A Teacher cum Ascetic Called ‘ Vadhiyar Swamigal’

In the vernacular of yesteryear Coimbatore, when a man deserts his wife and children, he is said to have gone as a Samiyar, though he would not literally become an ascetic. People used the term  to indicate a man, who either remained a bachelor or renounced his married life. But, in a village near Tirupur, some 150 years ago, a man gave up his domestic life, literally became an ascetic and spent the rest of his life at the Avinashi Lingeshwarar Temple, which is one of the seven celebrated shrines of Kongunadu. The hermit was a Tamil scholar, whose writings in palm leaf are still treasured by his descendants.

“ ‘Vadhiyar Swamigal’, as he was called,  taught the children of his village at his house pyol, though his major occupation was weaving” informs Pulavar Sundara Ganesan, a history enthusiast and headmaster of Panchayat Union Elementary School, Chellammal Colony, Tirupur.

A diploma holder in epigraphy, Sundara Ganesan stumbled upon the palm leaf manuscripts of Vadhiyar Swamigal and he has taken up the work of deciphering them in order to bring into books. However, ‘Siva Thothira Thirattu’ a piece of bhakthi literature penned by Vadhiyar Swamigal got published in 1969 by his disciple A. Ramasamy Naidu of Coimbatore.  

“The natural name of Vadhiyar Swamigal was ‘Ammasai’. He got the name ‘Vadhiyar Swamigal’ as he taught the children of his village. Nevertheless, the teacher cum weaver  had a wish to become a disciple to any god man. Therefore, one day, he walked to the Avinashi Lingeshwarar Temple via Periyayipalayam. At the ‘Pukkuzhiyur Mutt’ ( Pukkuzhiyur was the name of Avinashi in the bygone era)  near the shrine, he met Arivanandha Swamigal, a sanyasi.

The palm leaf manuscripts of ' Vadhiyar Swamigal'

Ganesan says that Arivananda Swamigal would not accept anyone as his disciple, unless the latter was capable of reciting a song, which he would be allowed to listen to only once. With Vadhiyar Swamigal clearing this test, the ascetic accepted him as his disciple.

Pulavar Sundara Ganesan 

“Arivananda Swamigal, thereafter, assigned him the job of Deepa Kaingaryam ( Regularly burning lamp in the temple). However, Vadhiyar Swamigal, who is said to be good at astrology and indigenous medicine, had written many works on palm leaf. His descendants have been treasuring the manuscripts” informs Sundara Ganesan, who learned the art of deciphering stone inscriptions and palm leaf manuscripts from the late ‘Avinashi’ Ma. Ganesan, a popular epigraphist of Coimbatore.

Ganesan says that he was interested to know whether the palm leaf manuscripts of Vadhiyar Swamigal could contain references on the Tirupur of the bygone era.

Citing from Alagumalai Kuravanji, a bhakthi piece of literature on the hill shrine ‘Alagumalai’, Ganesan says that the work mentions ‘ Tirupur’ as ‘ Thirupayyur’.

“I have been tracing the etymology of ‘Thirupayur’ and I am yet to know what the place name means”  “says Ganesan. 

Link to the article in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/29099721

The Blood Stains Behind the 'Manchester of South'

The burial scene of the four trade unionists, who were hanged to death on January 8, 1946 

V.O. chidamparam Pillai 

World knows that freedom fighter ‘Kappalottiya Thamizhan’ V.O.Chidampam Pillai was put behind bars in Coimbatore and made to pull the oil press as punishment. But, in the modern history of Coimbatore, many are hardly aware that it was V.O.C, who launched the first trade union for the welfare of workers here. Fraser Square, which is a busy spot opposite the C.S&W Mill or ‘Stanes Mill’ today, had once been called ‘Puliyanthoppu’ (Tamarind grove). It was here the leader addressed the gathering and launched the city’s first trade union named ‘Kovai Thozhilalar Sangam’ with N.S.Ramasamy Iyengar as its president and K.P.Subbayya Kounder as honorary secretary on April 4, 1920. 

“V.O.C, who was also a lawyer, served his sentence in Coimbatore prison. However, even after his release in 1912, the British government cancelled his Sannath (The license for practicing as lawyer those days). He reeled under poverty after losing all his assets by launching the first indigenous shipping service in Tutuicorin, his native town. Following this, he ran even a provision store and also sold kerosene to eke out a living, but all in vain” informs a chapter in the book Kovai Mavatta Communist Iyakkaththin Perumaimiku Varalaru, written by N. Ramakrishnan.  

“CS& W Mills, ( Coimbatore Spinning and Weaving Mills), the first mill in Coimbatore was founded by Sir Robert Stanes, an Englishman, in 1888. Thereafter, came up in the city the Kaleeswarar Mill and Somasundara Mill. They were all adjacent to the Railway Station and goods shed. The Brooke Bond Company too was about the railway track. As a labourer in Brooke Bond between 1969 and 1970, I have even seen a railway track running through it. This facilitated the British-owned companies to unload the raw materials and load their productions in close proximity” said K.Purushothaman, a trade unionist, who worked in Brooke Bond company.

K. Purushothaman addressing on ' Trade Union Activities in Kongunadu

Addressing on the topic ‘Trade Union Activities in Kongunadu’ in the monthly lecture series organized by The Vanavarayar Foundation, Purushothaman pointed out:

“The British founded the railway in Coimbatore, primarily not to facilitate  travels of people, but  transport cotton and other raw materials to the port towns including Madras and Bombay, from where they were sent by sea for production in England”     

Purushothaman said that before electricity came to Coimbatore from the Pykara Project in the early 1930s, the mills were functioning with machines being operated by the power obtained from burning coal.

“The advent of electricity contributed to the establishment of a number of textile mills further in Coimbatore. This led to the extent of calling the city as the Manchester of South India.  Between 1932 and 1938, the city, which earlier had just four mills, witnessed as many as twenty four” said Purushothaman,

He recalled the selfless crusade of trade unionists N.G.Ramasamy, P.Jeevananthan, P.Ramamurthy and many others for establishing the rights of the working class.  

Purushothaman informed that the country had no strict labour laws then  and workers  were mercilessly exploited by  the mill owners and supervisors, who ruled them with an iron hand.  

“Since atrocities by mill supervisors were frequent, workers were treated no less than slaves and women workers were subjected even to sexual abuse. In one such incident, Ponnaan, the supervisor of Sri Ranga Vilas Mill and his aides outraged the modesty of a woman worker ' Poolaimedu' Rajee. With the incident sending shock waves among the mill workers, a team led by  four trade unionists encountered Ponnaan and his aides. The incident, which turned into a conflict, led to the death of Ponnaan.

In order to put down trade unionism with an iron hand, the proprietor of the mill, with the support of police, allegedly forged a 'dying declaration' of Ponnan and sent the four trade unionists Venkatachalam, Ramayya, Chinnayyan and Rangannan to prison. The case, which went up to London Privy Council, was finally closed with the judgment that all the four accused shall be hanged to death.

In the early morning of  January 8, 1946, the four were executed as per the judgment and their bodies were brought to Chinniampalayam in a mammoth mill workers rally.

Fulfilling their last wish, the mill workers buried all the four together in one grave at Chinniampalayam.

Link to the article in The New Indian Express : http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/29099238

The Odour that was Red in Colour

Amidst smoke and noise of gunshots                                                                                                                          

The blood, oozing out from her throat                                                                                                                         

Drenched that night 

And left the dark world                                                                                              

Dampened in the odour 

– it was red in colour.

Perhaps, she hardly presumed                                                                                                               

That something deadly would pierce

Through her mouth                                                                                                         

 And plug the path -                                                                                                                                   

A point, where she had a word for the saline wind                                                                                                                            

A thick smoke engulfed

Her world of colours                                                                                                            

She lay like a stray dog, crushed to death on the road                                                                              

Blood trickling down her mouth fails to freeze

They bring oceans of water 
To clean the red stains on her cheeks                                                         
But run back, as they billow in blood                                                                                                              

The hunters in khaki, with their modern rifles, continue their search 

For human meat

Birds that flew

In the firmament                                                                                                                   

Feel the worth of wings.