Book Review - M.K. Nambyar - A Constitutional Visionary

Benjamin Disraeli, the thinker moots for reading biographies as they are life without theories. I would have accepted this theory of Disraeli earlier but hesitate to accept it in toto as a lived life may not always be laden with vapid theories but principles that illuminate a person, infact take away her out in the sunshine of real knowledge; as Plato explains in his Allegory of cave, breaking the chains of bondages, liberating a being. What I expressed above comes after reading a series of biographies that have permeated the neo-liberal market but certain texts stand out as the case has been of a beautifully crafted; biography of Legal Doyen, a visionary and Constitutionalist to the core, M.K. Nambyar. The biography is an epitome of hard work of three brilliant legal scholars; K.K. Venugopal (his son and former attorney general of India), Suhrith Parthasarathy (practicing advocate at Madras High court) and Suhasini Sen (practicing advocate in Delhi). Nambyar belonged to the period where India as a nation was in the process of becoming a Nation-State after adoption of a principled text that would lead to institutionalisation of Rule of Law. Chapter 1 gives the readers the background that led to the formation of a being, M.K. Nambyar. Rich in citations, the chapter delved into the sociological nuances of Northern Malabar. Its an educational experience for a person who is not very well aware of modus-operandi of caste(s). The text here puts forth the graded hierarchical system of caste(s). As Nambyar belongs to the Nair community, the text deals with the mythological as well as pragmatic discourses of the origin of Nayars before finally settling to describe the life in Tharuvaads. What attracts and makes the chapter brilliant is the spatiality and its politics that reflect the religious hold over conscience and conscious of the people. The banal details that delve into the everyday lives of the people points to the banality of evil of caste(s). The introduction of English, the role of christian missionaries, the acrimonious notions of purity and pollution- caste(s) markers throw a light on the makeup of fractured modernity that thrives on inequalities. Chapter 1 was more sociological in its inclination but chapter 2 deals with the history of the Nambyar's evolution paralleling the Indian National movement. Though larger strand of Nationalist movement was visible in the form of Gandhian mass movement especially Khilafat movement that adopted an eclectic approach vis-a-vis Hindu-Muslim unity but what makes this chapter standout is the foregrounding of dialectics of Religion, Region, Colonial Modernity and Feudal agrarian relations, giving rise to new synthesis in the form of Subaltern movements. The uprising by farmers-Koots, armed uprising in Mangalore, Moplah rebellion, Kayyur riots, a hand in gloves rule of colonial rulers and feudal lords point to the above mentioned deontological processes. This chapter also delves into the left-socialist strand that developed within the larger national movement like the revolutionary communist movement, the birth of Congress Socialist Party. We are introduced here to freedom fighter K. Madhavan, who participated and led the Nationalist movement in Kerala. Chapter 3. is more of personal yet familial details of Nambyar. It illuminates the readers about the lives and deeds of Nambyars family members along with the personality of Nambiar. This chapter portrays the rich architectural history of Madras High Court by a thick description of finer details which mark cosmopolitan architectural underpinnings of Madras High Court. The following lines reproduced below depict my experiences while reading the text, The stained glass behind the chair of the Chief Justice carries the image of an elephant between two owls, with the elephant symbolizing strength and the owls, wisdom. Likewise, the recurring motifs on the outer walls of the high court are swans and snakes, with swans referring to 'Anna Patchi', which has the capacity to separate milk from water, as a judge might separate truth from falsehood. The snake symbolizes the concept of karma in Hinduism, which, of course, has a fundamental relationship to the concept of justice. Nambyar during this phase of life has an opportunity to visit and study in England and the understanding of Constitutional and Administrative law that he comes up with is evident in the later part of the chapters. Thus, Nambyar paved a way for a due process based, liberal yet individuality upholding, human dignity enhancing teleological reading of the Constitution of India. Chapter 4 details his journey as to how he handled the first important landmark judgment, A.K. Gopalan case, that was a landmark judgment that dealt with the idea of preventive detention. Rather than using a legalistic jargon that could be boring for a layperson, the authors have delved into giving a ...

Book Review - M.K. Nambyar - A Constitutional Visionary

Nikhil Sanjay-Rekha Adsule

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