https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=S._Krishnaswami_AiyangarS. Krishnaswami Aiyangar - Revision history2026-11-02T00:05:34ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=S._Krishnaswami_Aiyangar&diff=531242&oldid=prevManish Khouriwal at 03:54, 18 July 20242024-07-18T03:54:24Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{short description|Indian historian, academician and Dravidologist (1871–1946)}}<br />
{{for|other people named ''Krishnaswami''|Krishnaswami}}<br />
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{{Infobox person <br />
|name = S. Krishnaswamy Aiyangar<br />
|birth_name = Sakkottai Krishnaswamy Aiyangar |<br />
|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1871|04|15}} |<br />
|image = <br />
|birth_place = Sakkottai, [[Madras Presidency]] |<br />
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1946|11|26|1871|4|15}} |<br />
|death_place = [[Madras]], [[India]] |<br />
|occupation = Historian, [[Academician]], professor, author<br />
}}<br />
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{{family name hatnote|Sakkottai|Krishnaswamy Aiyangar|Indian name|lang=Toponymic}}[[Diwan Bahadur]] '''Sakkottai Krishnaswamy Aiyangar''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|list=[[Fellows of The Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|FRAS]]}} (15 April 1871 – 26 November 1946) was an Indian historian, [[academician]] and [[Dravidologist]]. He chaired the Department of Indian History and Archaeology at the [[University of Madras]] from 1914 to 1929.{{cn|date=August 2023}}<br />
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Krishnaswamy Aiyangar was born in a village near Kumbakonam in 1871. He did his education in [[Chennai|Madras]] and worked as a lecturer in Bangalore from 1899 to 1909. In 1914, he was made head of the department of Indian history and archaeology at the University of Madras, and held this post from 1914 to 1929. Krishnaswamy Aiyangar died in 1946 at the age of 76.{{cn|date=August 2023}}<br />
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Aiyangar was elected a member of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]] in 1908 and was conferred a [[Diwan Bahadur]] title in 1928. He is known for the new methods he introduced in interpreting the history of Vijayanagar. His historical methodology is considered{{By whom|date=October 2022}} to be Indian nationalistic.{{cn|date=August 2023}}<br />
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== Early life and education ==<br />
Krishnaswamy Aiyangar was born in a Tamil brahmin family<ref>{{Cite book|last=Richman|first=Paula|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XkifYfljHP4C&dq=s+krishnaswami+aiyangar+brahmin&pg=PA188|title=Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia|date=1991-08-29|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-07589-4|language=en}}</ref> at village of [[Sakkottai, Thanjavur|Sakkottai]] near [[Kumbakonam]] on 15 April 1871.<ref name="gangadhar_jha">{{cite book | title=The Journal of the Ganganatha Jha Research Institute| last=Ganganatha Jha Research Institute| year=1945| pages=80}}</ref> At the age of eleven, he lost his father.<ref name="historiography">{{cite book|title=Historiography|last=Subrahmanian|first=N.|publisher=Koodal publishers|year=1973|pages=454}}</ref> He had his schooling in Kumbakonam and graduated in history from the [[University of Madras]] in 1897.<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap4">{{cite book |title=The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara |first=Burton |last=Stein |authorlink=Burton Stein |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780521266932 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxeaYQbGDMC&pg=PA3 |pages=3–4}}</ref> In 1899, he obtained his M. A. from the University of Madras<ref name="nalanda_whoswho">{{cite book|title=Nalanda Year-book & Who's who in India|year=1947|pages=431}}</ref> and taught as a lecturer at the [[Central College of Bangalore]] from 1899 to 1909.<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap4" /><br />
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== Early career ==<br />
In 1904, he was elected fellow of the [[Royal Asiatic Society]].<ref name="nalanda_whoswho" /><ref name="waman_whoswho">{{cite book|title=Who's Who|last=P. Kabadi|first=Waman|publisher=Yeshanand & Co.|year=1935|pages=16}}</ref> He was awarded an [[Honorary degree|honorary PhD]] by the [[University of Calcutta]].<ref name="nalanda_whoswho" /><ref name="waman_whoswho" /> In 1928, the title of Diwan Bahadur was bestowed upon him.<ref name="waman_whoswho" /><br />
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== Head of Department of Indian History and Archaeology ==<br />
In 1914, the University of Madras appointed Krishnaswamy Aiyangar to the chair of the department of Indian history and archaeology.<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap4" /> Aiyangar headed the department till 1929.<ref name="historiography_Sreedharanp448">{{cite book|title=A Textbook of Historiography, 500 B.C. to A.D. 2000: 500 BC to AD 2000|pages=448|first=E.|last=Sreedharan|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=2004|isbn=81-250-2657-6|id=}}</ref> At about the same time, Aiyangar took over a struggling periodical called ''Journal of Indian History'' which was started by Shafaat Ahmed Khan in 1921.<ref name="historiography_Sreedharanp449">{{cite book|title=A Textbook of Historiography, 500 B.C. to A.D. 2000: 500 BC to AD 2000|pages=449|first=E.|last=Sreedharan|publisher=Orient Blackswan|year=2004|isbn=81-250-2657-6|id=}}</ref> Aiyangar faced financial difficulties in the beginning but rescued the journal by persuading the [[University of Kerala]] to take over the magazine.<ref name="historiography_Sreedharanp449" /> By the time the university had taken over the magazine Aiyangar had already established the journal as one of the premium history magazines in the world.<ref name="historiography_Sreedharanp449" /><br />
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Krishnaswamy Aiyangar was succeeded by [[K. A. Nilakanta Sastri]] to the chair of the Department of Indian History and Archaeology in 1929.<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap7">{{cite book |title=The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara |first=Burton |last=Stein |authorlink=Burton Stein |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780521266932 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxeaYQbGDMC&pg=PA7 |page=7}}</ref><br />
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== Methodology ==<br />
Krishnaswamy Aiyangar assisted [[Robert Sewell (historian)|Robert Sewell]] in his analyses of the epigraphy and archaeology of [[South India]].<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap4"/> These publications inspired Aiyangar to make a detailed enquiry into the history of [[Vijayanagara Empire|Vijayanagar]] and by the 1920s, he had published a set of masterpieces on the history of Vijayanagar.<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap4"/> His historical methodology was, however, a marked deviation from that of Sewell's and historians who had lived before him. His books devoted more attention to the [[Hindu–Islamic relations|Hindu-Muslim conflicts]] that shaped the history of Vijayanagar.<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap4"/> In his 1921-book ''Ancient India'', Aiyangar states that the [[Hoysala Empire|Hoysala king]] [[Veera Ballala III]] "made a patriotic effort to dislodge the [[Muhammadans]] from the South... fell in the effort, and brought his dynasty to an end in carrying on this great national war of the Hindus".<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap5">{{cite book |title=The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara |first=Burton |last=Stein |authorlink=Burton Stein |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780521266932 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxeaYQbGDMC&pg=PA5 |page=5}}</ref> His views were echoed by [[Kannadiga]] historian [[B. A. Saletore]] and Telugu historian N. Venkatramanayya.<ref name="cambridgehistoryofindiap6">{{cite book |title=The New Cambridge History of India: Vijayanagara |first=Burton |last=Stein |authorlink=Burton Stein |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1989 |isbn=9780521266932 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OpxeaYQbGDMC&pg=PA6 |page=6}}</ref><br />
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== Works ==<br />
* {{cite book|title=Ancient India|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar|year=1911|publisher=Luzac & Co.}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Sri Ramanujacharya:A Sketch of his life and times|year=1911|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy |last=Aiyangar|author2=T. Rajagopalachariar|author3= Malur Rangacharya|publisher=G. A. Natesan}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=A History of India|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar|year=1914|publisher=Longmans Green}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Sources of Vijayanagar History|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924024120150|publisher=University of Madras|year=1919|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Early history of Vaishnavism in South India|year=1920|publisher=University of Madras|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=South India and her Muhammadan invaders|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924024066742|year=1921|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar|publisher=Oxford University Press}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Some contributions of South India to Indian culture|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.511889|year=1923|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar|publisher=University of Calcutta}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=History of the Nayaks of Madura|first=R. Sathyanatha|last=Aiyar|author2=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy Aiyangar|year=1924|publisher=Oxford University Press}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Hindu India from Original Sources|year=1926|publisher=K & J. Cooper|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Ancient Jaffna: being a research into the history of Jaffna from very early times to the Portuguese period|url=https://archive.org/details/ancientjaffna00muda|first=C.|last=Rasanayagam|author2=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy Aiyangar|year=1926}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Hindu Administrative Institutions|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.530079|first=V. R. Ramachandra|last=Dikshitar|authorlink=V. R. Ramachandra Dikshitar|author2=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy Aiyangar|year=1929|publisher=University of Madras}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=The Historical Inscriptions of Southern India (collected Till 1923) and Outlines of Political History|first=Robert|last=Sewell|author2=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy Aiyangar|publisher=Diocesan Press|year=1932}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=A history of Tirupathi|year=1940|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar|publisher=C. Sambaiah Pantulu}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Seran Vanji: Vanji, the Capital of the Cheras|publisher=Cochin Govt. Press|year=1940|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Ancient India and South Indian History & Culture: Papers on Indian History and Culture; India to A.D. 1300|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.107400|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswmy|last=Aiyangar|year=1941|publisher=Oriental Book Agency}}<br />
* {{cite book|title=Evolution of Hindu Administrative Institutions in South India|url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionofhindu00skri|first=Sakkottai Krishnaswamy|last=Aiyangar}}<br />
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== References ==<br />
{{Reflist}}<br />
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{{Authority control}}<br />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Aiyangar, S. Krishnaswamy}}<br />
[[Category:1871 births]]<br />
[[Category:1946 deaths]]<br />
[[Category:19th-century Indian historians]]<br />
[[Category:Dravidologists]]<br />
[[Category:People from Thanjavur district]]<br />
[[Category:University of Madras alumni]]<br />
[[Category:Academic staff of the University of Madras]]<br />
[[Category:Scientists from Tamil Nadu]]<br />
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Asiatic Society]]<br />
[[Category:Dewan Bahadurs]]<br />
[[Category:20th-century Indian historians]]<br />
[[Category:Historians from British India]]</div>Manish Khouriwal