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{{Short description|Influential faction in the Madras Presidency}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{Use Indian English|date=August 2024}}
[[File:V. Bhashyam Iyengar.png|thumb|190x190px|Dewan Bahadur Sir [[V. Bhashyam Aiyangar]] [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]]]
[[File:CP Ramaswami Aiyar.jpg|thumb|212x212px|Dewan Bahadur Sachivottama Sir [[C. P. Ramaswami Iyer]] [[Order of the Star of India|KCSI KCIE]]]]

The '''Mylapore clique''' (also termed an oligarchy,<ref name=":32">{{Cite book |last=Stein |first=Burton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QY4zdTDwMAQC |title=A History of India |date=2010-02-04 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |isbn=978-1-4443-2351-1 |language=en}}</ref> faction,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4zBRAQAAIAAJ |title=Cambridge South Asian Studies |date=1965 |isbn=978-0-521-20755-3 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":22">{{Cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Sumit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOawCwAAQBAJ |title=Modern India 1885–1947 |date=1989-01-24 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-19712-5 |language=en}}</ref> group,<ref name=":0" /> set,<ref name=":22" /> and cabal<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sundararajan |first=Saroja |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nr5HAAAAMAAJ |title=March to Freedom in Madras Presidency, 1916-1947 |date=1989 |publisher=University of Michigan Press (original); Lalitha Publications |language=en}}</ref>) was a small group<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Kannan |first=R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=USfI9rPtpygC&dq=mylapore+clique&pg=PT27 |title=Anna: The Life and Times of C.N. Annadurai |date=2017-06-13 |publisher=Penguin UK |isbn=978-81-8475-313-4 |language=en}}</ref> of politically moderate and elite [[Brahmin|Brahmins]] (primarily [[Tamil Brahmins]]),<ref name=":02" /> — many of whom were noted lawyers, administrators, academics or educators, and industrialists<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sundararajan |first=Saroja |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nr5HAAAAMAAJ |title=March to Freedom in Madras Presidency, 1916-1947 |date=1989 |publisher=Lalitha Publications |language=en}}</ref> — in the [[Madras Presidency]]. The clique is considered to have "wielded almost exclusive influence and patronage in the service and government appointments",<ref name=":02" /> and "controlled the flow of resources out of the institutions of the capital",<ref>{{Citation |last=Washbrook |first=David |title=Political Change in a Stable Society: Tanjore District 1880 to 1920 |date=1975 |work=South India: Political Institutions and Political Change 1880–1940 |pages=20–68 |editor-last=Baker |editor-first=C. J. |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02746-0_2 |access-date=2024-03-27 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-02746-0_2 |isbn=978-1-349-02746-0 |editor2-last=Washbrook |editor2-first=D. A.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and "dominated the professional and political life of [[Madras Presidency|[the presidency]]]."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ganesan |first=A. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cL7KVAqvSEYC&dq=mylapore+clique&pg=PA59 |title=The Press in Tamil Nadu and the Struggle for Freedom, 1917-1937 |date=1988-01-01 |publisher=Mittal Publications |isbn=978-81-7099-082-6 |language=en}}</ref>

== Overview ==
Informal and exclusive, the clique was controlled by two extended families, the [[Vembaukum family|Vembaukum]] [[Iyengar|Iyengars]], and the [[Calamur Viravalli|Calamur Viravalli-Chetpet]] [[Iyer|Iyers]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Washbrook |first=D. A. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cbo9780511563430 |title=The Emergence of Provincial Politics |date=1976-07-29 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511563430 |isbn=978-0-521-20982-3}}</ref> and took its name from [[Mylapore|the luxurious Madras City neighborhood]] in which many of its members kept mansions. The clique formed and began to exert influence during the 1880s and 1890s under the headship of [[Sir V. Bhashyam Aiyangar]] and [[Sir S. Subramania Iyer]],<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Sarkar |first=Sumit |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kOawCwAAQBAJ |title=Modern India 1885–1947 |date=1989-01-24 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-1-349-19712-5 |language=en}}</ref> with [[R. Raghunatha Rao]] as a tertiary leader.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sundararajan |first=Saroja |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-ExuAAAAMAAJ |title=Madras Presidency in Pre-Gandhian Era: A Historical Perspective, 1884-1915 |date=1997 |publisher=Lalitha Publications |language=en}}</ref> Some argue that the clique reached its zenith between 1910 and 1920,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vēṇu |first=Ē Es |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_XBuAAAAMAAJ |title=Anna and the Crusade |date=1987 |publisher=Nakkeeran Pathippagam |language=en}}</ref> while others highlight its influence in ministry and magistracy continuing into the 1920s and 1930s, with [[Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer]] as leader.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Studdert-Kennedy |first=Gerald |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j2k_AAAAMAAJ |title=Providence and the Raj: Imperial Mission and Missionary Imperialism |date=1998-11-24 |publisher=SAGE Publications |isbn=978-0-7619-9277-6 |language=en}}</ref>

American historian [[Eugene F. Irschick]] said of them, "the Mylapore Clique was most powerful in the High Court and the Judiciary, but its great influence permeated the [[Fort St. George, India|Secretariat at Fort St. George]] and all the Tamil District administrations. It was not without its ramifications in the more important Telugu Districts — [[Guntur district|Guntur]], [[Krishna district|Kistna]], [[Godavari District|Godavaris]], [[Visakhapatnam|Vizag]], and [[Ballari|Bellary]].'<ref>{{Cite book |last=Irschick |first=Eugene F. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fLY7v3tbM8kC |title=Politics and Social Conflict in South India |publisher=University of California Press |language=en|author-link=Eugene F. Irschick}}</ref> Affiliates and relatives of senior members - especially those related to the two dominant families - ascended the bureaucracy, magistracy, and business communities, under a government which had come to operate appointments using "the celebrated principle of the best-backed" candidates.<ref>{{Cite book |author=University of London Centre of South Asian Studies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=seAlAAAAMAAJ |title=Leadership in South Asia |date=1977 |publisher=Vikas Publishing House |isbn=978-0-7069-0540-3 |language=en}}</ref> One beneficiary was [[Srinivasa Ramanujan]], initially funded by clique member [[R. Ramachandra Rao]], then Collector of [[Nellore]] and President of the [[Indian Mathematical Society]], who obtained for him a well-salaried accounting clerkship in the [[Madras Port Trust]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Aiyangar |first=Srinivasa Ramanujan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Of5G0r6DQiEC |title=Ramanujan: Letters and Commentary |date=1995-09-07 |publisher=American Mathematical Soc. |isbn=978-0-8218-9125-4 |language=en}}</ref> which was succeeded by a special scholarship at the [[University of Madras]] secured by the advocacy of university vice-chancellor, Justice of the High Court, and clique leader [[P. R. Sundaram Iyer]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kanigel |first=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m08ADAAAQBAJ&dq=ramanujan+pr+sundaram&pg=PA178 |title=The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan |date=2016-04-26 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1-4767-6349-1 |language=en}}</ref>{{Efn-lr|On his return from England, sickened with tuberculosis, Ramanujan was treated by the medical specialist P. S. Chandrasekhara Iyer, brother of clique leader [[Sir P. S. Sivaswami Iyer]].}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rajagopalan |first=K. R. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AOTuAAAAMAAJ&q=brother+doctor+treat+ramanujan |title=Srinivasa Ramanujan |date=1988 |publisher=Sri Aravinda-Bharati |language=en}}</ref>

Senior members routinely served as judges and justices of the [[High Court of Madras]], as [[Tehsildar|Tehsildars]] and [[District collector|district magistrates]], as Ministers of the [[Executive Council of the Governor of Madras]] and the [[Legislative Council of Madras]], in [[Madras Corporation]], and in similar offices; in parallel, they were often honoured by the British as [[Order of the British Empire|Companions or Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire]] or [[Order of the Star of India|of the Order of the Star of India]], and/or as [[Knight Bachelor|Knights Bachelor]], with the [[Kaisar-i-Hind Medal]],{{Efn-lr|Justice V. Krishnaswamy Iyer; Dewan Bahadur Justice C.V. Viswanatha Sastri}} as well as with the titles of [[Rao Bahadur|Rai or Rao Bahadur]], and of [[Dewan Bahadur]]. Members were mainstays as high as the [[Viceroy's Executive Council]], governing all [[British India]] as it sat under the purview of their ministerial portfolios,{{efn-lr|e.g. Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer, Sir P.S. Sivaswamy Iyer}} and sat even on the [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]{{Efn-lr|V.S. Srinivasa Sastri, also created a [[Companion of Honour]]}} and as [[British India|India's]] delegates to the [[League of Nations]], the [[Round Table Conferences (India)|Round Table Conferences]], and the [[London Economic Conference|London Economic Conference of 1933]].{{Efn-lr|Sir C.P. Ramaswami Iyer, Sir P.S. Sivaswami Iyer}}

The Mylapore clique and its ur-elements were of central importance in the [[Madras Mahajana Sabha]],<ref name=":22" /> forerunner of the [[Indian National Congress]], which it dominated without resistance in the southern territories until 1905,<ref name=":32" /> rendering it nearly 'moribund'.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Knight |first=Lionel Charles |title=Britain in India: 1858 - 1947 |date=2012 |publisher=Anthem |isbn=978-0-85728-517-1 |series=Anthem perspectives in history |location=London}}</ref> [[Annie Besant]] developed close ties to the Mylapore set resulting in the exploration of [[Theosophy]] by many Mylapore elites, and, after 1910, the metamorphosis of the set's regional machines, via [[Theosophical Society]] branches into tools of nationalist mobilization,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Prakash |first=Gyan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s2XcDwAAQBAJ |title=Another Reason: Science and the Imagination of Modern India |date=2020-06-16 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-21421-4 |language=en}}</ref> eventually resulting in [[Home Rule Movement (India)|India's Home Rule Movement]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sundararajan |first=Saroja |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyFuAAAAMAAJ |title=Sir C.P. Ramaswami Aiyar, a Biography |date=2002 |publisher=Allied Publishers |isbn=978-81-7764-326-8 |language=en}}</ref> Beyond conventional politics, the Mylapore clique was also active in long-running attempts to reform of the Madras Presidency's 75,000 Hindu temples<ref name=":0">{{Citation |last=Baker |first=Christopher |title=Temples and Political Development |date=1975 |work=South India: Political Institutions and Political Change 1880–1940 |pages=69–97 |editor-last=Baker |editor-first=C. J. |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02746-0_3 |access-date=2024-03-26 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-02746-0_3 |isbn=978-1-349-02746-0 |editor2-last=Washbrook |editor2-first=D. A.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> as the ''Dharmarakshana Sabha'',<ref>{{Citation |last=Gould |first=William |title=Social and Religious Reform in 19th-Century India |date=2020-01-30 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Asian History |url=https://oxfordre.com/asianhistory/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.001.0001/acrefore-9780190277727-e-382 |access-date=2024-03-26 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780190277727.013.382 |isbn=978-0-19-027772-7|url-access=subscription }}</ref> against which British colonial administrators, increasingly wary, effectively waged a proxy war in the 1910s, although the ''Sabha'' succeeded in obtaining its selectees' appointments to the administration of the richest of the presidency's temples through the courts.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rajaraman |first=P. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GGMmAAAAMAAJ |title=The Justice Party: A Historical Perspective, 1916-37 |date=1988 |publisher=Poompozhil Publishers |language=en}}</ref>

Opposition came at first, haphazardly, from [[Triplicane Six]] ringleader and editor-in-chief of [[the Hindu]], [[G. Subramania Iyer]],<ref name=":4" /> who was sidelined after the 1880s, and consequently from [[C. Sankaran Nair|Sir C. Sankaran Nair]]'s 'less well-placed'<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=chvjAAAAMAAJ |title=History and Archaeology |date=1980 |publisher=University of Michigan Press (original); Department of Ancient History, Culture, and Archaeology, University of Allahabad |language=en}}</ref> [[Egmore clique]], backed by [[S. Kasturi Ranga Iyengar]], who in 1905 purchased control of [[The Hindu]]; later, from, the [[Justice Party (India)|Justice Party]];<ref>{{Citation |last=Washbrook |first=David |title=The Development of Caste Organisation in South India 1880 to 1925 |date=1975 |work=South India: Political Institutions and Political Change 1880–1940 |pages=150–203 |editor-last=Baker |editor-first=C. J. |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-02746-0_5 |access-date=2024-03-27 |place=London |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-1-349-02746-0_5 |isbn=978-1-349-02746-0 |editor2-last=Washbrook |editor2-first=D. A.|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Venkatraman |first=V. |date=2019 |title=March To Freedom: Indian Press and Public Opinion Towards Indian Independence in Madras Presidency 1942-1947 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3437197 |journal=SSRN Electronic Journal |doi=10.2139/ssrn.3437197 |issn=1556-5068|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref> the [[Self-Respect Movement]] and [[Dravidian movement|Non-Brahmin movement, today known as the Dravidian movement]] are viewed by scholars as a reaction to and against Mylapore hegemony,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Veluchamy |first=C. |title=Political Trends and Dawn of the Justice Party Volume : III, Issue : III, April - 2013 |url=https://oldisrj.lbp.world/ArchiveArticle.aspx?ArticleID=2267 |access-date=2024-03-17 |website=oldisrj.lbp.world |publisher=Lakshmi Book Publication |doi=10.9780/22307850|doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Torri |first=Michelguglielmo |date=1977 |editor-last=Washbrook |editor-first=D. A. |title=Social System and Ideology in South India |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4365773 |journal=Economic and Political Weekly |volume=12 |issue=29 |pages=1144–1148 |jstor=4365773 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref> while the Mylapore-Egmore rivalry proved crucial to the formation of the mature [[Indian National Congress]].<ref name=":22" /> Along with the neutral (though [[Brahminical]]) [[Triplicane|Triplicane Clique]] of Ramarao and [[M. O. Parthasarathy Iyengar]], Mylapore and Egmore were often referred to as Madras' 'Three Inns of Court', paralleling London's [[Gray's Inn]], [[Lincoln's Inn]], and [[Middle Temple]]. During the [[Indian Home Rule movement|Home Rule movement]], Mylapore and Egmore were briefly allied, although this failed to last. The [[Indian Nationalism|nationalists]] of the Salem Clique led by [[Chakravarti Rajagopalachari|Rajaji]] wrestled with the Mylapore faction for control over the [[1937 Madras Presidency Legislative Assembly election|provincial congress]] and eventually succeeded with the [[Gandhism|Gandhian]] line of engagement.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2014-04-20 |title=Madras was where idea of Congress was born |url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/madras-was-where-idea-of-congress-was-born/articleshow/33976753.cms |access-date=2024-09-11 |work=The Times of India |issn=0971-8257}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=B.A |first=Pon Vasanth |date=2023-09-26 |title=Was Indian National Congress founded in Madras? |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/tamil-nadu/the-mylapore-building-and-the-birth-of-indian-national-congress/article67349879.ece |access-date=2024-09-11 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref>

== Senior members ==
* Dewan Bahadur Sir [[V. Bhashyam Aiyangar]] [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]] †
* Dewan Bahadur Sir [[S. Subramania Iyer]] [[Order of the Star of India|KCIE]] †
* Dewan Bahadur [[R. Raghunatha Rao|Rai Raghunatha Rao]] [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]
* Justice [[V. Krishnaswamy Iyer]] [[Order of the Star of India|CSI]] [[Kaisar-i-Hind Medal|Kaisar-i-Hind]] †
* Sir [[P. S. Sivaswami Iyer]] [[Order of the Star of India|KCSI CIE]]
* [[C.V. Kumaraswami Sastri|Dewan Bahadur Chief Justice Sir]] [[C. V. Kumaraswami Sastri]]
* Dewan Bahadur Justice [[C.V. Viswanatha Sastri]], [[Kaisar-i-Hind Medal|Kaisar-i-Hind]]
* Sir [[V. C. Desikachariar]]
* [[V. S. Srinivasa Sastri]] [[Companion of Honour|CH]] [[Privy Council of the United Kingdom|PC]]
* Dewan Bahadur Sachivottama Sir [[C. P. Ramaswami Iyer]] [[Order of the Star of India|KCSI KCIE]] †
* [[S. Srinivasa Iyengar]] [[Order of the Indian Empire|CIE]]
* Dewan Bahadur Justice [[L. A. Govindaraghava Aiyar]]
* [[G. A. Natesan]]
* Justice [[P. R. Sundaram Iyer]]
* Judge [[C. R. Pattabhirama Iyer]]
* Dewan Bahadur [[R. Ramachandra Rao]]

(† denotes a generational leader)

== Allies or subordinate members ==
* ''Dewan Bahadur Sir [[Mocharla Ramachandra Rao|Mocharla Ramachandra Rao Pantulu Garu]] [[Kaisar-i-Hind Medal|Kaisar-i-Hind]]''
* [[Konda Venkatappayya]]
* [[N. Subba Rao Pantulu]]
* [[Kandukuri Veeresalingam|Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu]]

== See also ==
* [[:Category:Mylapore clique]]

== Notes ==
<references group="lower-roman" responsive="1"></references>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

[[Category:Mylapore clique| ]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Indian political party founders]]
[[Category:Madras Presidency]]

Mylapore clique - Revision history

NamVanwagenen: created new pg