Ammembal Subba Rao Pai

Ammembal Subba Rao Pai [Kannada: ಅಮ್ಮೆಮ್ಬಲ್ ಸುಬ್ಬ ರಾವ್ ಪೈ] was a leading lawyer of Mangalore, India. He was the founder of Canara Bank, now one of India's leading banks, and Canara High School in Mangalore.

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!

External links

* [http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/02/stories/.htm "Canara Bank going strong after 100 years in business", The Hindu, July 2, 2005]
* [http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/Jul42005/eb.asp "Banking on peoples’ trust", Deccan Herald, July 4, 2005]
* [http://www.chsassociation.in/html/the_founder.html "The Founder", Canara High School Association]
* [http://www.gsbkonkani.net/OurHistory.htm Welcome to GSB Konkani ] at www.gsbkonkani.net