good opportunity for
the Hindus to represent their faith but the question of who would to
travel to Chicago and represent Hinduism remained unanswered even after
days of discussion. The answer came with the arrival of Swami
Vivekananda in Madras in early 1893.
Alasinga Perumal and his
friends went to meet Swami Vivekananda, who was then a guest of
Manmathanath Bhattacharya, the First Indian Accountant General of
Madras, at his residence at Santhome. They were deeply impressed with
the Swamiji’s persona and were soon regular visitors to meet him.
Swamiji’s introduction to the Madras public was at the Triplicane
Literary Society, a place he was to later frequent and deliver many
lectures. The Madras public were fascinated by this monk, who with his
oratorical skills and command over various subjects drew huge crowds.
Swamiji too was impressed by Alasinga Perumal, who shared his ideas and
concerns about the motherland and was raring to doing something towards
the rejuvenation of the country. Thus, Alasinga became a close confidant
and disciple of Swami Vivekananda.
A thought then struck
Alasinga that Swami Vivekananda could be sent to Chicago as the Hindu
representative. On this idea being put forth before him, Swami
Vivekananda readily agreed, having earlier been requested by various
dignitaries such as the Maharaja of Mysore and the Raja of Ramnad to
travel to the West and propagate the ideals of Hinduism. Soon,
preparations started in full earnest for the travel of Swami Vivekananda
to
the West. A subscription committee was formed under the leadership of
Alasinga to raise funds, which did not always come easily. Alasinga even
had to resort to door to door begging at times to raise the money.
Soon, a princely sum of Rs.500 was collected. However, this sum was
redistributed as Swami Vivekananda had second thoughts about his
participation in the Parliament, as he took as a bad omen the fact that
the Raja of Ramnad had failed to pay up the money promised by him for
the purpose. Alasinga was disheartened that his efforts had gone waste.
However,
much to Alasinga’s joy, the whole idea was revived, as Swami
Vivekananda, encouraged by the reception received from the people of
Hyderabad during his visit there, showed interest in going ahead with
the trip. The Nawab too offered a sum of Rs.1000 towards meeting the
costs. Swamiji also had a vision of his Guru, Sri Ramakrishna, which he
took as a divine command to make the journey.
Alasinga then renewed his efforts to collect subscriptions and soon,
nearly Rs.4000 was collected. He spared no efforts for the cause, even
going as far as Mysore to meet with the Maharaja and getting
contributions from him. Swami Vivekananda set sail to Boston from
Bombay, where he arrived after a stay with the Raja of Khetri. Alasinga
went to Bombay to send him off.
Throughout his stay in America,
Swami Vivekananda wrote letters to Alasinga and his other close
disciples, keeping them in touch with his activities. When he once wrote
about running short of funds, Alasinga immediately borrowed Rs.1000
from a merchant, which along with his monthly salary and money raised
from selling his wife’s gold ornaments, he sent by cable immediately.
What
happened at the Parliament of World Religions is now a part of history.
Swami Vivekananda became a hero and started drawing large crowds
wherever he spoke. Many newspapers wrote about him and he was
starting to become known to a larger audience. In the midst of all the
good publicity was also some adverse publicity, mostly by the
missionaries, who were taken aback by the tremendous response to
Swamiji. The papers in India also seemed to give a lukewarm coverage to
the whole event, thus sending Swami Vivekananda into despair. He wrote
to Alasinga, exhorting him to convene a public meeting in Madras and
pass a resolution expressing utmost satisfaction at his representation
at the Parliament, and send the resolutions for publication to various
newspapers in the USA. Alasinga convened the meeting on 28th April 1894
at the Pachaiyappa’s Hall. Present in the meeting were many dignitaries
of Madras such as Rajah Sir Savalai Ramaswamy Mudaliar, Sir S.Subramania
Iyer and Dewan Bahadur Raghunatha Rao. A resolution was passed,
thanking Swami Vivekananda for the work he was doing. This event was
widely covered in the press, with both The Hindu and The Mail
publishing full page reports. Similar meetings were organised by
Alasinga at various other places like Kumbakonam, Bangalore and Mysore.
Swami Vivekananda expressed his utmost satisfaction at the work done by
Alasinga and his friends and mentioned in a letter that he was only a
figurehead and that all the work was done by the young men at Madras.
In
1894, Alasinga started the Young Men’s Hindu Association. His literary
contribution started in 1895, when at the behest of Swami Vivekananda,
he started the Brahmavadin, a journal dedicated to the Hindu religion.
Assisting him in his efforts were fellow disciples of Swami Vivekananda
such as Dr.M.C.Nanjunda Row and Venkataranga Rao. The first issue came
out in September 1895 from the Brahmavadin Press, which had been setup
at Broadway. Swami Vivekananda himself contributed articles regularly to
the journal and also helped get overseas subscribers. The Brahmavadin
Publishing Company was also
established by Alasinga, through which he edited and published titles
under the “Brahmavadin Series”. In July 1896, Alasinga was also
instrumental in starting the “Prabuddha Bharata” or Awakened India, a
journal that has been in uninterrupted publication ever since, making it
the oldest magazine of its kind in the country.
Alasinga was
actively involved in the various celebrations and meetings that were
held across the city during the nine day stay of Swami Vivekananda on
his return from the West. He kept in touch with the Swami even after his
return to Calcutta, meeting him at various places and discussing plans
for the two journals that were being published and also on the way
forward. He also played an active role in the early years of the Madras
Math that was established by Swami Ramakrishnananda in 1897.
The
death of Swami Vivekananda, who passed away on the 4th of July 1902,
left Alasinga in despair, who felt handicapped by
the loss of his Guru. A condolence meeting was convened by him at the
Hindu Theological High School. The next setback for Alasinga was the
death of his wife in 1905, the lady who had been his pillar of strength
through all the difficulties he had faced due to his public
spiritedness. His family, which now consisted of 4 children and an aged
mother, came to depend on him fully. Alasinga however carried on gamely,
managing both his personal life and his association with the
Ramakrishna Math.
But the years of selfless public work and
service had taken a toll on his health. He was diagnosed with the cancer
of the jaw, to which he succumbed to it on the 11th of May 1909. His
death was mourned by thousands in Madras and elsewhere.
However,
Brahmavadin continued to be published until 1914, when it was finally
wound up. It was succeeded by the Vedanta Kesari, a magazine that has
been in uninterrupted publication ever since. In a remarkable act of
conservation, the Ramakrishna Math has digitised all the issues of
Brahmavadin and the Vedanta Kesari (Up to 2009) and made them available
for sale. In a way, it is an act perpetuating the memory of Alasinga,
the man who played a vital part in Swami Vivekananda’s mission. A
biography of Alasinga Perumal has also been recently released
