Reintroducing Kovai’s Traditional Houseware

Dr Thirumagal addressing on traditional Kongu utensils

Sitting nearly for an hour, a woman of modern day Coimbatore does not have to make batter labouring hard at the Aattangal (Stone mortar). Nor does she need to crush the ingredients for Kulambu (curry) or Rasam (pepper water) manually on an Ammikal (Grinding stone), as she readily has an electric mixer-grinder, which can do it for her (If there is power supply at the time!).

With rapid development in science and technology replacing man’s physical activity by machines, people, who are just nearing forty, have myriad bodily complaints like back pains and joint pains. But, how was it, our ancestors could live disease-free even in their eighties or nineties?

“When you work at the Ammikal regularly crushing the ingredients for food, your muscles and bones get strengthened” says Professor Thirumagal.

Dr Thirumagal is a professor of Tamil in Arulmigu Palaniandavar Arts College for women, Palani. She was in the city to address in the exhibition “Kovai Vattara Puzhangu Porutkal (Traditional housewares of Coimbatore region) organized by The Vanavarayar Foundation as part of ‘Coimbatore Vizha 13’ recently. 

Addressing the gathering, Thirumagal pointed out that hard labour on earth in the absence of science and technology kept our ancestors disease-free even in their old age.

Displaying various traditional housewares in her slide show, she noted that all house hold items of the yesteryear Coimbatore were identified with the meaning of human life in the Kongu region.

 

“The Ammikal which our ancestors used to crush ingredients like pepper, garlic and cumin for making traditional dishes, was an object of reverence that sitting on it was considered to be a sacrilege” she said.

Also the broom, which is called Seemar in the Kongu dialect, would not be in the list of the bride’s Strithan ( Seethanam), as her  parents believed it would ‘sweep’ away their wealth !

When Thirumagal displayed the picture of a Virakaduppu (Oven functioning in firewood) it was a rare spectacle to the viewers, who are used to the modern day LPG or electric ovens.

“The Kottaduppu, a smaller oven, was of great use to the people of the then Coimbatore, as once they kept on it a Sundachatti containing Kuzhambu ( curry) the previous night, the light warmth of the oven would condense and convert it into a mouth-watering dish for the next morning”  recollected Thirumagal.

The little earthen utensil Sundachatti was named so, as it was used for condensing the curry.

Thirumagal also displayed some agricultural equipment like Kalappai (plough), Kadaparai (crowbars),Mammutti (shovels) and so on.

  

“The Savari Vandi (A bullock cart exclusively meant for journey in villages of Coimbatore) was, indeed a vehicle for luxury travels those days. Sitting on a cushion of hay, people would love to travel in it. The vehicle would also have a small ‘box-like’ section for keeping the footwear, as the inmates would like to sit bare-footed and relax during the journey

B. Meenakshi Sundaram

A Tea Master, Who Brews Haikus

A Glass of Tea with Tasty Haikus

Inside thatched huts

The Poor live…

At ‘Selva’puram – N. Muthu

Customers browsing through news paper while sipping tea from glass tumblers is not an uncommon sight at the road side tea stalls in Coimbatore. But, is it possible at any tea stall to sip the hot beverage, supplemented by beautiful haiku Tamil poems?  Yes it is… when you have tea at the stall run by Tamil poet N. Muthu in Ponni Nagar near Papanaickenpalayam.

“I love to share my poems with the customers visiting my tea stall, if they are interested to listen to me” says the 34 year old Muthu, who is an author of two books of poems Edai Kuraivaai and Irukku.

Muthu, who appeared in the Kaviarangams conducted by literary organizations in the city like Vasantha Vasal Kavi Mandram and Tamil Nadu Murpokku Ezhuthalar Sangam in the mid 1990s, used to receive rapturous applause from the audience, as he read out his sharp haiku poems lampooning the follies in politics and society.

“I observed the paradoxes even in common things we come across in life. This interested me to write funny short poems on them” recalls Muthu.

 Born to  

 The staff of ration shop …

An under weight baby

Muthu parodies a staff of a ration shop on his practice of distributing commodities in lesser quantities to the consumers in order to hoard much for him.

“I draw inspirations from the ordinary lives of commoners, who experience injustices like caste discrimination, unemployment and poverty” avers Muthu.

Muthu’s poems are rich in symbols. Comparing the bonds of a sheep with the freedom of a butterfly he writes:

Towards a direction at its choice

Flies above a herd of sheep

Butterfly

Answering a question on his views about writing poetry, Muthu says:

“Poetry is not a craft but a discovery from everyday human life. And, a poet writes the discovery in his language.”

Muthu discloses that he learnt writing poetry while he was an activist in the CPM and a street play actor in the party’s literary wing Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artistes Association. 

“I could understand the plight of the people, only after I had taken part in protests and demonstrations against civic issues like poor water supply, lack of drainage facilities and so on in our locality. And I have registered such hardships of the residents in many of my poems” he says.

When asked whether formal academic education is required for writing poetry, Muthu notes:

“Poetry is a creative art and borne out of understanding the society. And, I don’t think academic education has anything to do with it.

On a question about his educational qualification, the poet says:

“I discontinued from school after studying two years in grade VIII, getting detained in the class”. 

Link to my article in The New Indian Express:http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/1166668

In Search of a Dirty, Divine Mystic

Azhukku Swamigal

In the Kongu dialect of yesteryear Coimbatore, there was an interesting figure of speech, which a mother would use to chide her mischievous little boy, who was much interested in playing but more reluctant to take bath as ‘Azhukku Saamiar’ (A dirty monk). But, it is true that a Siddha by the name Azhukku Swamigal once lived here nearly a century ago and the phrase could have crept into the language after the mystic.

Azhukku Swamigal lived inside the deep forests of Vellingiri Hills and believed to have mastered Tantra, Alchemy and Yoga inside the woods. When eminent Tamil scholar Ku. Natesa Gounder’s father visited the Vellingiri Hills in the dawn of the 20^th century, he met the mystic there and brought him to the city.

Though he got his name as Azhukku Swamigal after his habit of not taking bath, the mystic is believed to have possessed supernatural powers and tricks. He would hold the spectators spell-bound by his unbelievable performances like coming out of a locked house, making food appear inside an empty utensil, showing his appearance suddenly in a distant land and lighting a lamp with water as fuel! The mystic would also stand unaffected even after the bite of a venomous snake.

Despite his tit for tat for the people, who made fun of him at his appearance, the mystic played Good Samaritan to the hard-working poor.

“The thick woods of Coimbatore were once havens for mystics. And the remarkable  one, who lived at Vellingiri Hills about a century ago, is Azhukku Swamigal” says Prof. I. K Subramaniam, Assistant Editor of the Universal Tamil Encyclopedia.

Later, Azhukku Swamigal settled at one Ramu Mudaliar’s house in Vettaikaranpudur near Pollachi. During his stay, he requested Mudaliar’s wife Alamelu to plant saplings of trees like Vilvam (Bael), Vembu (Neem), Vanni (Indian mesquit) and a plant of Mandharai(Bauhinia purpurea) at a spot on the banks of river Upparu.

Planning to bid adieu to the world, he reduced his consumption of food and passed away within twelve days at Ramu Mudaliar’s home. In the meanwhile, he had asked Alamelu to bury him at the spot, where she planted the trees. The place, where he was buried, has now become a temple and being called as Azhukku Swamigal Kovil.

“Rangasamy, the chief minister of Pondicherry, who regularly visits the Azhukku Swamigal Kovil, is a pious devotee of the departed mystic” says Sirpi Balasubramaniam, Sahitya Akademy award winning poet and former Tamil professor, Bharathiyar University.

Elders recall that though Azhukku Swamigal had no habit of bathing, he could produce captivating fragrance around him all by his divine power.

Link to my article in The New Indian Express:http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/1153815

Compiled by: B. Meenakshi Sundaram

Source: Azhukku Swamigal – an article by Sirpi Balasubramaniam, Kongu Kalanjiyam - Vol 1.

Eazhilai Kizhangin Maamisam

Chinnasamy - a Poet and Police Officer

Most urban Coimbatoreans, who have tasted cakes of steamed Tapioca

(Maravalli Kizhangu), could have hardly seen the edible root with its beautiful leaves divided at the top into seven forks when it is extracted from the ground. It is suitably called ‘Eazhilai Kizhangu’ in Tamil. But, Chinnasamy, an IPS officer and contemporary modern Tamil poet, who hails from an agricultural family at Pullagoundenpudur in Coimbatore, has seen the tuber, fresh from the ground, that he even titled his recent book of poems as ‘Eazhilai Kizhangin Maamisam’                   (The Meat of the Tapioca).

“I call tapioca, which is a vegetarian dish, as meat, since it is dead as soon as it is extracted from the earth. The plant, which requires little water for its growth and was eaten by the people during famines in Coimbatore, has become a symbol in many of my poems” explains Chinnasamy, an innovative poet, agriculturist and superintendent of police ( Battalion) at Manimuthar in Tirunelveli.

Chinnasamy got introduced to the writings of Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi and Pavendar Bharathidasan by his Tamil teacher Shanmugam while he was a student at the Government High School, Devarayapuram near Thondamuthur.

“Also, my father Kavingnar Vetrivelan, who is an agriculturist and poet, used to take me to listen to a great number of Pattimandrams in my school days. Later on, when I became an orator, I spoke even against my father’s views in a Pattimandram” recalls the poet and police officer.

Chinnasamy, who also edited and circulated ‘Thendral’ a hand-written literary magazine in his student days at the Government Arts College, Coimbatore, later, kept himself off  literary activities, as he sincerely prepared for IPS.

The poems of Chinnasamy have been widely published in serious literary magazines like Kalachuvadu, Theeranathi,Pudhuvisai,Yadhumaki, Neetchi and Pasumai Vikadan.

Answering a question on how he balances to be a poet and police officer, Chinnasamy discloses:

“Writing poetry refreshes me from great work stress. Whenever I write a new poem, I obtain a new strength to approach the social issues afresh”

Besides, Chinnasamy is also doing PhD on the title                                                              ‘Caste Conflicts in Tamil Nadu-Issues & Resolutions’ at Manonmaniam Sundaranar University in Tirunelveli.

However, the soft-natured poet in the police officer is felt, as he writes thus in one of his poems in his book Eazhilai Kizhangin Maamisam:

The air-conditioned vehicle

With its blaring siren

Takes me anywhere…

A spring drips its wet drops

On the wall of my farm well

When asked about his flair for becoming a police officer, hailing from an agriculture family, Chinnasamy compares the similarities between the profession of a farmer and a police officer:

“Like a farmer, who de-weeds the ground and converts it to be a cultivable fertile land, I believe a police officer’s duty is to eradicate crimes in the society and make it a haven for peaceful living”

B. Meenakshi Sundaram

Link to the article in The New Indian express:

http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/1146047

A Brimming Noyyal's Autobiography

• 

  River Noyyal at Perur

  “ 'Noyyal' People could have named me so, as I was smaller than all other rivers like Ganges, Yamuna, Godhavari, Cauvery and Krishna. Since ' Noy' literally means 'little thing' I must have been christened so, on account of my being a small river. However, various kings, who ruled Coimbatore, constructed several dams, tanks and canals for the purpose of agricultural in Coimbatore. Do you know a dam called Athi Rajaraja Vaaikal in Perur? It is from this dam I pass through 16 other canals irrigating the paddy fields of Coimbatore and drain into Periyakulam at Ukkadam.
  
  Despite people calling me 'Noyyal' , my name is 'Kanchimanathi' in many Shaivite literature with 'Kanchi' referring to a deity.
  
  Well, let me tell you where I originate from and which other waters join me in my journey.
  
  You should have heard about the hill Vellingiri in Coimbatore. Shouldn't you ? Being equaled with Kailash in North India, Vellingiri is the hill abode, which is visited by a great number of people, who are unable to visit Kailash. Pilgrims of Coimbatore hike through the seven hills of Vellingiri from the Tamil months Masi to Chithirai. On the seventh hill, they bath in a spring called 'Aandikalai' whose waters come down from a height of 6000 feet to join me at the foot of Vellingiri. Further, Siruvani water gushing from a spring in Porathi Hills hugs me up in the south. A cascade on Karimalai by name Kodunkai Pallam branching into Periyar and Chinnar, meets me at Chadivayal. At Muttam, water from the Neeliamman Canal drains into me and water from Maruthamalai flows into me at Vadavalli. Also, cascades in the forests of Anubavi, Mangarai, Palamalai and Kuridimalai come down the hills and join my journey through the woods.
  
  On my way through the forests, I used to come across tribal people like Malasars, Irulars and Kadars, who drank from me and worshiped me as a God. I know these tribal people were once peaceful inside their woods consuming honey and millet flour and worshiping their hill chieftain Muruga. However, in due course, they lost their land and produce when people living in plains intruded into their forests . Worse still, the government failed to protect their natural rights and culture, in the name of ' modernizing' them “
  
  Note: Noyyal did not know that she too would be a victim of modernity, at the time she was narrating her story in a book written over five decades in Coimbatore
  
  Compiled by : B Meenakshi Sundaram
  
  Source : Kanchimadhevi – An Autobiography of Noyyal - By Kovai Kizhar - 1957

Yama, Give Us Longer Life

True to the meaning of the Kongu proverb, Saatchi Karan Kalil Vizhuvatharkku Sandaikaran Kalil Vizhunthidalam (It is better to apologize to the enemy than begging to the witness), a certain section of the people in Coimbatore worship a particular God to provide them longer life. However, the irony is that the deity, they worship is not Shiva or Vishnu, but Yama, the God of death!

Perhaps, they knew that Lord Shiva, who protected the young Shaivite devotee Markandeya from Yama and provided him the gift of immortality with everlasting youth hood in puranas, would not do the same for them. Hence, instead of worshipping Lord Shiva, it seems, they directly pray to Lord Yama, the deity of death, asking Him not to take away their souls soon!

However, the story of worshipping Yama began in Coimbatore after the construction of a shrine to Him as ‘Yama Dharmaraja Temple’ at Vellalore by a member of the Agamudayar or Thevar community almost three centuries ago.

Known for their brave nature in battle fields, the Agamudayars were appointed as commanders and soldiers in the armies of King Sethupathi and Thirumalai Naicker in the southern districts. However, they arrived at Coimbatore as soldiers in Thirumalai Naicker’s army and settled at places like Sulur, Irugur, Vellalore, Ramanathapuram, Kurichi, Perur and Boluvampatti when the Kongu region came under the rule of Madurai Thirumalai Naicker.

But, the ‘settlement’ of Yama, the deity of death, in Coimbatore, was just after an Agamudayar gentleman’s dream. It is said that almost three centuries ago, Nanjappa Thevar, a resident of Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore, had a vision of Lord Yama in his dream, in which the God ordered him to construct an exclusive temple for him at a spot on the banks of river Noyyal. Later, when Thevar located the spot at Vellalore, he learnt that it came within the agricultural fields of a Brahmin priest. However, after Thevar narrated the vision to the Brahmin priest, he was only glad to allot him the piece of land, on which the Yama Dharmaraja Temple has been built.

Unlike in the shrines of different deities, the poojas at the Yama Dharmaraja Temple are performed not during the auspicious timings, but at 12.30 pm every Sunday, which is the Yama Kanda, an inauspicious timing marked in the almanac.

Facing south, his favorite direction and holding his loop of rope (Pasa Kayiru), Yama is seen seated on his Buffaloe inside the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine. When the Pooja begins, musical instruments like Sangu (conch shell) and Sekandi (A kind of gong) are performed, as if it were in a funeral!

Compiled by: B. Meenakshi Sundaram

Source: Kongu Kalanjiyam – Vol 1

Link to The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/1125431

 

A Tamizh Scholar, Who Disproved Astro Prediction

Pulavar Aadhi

 Pulavar Aadhi alias Rasiannan, a septuagenarian Tamil scholar and poet, will be forever grateful to his mother and the buffaloes, she reared at home. Because, it was his dedicated mother Karuppaathal, who got him educated into a Tamil Pulavar, spending the hard- earned money by selling the buffalo’s milk at her native village Karukanpalayam near Somanur.

“My father, who was a staunch believer in astrology, made me discontinue school  after class V and put me to graze sheep for three years after an astrologer told him that I would never be good at studies” recalls Pulavar Aadhi, an author of numerous books and retired Tamil teacher.

In contrast to the present context, where most students aspire to study Medicine and Engineering, Rasiannan studied Tamil after great economic struggles both at school and college. With a quest for studying Tamil, Aadhi wrote a letter to A. Chidhamparanatha Chettiar, who was then a Tamil professor in Annamalai University, requesting him on how to go about the entrance test for Tamil Pulavar course.

“Understanding my flair for studies, Chettiar not only wrote me a reply, but also sent me the necessary books for the entrance test. Moreover, when I later went to the University for writing the test, he arranged me even food and accommodation at the hostel” avers Aadhi. 

With his passion for poetry, Aadhi versified the life history of Thavathiru Santhalinga Adigalar, a 17^th century Tamil scholar and Shaivite saint, who founded the Perur Mutt. He also performed it through a Villupaattu while he was a student of Tamil Vidhwan course in the Perur Tamil College.

“However, later I became a rationalist after reading magazines like C N Annadurai’s Dravidanadu, Nedunchezhian’s Mandram, M. Karunanidhi’s Murasoli and Mathiazhagan’s Thennagam. When Kaviarasu Kannadasan was in DMK, I also wrote poetry in Thendral, a magazine edited by him” says Aadhi.

But, when Aadhi got the friendship of noted communist leader and Tamil scholar Jeevanandham, he read books like Saminatha Sharma’s Biography of Karl Marx, Maxim Gorky’s Mother and many other progressive literatures and became a Marxist.

As a socialist activist and writer, when Aadhi wrote poetry and articles expressing his support for Communism in China, he was jailed in 1969 and many of his writings were seized by the police.

With his love for dialectics, Aadhi penned Thamizhil Iyangiyal -Oru Paarvai, a book discussing the logic behind the structure of social life of ancient Tamils, depicted in Tholkaappiyam, a very old Tamil treatise. He also penned Keezhaikaattru a book of Tamil poems and wrote commentaries on Thirukural.

“I could have penned many more books, had the police not seized several of my poems and articles” observes Aadhi.

Link to The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/1138692