S. Satyamurti was unique among the titans of the era of the struggle for Independence in combining within himself talents, abilities and interests which are rarely seen in the same person.

He was, of course, an indomitable freedom fighter, who ground himself in that noble cause and died at the early age of 56 in 1943 without savouring the joy of seeing India free. He was perhaps the only mass leader of the then Madras Presidency whose magnetic appeal derived from the magic of his oratory in Tamil. In this respect, he became a legend in his own life-time.

He was no less eloquent in English which he forged into a mighty weapon to send his opponents, particularly the colonial John Bulls and their Indian cohorts scurrying for cover.

He dominated the Madras Legislative Council and the Central Legislative Assembly with his wit, repartees and barrage of supplementaries before which hard-boiled members of the British ruling class quailed.

At the same time, he was utterly without malice, never hit below the belt, and was open and friendly.

That was why, even the British mandarins, far from minding his attacks, were genuinely fond of him.

He also left the indelible stamp of his variegated personality on arts, culture, music, journalism and the world of films.

When Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead, Bernard Shaw, in his own quaint manner, commented that it showed how dangerous it was to be too good. So also, the treatment that Satyamurti received at the hands of other Congress leaders showed how dangerous it was to be too scintillating.

He was never made a member of the Congress Working Committee, where he would have shone with his capabilities of incisive analysis and political acumen.

Even though he was the sole architect of the matchless electoral triumph of the Congress in the Madras Presidency in 1937, casting a hypnotic spell with his powerful campaign speeches, he was left out of the first ever Congress Government formed by Rajaji.

While outwardly being polite to him, the top Congress leaders never took kindly to his courage in speaking his mind and forcefully advocating what he considered to be the right course of action.

For instance, he was an unwavering votary of Council entry, arguing that Indians must beat the British in their own game and carry the war into their own camp.

He made no secret of his differences with Gandhiji, Rajaji and others on some of the courses on which their minds were set.

On one occasion, Gandhiji was so incensed as to call his conduct (in walking out of a meeting) ‘ungentlemanly, unpatriotic and uncalled for’ — a kind of totally untypical verbal violence. Satyamurti did not take that lying down.

While expressing regrets for anything that smacked of ungentlemanliness, he told Gandhiji point blank that he was not justified in describing his conduct unpatriotic and uncalled for. There was also a feeling among the small-minded Congressmen that he was too chummy with the British.

These must have been the reasons why he was not considered a team player and kept at arms’ length.

The two volumes are a ‘must-read’ for those interested in the interplay of colossuses in that distant but glorious era.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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