24 Facts About Madhaviah Krishnan

Madhaviah Krishnan, better known as M Krishnan, was a pioneering Indian wildlife photographer, writer and naturalist.

Madhaviah Krishnan's father was a Tamil writer and reformer A Madhaviah who worked with the Salt and Abkari Department of the Government of Madras.

Madhaviah Krishnan studied in the Hindu High School and developed an interest in literature, art and nature.

Madhaviah Krishnan's family lived in Mylapore, and in those days it was covered in shrub and teemed with bird life, jackals and blackbucks.

In 1927 Madhaviah Krishnan joined the Presidency College and graduated with a BA in 1931.

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Madhaviah Krishnan took a keen interest in botany, taught by Professor P F Fyson.

Madhaviah Krishnan accompanied Fyson on field trips to the Nilgiris and the Kodaikanal hills and acquired watercolour painting techniques from Professor Fyson's wife.

Madhaviah Krishnan did not do well in his education and jobs were not easy.

Madhaviah Krishnan was told that unless he managed to do well in studies, he could not be helped.

Madhaviah Krishnan took up this position and the works he undertook included being a schoolteacher, judge, publicity officer and a political secretary to the Maharaja.

Madhaviah Krishnan spent a lot of his time wandering in the wilderness, observing nature, tried grazing sheep, breeding pigeons to work in a pigeon postal system and writing.

Madhaviah Krishnan wrote in The Hindu by the pen-name of Z In the Sunday Statesman he wrote under his own name.

Madhaviah Krishnan was an ecological patriot in that he opposed the introduction of exotic trees.

Madhaviah Krishnan was responsible for the declaration of Vedanthangal as a bird sanctuary.

Madhaviah Krishnan was aware that he was different from most conservationists of his time – who were either European or were from the Indian aristocracy of Muslims and Rajputs often former hunters – in being a vegetarian.

Madhaviah Krishnan was a not a big fan of technological advances and was unimpressed by the display of India's first jet aircraft.

Madhaviah Krishnan declared them as mechanical, chemical and inhuman and was impressed more by the living muscular speed of animals.

Madhaviah Krishnan was unhappy with the Indian system of school education.

Madhaviah Krishnan refused a paid invitation from Air India for a trip to London for eminent Indians.

Madhaviah Krishnan refused on another occasion an invitation from the Smithsonian Institution.

Madhaviah Krishnan however accepted the Padma Shri from the Indian Government in 1970.

Madhaviah Krishnan would refuse to let editors change his texts and that was his condition when asked to contribute a column.

Madhaviah Krishnan fiercely argued that the usage Himalaya was correct and that a redundant 's' at its end did not respect its Sanskrit origin.

Madhaviah Krishnan was awarded the Padma Shri by the Indian government in 1960 for his work.