An honest Chronicler who attempts to write a history of an Educational institution cannot afford to forget the sacrifice made by the noble soul that founds an educational institution, against all odds, without much money but with bubbling enthusiam and real earnestness, with a dogged determination to do and win and with a single-minded devotion to the service of the community and without an iota of the intention of making money in the name of providing quality education to children, and therefore, the chronicler affords greater importance to the inspiring story of the Founder than to the interesting story of the institution. He humbly feels that the story of a great institution is, as a matter of fact, the story of its Founder. The reader will, therefore, find the story of the Founder narrated first.

Sivasanakara Pandyaji, the illustrious founder of The Hindu Theological School, Madras(now Chennai), was born on the 6^th of August, 1853, in Puliyur near Kodambakkam in Madras which we now call Chennai. His father Sri. Ramanatha Pandyaji was the ‘Dharmakartha’ of a Siva temple in Puliyur and was deeply religious.Young Sivasankara imbibed from his god-minded parents deep devotion to Hindu ideals.

A bright lad, he matriculated in 1868, when he was barely fifteen summers old, taking the 13^th rank in the Presidency. In the year 1873, he sought admission into the Presidency College in the B.A. Class with Mathematics as his special subject. He was rather deficient in Mathematics in the beginning but his remarkable diligence and abiding interest in the subject helped him to acquire the required proficiency in the subject. No wonder, our Founder passed the degree examination with flying colours in 1875. Mr. Porter, the Principal, was greatly surprised to learn that Sivasankara Pandya topped the list for the College and captured the second rank in the Presidency. Though he was a Gujarati, he learnt Telugu and Sanskrit well. His erudition in Telugu, Sanskrit, English and Mathematics was simply admirable.

After graduation, he became a tutor in the same college and taught for  six months. Soon he went to Tanjavur to practise law in the Tanjore District Court after acquiring degree in Civil and Criminal Law. But the legal profession had no fascination for him.  God had fashioned him for a nobler purpose and he felt that his field of activity lay elsewhere. Consequently, he bade adieu to the legal profession, came down to Madras and became a teacher in Pachaiyappa’s High School and then in the College. It was there that he noted with sorrow the indifferent attitude of Hindu youths towards the religion of their ancestors. They were foolishly aping the western culture. Pandyaji wanted to check this cultural and religious degeneracy. He resolved to dedicate his life to the revival of Hindu ideals. In the year 1882, he started special weekly moral and religious classes to teach Hindu boys and girls the general principles of Hinduism. About two thousand eager students attended his classes.

It was a time when Hindu religious ideals and traditions and customs that are dear and sacred to the Hindu heart were held up to ridicule. Pandyaji set up a counter-movement by establishing The Hindu Tract Society in April, 1887.

A provocative incident occurred in The Madras Christian College which wounded the feelings of many a Hindu. One of its Professors, Rev. Laidlaw, while condemning idol worship, wantonly insulted the religious sentiments of the Hindu students by suggesting that his shoes might as well be worshipped.

Pandyaji learnt about it from his students and felt the urgent need for the founding of a Hindu Religious Institution. He toiled and moiled to realize his ambition and the first step he took to raise funds was to sell his own house!.. He went from door to door to collect donations which were not easy to come. Once a very rich man invited him to his house and insulted him by giving him a pisa. But Pandyaji accepted it gladly and gratefully and immediately gave the donor a receipt for the pisa. However, there were some large hearted men to help him and they encouraged him by making liberal donations. H.H. Baskara Vijaya Sethupathi, the Raja of Ramnad merits mention in the first place, for it was he who donated a huge sum of Rs. 15,000/- after treating Pandyaji as his royal guest for about a week in his palace. Next is to be mentioned the name of one Andhra gentleman, Sri. M. Ramakrishnaiah Panthulu who generously gave away a sum of Rs. 9,044/-  in 1890. In 1891 a munificent sum of Rs. 10,000/- and a house worth a big amount, situated at No. 31, General Muthaiah Mudali Street, Chennai – 600 079, were gifted by a noble soul who wanted the entire money to be utilised for the sole purpose of providing English education at the Primary level to poor and deserving children. It was Sri. Amarambedu Munuswamy Mudaliar who made such a great contribution to the cause of education of the poor and the school showed its gratitude to him by starting a Primary Section in Sowcarpet after his name. The school also received donations from many good souls such as Sri. Krishnadoss Bala Mukundadoss (donated Rs. 2,000/-), Sri. T. Gopinatha Tawker (donated Rs.1,000/-), Sri. Chathurbhujadoss Khusaldoss (donated Rs.1,000/-), The Maharaja of Travancore (donated Rs. 500/-), Raja Sir T. Madhava Rao (donated Rs. 500/-), and so on and so forth. Special mention must be made about one generous lady Smt. Saradambal who created an Endowment for the sole purpose of helping the poor and the needy, in memory of her dear son Soundararajan (an old boy) by gifting a house situated on Mint Street, Chennai –79, before 1949. The school gratefully remembers the lady and uses the Endowment collections for distributing scholarships to poor and deserving students of the school. Another good soul Sri. S.C. Nagi Chettiar (Ex. President of the Committee), a prominent businessman and a Philanthropist, donated a sum of Rs. 1,000/- for School Improvement Fund started by Sri. K. Rangaswamy Iyengar, a great steward who caused a Renaissance in the annals of the school. Mention must also be made about the large donation of Rs. 53,000/- made by Sri. T. Lakshmipathy Mudaliar (Ex. President Sri. T. Seshachalam’s father) who was a constant well-wisher and friend of our school.

Coming back to the story of the Founder, it must be stated that he was not always received warmly. Often he met with a cold welcome. Indifferent to praise and blame alike, with faith in God, with indomitable will and with single-minded devotion, Pandyaji went on with his work. He travelled the length and breath of TamilNadu and raised funds.

On the 14^th of January, 1889, he founded The Hindu Theological High School. He became the first Headmaster of the School and worked hard with a band of devoted teachers to make the school become great and famous. Responding to his invitation and recognizing his great service to the society, Mahatma Gandhi visited the school in 1896 and Swami Vivekananda paid a visit in 1897. Both of them admired Pandyaji’s achievement and appreciated his work. Both lavished praise on him. The magnetic personality of Pandyaji attracted all prominent men of India and the school saw great men visiting it. Pandyaji’s students became great men and occupied great positions. One of his students (Sri. B. D. Goenka, Founder-Director of The Indian Express) started Moongibai Goenka Girls High School at Sowcarpet and another (Dr. Kesari) founded Kesari High School at Mylapore to serve the community in the way in which their great master served the society. These two institutions like our own, have grown into famous institutions in Chennai.

Pandyaji was a versatile genius. He was in charge of the school for a  period of ten years only. God had taken him away from his busy life to give him rest at his lotus feet, after he had completed the task assigned to him. He passed away on the 14^th of February, 1899, at the premature age of 45.

“At a time when Hinduism was wincing under the repeated onslaughts of modernism and westernism on the one hand and of rival religious faiths on the other, Pandyaji came forward to dynamise Hinduism and to preserve its age-long glories while building into it the scientific temper and the democratic faith and the nationalistic fervour of the modern age. He was hence an apostle of our ancient faith and at the same time a maker of Modern India”.

“It speaks volumes for the foresight and the spirit of sacrifice of Pandyaji, who averted a great religious calamity to the children of the Hindu community” by establishing The Hindu Theological School at the right time. Encomiums such as the ones quoted above flowed from the hearts of many a noble gentleman who held exalted positions and offices in India during the British reign.

Pandyaji’s soul is immortal. He is not one in hundred but one in a million. He lives in our hearts and inspires us to march on towards the goal which he set for the school.

The great English dramatist Shakespeare has said, “Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them.” No doubt, Sivasankara Pandyaji belongs to the second type.

The sapling, which the holy hand of Pandyaji planted long ago, has grown into a gigantic tree and it has been giving, like a banyan tree, shelter to many a bird and soothing shade to many a man. It has grown from more to more, from strength to strength and from success to success.

Since the time of its inception, the School has made great strides and achieved remarkable progress, popularity and signal success. The fame of the school reached its peak in the 30’s and the 40’s of the last century. Under the stewardship of a magnetic personage, Sri. K. Rangaswamy Iyengar, B.A., B.L., L.T., who excelled his predecessors in service and sacrifice and in realizing the ideals of the Founder to a great extent. He lived in the school and lived for the school. Tireless service to the community and country through the school was his very breath. The influence he exercised on all those connected with the school was so great that he came to be idolized and worshipped by the people of the locality in which the school exists. His leonine look and his awe-inspiring but august personality attracted everyone and earned him great respect. He came to be called “Gurukula Dharma Acharya”, “Acharya Ratna” etc., and was looked upon as the Second Founder. He gladly relinquished his high office of the Headmaster in 1944 in order to elevate Sri. S. Balakrishna Joshi, a direct descendent of the Founder, a scholar par excellence and a teacher nonpareil and one of the best products that the school had ever produced, to the position of the Headmaster. It may not be an exaggeration to state here that Sri. S. Balakrishna Joshi, B.A., L.T., proved to be a boon to the school. Sri. Joshi followed in the footsteps of his great predecessor and strove hard to maintain the lofty tradition set up by the Founder and successive heads. With the indomitable will and with deep devotion and total dedication, he toiled for the steady progress of the school. A pattern teacher himself, he easily enlisted the whole hearted and willing co-operation of all those that were connected with the school and did his best to better the best that he had already achieved. His and Sri. K.R’s may be said to be the Golden Age of the school. The fame spread far and wide and there were few in India who had not heard of the school and Kulapathi Sri. S. Balakrishna Joshi who had become the most brilliant and most prominent among the Educationists and men of eminence of his time. The school came to be called Joshi’s School and it had virtually become another Teachers’ College in Madras. Great personages like Dr. Sir. S. Radhakrishnan and Dr. Sir. A.L. Mudaliar (to name a few) admired him, treated him as their dear friend and held him in high esteem. Sri. Joshi retired in 1970 at the age of 60. He received the National Award for Teachers  for his yeoman service to the cause of education. The Paramacharya of Kanchi who was an admirer of Joshi conferred upon him the title of ‘Kulapathi’. The Contribution of Sri. K.R. and Sri. S.B.J. to the growth of the school and to the cause of education is very significant and unforgettable indeed.

The successive Headmasters had not failed in their duty to remember with reverential gratitude what their great predecessors did for the school in particular and the community in general and did their utmost to uphold the lofty tradition and the ideals of the institution.

The School has had great men on the Committee of Management, as the Presidents, The Secretaries, the Vice-Presidents and Members (Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, Sir. C.P. Ramaswamy Iyer, Prof. R. Krishnamoorthy, Former Principal of Pachaiyappa’s College, to name a few) and has benefited greatly by their counselling and guidance. Special mention must be made about Sri. T. Seshachalam B.A., B.L., son of a prominent businessman and a philanthropist Sri. T. Lakshmipathy Mudaliar who was a great patron of the school and who made a munificent gift of Rs. 53,000/- to the improvement of the school. A brilliant alumnus of the institution, he held the offices of the Secretary and the President in the Committee for more than three decades that witnessed a steady growth of the school. His age and health conditions have compelled him to give up his executive position and yet he continues to be an active member of the Committee and has been contributing his mite silently and sincerely. He is a prominent businessman and an energetic and enthusiastic social worker. He avoids limelight as men who are truly great do.

Special mention must also be made of the nonagenarian Sri. C. Ethiraj, B.Com., who is one of the most devoted old boys of the school. He has been the Vice-President of the Committee of Management for the past three decades and his valuable advice and suggestions have helped the school greatly to proceed from ‘good’ to ‘better’ and from ‘better’ to ‘best’. His love for his great teacher Sri. K. Rangaswamy Iyengar in particular and for his Alma Mater in general is indeed very great and deep. He belongs to the Vysya community which has made signal contribution to the steady growth to the school. His ripe age does not seem to stand in the way of his serving his school. Indeed he is a young man in an old body.

The present President is a gentleman belonging to the Gujarati community to which the Founder and the Father of our Nation belong. He is a  brilliant product of the Indian Institute of Technology, an efficient technologist, a prominent builder, a former Under Sheriff of Madras, a Veteran Social worker, a lover of Education ,and has close association with many an institution and above all a humane human whose love and esteem for teachers is great. He has been evincing abiding interest in the activities of the school and has been doing his best to make the school the best in the city by elevating it from its present status of being one of the best schools in Chennai. He has a band of noble-minded gentlemen, as members on the Committee/Educational Agency, to assist him and guide him. Mention may be made of Sri. Jilla Venkatesa Perumal, Sri. Gollapudi Bandrinarayana, Sri. P. Balasubramaniam (alumni of the school and prominent citizens of chennai), Sri. Viswanath Trivedi, who are all well-wishers and active members that strive steadily for the progress of the school. 

The present Hony. Secretary is a boon to the school. He has been holding his onerous office and doing his very best for more than 15 years now. He abhors empty talk and loves silent and sincere work that produces desirable results. He is a prominent educationist having close contact with many schools in chennai and a full time Social worker who evinces great interest in the elevation of the poor and the destitute children. He has been rendering valuable and laudable service not only to The Hindu Theological Hr. Sec. School but to many other needy schools in and around Chennai. He is truly a friend, philosopher and guide to the Headmaster and to the staff and has been a tower of strength to the school.

Last, but by no means the least, is to be mentioned the present Headmaster, he combines in himself lofty idealism with practical wisdom and is, no doubt, a powerful force for the dissemination of knowledge and culture. He is energetic and fearless, firm without severity, plain in manner and speech, but with the dignity of a Head of his stature. He sees to it that all the members of the staff work in harmony to promote the well-being of the pupils entrusted to their care and feel that education is not mainly for examination but really for life and citizenship. He tries hard to enlist the co-operation of the members of the public in the school locality and induce rich people to divert charity for the promotion of learning.

The school which has been maintaining the high tradition set up by its Founder and serving the poorest of the poor in the locality deserves all encouragement and craves support at the hands of the public and especially from the affluent alumni to make it possible for it to improve the school materially and by modernizing it to serve the community better and to keep pace with the changing world. It is a matter for great gratification to note and to inform the public, the alumni living abroad / in the remote parts of India and all well-wishers that the school has been steadily producing very high results at the school final examinations and has been maintaining its name and fame. It continues its onward march towards perfection and higher peaks of achievement holding its banner aloft.

The present Management, The Headmaster, The Staff (both Teaching and Non-Teaching) and the Students cherish the glorious past with reverential gratitude, regard the present with loving respect and look to the future with hopeful expectations.

The School was started in the year 1995 to fulfill the dreams Amarambedu Munuswamy Mudaliar, the Philanthropist and Donor.It has become a feeder school to the Hindu Theological Higher Secondary School.

Though the School imparts lessons through English Medium, it gives due importance to Tamil as the second language.Hindi is also offered to those who opt for it instead of tamil.The School has received permission to run classes from the Director of Matriculation schools. 

The Kindergarten Section is well equipped with education toys and games materials,since education is imparted in the play method as stressed by many modern educationists.