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V. Seshasayee (died 1958) was an Indian industrialist and the founder of the Seshasayee Group.
V Seshasayee and R Seshasayee were not really brothers (although the latter married the former's sister). On completion of their studies, V. Seshasayee left for Singapore to improve his skills while R. Seshasayee pursued his career in India. R. Seshasayee's electrical wiring skills were noticed by Chief Electrical and Signals Engineer of the South Indian Railway, Mr. Winter, who helped him hone them. When V. Seshasayee returned to India, the two collaborated to start their first business venture which was called "The Seshasayee Brothers Engineering Works".
Soon afterwards, they were employed by the Raja of Ramnad to electrify his palace and set up an ice-making plant. This was a success and shortly afterwards, they were working to electrify the city of Devakottai in the Chettinad region and Hindu temples all way from Madurai to Rameswaram.
At the time, Madras was the only town in the Province with electricity. Power supply was provided by a D.C. system installed by Crompton's for a British electricity company. The Seshasayees fought and got licences to light up Devakottai in 1927 and Trichinopoly-Srirangam in 1928. The Devakottai Company and the Trichinopoly Company were eventually merged in 1940 to form the South Madras Electric Supply Corporation Ltd.
R. Seshasayee has two sons. Elder son is Dinakaran and younger one is Kandasamy. He had four daughters. R. Seshasayee is very compassionate. He supported the education of K.K.Raman, who married his elder daughter Akila later.
R. Seshasayee had a keen interest in aviation. He was known popularly as "Pilot Seshasayee" by his peers. He showed his respect Mahatma Gandhi by dropping flowers from aircraft, while he was delivering a public speech at the National College campus. This was in the year 1934 and had a tremendous impact on his companion and business partner V. Seshasayee. Later, he died while he was landing his aircraft in Thennur ground due to a mechanical defect. It is a mystery who was involved in checking the aircraft prior to his trip. No one ever investigated in detail how the air craft failed. Sadly, we lost a genius who would have contributed more to Indian industrial development.
R. Seshasayee founded Mettur Chemicals (1936–41), Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (1944–47), Aluminium Industries, Kundara (1950) and Travancore-Cochin Chemicals. He was succeeded by V. Seshasayee, K.K. Raman and S. Viswanathan. Not clear why R. Seshasayee's were given this responsibility.
After his death R. Seshasayee's brother in law V. Seshasayee and his son in law K.K. Raman took over the companies. Among his sons it appears that S. Dinakaran got some of his wealth. The younger one (S. Kandasamy) was only 16 years old when R. Seshasayee died. He never had a higher management position in any of R. Seshasayee's companies. S. Kandasamy worked for Metter Chemicals as a clerk all his life. He never had luxurious life. Kandasamy's subsequent generations still live middle class life though they are the descendants of Industrial Empire R. Seshasayee!
Ironically, all other elder siblings had rich life style both in India and abroad. Many of their descendants have settled in USA. What is left for S.Kandasamy's descendants is ONLY THE GLORY that was left by R.Seshasayee.
The Kingdom of Travancore, also known as the Kingdom of Thiruvithamkoor or later as Travancore State, was a kingdom that lasted from c. 1729 until 1949. It was ruled by the Travancore Royal Family from Padmanabhapuram, and later Thiruvananthapuram. At its zenith, the kingdom covered most of the south of modern-day Kerala and the southernmost part of modern-day Tamil Nadu with the Thachudaya Kaimal's enclave of Irinjalakuda Koodalmanikyam temple in the neighbouring Kingdom of Cochin. However Tangasseri area of Kollam city and Anchuthengu near Attingal in Thiruvananthapuram were parts of British India.
Sri Swathi Thirunal Rama Varma III was the Maharaja of the Kingdom of Travancore. He was a great musician and composer who has to his credit over 400 classical compositions in both Carnatic and Hindustani style.
The Madras Presidency or Madras Province, officially called the Presidency of Fort St. George until 1937, was an administrative subdivision (province) of British India and later the Dominion of India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including all of present-day Andhra Pradesh, almost all of Tamil Nadu and parts of Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha and Telangana in the modern day. The city of Madras was the winter capital of the presidency and Ooty was the summer capital.
Mahatma Ayyankali was an Indian politician, prominent social reformer, educator, economist, lawmaker, and revolutionary leader. He worked for the advancement of the oppressed people in the princely state of Travancore. His struggle resulted in many changes that improved the socio-political structure of Kerala. His determined and relentless efforts changed the lives of Dalits. He is known as the King of Pulaya.
Dewan Bahadur Sachivottama SirChetput Pattabhiraman Ramaswami Iyer, popularly known as Sir C. P., was an Indian lawyer, administrator and politician who served as the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1920 to 1923, Law member of the Executive council of the Governor of Madras from 1923 to 1928, Law member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy of India from 1931 to 1936 and the Diwan of Travancore from 1936 to 1947. Ramaswami Iyer was born in 1879 in Madras city and studied at Wesley College High School and Presidency College, Madras before qualifying as a lawyer from the Madras Law College. He practised as a lawyer in Madras and succeeded S. Srinivasa Iyengar as the Advocate-General of the Madras Presidency. He subsequently served as the Law member of the Governor of Madras and of the Viceroy of India before being appointed Diwan of Travancore in 1936.
Raja Sir Tanjore Madhava Rao, KCSI, also known as Sir Madhava Rao Thanjavurkar or simply as Madhavarao Tanjorkar, was an Indian statesman, civil servant, administrator and politician who served as the Diwan of Travancore from 1857 to 1872, Indore from 1873 to 1875 and Baroda from 1875 to 1882. He was the nephew and son of the former Travancore Diwans T. Venkata Rao and T. Ranga Rao.
Kolattunādu (Malayalam:[koːlɐt̪ːun̪aːɖə̆]) (Kola Swarupam, as kingdom of Cannanore in foreign accounts, Chirakkal (Chericul) in later times) was one of the four most powerful kingdoms on the Malabar Coast during the arrival of the Portuguese Armadas in India, along with Zamorin, the kingdom of Cochin and Quilon. Kolattunādu had its capital at Ezhimala and was ruled by the Kolattiri royal family and roughly comprised the North Malabar region of Kerala state in India. Traditionally, Kolattunādu is described as the land lying between the Chandragiri river in the north and the Korappuzha river in the south. The Kolathunadu (Kannur) kingdom at the peak of its power, reportedly extended from the Netravati River (Mangalore) in the north to Korapuzha (Kozhikode) in the south with the Arabian Sea on the west and Kodagu hills on the eastern boundary, also including the isolated islands of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.
Palghat Kollengode Viswanathan Narayanaswamy, often referred to as K. V. Narayanaswamy was an Indian musician, widely considered to be among the finest Carnatic music vocalists of the 20th century. He was awarded the Madras Music Academy's Sangeetha Kalanidhi in 1986. He was described as the "Perfect Knight" of Carnatic music, a phrase from Geoffrey Chaucer, by V. K. Narayana Menon, art critic of India and recipient of the Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship.
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Sri Padmanabha DasaSir Sri Visakham Thirunal Rama Varma VFRAS, also known as Rama Varma the Learned, was the Maharaja of Travancore from 1880 to 1885 AD, succeeding his elder brother Ayilyam Thirunal on the musnud, or throne. He was a noted scholar of Sanskrit and literary composer in Malayalam, who reversed his brother's policy, liberally patronizing poet Kerala Varma, while hostile to painter Raja Ravi Varma.
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Rajah Rama Varma was the ruler of the Indian kingdom of Venad, later known as Travancore, in the modern day state of Kerala, India between 1724 and 1729, having succeeded his brother Unni Kerala Varma. He is better known as the uncle of Maharajah Padmanabha Dasa Vanchi Pala Marthanda Varma Kulasekhara Perumal, the "maker of modern Travancore". He was born into the Royal Family of Kolathunadu, as the second son of Rajah Ittamar of Thattari Kovilakam. It was princes from the Parappanadu family who customarily married Kolathunadu princesses. Rama Varma's entire family, including himself, two sisters and his elder brother Unni Kerala Varma, were adopted into the Venad house as members of the Travancore Royal Family by Rajah Ravi Varma, nephew of Umayamma Rani due to the failure of heirs there. Ittammar Raja's sister and her sons, Rama Varma and Raghava Varma, settled in Kilimanoor and married the now adopted sisters. Of the adopted sisters, one died soon after her adoption while the other was the mother of the Maharajah Marthanda Varma.
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Diwan BahadurRai Raghunatha Rao was an Indian civil servant, administrator, politician and Indian independence activist who served as the Diwan of Indore from 1875 to 1880, and again from 1886 to 1888. He was a member of the Rao family, a founder of the Indian National Congress and the Madras Mahajana Sabha, and an influential member of the Mylapore set.
Parappanad was a former feudal city-state in Malabar, India. The headquarters of Parappanad Royal family was at the town Parappanangadi in present-day Malappuram district. In 1425, the country divided into Northern Parappanad and Southern Parappanad. Southern Parappanad included parts of Tirurangadi Taluk and the town Parappanangadi. Northern Parappanad included Panniyankara, Beypore, and Cheruvannur of Kozhikkode Taluk. Parappanad royal family is a cousin dynasty of the Travancore royal family.
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