With a vision to provide education to the South Indian Community in the Orange City of Nagpur, Late Shri Rao Bahadur A. Vasudev Mudaliar started a small Tamil Mixed School in 1894 at Sitabuldi with just seven students on the roll which was granted recognition a decade later. It was registered under the name of South Indian Education Society and was managed by the Madrasi School Society at Nagpur.
With a view to enlarge the scope of the school to accommodate the Telugu population in the city the Society secured an area of 3552 sq. ft. of land from the Municipal Corporation and with the donations from the South Indian Community constructed the building for just Rs. 3,500/- which included a Government Grant of Rs. 1,000/- and was inaugurated on 18th February 1910 by Honourable Mr. J. Walker C.I.E., I.C.S., the then Commissioner of the Nagpur Division. This building was later expanded once in 1928 by spending an amount of Rs. 9,400/- and once again in 1935 at a cost of Rs. 6,500/-.
With support from the South Indian Community and the Government the status of the school was changed to the Anglo Vernacular Middle School (AVM) in 1935 and was called the Madrasi Girls AVM School. The strength of the school which was 32 in 1910 gradually rose to 117 in 1926 and to 400 in 1941. In July 1949 the status was elevated to that of a High School through temporary recognition from the M. P. Secondary Education Board. Dr. Ganesan housed the school in Dharampeth in his outhouse in July 1942 wherein standards I, II and III were started on an experimental basis. With several luminaries coming forward to extend all help to the school, a plot of land admeasuring 1.8 acres was purchased from the Nagpur Improvement Trust in 1950 at a cost of Rs. 9,000/-.
From donations, from the State Government and from Smt. Vyjayanthimala (the Film Actress), the High School, now called the Saraswati Vidyalaya, started functioning in July 1953. Thereafter the school saw the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in 1955, the Platinum Jubilee Celebrations in 1974 and the Centenary in 1994 which eventually saw the construction of the Centenary Hall called his Holiness Kanchi Mahaswamigal Sri Chandrasekarendra Saraswati Centenary Auditorium.
The Junior College was started in 1974 and was closed down in 1985 but restarted once again in 2008. As the years passed by the school saw an expansion from 47,400 sq. ft. to 58,200 sq. ft. in area, a lift for elderly persons to go to the Centenary Hall, a facelift to the frontage of the school and above all expansion of the C and D blocks of the school taken up during 2009-10 session to fulfil the needs of space.
Over the last century and a quarter the school has expanded to two branches with strength of around 4000 students. All this growth ensued mainly because of the strong support of all the members of the South Indian Community, the broad perspective of the elected bodies of the school and overwhelming response to the school from all communities of the city of Nagpur.