M. Visvesvaraya
Indian engineer, scholar, statesman and the Diwan of Mysore (1861-1962)
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (Telugu: [moːkʂaguɳɖam ʋiʃʋeːʃʋaɾajja], 15 September 1861 – 12/14 April 1962), also referred to by his initials, MV, was an Indian civil engineer, administrator, and statesman, who served as the 19th Dewan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918.
Visvesvaraya is regarded in India as one of the foremost civil engineers whose birthday, 15 September, is celebrated every year as Engineer's Day in India, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania. He is also often regarded as "the maker of modern Mysore". According to Prajavani, a Kannada language newspaper, he is also the most popular figure in the southern Indian state of Karnataka.
Visvesvaraya worked as a civil engineer for the government of British India and later as Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Mysore. For his services to British India, he was appointed CIE and later knighted KCIE. For his services to the Kingdom of Mysore and the Republic of India, he was awarded the Bharata Ratna by Government of India in 1955.
Early life
M. Visvesvaraya was born on 15 September 1861 at Muddenahalli, Kingdom of Mysore (in present-day Chikkaballapura district, Karnataka) into a Telugu speaking family of Mokshagundam Srinivasa Shastry and Venkatalakshmi. His ancestors hail from Mokshagundam, a village in present-day Prakasam district of Andhra Pradesh, and had migrated to the kingdom years prior to Visvesvaraya's birth.
Visvesvaraya received his primary education in Bangalore and earned a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree from the University of Madras. He later studied at the College of Engineering, Pune (then College of Science at the University of Bombay) and graduated as an engineer, receiving Diploma in Civil Engineering (DCE).
“M. Visvesvaraya” enters the record as indian engineer, scholar, statesman and the Diwan of Mysore (1861-1962). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Visvesvaraya, Indian and engineer can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“M. Visvesvaraya” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Visvesvaraya, Indian and engineer provides the most credible route into that argument.
The entry’s evidential value lies in the named roles, institutions and publications that can be tested against primary documentation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q741700. VIAF identifies the subject as 17213548. The Library of Congress control number is n83129257. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1861, 1962, 1912 and 1918.
A concise life account rarely captures disputed attribution, private networks or the changing language used to describe a career. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “M. Visvesvaraya”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow M. Visvesvaraya primary sources, M. Visvesvaraya archive and Visvesvaraya research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “M. Visvesvaraya”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “M. Visvesvaraya” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.