Talk:S. S. Setlur

Name

S. S. Setlur used that style in his public writings and was widely known by that name, as shown by news stories of the time. "Setlur" was the family name, which he shared with his father. His given name was Śrinivās (or Śrinivāsa), and a news story about his law school awards in 1889 referred to him as "S. Shrinivasiengar Setlur." This is therefore used in the lead of this article (with spelling modernizations).

It is unclear whether he regarded the first letter in "S. S. Setlur" as signifying his father's name (Singiengar), since "S. S. Setlur" was itself an attempt to use more Western (British) styling by placing the family name last. To his own ethnic community, and consistent with his father's styling, he would likely have been styled as Setlur Śrinivāsiyengar (family name first, given name last).

This article uses English transliterations that are more common in the current era for the name Śrinivās (not Shrinivas) and the suffix "iyengar" (not "iengar"). Dss16 (talk) 01:12, 3 June 2024 (UTC)

Sources

The best overall source for Setlur's life is the biography contained in the Cyclopedia of India, Vol. III, p. 276 (1909). Notably, it contains an exact birth date -- somewhat rare in a time of poor recordkeeping -- and significant details about his father, including praise for the latter's work. It also characterizes Setlur's journalistic work as "avocations of a busy literary life," and provides details on a then-not-yet-published translation of the Mitākshara. This strongly suggests that the Cyclopedia biography was authored by -- or in collaboration with -- either Setlur himself or a close associate, likely rendering it nearly autobiographical.

The Indian Biographical Dictionary of 1915 largely repeats information from the Cyclopedia, although it provides a law school graduation year of 1891 while the Cyclopedia states that this occurred three years after his B.A. graduation (January 1887).

The news stories of the era -- Madras Weekly Mail, Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), etc. -- were accessed through the British Newspaper Archive. However, at least as of June 2024, it was not possible to readily access archives from potentially more relevant publications, such as those in Bombay or Bangalore. Nor was it possible to access online archives from The Hindu of which Setlur was himself a correspondent. In the future, such archives may become more readily accessible, which should in turn provide access to more material for incorporation into this article. Dss16 (talk) 01:12, 3 June 2024 (UTC)