Salem Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu - 12 April 1854 - 22 January 1922 - leading Balija Naidus during pre-1890 in South Tamil Nadu

Salem Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu or Pagadala Narasimhalu Nayadu was a Congressman, social worker, publisher and a writer of travelogues. He was also an industrialist based at Coimbatore and established various public institutions. A Balija Naidu, he was born to Rangaswami Naidu and Lakshmi Ammal in Erode on 12 April 1854. Similar to the house of Shyamala Ranga Bhashyam Naidu, he was also named Balakrishna at birth, and later renamed as Narasimhalu, after his grandfather.

Salem Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu

[from - http://www.hindu.com/2009/01/04/stories/2009010457460200.htm]

Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu => Pagadala Rangaswami Naidu => Pagadala (Balakrishna) Narasimhalu Naidu

I remember my grandfather and my father mentioning about Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu as a bold explorer and a smart industrialist. My grandfather would often refer to him as the one Naidu who was responsible for transforming the Salem-Coimbatore region towards industrial development.

He studied Telugu in his early years, and later joined the government-run Salem College. He has given credit to his teacher, Appayi Nayudu, in helping him complete his grade exams in 1873.

Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu married Ethiraj Ammal of Salem in 1868. They had two sons. She died of tuberculosis later. Narasimhalu Naidu married Meenakshi Ammal from Palakkad in 1899, the year that Shyamala Ranga Bhashyam was born in Srivilliputtur.

A true Vaishnavite Naidu, he went on the Divya Desam Yatra, and wrote about it as a travelogue, titled 'Arya divya desa yatari sarithram' in 1877 and included his notes about his travels to North India. He was the publisher of the Salem Patriot since 1877, and later began publishing the Coimbatore Abamaani, and later, Coimbatore Patrika in 1879. He had also established the Coimbatore Crescent, and later established the Kalanidhi Press.

Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu established the CS&W Mills, the first textile mill of Coimbatore. Later, he established a sugar mill at Podhanur. As a leading political leader in the region, he was involved in the establishment of the Victoria Municipal Hall at Coimbatore, the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club, the College Committee and the Cooperative Store. In an adept understanding of the requirements of water supply to the city, he helped install the water supply from Siruvani. Water was very scarce in Coimbatore. Narasimhalu Naidu identified Muthikulam water, emanating from Vellingiri Hills for the benefit of Coimbatore. With a forum of residents, Kudithanakarar Sabha, and with the help of the District Collector, he undertook an expedition to the Muthikulam forests and presented a report.

He has written more than a hundred books on religion, music, agriculture, community history and social history, law and medicine. He traced the roots of the Balija Naidus in southern Tamil Nadu from their past links to the Vijayanagara empire, and wrote about it in detail in the Balijavaru Puranam, and also known as the Balija Vamsa Purana, that was published in 1896. His book is listed in the Catalogue of the Tamil Books in the Library of the British Museum by Lionel David Barnett, George uglow Pope of the British Museum Department.

As a political leader, he was the Secretary of the Coimbatore Unit of the Chennai Mahajana Sabha, and became the Secretary of the Coimbatore Unit of the Indian National Congress, right up there in the founding years of 1885. He attended the first conclave of the INC in Bombay in 1885 and later in Calcutta in 1886 and Chennai in 1887.

Later, in 1903, G. M. Venkatarama Naidu, wrote a biography about Salem Pagadala Narasimhalu Naidu.