Swami Rudrananda

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Swami Rudrananda (Muthukrishnan) was born in Tamil Nadu, India in March 1901. He was sent to Fiji by the Ramakrishna Mission, in 1939, to assist the Then India Sanmarga Ikya (T.I.S.I.) Sangam in its religious and cultural activities. Swami Rudrananda consolidated and expanded the activities of T.I.S.I. Sangam based at Sangam Ashram in Nadi. He acquired properties for Sangam. These included freehold land at Savusavu (130 acres) and Madhuvani, Rakiraki (1037 acres). The Sangam Sarada Printing Press was started, on 15 August 1948, to cope with the educational needs of the community at large. Publications like Sangam in Tamil, Pacific Review in English, Jagriti in Hindi, and Na Pacifica in Fijian were published and circulated to give vent to the voice of the Indian community as a whole.

Although Rudrananda had intitially refused to take part in union or political activities, he worked with A.D. Patel to help found the Maha Sangh. During the 1943 strike, the Government restricted his movements and there were calls for his deportation to India. He also remained an active member of the Federation Party.

In 1951, Rudrananda attempted to amalgamate the Sangam and Ramakrishna Mission into a single organisation. This was seen by some South Indians as an attempt by the Mission to take over the assets of the Sangam. There was widespread protest, although the founder of the Sangam, Sadhu Kuppuswami, supported Rudrananda. A compromise was reached when the Sri Vivekananda High School was transferred to the Mission and the Sangam ran its own schools.