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Engineering a Nation

Engineering a Nation

The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya

Aparajith Ramnath
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Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (1861–1962) was arguably the most famous Indian engineer of the twentieth century. And yet he was also much more. To this day, much in India bears the imprint of Visvesvaraya’s work—not only as civil engineer, but also as public administrator, constitutional analyst and development thinker. Sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra and Karnataka, picknickers in the Brindavan Gardens alongside the Krishnarajasagara dam near Mysore, and city dwellers across the country who enjoy a piped water supply are all partaking of Visvesvaraya’s legacy. So are students in Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science and Mumbai’s Institute of Chemical Technology, consumers who swear by Mysore Sandal Soap, and anyone who has lived through Independent India’s Five-Year Plans.

Visvesvaraya was an early proponent of economic planning and rapid, large-scale industrialization, which he believed were essential for national development. Most of all, he was an ardent technocrat: a believer in the power of science and technology to solve society’s most pressing problems. In his time, his ideas were both lauded and criticised. Technocratic visions are once more at the centre of public discourse today: as in Visvesvaraya’s day, they hold much promise, but also have important limitations.

In Engineering a Nation, Aparajith Ramnath delves into a wide range of sources to paint a balanced picture of a man who has come to be regarded as a national icon. Throughout, he explores the professional and intellectual relationships that shaped Visvesvaraya, and highlights the historical context in which he worked. To explore Visvesvaraya’s life, the book argues, is to understand the emergence of the Indian nation itself.

Imprint: India Viking

Published: Sep/2024

ISBN: 9780670090501

Length : 740 Pages

MRP : ₹999.00

Engineering a Nation

The Life and Career of M. Visvesvaraya

Aparajith Ramnath

Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (1861–1962) was arguably the most famous Indian engineer of the twentieth century. And yet he was also much more. To this day, much in India bears the imprint of Visvesvaraya’s work—not only as civil engineer, but also as public administrator, constitutional analyst and development thinker. Sugarcane farmers in Maharashtra and Karnataka, picknickers in the Brindavan Gardens alongside the Krishnarajasagara dam near Mysore, and city dwellers across the country who enjoy a piped water supply are all partaking of Visvesvaraya’s legacy. So are students in Bengaluru’s Indian Institute of Science and Mumbai’s Institute of Chemical Technology, consumers who swear by Mysore Sandal Soap, and anyone who has lived through Independent India’s Five-Year Plans.

Visvesvaraya was an early proponent of economic planning and rapid, large-scale industrialization, which he believed were essential for national development. Most of all, he was an ardent technocrat: a believer in the power of science and technology to solve society’s most pressing problems. In his time, his ideas were both lauded and criticised. Technocratic visions are once more at the centre of public discourse today: as in Visvesvaraya’s day, they hold much promise, but also have important limitations.

In Engineering a Nation, Aparajith Ramnath delves into a wide range of sources to paint a balanced picture of a man who has come to be regarded as a national icon. Throughout, he explores the professional and intellectual relationships that shaped Visvesvaraya, and highlights the historical context in which he worked. To explore Visvesvaraya’s life, the book argues, is to understand the emergence of the Indian nation itself.

Buying Options
Paperback / Hardback

Aparajith Ramnath

Aparajith Ramnath is a historian of science, technology and business. He is the author of The Birth of an Indian Profession: Engineers, Industry, and the State, 1900–47 (Oxford University Press, 2017), and has also written for Scroll, Wire, The Hindu and FiftyTwo.in. Aparajith was trained as an electrical engineer at BITS Pilani, and as a historian of science and technology at Oxford University and Imperial College London. He has been an International Scholar of the Society for the History of Technology, a Charles Wallace India Trust grant awardee, a Sangam House Writing Fellow, and a recipient of the Young Historian of Science Award (2018) from the Indian National Science Academy. In addition to Chennai, London and Kozhikode, he has lived in Pune and Bengaluru, two cities that were central to the life of M. Visvesvaraya. Aparajith teaches at Ahmedabad University, where he is associate professor in the School of Arts and Sciences.

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