He rose to prominence following his appeal against the false charges alleging him to have instigated a Hindu – Muslim riot in Salem (now in Tamil Nadu).

Vijayaraghavachariar was born on 18 June 1852 into an Iyengar Brahmin family in the village of Nalgondha, in the district of Hyderabad in the state of Madras Presidency, in what was then the British Raj.

At a very early age, Vijayaraghavachariar was sent to a school in his village[2] where he learned Sanskrit and the Vedas, the holy language and the scriptures of Hinduism.

He enrolled in the Amaravathi Mandal High School and graduated in 1870,[2] ranking second in the Madras Presidency,[1] the province that included most of South India.

During his time in Salem Municipal College Vijayaraghavachariar took law examinations privately without attending formal classes,[2] and qualified as a pleader in 1881.

Subsequently, through his efficiency in advocacy he successfully pleaded to Lord Ripon for others who were sentenced for the riots to be released from Andaman Cellular Prison.

The riot case was highly publicised in the Indian national media[2] and newspapers hailed him as a great champion of civil liberties.

Through this committee he commanded a wide national influence and played a key role in spreading the message of the Congress throughout the length and breadth of the country.

[3] Vijayaraghavachariar's close associates in the Congress included Dadabhai Naoroji, Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Gopal Krishna Gokhale, Dr. Ansari, Maulana Azad, Hakim Ajmal Khan, Lala Lajpat Rai, C. Rajagopalachari ,V.O.

[2] The climax of his political career came when in 1920 he was elected to preside over the Indian National Congress Session at Nagpur, where Gandhi's advocacy of Poorna Swaraj through non-violent non-co-operation was debated and accepted.

He, with his powerful oratory, gave many a wordy battle to C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru on the question of the Council Entry Programme drawn up by them.

[2] At Delhi he worked in close co-operation with great leaders like Madan Mohan Malaviya, Surendranath Banerjea and Gopala Krishna Gokhale.

Eardley Norton, the great advocate, who argued his Salem Riots case and saved him from transportation to the Andamans, was his intimate friend.

[1] Though the leadership of the Congress in South India passed on from his hands to C. Rajagopalachari, Vijayaraghavachariar contented himself with giving periodic advice on matters of public importance through his regular contributions to the Madras journals.

After his death, his valuable collections were treasured in the Memorial Library and lecture halls in Salem specially constructed and named after him.