Mokshagundam Visves-varayya (September 15, 1861-April 12, 1962), popularly known as MV, was an eminent engineer. He was born to Srinivasa Sastry and Venkachamma in Muddenahalli village, 40 miles from Bangalore.
MV went to primary school in Chikballapur and high school in Bangalore. His ancestors actually belonged to Mokshagundam village, Giddalur of Prakasam district, Andhra Pradesh. They had migrated to Mysore some three centuries ago. He earned his B.A. at Madras University in 1881 and later civil engineering from College of Science, Pune.
His father was a Sanskrit scholar and an authority on Hindu Dharma Shastras, besides being an Ayurvedic practitioner. His father died when he was only 15.
After joining Public Works Department of Bombay, he received an invitation to join the Indian Irrigation Commission. He then introduced an extremely intricate system of irrigation in the country.
He also designed and patented a system of automatic weir water floodgates. These were installed at the Khadakvasla reservoir at Pune, for the first time, in 1903. The use of these gates was to raise the flood supply level of storage in the reservoir to the highest level likely to be attained by its flood, without causing any damage to the dam. Based on the success of these gates, the same was adopted in the Tigra dam in Gwalior and the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam in Mysore. The KRS dam across the Kaveri River was the biggest reservoir in India at that time.
MV was a celebrity when he designed a flood protection system to save Hyderabad city from floods. He was also instrumental in developing a system which will save the Visakhapatnam port from sea erosion.
After taking a voluntary retirement in 1908, he took over as the Dewan of Mysore princely state, thus contributing to the all-round development of the state, with the support of Maharaja of Mysore. He was instrumental in setting up the ‘Govt Engineering College’ in 1917 in the city of Bangalore, which was later named after him. UVCE (University Visweshvaraya College of Engineering), to this day, remains one of the most reputed institutes of higher learning in the state of Karnataka. He also endeavoured to promote the Mysore University.
He was knighted while he was the Dewan. He was given the nation’s highest honour, Bharat Ratna, in 1955.
He lead a very simple life. He was a strict vegetarian and a teetotaller. He would go to sleep by 10 p.m. and wake up at 6 a.m. His diet included a very light breakfast,
two slices of bread or chapatis, vegetables without spcices, rasam, curds, bananas for lunch.
He was known for his honesty and integrity. Before accepting the position of Dewan of Mysore, he invited all his relatives for dinner. He told them very clearly that he would accept the prestigous office on the
condition that none of them would approach him for favours. Such things are unheard of these days.
He died on April 12, 1962 at the ripe age of 102 years. As per his wish, he was cremated in his birth place, Muddanahalli.
