Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

A reformer journalist

S.P. Narasimhalu Naidu

Coimbatore: Water has been a scarce commodity in Coimbatore even in 19th century. Drinking water itself was a problem. It was S.P. Narasimhalu Naidu who had the vision to identify Muthikulam water (which emanates from Vellingiri Hils) for the benefit of Coimbatoreans as early as 1889 when he was just 35.

For this he conceived a forum of residents (kudithanakarar sabha) wherein he discussed threadbare a scheme with the top officials, including the District Collector.

He personally undertook a trip to the dense forests in Muthikulam region along with a few friends and submitted a report to the Collector.

Though that project did not fructify then, it was the harbinger for the Siruvani scheme, which came into being in 1929.

Born in 1854, Naidu was a multifaceted personality even in his 30s. He was the Coimbatore unit Secretary of the Chennai Mahajana Sabha, a social reform movement. When the Indian National Congress ( INC) was born in 1885, he became the Secretary of its Coimbatore unit. He was one among the 21 representatives from Tamil Nadu who attended the first conclave of the INC in Bombay in 1885. He attended its next convention in Calcutta in 1886 and the third in Chennai the very next year.

Interestingly he took time off from politics in Bombay to visit some textile mills with a vision to induct textile industry in Coimbatore. In 1886, taking the help of some entrepreneurs and that of experts from Chennai, he tried to establish a textile unit on his own land. However, due to certain reasons, he had to get out of the team that was working on the project.

He donated as much as Rs. 1,000 in 1887 (then a princely sum) for the municipal hall planned to commemorate the golden jubilee of the Queen Victoria’s rule. Besides, he mobilised funds and constructed the Victoria Municipal Hall (now the Town Hall) which was declared open in 1892.

Historian C.R. Elangovan deems this hall “a memorial not only for Queen Victoria but also for Narasimhalu Naidu”.

A very interesting facet of Naidu’s life was his journalistic career.

When he was just 14 years old, he started contributing to the magazine named “Dhinavarthamani”. As he found many of his views on the commissions and omissions of the Government and also the suffering caused to the poor by the “corrupt officials” ignored by the publishers for “fear of Indian Penal Code” and in order to protect the welfare of the society, he launched a magazine--- “Coimbatore Abhimani” on his own in 1879.

When he could not continue the magazine, he started a press on the Big Street in Coimbatore and launched another magazine- Coimbatore Kalanidhi.

He had the courage to expose the foibles in the administration and also the society. The magazine accommodated travelogues and also the Brahma Samaj ideas.

Mr. Elangovan calls him the “pioneer” among travel writers in Tamil Nadu because of his books – “Aariya Divya Desa Yathirayin Charithram” and “Dakshina India Charithram”. These books illustrate his experience during his visits to Bombay and Calcutta for the Congress conclaves in 1885 and 1886.

An ardent believer in the principles of Brahma Samaj, he bought a building for the Samaj on the Oppanakkara Street, Coimbatore, and established a Trust in 1897 to take care of the property of the Samaj. He breathed his last in 1922.

(Source: “Coimbatore-Oru Varalaru” by

C.R. Elangovan)

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