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        R L Narasimhan (1906-1981), who's birth centennary is being celebrated in Chennai today, was one of the most distinguished members of the Indian Civil Service (ICS). In the whole history of the world no administrative service has been more remarkable than the ICS.

        Lord Dufferin, Viceroy of India from 1884 to 1888, paid this tribute to the ICS: 'You ask me to tell you the plain truth regarding the skill, experience, and, in more general terms, the moral worth of the officials of our Indian Civil Service (ICS). I reply without hesitation: 'THERE IS NO SERVICE LIKE IT IN THE WORLD. For ingenuity, courage, right judgement, disinterested devotion to duty, endurance, open-heartedness, and, at the same time, loyalty to one another and their chiefs, they are to my knowledge superior to any other class of administrators in the whole world. They are absolutely free from any taint of venality or corruption. We have 250 millions of subjects in India and less than 1000 civilians for the conduct of the entire administration.' I fully endorse the views of Lord Dufferin.

Ramaswamy Lakshmi Narasimhan was born on September 27, 1906 in the Cudappah District of erstwhile Madras Presidency. He was the son of Sri Ramaswamy Dikshithar who hailed from East Vazhuthoor in Thanjavur District. Vazhuthoor village has an abiding place in the cultural history of Thanjavur, having produced several Vedic and Sanskrit scholars of renown for several generations.         Narasimhan had a brilliant academic career. He stood second in the Madras Presidency in the Intermediate Examination conducted by the University of Madras in 1923. E S Krishnamoorthy stood first in the same examination in Madras Presidency. Later both of them studied together in Presidency College, Madras. They rose to great official heights in public service and remained life-long friends till the end of their days.         Narasimhan did his BA (Hons) in Chemistry from the Presidency College, Madras standing first and winning a Gold Medal for his outstanding academic performance. His classmate E S Krishnamoorthy stood second. Immediately thereafter Narasimhan worked as a Lecturer in the Government College at Kumbakonam. He appeared for the prestigious ICS Examination and was selected by the Secretary of State for India as an ICS Probationer in 1929.         His classmate Krisnamoorthy joined the Imperial Customs Service of British India in 1930. Narasimhan was deputed to England for further official training during his probation in the ICS.         During his training period in England, he completed his BA (Hons) in Sanskrit with distinction at the University of Oxford. It is indeed amazing that he chose to study Sanskrit at Oxford at a time when all the young men in India, particularly those who made it into the ICS, were more interested in Anglican ways of living and thinking!! Narasimhan, however, did not allow his mind to get colonised by Anglo-Saxon culture and civilisation. He was indeed a unique individual, totally dedicated to the study of Sanskrit language and literature throughout his life time.

Shri Narasimhan  ICS (1906 -1981) A Great Jurist & Sanskrit Scholar

        In this context, I cannot help recalling a very interesting fact about Narasimhan. An ICS officer called Tampoe was Collector of Tirunelveli in Madras Presidency in the 1920s. Here I am really delighted to reminisce about Tampoe ICS because he was one of my most distinguished predecessors who held the post of Collector of Tirunelveli. I had the good fortune of perusing some of his brilliant notes in the old files and documents in the Collector's Office in Tirunelveli. Every year, Tampoe used to go to Oxford University in England to teach Indian languages, including Tamil and Sanskrit, to the ICS Probationers undergoing training there. Tampoe much later told one of my close friends Late A Ranganathan, son of Airavatham ICS of Bengal cadre in 1950, how he had the good fortune of interacting with Narasimhan ICS during his days as a Probationer at Oxford in 1929. Tampoe had told Ranganathan 'Narasimhan had a razor-sharp intellect with boundless enthusiasm for Sanskrit language and literature. He fully seemed to appreciate even as a young man the vital fact that the Sanskrit language, very much like the sacred river Ganga, had flowed across India for thousands of years, not only embracing and nourishing, but also uplifting and purifying the entire Country and its people and creating a unique civilisation and culture.'

        On completion of his probation at Oxford University, Narasimhan was allotted to the Bihar/Orissa cadre. He started his career as Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) in Buxor at Bihar. After serving as a District Magistrate and Collector at Balasore, Arrah, Bhagalpur in Bihar/Orissa, Narasimhan opted for the Judicial Service in 1938. He was appointed as Additional Sessions Judge at Bhagalpur on 8 March, 1939 and later promoted as District and Sessions Judge in the same station on 21 July, 1939. He served as District and Sessions Judge, Purulia from July 1941 to July 1943. He was then posted as District and Sessions Judge, Arrah in July 1943. In July 1944, he was transferred to Cuttack in Orissa as District and Sessions Judge. In May 1945, he was deputed to the Legislative Department of the Government of India for appointment as Deputy Secretary at New Delhi. On repatriation from Government of India in September 1945, he was posted as Law Secretary, Government of Orissa. Later, he was elevated as a High Court Judge at Cuttack when the Orissa High Court was established in 1948. In 1956, he was elevated as Chief Justice of Orissa High Court and served in that capacity with great distinction till 1965. During this period he delivered several definitive judgements which were fully appreciated by the Supreme Court of India. In 1965 he was transferred and posted as Chief Justice of Patna High Court in Bihar. He retired in 1968.

        After his retirement, he became Member-Secretary of the Law Commission in New Delhi. He was Chairman of the Railway Rates Tribunal for three years from 1973 to 1976. He also served as Chairman of the Prison Reforms Commission of the Government of Tamilnadu. Thus, he served with unremitting toil and dedication in several Judicial Tribunals and Commissions until he was struck down by a stroke in 1980. He passed away on 8 September, 1981 at Madras.

        Narasimhan married Indira in 1929 and lived happily ever thereafter. Their married life was fully blessed in every sense of the word. They had four children—two sons and two daughters—and all of them have distinguished themselves in their own way in several fields. Indira was a wonderful companion in the noblest traditions of Indian womanhood. Her pleasures lay solely in the happiness and comfort of her family. She and her husband shared many common intellectual and social interests. I have no doubt that Narasimhan would have loved to pay this tribute to his beloved wife and life-time companion Indira Narasimhan in the following beautiful words of Jeremy Taylor: 'A good wife is heaven's last, best gift to man', his gem of many virtues, his casket of jewels; her voice is sweet music, her smiles his brightest day, her kiss the guardian of his innocence, her arms the pale of his safety, her industry his surest wealth, her economy his safest steward, her lips his faithful counsellors, her bosom the softest pillow of his cares.

        During his career as an eminent Judge he delivered many several path breaking judgements on various controversial issues —— for instance by granting property rights to widows and equal rights to daughters etc. He also gave substantively authoritative judgements on many administrative matters which are now frequently quoted in Textbooks on Administrative Law.

        As a judge and jurist, his guiding lights were detachment, rigorous integrity in dealing with the facts of a case, refusal to resort to unworthy means, no matter how noble the end, and dedication to the Court as an Institution. The best tribute I can pay to Narasimhan ICS on the occasion of his birth centenary which is being celebrated today in Chennai by the members of his family will be in the beautiful words of another great judge Lord Moulton: 'There are three great domains of human action. First comes the domain of POSITIVE LAW, where actions are prescribed by laws binding upon us which must be obeyed. Next comes the domain of FREE CHOICE, which includes all those actions as to which we claim and ENJOY COMPLETE FREEDOM. But between these two domains, there is the third large and important domain in which there rules neither Positive Law nor Absolute Freedom. In that domain, there is no law which inexorably determines our course of action, and yet we feel that we are not free to choose as we would. I call this domain, THE DOMAIN OF OBEDIENCE TO THE UNENFORCEABLE'. To my mind the real greatness of a man is measured by the extent of his OBEDIENCE TO THE DOMAIN OF THE UNENFORCEABLE. Viewed in this light, Sri R.L.Narasimhan's devotion and dedication to the domain of obedience to the unenforceable remained totally unshaken and indivisible throughout his life.

        Horace Mann wrote: 'If any man seeks for greatness, let him forget greatness and ask for truth, and he will find both'. I have no doubt that Narasimhan found both in his distinguished life. All in all he was a completely integrated and harmonious human being who led a life of creative fulfilment—— a life of love and service guided and governed by expert knowledge and timeless wisdom—— and marked by a dominating humility and reverence.