Mahadeva Subramania Mani - Early Life and Career

Early Life and Career

Early school records and University of Madras, MA Degree certificate show his name as M. Subramanya. Later on, sometime early during his service career, he recorded his name as Mahadev Subra Mani a.k.a. Mahadeva Subra Mani a.k.a. M. S. Mani.

He had his early education at K. S. High School, Tanjore and passed his SSLC Examination in 1926. He then attended the Government College, Coimbatore and passed the Intermediate Examination, 1928. Later he went to medical studies just for one year 1929, at Madras Medical College and had to suspend further medical education due to financial constraints. He obtained in 1937, an M.A. degree, awarded by the University of Madras, on the basis of the Research Papers in Entomology, and finally, on the strength of his extensive scientific research, he was awarded by Agra University, D.Sc. in 1947, a degree of a Doctor of Science. The Chancellor was the late Ms. Sarojini Naidu, the then Governor of United Provinces, (Uttar Pradesh).

On January 15, 1933 he migrated to Calcutta to seek employment and build his career. He then joined Bangabasi College, Sealdah, Calcutta as a part-time demonstrator and tutor for Physics and earned a salary of Rs. 10/- per month. During this period he collaborated with Sir C. V. Raman on insect coloration. He worked at the Indian Museum and also as an honorary Research student at the Zoological Survey of India, Calcutta. He later on (1937) joined as a Research Assistant to Imperial Entomologist, Imperial Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, Delhi, and a position from which he resigned in 1944. He worked with Dr. Hem Singh Pruthi at Pusa, and Dr. Birbal Sahni, then at Lucknow, who recognising the pioneering work in scientific research, strongly proposed M. S. Mani's Membership to the Royal Society, England. He was denied promotion while his ‘junior’ was promoted and hence he chose to seek his future elsewhere and resigned. He remained unemployed for sometime; he earned a living by working as an interpreter and German Language translator, during World War II, in the Censor Section of the Army H.Q., New Delhi, translating for the British Indian Army, 'official ' documents captured from the Germans. He would monitor radio broadcasts from Berlin and provide English transcripts. He also translated German language technical journals and scientific reports. As a matter of fact, he provided the English version of the German technology, for manufacturing 'vanaspathi' in India to the founder of the manufacturing plant at Modinagar.

He left Delhi and joined as a lecturer in 1945, the teaching faculty of the Department of Zoology, St. John's College, Agra; during his long stint at St. John's College, he pioneered and established the School of Entomology in 1950, established a benchmark scientific excellence, where he became the Professor of Zoology and Entomology and appointed as the Head of the Department for Zoology, succeeding Prof. Lalit Prasad Mathur, who took over as the Registrar, Agra University. In recognition of his scientific output, both in quality and quantity, he was honoured by the University of Agra and awarded a D.Sc. degree, Doctor of Science. He pioneered fundamental research in entomology and received support from the highest levels and the University Grants Commission, eminent persons like Dr. Radhakrishnan, Zakir Hussein, etc., and established the School of Entomology in 1950, in the Campus of St. John's College, Agra.

From here he made many scientific expeditions to the Himalayas resulting in pioneering contributions to High Altitude Entomology. He later made studies in the Pamir and Caucasus ranges leading to his work on Biogeography in India. The University of Agra awarded him a DSc degree in 1947 for his thesis submitted in 12 volumes.

In 1956, he joined the ZSI as Deputy Director and retired as officiating director in 1968. In 1968 he returned to his first love, Scientific Research and became Emeritus Professor, at the School of Entomology, St. John's College, Agra and continued with his research work till 1984. He then finally left St. John's College and shifted to Madras, briefly worked with ZSI and since 1990 he as the Emeritus Professor, Botany Department at Presidency College, Madras and continued as a guide for PhD. research students, till May 15, 2002 when he moved to live temporarily, in Hyderabad, with his late sister Janaki's grandson, Jyotirmay Sharma, Editor, Times of India, Hyderabad. He then moved to Bangalore on September 14, 2002 to live with his only daughter, Mrs. Prema Subramanian and her husband V. S. Subramanian.