Panchapakesa Ayyar, J.-This is an appeal by one Dalavoi Kumaraswam Mudaliar against the order of Ramaswami, J., in A.A.O.No. 83 of 1955, reversing the order of the District Judge of Tirunelveli, dismissing O.P. No 19 of 1954, filed by his wife Raiammal alias Valliammal, for making her the guardian of the person of her two minor sons, Shanmughanatha Mudaliar and Subramania Mudaliar, and appointing her the guardian of the persons of those two minor children, subject to certain terms, like sending the children for two days in the week and on other auspicious occasions to their father, undertaking not to alienate the affections of the children from the father, educating the children properly, etc.

We have perused the entire records and heard the learned counsel on both sides The facts were briefly these: Kumaraswami Mudaliar, the appellant before us, belongs to an ancient, rich and aristocratic family of Tondaimandalam Mudaliars in Tirunelveli town, called the Dalavois. He had married in his own caste, according to caste rites, but that lady died in 1926. Even when she was alive, Kumaraswami Mudaliar began keeping one Kalyam alias Papammal, a lady belonging to the Vellala caste, as his exclusively kept concubine from 1919 onwards. By her he had five children, four sons and one daughter. He has constructed for his concubine and her children a house called ‘Kalyana Mahal’ in the very same compound, as the family mansion ‘Dalavoi Hall’. He has educated all the children of the concubine and has celebrated the marriage of his illegitimate daughter in grand style. In 1932, he married, as his second wife, Rajammal alias Valliammal, the petitioner in the O.P., who was no other than his sister’s daughter. By her he has three sons and one daughter. The eldest son has become a major and is studying in college. Till 1954, Rajammal and her four children were living in ‘Dalavoi Hall’ with Kumaraswami Mudaliar and his mother Ulagammal, while the concubine Kalyani and her children were living in the same compound in " Kalyana Mahal ‘without any fends or quarrels. Before Kumaraswami Mudaliar married Rajammal, he had settled considerable properties on his illegitimate children, claiming that he had the right to do so as he was the sole coparcener at that time. That settlement is now being disputed by Rajammal and her eldest son.

In 1954, there began trouble of a grave nature. Ranganayaki Anni, Rajammal’s daughter, had become 17 and of marriageable age. Rajammal wanted her to be married to her own brother, that is, the girl’s maternal uncle, just as she had married Kumaraswami Mudaliar her own maternal uncle. Kumaraswami Mudaliar would not agree to this, but was bent upon marrying her off to a boy of his own choice, considered by Rajammal and her father to be of low status and unfit for Ranganayaki Anni. Rajammal’s father filed O.P. No. 16 of 1954 under the Guardians and Wards Act for removing Kumaraswami Mudaliar from the guardianship of Ranganayaki Anni and for appointing another as the guardian of her person. In that petition, there was an interlocutory application for the intermediate custody of Ranganayaki Anni. In that application, Kumaraswami Mudaliar gave the Court "his word of honour" that he would consult his wife and daughter before fixing up a bridegroom and would respect their wishes. On that undertaking, those proceedings were closed on 15th April, 1954. But despite such undertaking and word of honour, Kumaraswami Mudaliar selected as bridegroom for Ranganayaki, without consulting her or Rajammal, a boy called Thirumalayappan, who had studied only up to IV form and came from a humble family, and was drawing a low salary of Rs. 61 per month, and resolved to celebrate the marriage on 30th April, 1954. According to Rajammal, she remonstrated against the marriage and was, therefore, beaten and shut up in a room in “Dalavoi Hall” and a tali was forcibly tied round the neck of her daughter against her will when Rajammal was lying helpless, in

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