Munro and Shri Raghavendra Swamy

Shri Raghavendra Swamy is revered as a great saint all over southern India. It is said that he had miraculous healing powers and also granted the prayers of his devotees. He was born in 1601 in Bhuvanagiri in Tamil Nadu. His temple and Math stand even today at Mantralayam in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh.

The story goes that, when he wanted to leave the world, he asked his devotees to construct a ‘Brindavan’ around and over him. He sat there playing the veena and singing the Kannada hymn ‘Indu enege Shri Govindha’ in raga Bhairavi invoking Lord Krishna to dance before him. He then controlled his breathing and a Brindavan was constructed as he had wished, placing 300 ‘Saligramas’ over his head. It is believed that he is alive inside the Brindavan, performing miracles.

In 1800, when Sir Thomas Munro was the Collector of Bellary, the Madras Government ordered him to procure the entire income from the Math and Mantralaya village for the state. When the revenue officials were unable to comply with this order, Sir Thomas himself visited the Math for investigation. He removed his hat and shoes and entered the sacred precincts. Legend says that Shri Raghavendra Swamy then emerged from the Brindavan and conversed with him for some time about the resumption of endowment. The saint was visible and audible only to Munro during this period. The Collector went back and wrote an order in favour of the Math and the village. This notification was published in the Madras Government Gazette in Chapter X! and page 213 under the caption ‘Manchali Adoni Taluka’. This order is still preserved in Fort St. George, Chennai and Mantralayam.

Source: http://forum.spiritualindia.org

Sir Thomas Munro and His Thoughts on British Rule in India

Sir Thomas Munro was the Governor of the Madras Presidency during the British Raj. He was a person who understood the dynamics of British occupation of India and the role of the Company and the Crown in Indian lives.

Mr. Muthiah, the famed historian of Madras, quotes Sir Thomas’ comments on British rule:

“Your rule is alien and can never be popular. You have much to bring to your subjects but you cannot turn India into England or Scotland. Work through, not in spite of, native systems and native ways, with a prejudice in their favour rather than against them; and when in the fullness of time, your subjects can frame and maintain a worthy Government for themselves, get out and take the glory of the achievement and the sense of having done your duty as the chief reward of your exertions.”

Sir Thomas was an able administrator, dealing with problems with compassion and justice. It is no wonder that villagers named their first son in his memory as ‘Munrolappa’. Even today, the city of Chennai pays tribute to this unusual ‘Empire builder’ with a equestrian statue right in the middle of Mount Road, as it emerges from the Fort.

Source: http://chennaimetblogs.com

Munro Miscellany

In 1820, he was appointed the Governor of Madras Presidency, where he founded systems of revenue assessment and general administration which substantially persisted into the twentieth century. His official minutes, published by Sir A. Arbuthnot, form a manual of experience and advice for the modern civilian.

An equestrian statue of him, sculpted by Francis Chanterey, stands in Chennai city. Sitting proud and straight on his horse, in the middle of Chennai’s famed Island, is ‘The Stirrupless Majesty’. Either due to an oversight, or depicting his affinity for bareback riding, Sir Thomas Munro’s statue shows him without saddle and stirrup.

The Tirupati Tiremala Devasthanams still hold a huge cauldron gifted by him called Munro Gangalam, in which food for Lord Venkateswara is prepared, even though Sir Munro never visited the temple.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Munro