Unsung Heroes Detail

V.V.S. Iyer was born in 1881 at Varakaneri village in Trichy district. He was a graduate of law and took it as his profession. He was also a well-known Tamil scholar and contributed a lot to its growth. He belonged to an extremist group of freedom fighters. When he was in London to study for the Barrister of Law, he had the opportunity to meet and befriend Veer Savarkar. V.V.S. Iyer helped Savarkar to organize protests in different parts of India, particularly in the Punjab, Maharashtra, Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra. He supervised the translation of the book “The Indian War of Independence - 1857” (written by Savarkar, in Marathi) to English and circulated it in India secretly. It was also translated into Tamil and published in ‘India’ magazine run by Subramania Barathi at Pondicherry. Although he passed the Barrister of Law exam in London, he refused to receive the degree. He came back to India and settled in Pondicherry along with other freedom fighters like Bharathi and Mandayam Srinivasachari. During Gandhi's visit to Pondicherry in 1917, VVS Iyer met him and became a follower of ahimsa. He was also a follower of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. He was the editor of the Tamil magazine ‘Desabakthan’.