A. Lakshminarayanan

  General Notes:

A.Lakshiminaryanan, or A.L. as he was widely known was a very wealthy man in Madurai. He was a very successful lawyer, and built for himself and his family a fortune from his earnings. In his heyday,he was reputed to be among the costliest lawyers, and charged Rs.1500 per day!

His father was a judge in Pudukkottai. He came to Madurai with Rs.100, but his first victory was in a case where he represented the famous Annamalai Chettiar - who was one of the richest men there. (Annamalai Chettiar started many universities, and is the grandfather of the current day politician P.Chidambaram)

Typical of the grandeur that his name evokes was the palatial house that he built and lived in - Lakshmi Nivas, or the 'Bangala' as it was referred to. Completed in 1931, this was the place where three generations of his family were born, lived and died in. In 1947, it is said that he had expenses of Rs.1,000 per month in just servants' salaries!

Sampoornam, third child of his second daughter Chellam, was the first baby born in this house, and since then, it was the default maternity home for all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. In 1953, after his death, Lakshmi Nivas was sold to the TVS group in Madurai and became a hospital.

AL lived well, and distributed his time between Madurai and Kodaikanal, where he had a summer home. He died in 1953.
BIRT: RIN MH:IF50
DEAT: RIN MH:IF51
NOTE: PRIN MH:I71

A. married Sundarambal, daughter of Seetharaman and Kaveri. (Sundarambal died about 1924.)