M. P. T. Acharya - Early Life

Early Life

M.P.T. Acharya was born in 1887 in Madras to a family of Aiyangar brahmins. His father, M.P. Narasimha Aiyangar, was an employee in the Madras Public Works Department whose family had originally migrated from the state of Mysore. Young M.P.T. was exposed to nationalism from childhood, with his family playing a prominent role in the rise of Indian nationalism in South India. His close relatives included M.C. Alasinga Perumal, one of the co-founders of the Brahmavadin journal, as well as Prof. Rangachari of Madras Presidency College. Acharya himself was an admirer of Swami Vivekananda in his childhood.

By 1900, a young Acharya, along with Subramanya Bharathi, had begun publication of the weekly journal called India, and worked hard to popularise the publication within a short time. However, the journal's nationalist editorials and critical and satirical cartoons quickly drew the attention of The Raj, forcing the young editors to quietly shift to the French enclave of Pondicherry, following the trail of notable numbers who migrated to the enclave as refugees. The publication also acquired popularity in Pondicherry.

Work of the press continued unabated for M.P.T. Acharya, and was expanded to publications of revolutionary literature. The British Government began to seek French assistance to ban the publications which were deemed "seditious literature". Under pressure from British Indian authorities, the French authority in Pondicherry relented, allowing British Indian police to establish surveillance centres to monitor the activities of the revolutionaries. Attempts were also made at this time to extradite the Indians to British Indian custody. Subramania Bharaty, along with S.N.T. Acharya (owner of the India magazine) and the latter's cousin, were forced to flee to Europe.

Although some French officials did indeed harbour sympathies for the Indian revolutionaries, the latter also faced some resistance among the local Francophile and Europeanised Indians who saw the "new immigrants" somewhat contemptuously. The refugee cause was, however, taken up by a number of sympathetic French lawyers. Acharya found assistance from this group to help fight against his expulsion from Pondicherry.