About PKR

Our house in Salem… the office room… filled with Law books and stacks of papers… an assorted group of men, some with grievances, hopeful of legal recourse and others hopeful of legal guidance… and in the midst of it all, our father with a Law book in his hand… This is how I always remember my father. A man with a vision, a Lawyer par excellence, a devoted father, a loving husband and an exemplary human being. This was P.K.R

The office room was where one could find him from early in the morning till the time he had to get ready to leave for work. At the stroke of 10:30 in the morning, he would be on his way to the Court in his car or horse cart.

Whenever me or any of my siblings had any difficulties in Mathematics, we would approach our father who with a Law book in his hand would clarify all our doubts.

PKR was known as a legal encyclopedia. He was so well versed in his chosen profession that if some colleague or aide reached out to him regarding a law point, he would be able to recollect the exact book, the page number and the paragraph where the details could be found.

He always championed the cause of justice. I have heard that he used to charge a minimal fee for his services and this is why lots of people from the villages would seek out his help.

During his last years, he would sometimes get lonely and if we asked him to keep himself busy with some light reading, he would respond by saying that he only knew the world of Legal literature.

He was born into an agricultural family in Puliyur (near Karur) to Srirangammal and Krishnaswamy Iyengar on 27 December 1908. He had 3 brothers Ramanujam, Srinivasan and Sheshadri and 3 sisters Pattamal, Janaki and Champagalakshmi.

He did his primary schooling at Karur and High School and College at Thrichy. His mother always felt that sending her children to distant places at a young   age for good education was a painful, though necessary decision. While studying in Trichy, he lived at a cousin’s place. His breakfast during his student days was previous day’s rice soaked in water which he used to eat along with curd and pickle. He used to fondly recall this delicious and nutritious meal. He studied B.A Chemistry at St. Joseph’s college after completing his Intermediate course. He studied Law at Trivandrum. After completing the Law Course, PKR settled down in Salem. In those days, it was considered to be an ideal place for Law graduates. He did his apprenticeship under renowned advocate Mr. Srinivasa Raghavan. His contemporaries were famous advocates like Gopala Iyengar, S. vijayaraghavan, M.S VIjayaraghavachari, R.T Parthasarathy, S.N Srinivasan, K.N Srinivasan and N.Srinivasan.

The young PKR was athletic and daring. He took part in bull fights during village festivals. I still have vivid memories of our family trip to Rameswaram when my mother in her haste to make it to the train station dropped her silver sombu into the well. Father asked all of us go to the station, he jumped into the well and retrieved the sombu and also managed to make it to the train on time. He also took a keen interest in Carnatic Music.  His favourite Raga was Kamas and he fequently sang SeethaPathi and Sarasa Madan. He used to fondly recollect the evening when Chembai Vaidyanathan Bhagavadar gave a Carnatic music concert at Rock Fort in Trichy in 1925.

It is often said that behind every successful man, there is always a woman. This was also true in PKR’s life. He got married in 1936 to Jayalakshmi, daughter of T. Vedantachari of Madras. They had 5 daughters and a son, Suseela, Vanaja, Padmini, Malathi, Vasumathi and Jagannathan. Our mother was a very gentle and soft spoken lady. I do not recollect a single instance when a harsh word has been uttered by her. She was always at his side offering her unwavering support.

Towards the end of his life, he became a little unwell. He used to tell us that he could see Lord Ranganatha. He passed away on the 15th of November 1989 at Sundaram hospital in Chennai after 3 days of being unconscious.