Autobiography of Shiyali Ramamrita Ranganathan

Ranganathan was born in Shiyali in Tanjavoor District of Tamil Nadu (then part of Madras Presidency) in his maternal grandfather's house in North Rampart Street,(Vadakku Madavilaga Theruvu) around 9.30 A.M. on 9th August 1892. It was a Gayathri Japam day in the month of Adi of the year Nandana. On that day and at that time, South Indian Brahmins recite Manthram to Gayathri to redeem them from the sins committed by them thus far. His Janmanakshatra was Danishta and Lagna Kanya. He was the first child of his parents and the first grandchild of the grandparents both paternal and maternal.
His father, Ramamrita Ayyar, belonged to the village of Ubhayavedanthapuram in the Nannilam Taluk at Tanjavoor District. He was a landlord holding a medium-sized property of wet land, growing paddy, the principal food crop of the Cauvery delta. He was a learned and cultured man, used to giving Ramayana Pravachanam to small audiences was influential and was held in high esteem by the people of the neighbourhood and by visiting officials. Seethalakshmi, mother of Ranganathan, was a simple and very pious lady. The parents had three sons and a daughter — one of the sons died in its early age and the daughter was born a posthumous child.

Subscribe to My Information Library by Email