Manikkudi Venkataraman Jayaraman, affectionately known as Dr. MVJ was born on 17.05.1928 at a remote village called Manikkudi, located few kilometres from the temple town of Kumbakonam in Tamil Nadu.

His humble family of agriculturists had scarce resources but this did not stop them from ensuring that Dr. MVJ had a sound education in the best Gurukul traditions at the Thiruppanandal Senthamizh College. Having earned the appreciation of his teachers and the respect of his peers, Dr MVJ was ready to chart his destiny.

Meant as he was for greater things, the village of his birth could not hold him for long. It was thus, that he arrivded in Bangalore in 1968, after serving as a Tamil teacher at Kumbakonam, Trichy, Kollegal near Mysore and finally in Bangalore, which was to become his 'Karmabhoomi'.

Dr. MVJ joined the Methodist Mission School as a Tamil teacher with a humble salary of Rs. 140/- per month. It was next to impossible to bring up six children on this meagre income. A lesser mortal would have been disheartened. But not Dr. MVJ, who chose to supplement his income by conducting Veena classes.

Yet there was in him a burning desire to do more. To break free from the confines of a job, to ignite the minds of not just a handful of students in his class but to empower thousands and thousands of them.

In 1970 Dr. MVJ embarked on his true mission of making quality education accessible to people from all sections of society, with the establishment of the Venkatesha Education Society, at Armstrong Road. This building today stands as a monument to the man who bega his career as a simple teacher in a modest institution, soon set up several institutions and, as one well-wisher aptly pointed out, gradually became an institution himself.

A wax statue of Dr. MVJ marks the exact location where this great visionary set the foundation for starting a society that would transform the lives of millions. Yes, it is also from this place that all the institutions under the banner of VES emerged. Striving tirelessly to realize his noble vision, Dr. MVJ played a pivotal role in transforming the educational landscape of Karnataka. His dream to set up a Medical College however could not be fulfilled in his lifetime. His wife and sons however took on the responsibility of completing the unfinished task and the MVJ Medical College & Research Hospital became a reality in 2001.

Besides the establishment of many institutions under the auspices of VES, Dr. MVJ even helped several educational institutions and was appointed President of the Executive Committee of all educational institutions under the Sri Kasi Mutt. He was nominated as a member to the Senate of the Tamil University, Tanjavur and also appointed Member of its Planning Committee.