Brahmanand Raghvanand was an Indo-Fijian civil servant. He served as a member of the Legislative Council in the 1950s.
Biography Raghvanand was the son of Badri Maharaj, the first Indo-Fijian member of the Legislative Council.New Fiji Legislative Council Pacific Islands Monthly, October 1953, p19 He was educated in Fiji and New Zealand. He became a leader of the Arya Samaj in the 1920s,John D. Kelly (1991) A Politics of Virtue: Hinduism, Sexuality, and Countercolonial Discourse in Fiji, University of Chicago Press, p137 but was forced to resign from the organisation by the Governor and Colonial Secretary and closely monitored for several years afterwards.Kelly, p163 During World War II he was one of the Indian members elected to the Central War Committee.Fiji Indians and war Pacific Islands Monthly, June 1942, p6
Raghvanand worked in the colonial civil service and became Assistant to the Native Lands Commissioner Lala Sukuna, the first non-European to hold principal office.Jacqueline Leckie (1997) To Labour with the State: The Fiji Public Service Association, University of Otago Press, p42 In 1944 he was elected to the council of the Fiji Public Servants' Association.Item Pacific Islands Monthly, April 1944, p7 In the 1952 Birthday Honours he was made an MBE for his service. In 1953 Raghvanand was appointed to the Legislative Council by the Governor as one of the 'official' members. He retired in 1955.Mr B. Raghvanand Pacific Islands Monthly, April 1955, p162
In 1963 he was made a Justice of the Peace.Fiji Royal Gazette 1963, p16 He died at the age of 87.Deaths of Islands People Pacific Islands Monthly, February 1980, p73
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