The quote from Mahabharata, Muhurtham Jwalitham Shreyo Natu Dhumayitam Chiram (It is better to flame forth for a brief time than to smoke away for ages) describes Srinivasa Ramanujan exactly. According to an American Professor, an ordinary genius is one who is a hundred times brighter than the best brains. A magical genius on the contrary is one of whose work it might be said, “One has no idea where his results came from!”
This magical genius, born and died in penury, once said “An equation means nothing to me unless it represents a thought of God” and yet was nurtured by an atheist — Godfrey Harold Hardy — who said “I still say to myself when I am depressed and find myself forced to listen to pompous and tiresome people, ‘Well, I have done one thing you could never have done, and that is to have collaborated with both Littlewood and Ramanujan on something like equal terms’ ”.
In want and desirous of doing something, Ramanujan met, as advised by his friends, Dewan Bahdur Ramachandra Rao, District Collector Nellore, and Rao’s first impression of Ramanujan was “a short uncouth figure, stout, unshaved, not over clean, with one conspicuous feature — shining eyes — walked in with a frayed notebook under his arm... He was miserably poor... He never craved for distinction... He wanted leisure, that is simple food provided for him... and that he should be allowed to dream on...”
Ramanujan was appointed by the Madras Port Trust through the help of Narayana Iyer who had been helping him throughout for his advancement. It was he who introduced Ramanujan to Sir Francis Spring, the then Chairman of the Port, who made all arrangements for Ramanujan to be taken as scholar by the Madras University.
Ramanujan was never sure of himself, and when E. H. Neville, on a lecture trip to Madras, asked Ramanujan about a visit to England to join the University of Cambridge in England, Ramanujan told him that the tradition and customs prevalent in society will not allow him to cross the seas.
A confusing letter
In a letter to Hardy, dated 22nd January 1914, Ramanujan says, “...now I learn from your letter and from Mr. Neville, that you are anxious to get me to Cambridge. If you had written previously I would have expressed my thoughts plainly to you. In February 1913, when I was in the Port Trust, the secretary to the Students Advisory Committee of Madras wrote to me that he had been asked by Mr. Mallet of the Indian Office to see me and therefore I might go to him the next noon. The Chairman of the Port Trust told my superior officer to go with me and answer his questions. Accordingly, the next day we went to him and he asked us whether I was prepared to go to England. While I was hesitating to reply him as the question appeared vague to me and I naturally was thinking whether I have to appear for any examination with my poor educational qualification as I used to see students from here going to England only for appearing for some examination, my superior officer, a very orthodox Brahmin, having scruples to going to foreign land replied at once that I could not go to England and the matter was dropped.”
This letter would present a picture as though Narayana Iyer prevented Ramanujan’s going to England. On the contrary, it was Narayana Iyer who stood by Ramanujan all through and helped him to proceed to England, and even accompanied Ramanujan to Namakkal to get the family deity’s consent and gain confidence, which is part of history. Robert Kanigel, the biographer and author of The Man Who Knew Infinity, feels that Ramanujan could have possibly assumed, as he had told Neville earlier, that he may not be able to cross the seas due to social conditions and could lose the opportunity to go to join Cambridge and study. In addition, earlier he was also worried about a possible examination, and unsure of his English language. To ensure he did not miss the opportunity to go to England, he might have written this letter on his own. Earlier, all his letters to Hardy were seen and corrected by Narayana Iyer before dispatch. Viswanathan, maternal grandson of Narayana Iyer (who was befriended by Robert Kanigel while writing the book) endorses this view and feels that in his thus unfounded anxiety, Ramanujan might have written this letter to Hardy and it is purely a harmless lie. Obviously, Narayana Iyer had no idea about this letter.
However, by the sincere follow-up by Narayana Iyer and Sir Francis Spring Ramanujan eventually sailed to England and arrived in London on 14 April 1914 and was met by Neville. The rest is history.
(With inputs from Sri V. Viswanathan, grandson of Narayana Iyer)
