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A.
Subba Rao (that was how he signed his name in English)
was born at Mulky, a small city towards the north of
Mangalore, on 19th November, 1852, the youngest of four
brothers. His father, Mr. Upendra Pai, who started his
profession as a pleader at Kaup, had shifted his
practice to the court at Mulky several years earlier.
As
a boy, Subba Rao was known to be mischievous, mediocre
in studies, fond of play, a ringleader among the boys.
But he was deeply respectful towards his elders and his
esteem for his father amounted to reverence.
After
the death of Subba Rao's mother, for the sake of the
children’s education, Upendra Pai shifted to Mangalore
in 1864. Subba Rao was admitted to Government High
School (then called the Provincial School). The loss of
his mother had brought a profound change in him. He
applied himself seriously to his studies. A new
earnestness seized him. As a result Subba Rao stood high
in the Matriculation examination and then in F.A.
Examination. In addition to studies, he was regular in
his "Sandhyavandana" and "Deva Pooja" which he did both
morning and evening. Because of this intense worship,
the inner life of the man began to blossom.
When
Subba Rao passed the B.A. examination, his father
decided to send him to Madras for the Degree course. In
those days, travelling to Madras was very difficult
because, the train from Madras stopped at Salem and one
had to travel from Mangalore to Salem by bullock-cart,
and there were many ferries to cross-and Subba Rao was
not even 18 years old.
Thus,
in 1870, Subba Rao got admission to the Presidency
College, Madras. There he came under the influence of
great educators that manned the staff.
Subba
Rao won the second rank at the B.A. examination, and
then joined the Madras Law College. There he came in
contact with Justice H. Holloway, who was a remarkable
personality. To Subba Rao, this contact proved a
rewarding experience. Subba Rao topped the list of
successful candidates at the B.L. examination. Then for
a short time he came home. He spent his time teaching
the children in the Gokarn Math School. He then returned
to Madras and worked as an apprentice under Mr. H. H.
Shepherd (who later rose to be a judge of the Madras
High Court).
At
the end of the period of apprenticeship, Subba Rao
enrolled at the Madras High Court, and prepared to
settle down to practise. This plan was cut short by the
sudden death of his father at Mangalore in
1876.
Subba
Rao shifted from Madras and set up practice at the
Mangalore Bar, where he soon made a mark and rose to the
top at a time when the Bar had a galaxy of brilliant
lawyers.
To
Subba Rao, law was both a profession and a mission. It
was a part of life. He saw life as an integral whole,
and there were no compartments. Quite early, he saw that
criminal suits often involved a deliberate side tracking
of truth, and confined his legal practice to civil
suits. Even here, he had experience of the bitterness
caused by litigation, and so he made every effort to
settle differences out of court, by reasoning and by
gentle persuasion, even though this meant loss of income
to him as a lawyer. His arguments in the court, which
were always brief but complete, reflected his love of
truth and his faith in the essential goodness of man.
Those who listened to him spoke of his full voice, and
of his eloquence in English, Kannada and
Tulu.
Subba
Rao's versatility could not be confined to the legal
profession. He did his professional work in the mornings
and at nights. The evenings were devoted to social work.
Every progressive movement got his support. He kept
himself fully informed about the fast - changing world.
His zeal and his love of mankind touched life at all
points. Progressive movements like the removal of
untouchability, the theosophical movement, and youth
activities got his unstinted support. He was grieved at
the lethargy of the people towards education, and
realized that there was no future for the people without
widespread general education and higher education in
technical subjects and in medicine.
At
Madras again...
As
per the instructions of his brother, Subba Rao went to
Madras to practise at the Madras High Court. One day
four young men, who were at their studies in Madras
called on him and put before him the idea of starting a
High School in Mangalore. He discussed this idea with
them, probed their minds in the process, and assured
them of his full support. Subba Rao decided to encourage
these young men for themselves as well as for the
welfare of the people in Mangalore.
In
1888, when Subba Rao got a very severe attack of gout;
the doctors advised him to leave Madras since the
climate evidently did not suit him. This made Subba Rao
to involve himself completely in the proposed
project.
Back
at Mangalore Finally...
Thus
in 1889, Subba Rao returned to Mangalore, and resumed
his profession at the Mangalore Bar. From then on, all
his spare time was turned to service. Amidst the deep
pain of Gout, he continued to be a cheerful personality
with a constant smile on his face.
The
four young teachers he had met at Madras were in
Mangalore in 1891; they were joined by a fifth. These
five started the Canara High School in June of that
year. However they found the need to form a Managing
Committee, and they naturally turned to Subba Rao. The
latter, in a characteristic gesture, approached
Mangalore Ramachandrayya and requested him to take the
lead and be the President of the Committee.
In
1894, even while he was working to stabilize the Canara
High School, Subba Rao started the Canara Girls' School
and devoted a considerable part of his spare hours to
foster this institution.
In
those days, there were just four other High Schools in
South Kanara (three of them in Mangalore), and none at
all in the whole of Coorg. Because a lot many number of
students were arriving from far off places, Subba Rao
thought of a hostel where these boys could properly be
cared for. Thus the Canara Hostel was started in 1904
with support from temples like Srimad Anantheshwar
Temple, Majeshwar and Sri Venkatramana Temple at Mulky
and Bantwal etc.
Some
more feathers in his cap...
Subba
Rao had always been encouraging young men to take to the
professional courses of Engineering and Medicine.
Because of his enormous efforts, in the next two
decades, our young men were seen holding high offices
both in the Engineering and Medical services.
When
the Arbuthnot Company crashed, many families lost their
savings. Subba Rao foresaw disaster ahead if the
community did not mobilize its own resources to help
itself. The result was the starting in 1906 of the
Canara Hindu Permanent Fund Ltd., which later became the
Canara Bank.
Subba
Rao was very self reliant himself, and had love for
literature. Because of his grasp in Kannada, the Madras
University appointed him as Examiner in Kannada for the
B.A. Examination.
Subba
Rao also initiated the formation of Gowda Saraswath
Brahman Parishad, an organisation consisting of people
from the Gowda Saraswath Brahman community. The resolve
of the committee was to raise a fund called 'Poor Boys
Education Fund' to help the education of the deserving
but poor students of the Community. Subba Rao, who
became the Chairman of the Parishad, himself travelled
to the north of the District. He was compelled to return
home when he was struck by a very severe attack of
gout.
The
severity of the attack increased, and Subba Rao suddenly
passed away on 25th July, 1909 leaving lots of his fans,
friends, worshippers, relatives in the ocean of
sadness.
The
funeral procession had people of all communities and
religions. All old rules of orthodoxy were broken; boys,
whose parents were alive, walked with the hearse to the
crematorium and watched the flames lick up the body; and
mothers held up their children to enable them to view
the body as it was carried past their doors.
Thus Subba Rao shrugged off
his mortal remains, and became a living soul!
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