P. Ramarayaningar, Raja of Panagal
1866 – 1928
Founder-member and the longest-serving Justice Chief Minister of the 1920s, whose ministry issued the first communal G.O. and passed the Hindu Religious Endowments law.
Raja Sir Panaganti Ramarayaningar (9 July 1866 – 16 December 1928), the Raja of Panagal, was born in Srikalahasti and educated in Madras, taking degrees in Sanskrit, law, philosophy and Dravidian languages. He was a founder-member of the Justice Party and its president from 1925 to 1928.
In the first Justice ministry he was Minister of Local Self-Government and Public Health. He became First Minister on 11 July 1921 and held office until 3 December 1926. His government issued the first communal Government Order on public appointments (16 September 1921), introduced the Hindu Religious Endowments Bill, passed the State Aid to Industries Act of 1922 and implemented the Madras Town Planning Act of 1920, under which the T. Nagar colony was developed around a park that bears his name.
His ministry also had a darker side: Wikipedia records that it banned the publication and distribution of poems by the nationalist poet Subramania Bharati.
Key contributions
- First Minister of the Madras Presidency, 1921–1926
- First communal Government Order (G.O. No. 613), 1921
- Hindu Religious Endowments Bill, which became law in 1925
- Town planning that created T. Nagar and Panagal Park
In our pages
- Madras High Court opens suo motu case to strip caste names from Tamil Nadu's streets
- 20 November 1916: the evening a movement was founded in Madras
- December 1920: the first elected ministry of Madras, and the limits of dyarchy
- 1 April 1921: when Madras let women vote, and what followed
- 16 September 1921: G.O. No. 613 and the birth of reservation in public appointments
- Temples, universities and T. Nagar: the Raja of Panagal's lasting reforms