Tilagi Mari Gowda gave his grandson Mariappa a good education due to his association with the British. He originally hailed from Tilagi, a small village near Coimbatore. His grandfather Tilagi Marigowda was a labour contractor providing labour to the Tea Estates of Udakamandal. As his son was the overseer of the labourers and he was known as Tiligi Mariappa Mestri. He continued his father's occupation. His mother was Hombalamma. Mariappa was born on 10 July 1905 in Kallinakere, Nagamangala Taluk, Mandya District. He was a student of the A.V. school of Nagamangala where he studied and completed primary and secondary education from 1909 to 1920. In 1920, he joined the intermediate studies at Maharaja College, Mysore, studied till 1924, and obtained a B.A. degree. He passed in BA with an honours degree. He was ambitious to get a B.L. degree thus moved to Poona in 1924 and graduated from the Law College with a B.L. degree and returned to Mysore in 1928. He came to Mysore and started working as a lawyer with Mr H.C. Dasappa as his assistant. T. Mariappa was one of the founding members of the Mysore State Congress. He has participated in all Freedom movements of the princely state like Flag Satyagraha of 1938, the Civil Disobedience movement of 1939, the Quit India Movement of 1942, and the Mysore Chalo movement of 1947. He was arrested for his participation in the 1938 Flag Satyagraha in Shivpura, Mandya district. Later he participated in all important movements of the Independence struggle as the shadow of H C Dasappa and was imprisoned many times. For his participation in the Quit India Movement, he was imprisoned from 4 February 1942 and kept in Hassan's jail. T. Mariappa was president of the Labour Association, K.R. Mills Mysore. He was a member of the Mysore Representative Assembly and Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council. He was elected as a Member of the constituent Assembly. T. Mariappa was Home Minister in the first Congress Cabinet in Mysore from 1947 to 1952. Amidst all this, he died on October 2, 1964, at the age of 60.
Source : Indian Culture Portal