Magge Venkatakrishnaiah, fondly known as Tataiah, was born in Magge village in H.D. Kote taluk of Mysuru District in 1844. He lost his father Subbaiah when he was just 11-years-old and came to Mysuru with his mother Bhagirathamma and three sisters. He completed his matriculation under very difficult circumstances.
By offering home tuitions, he generated income for house expenses. By virtue of sheer hardwork, he opened many schools and started many newspapers and was called the Pitamaha of Journalism. At a time when educating girl children was considered a crime, he opened separate schools for girls. He also started schools for special and physically challenged children.
Tataiah started Anathalaya for children from poverty-stricken families and orphans. He was also successful in putting pressure on the then government to start a Medical College. He had also given an endowment fund of Rs.2,000 to start the Journalism Department in the University of Mysore.
During his visit to Mysore, Gandhiji spent quite some time with the children of Anathalaya, Mysore’s oldest charitable institution. He had also said, “I have a great respect in my heart for Sri Venkatakrishnaiah’s efforts towards public service, eradication of discrimination among poor and backward classes of the society. I would like to bestow upon him the title of ‘Bheeshma of Mysore.”
As an honour to him, there is a statue of Tataiah inside Tataiah Park located opposite Lansdowne building which was unveiled by the then President of India V V Giri in 1969.
Did You Know?
Mysore Paints and Varnish Limited (Formerly known as Mysore Lac and Paints Limited) is a company which was established in 1937 by HH Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar. It is the only company in India which is authorised to produce indelible ink, which is used in elections to prevent people from voting multiple times.