Brahmanand Raghvanand

Brahmanand Raghvanand MBE was an Indo-Fijian civil servant. He served as a member of the Legislative Council in the 1950s.

Brahmanand Raghvanand
Nominated Member of the Legislative Council
In office
1953–1955
Personal details
ProfessionCivil servant

Biography

Raghvanand was the son of Badri Maharaj, the first Indo-Fijian member of the Legislative Council.[1] He was educated in Fiji and New Zealand.[2] He became a leader of the Arya Samaj in the 1920s,[3] but was forced to resign from the organisation by the Governor and Colonial Secretary and closely monitored for several years afterwards.[4] During World War II he was one of the Indian members elected to the Central War Committee.[5]

Raghvanand worked in the colonial civil service and became Assistant to the Native Lands Commissioner Lala Sukuna,[1] the first non-European to hold principal office.[6] In 1944 he was elected to the council of the Fiji Public Servants' Association.[7] In the 1952 Birthday Honours he was made an MBE for his service. In 1953 Raghvanand was appointed to the Legislative Council by the Governor as one of the 'official' members.[1] He retired in 1955.[8]

In 1963 he was made a Justice of the Peace.[9] He died at the age of 87.[2]

References
  1. New Fiji Legislative Council Pacific Islands Monthly, October 1953, p19
  2. Deaths of Islands People Pacific Islands Monthly, February 1980, p73
  3. John D. Kelly (1991) A Politics of Virtue: Hinduism, Sexuality, and Countercolonial Discourse in Fiji, University of Chicago Press, p137
  4. Kelly, p163
  5. Fiji Indians and war Pacific Islands Monthly, June 1942, p6
  6. Jacqueline Leckie (1997) To Labour with the State: The Fiji Public Service Association, University of Otago Press, p42
  7. Item Pacific Islands Monthly, April 1944, p7
  8. Mr B. Raghvanand Pacific Islands Monthly, April 1955, p162
  9. Fiji Royal Gazette 1963, p16
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