V. Nagam Aiya
Encyclopedia
Diwan Bahadur Veeraraghavapuram Nagam Aiya (1850-1917) was an Indian historian, civil servant and chronicler in the erstwhile princely state of Travancore
.
of the then Madras Presidency
. His ancestors were Telugu Brahmins
who migrated to the Tamil country seven generations before him. He moved to Thiruvananthapuram
, the capital of Travancore state when he was a child and settled there. Nagam Aiya had his early education at Maharajah's High School and College in Thiruvananthapuram. He completed his matriculation in 1865 and his F. A. in 1866 and became the first graduate of Maharajah's College when he graduated in February 1870.
In 1906, Nagam Aiya was deputed to prepare a gazetteer of Travancore state on the lines of the district manuals of Madras Presidency. The Travancore State Manual, comprising three volumes, which appeared in 1906, is considered to be Nagam Aiya's greatest work and is still in print.
Travancore
Kingdom of Travancore was a former Hindu feudal kingdom and Indian Princely State with its capital at Padmanabhapuram or Trivandrum ruled by the Travancore Royal Family. The Kingdom of Travancore comprised most of modern day southern Kerala, Kanyakumari district, and the southernmost parts of...
.
Early life
Nagam Aiya was born in December 1850 in the village of Veeraraghavapuram in the Tirunelveli districtTirunelveli District
Tirunelveli District is a district of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The city of Tirunelveli is the district headquarters. A unique feature of this district is that it encompasses all five geographical traditions of Tamil Literature; kurinji , mullai , marudham , neithal and palai...
of the then Madras Presidency
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency , officially the Presidency of Fort St. George and also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision of British India...
. His ancestors were Telugu Brahmins
Telugu Brahmins
Telugu Brahmin is a sub-caste of the greater Brahmin community whose native language is Telugu. They hail from the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.However...
who migrated to the Tamil country seven generations before him. He moved to Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram , formerly known as Trivandrum, is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala and the headquarters of the Thiruvananthapuram District. It is located on the west coast of India near the extreme south of the mainland...
, the capital of Travancore state when he was a child and settled there. Nagam Aiya had his early education at Maharajah's High School and College in Thiruvananthapuram. He completed his matriculation in 1865 and his F. A. in 1866 and became the first graduate of Maharajah's College when he graduated in February 1870.
In the Travancore service
In 1870, Nagam Aiya was appointed as a clerk in the English Office by the then Diwan, Sir T. Madhava Rao. In 1872, he was appointed Tahsildar and rose to become Diwan Peishkar in 1883. In 1875, at the age of 24, Nagam Aiya conducted the first census operations in Travancore.In 1906, Nagam Aiya was deputed to prepare a gazetteer of Travancore state on the lines of the district manuals of Madras Presidency. The Travancore State Manual, comprising three volumes, which appeared in 1906, is considered to be Nagam Aiya's greatest work and is still in print.