Recollecting the Malgudi Maker's 'Coimbatore Days'

Remembering the popular Indian English writer R.K. Narayan is a pride to the lovers of literature in Coimbatore. Because, it was here the prolific story teller fell in love with a girl!

Narayan felt the experience of 'Love at first sight', when he came across a young girl drawing water from a public tap at Ram Nagar, in Coimbatore in 1933. As seen in many Tamil movies, the young writer, who was staying at his sister's home in Ram Nagar, cultivated a friendship with the girl's father Nageshwara Iyer and disclosed him one day that he wanted to marry his daughter ! And the marriage was held here in 1934.

But, the girl Rajam, who became Narayan's wife, could live with her lovable husband only for about the next five years, as she became a victim of typhoid and breathed her last in 1939. It was also a puzzle why R.K. Narayan named a boy's character in his first novel Swami and Friends as 'Rajam'

In order to share such anecdotes from the life of R.K.Narayan and interact the pleasures of reading his short stories and novels, the Coimbatore Book Club organized a meeting here on Sunday with Shobana Kumar, a city-based Indian English poet, as the guest speaker.

Comparing the similar ideas found in R.K. Narayan's short story Selvi and his famous novel The Guide, Shobana pointed out:

“ In many aspects, Narayan's short story Selvi and his novel The Guide are similar to each other, though they were published in different periods”

The short story centres round the character Selvi, who is a proponent of Carnatic music from a lower class family in Malgudi, a fictional town in the works of R.K.Narayan. With Mohan, a former Gandhian freedom fighter, becoming Selvi's husband and impresario, the story later takes a turn in Selvi's decision to leave Mohan and renounce the world of fame and glamor after her poor mother's death .

Similarly, the novel The Guide is about Rosie, a Bharatha Natyam dancer and the tourist guide 'Railway' Raju, who is her lover and manager. Resembling the plot of Selvi, Rosie too leaves Raju, but for the reason that Raju loses interest in her art and becomes much interested in making money through her dance performances.

Highlighting the characterization of women in the works of R.K.Narayan, Shobana said:

“ In the two important works Selvi and The Guide, Narayan attempted to explore the psyche of women, who were under exploitation of men” said Shobana,

But, Chithra Sreenivasan, a member of the audience, chipped in:

“ R.K. Narayan wrote his works at a time, when the concept of women's emancipation was hardly popular. Nevertheless, his objective was to elevate a commoner to the level of a saint, as seen in the character Raju, who finally becomes an ascetic in the novel The Guide”

Coimbatore Book Club' s president M.Vaniya and secretary Jayashree Murthy were among those present in the meeting

Link to my article in The New Indian Express:http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2977495

An Enthralling Trip into the Myths on Sankagiri Fort

Sankagiri Fort

School children are generally enthralled, when their teachers narrate the tales behind European historical landmarks like the London Bridge and Eiffel Tower. But, it is sad that the little ones of the present day Coimbatore are hardly aware of the stories behind the historical sites of their native Kongu region.

As their parents have little time to read the interesting tales in Kongu history and introduce them to their wards, yesteryear popular Tamil stories like Sankagiri Kottai Marmam ( The secrets of Sankagiri Fort) and Kalingarayan Kodai ( Kalingarayan's gift) penned by the versatile scholar M.P. Periyasamy Thooran have lost their popularity.

Periyasamy Thooran

Thooran, a teacher at Sri Ramakrishna Vidhyalaya, Coimbatore, and later the editor-in-chief of the ten volume Tamil Encyclopedia, penned his story Sankagiri Kottai Marmam in 1978. The Macmillan published Tamil fantasy is written in a child centric language and centers round the child characters Thangamani, Kannagi, Sundaram, and Jinka, a pet monkey, as they discover a treasure of gold coins hoarded by Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan at the Sankagiri fort, when it was under his rule. The children do so, when they are on a trip to Sankagiri near Salem in their summer holidays and stay at the home of ' Kannupaatti' one of their grandmothers.

Vittal Rao

The people of the Kongu region called the fort as 'Sankagiri Dhurgam' with 'Dhurgam' meaning a fort. Also, as the peak of the mountain looked like a conch shell, they called the hill as 'Sanga' Giri. However, the British mispronounced it as 'Sankari Drug' and the English landscape painter Thomas Daniel, who drew the picture of the fort in the 18^th century, titled it as 'Sankaridroog'.

The fort, where the popular freedom fighter Dheeran Chinnamalai of the Kongu region was hanged to death, was under the British rule after the death of the Mysore ruler Tipu Sultan. But, earlier in the 17^th century, it was under the Madurai Naickers and later captured by the Mysore Wodeyar king Chikka Deva Raja.

Besides being a strong military base during different dynasties, the Sankagiri fort is known for the myths surrounding the places in it. A tale about a cave on the fort notes that once a Muslim monk by name Sha-Ha-Mardan- Gazi, entered the cave and never returned, but was strangely seen on the same day at another cave near Shivasamudra Falls on the banks of river Cauvery in Karnataka !

The fort, which has many entrances with strange names like Ranamandala Vaasal ( The gate of bloodshed) and Vellaikaaran Vasal ( White man’s gate), contains another entrance named after an agricultural woman's carrying buttermilk to the British soldiers atop the mountain. Interestingly, the entrance is called Morthitti Vasal ( Buttermilk Gate) !

Sources: Sankagiri Kottai Marmam – M.P. Periasamy Thooran, Thamizhaga Kottaikal – Vittal Rao

Link to my article in The New Indian Express : http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2941928 

Narrating the British Invasion of Kongunadu

Idaipadi Amuthan

Will you believe that Coimbatore was once a village, when the British divided the Kongu region into different parts for administrative purpose? But, a surviving handwritten document of an English officer dating back to 1799 says that ' Coimbatore is the largest village'

 

When the 'city' came under the British rule, the English officers felt that its location was unsuitable for administration and set up its headquarters rather at Bhavani, which is in the present Erode district.

 

It was surprising, when Idaipaadi Amudhan, a Kongu historian, displayed the handwritten document in his power point show, as he addressed on the topic Aangileyar Kaalathil Kongunadu ( Kongunadu in the British period) at The Vanavarayar Foundation on Friday.

Idaipaadi Amudhan, who is the author of the books Konngunaattil Thomas Munro and 1800il Kongunadu, informed that the Kongu region had been under Mysore rule before the British captured it.

“ Though the British government later surveyed the Kongu region and divided it into several parts for administration, it was the Mysore king Chikka Devaraya Udayar, who had initiated the project of surveying it for constructing canals and dams across the rivers”

 

Amudhan pointed out that the British could not conquer the entire Kongu region until the death of Tipu Sultan in 1799. Nevertheless, he informed that Salem was under British rule even in 1792, while Coimbatore was still in the hands of Tipu Sultan.

“ When Alexander Reed was the Collector of Salem, Sir Thomas Munro, who later came to be regarded as 'The father of Ryotwari System' was the Assistant Collector to him. Munro administered Dharmapuri and certain parts of Salem including Mettur Dam, Sankagiri, Edapadi, Omalur and Thiruchengode. At a later period, Coimbatore too came under the British rule and Major William Macleod became its first collector ” detailed Amudhan.

Explaining the background of the four Anglo-Mysore wars, Amudhan said:

“ As Tipu sought the military support from France and Turkey against the English, Lord Cornwallis, the British Governor General, passed orders to wage war against him and capture the Mysore kingdom. And, under the orders of Cornwallis,William Meadows, the Governor of Madras, led the British troops from Trichinopoly and captured Karur, Dharapuram, Coimbatore and Erode in the Kongu region“

Amudhan also informed that the army led by Meadows divided itself into different troops and marched under the commandership of the respective military officers.

“ While the troop led by Col. James Stuart captured Dindigul and Palakkad, the one commanded by Sir John Floyd took over Sathyamangalam “ he informed.

An ardent admirer of Sir Thomas Munro, Amudhan said:

“ Munro, who respected the sentiments of Indians, has pointed out in one of his writings that the natives could lead a peaceful life under the British rule. However, they could never dream of coming to power”

Link to my article in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2911620 

Washing the Dirt on Washer-men Community

Coimbatoreans, who are known for their unique culture of honouring people cutting across castes, observed all the ceremonies in their social life only with the participation of members from the washer-men community.

It was a custom in the yesteryear Coimbatore to invite washer-men to carry the blazing torch on both auspicious and inauspicious occasions like temple festivals and funeral processions. However, it is sad that they were later denigrated by being addressed with their caste name as 'Vannaar' due to their main occupation of washing others' clothes.

With the Tamil word 'Mannuthal' meaning 'Washing', the group of people who involved in washing others' clothes came to be called as 'Mannaar' in earlier days. And in due course, the term got corrupted to 'Vannaar'. However, pieces in ancient Tamil literature and several stone inscriptions list the other names for the washer-men community as Vannaththaar, Eagaali and Eerangolli.

In contrast to the present age, when the idea of caste is deep-rooted in the minds of people, ancient pieces of literature and mythologies about Gods propagated human relationship cutting across caste and clans. Legend has it that Lord Siva, who once cursed his wife Parvathi to be born as a girl in the fishermen community, later longed for a reunion his wife and married her again as a girl from the fishermen community. Lord Siva's younger son Murugan too fell in love on Valli, a tribal girl and married her.

What's more, of the 63 Nayanmars ( Apostles of Lord Siva), whose life histories are compiled as Periyapuranam by Sekkizhar, the apostles Athipathar, Thiruneelakandar, Perumizhalai Kurumbar and Thirunaalaipovaar were all from the so called low castes Parathar, Kuyavar, Kurumpar and Parayar respectively.

Thirukurippu Thondar, another apostle of Lord Siva, whose tale is vividly portrayed in Periyapuranam, was a Vannaar, who washed the clothes of all Sivanadiyaars ( Devotees of Lord Siva) everyday. It is said that Lord Siva himself appeared in front of him in the disguise of an emaciated Sivanadiyar and requested him to wash his dirty, torn clothes on condition that he should return them the same evening. But, in order to test his dedication, the Almighty created a heavy downpour, which hindered the drying of clothes.

Guilty of having put the Sivanadiyar in the discomfort of cold and rain, when the helpless Thirukurippu Thondar attempted to kill himself by hitting his head on the washing stone, Lord Siva Himself appeared before him in his real form and saved him. The Supreme deity also accepted the washer man as one of his 63 apostles  !
 

Sources: Kongu Kulangal Varalaru – Kavingnar Sivadasan, Arupaththu Moovar Kathaikal – 

Durgadas S.K.Swamy. 

Link to my article in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2857079 

Rediscovering 'Oththakkalmandu' from 'Ootachamund'

Todas in 1871

As many hardly know that the 'formal' terms, which stand for place names like Coimbatore, Trichy, Ooty and so on, lost their interesting etymologies due to their mispronunciation by the English people when Tamil Nadu came under their rule. With Kovan Puthur becoming 'Coimbatore' and Thiruchirapalli becoming 'Trichnopoly' the name of a Toda hamlet Othakkalmandu on the Nilgris too got corrupted to Ootachamund. Worse still, it is a great pity that a new, meaningless Tamil word 'Udhagamandalam' emerged from the corrupted English expression 'Ootachamund' and further it was pointlessly shortened to Ooty in English and Udhagai in Tamil. Also, with Todabet meaning the tall mountain of the Todas, the English mispronounced it as 'Dottabet', which has again corrupted to Dottabetta !

Despite Ooty being their nearest picnic spot for Coimbatoreans today, long ago, they considered the enchanting Nilgiris as abodes of God and places of great mystery. With heir heights inaccessible to mortals, the people of Coimbatore had long believed that ascending them would be a sacrilege and whoever that attempted to do so would be doomed to death.

And just think of what these god-fearing, superstitious people would have done about two centuries ago, when a few British officers declared their proposed ascension to the hills. Particularly, the poor residents of Mettupalayam at the foot of the Nilgiris, staged a hunger strike protesting the decision of the British. Going a step further, the Brahmins of Mettupalayam even tonsured their wives' heads as a symbol of mourning, since they felt that the irreverent act of the British officers was sure to bring a social disaster. The Brahmins also read aloud conjurations and chanted mantras to send the English to 'Narak' (hell) condemning their blasphemous intentions to intrude into the Gods' abode.

Though the two curious British surveyors Ki

ndersley and Whish were the first people from the plains to set foot on the Nilgiris through an indescribable dangerous expedition, John Sullivan, the Collector of Coimbatore, later took a well-planned journey to the hills in January 1819.

With their discovery of Oththakkalmundu in the Nilgiris, the British did not fail to trace the etymology of the place name. As they came across a great number of sepulchers on the hill, they assumed that the place could have got its name as Oththakkalmundu with 'Oththakkal' indicating the single, large unhewn stones used to construct the sepulcher and 'Mundu' meaning a tribal Toda hamlet. Moreover, their unearthing of tools made of iron and bronze from the sepulchers, predated the history of the place with the possible existence of another ancient race there. Supporting the hypothesis, the Todas too disclosed to the British officers that the sepulchers had been there since time immemorial from the days of their ancestors.

Compiled by: B. Meenakshi Sundaram

Source : The People of Blue Mountains – By H.P. Blavatsky

Enclosed downloaded vintage picture of Todas shot in 1871. 

Link to my article in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2575812

When 'Thamizh Thaatha' Visited Kovai

U. V. Swaminatha Iyer, who is affectionately called as 'Thamizh Thatha' or 'U.Ve.Sa' , for his mission in rescuing hundreds of palm leaf manuscripts from the marauding hungry termites and publishing them into books, was remembered across the state on his 160^th birth anniversary on February 19.

The history of Tamil literature, would have missed much of its ancient literature, had the erudite Tamil scholar not discovered them from palm leaf manuscripts and published them into books.

The people of Kongu region too are grateful to U.Ve.Sa, as the first of all the palm leaf manuscripts published by him was Seevaka Cinthamani, which is one of the five great Tamil epics, penned by the Jain monk Thiruthakka Thevar, who lived at Peruvanchi ( Now Dharapuram) in the Kongu region in 9^th century A.D.

When U.Ve.Sa. came across the manuscript of Seevaka Cinthamani for the first time from Tamil scholar Salem Ramasamy Mudhaliar at Kumbakonam, it ignited his flair to publish the work into a book. However, he had great difficulties in comprehending the literature, as it was written based on Jain doctrines and beliefs. Hence, he had to consult various Jain scholars including Chandranatha Chettiyar, Samuthira Vijayam Chettiyar and Gunabala Chettiyar of

Kumbakonam.

Besides Seevaka Cinthamani, U.Ve.Sa also published various other pieces of ancient literature, including Paththupaattu, Silapathikaram, Manimekalai Purananuru, Aingurunooru, Pathitrupaththu and Paripadal.

Moreover, Perunkathai, the first translation work in the history of Tamil literature authored by another Jain scholar Konguvelir, saw its book form only by the efforts taken by U.Ve.Sa. Konguvelir wrote the work based on Ganga king Dhurvinita's Brihakatha in 7^th century A.D when he lived at Vijayamangalam of the then Coimbatore district.

Like today, Coimbatore, was popular with its literary activities even over a hundred years ago with the founding of Kovai Tamil Sangam by scholar Thiruchitrampalam Pillai in 1894. The institution, which trained lovers of literature in composing poetry, writing articles and debating over issues in literature, once invited U.Ve.Saminatha Iyer for a special address. However, the enthusiastic audiences, felt disappointed, as the legendary scholar was suffering from a severe throat ache and could not utter a word louder to the audience.

Since Coimbatore had no facilities like mic and loud speaker those days, the city's Tamil scholar C.S. Chokkalingam Pillai 'delivered' the speech of U.Ve.Sa, as the 'Thamizh Thaatha' whispered into his ears sentence after sentence!

Sources: En Charithiram – The autobiography of U.Ve.Swaminatha Iyer, Piththan Oruvanin Suyasaritham – The autobiography of Sivakavimani C.K. Subramania Mudhaliar.

Link to my article in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2486814 

The Deity, Who Lost Her People

As usual, when the annual car festival of Kovai's sentinel deity 'Sri' Koniamman witnessed the participation of thousands of devotees last week, the Goddess must have been disappointed after She made a vain attempt looking for Her people in the large crowd. It is unsure whether Koniamman was aware that Her people, the Irulas, who are the aborigines of Coimbatore, are now toiling hard at the construction units and brick kilns around the city.

According to Cholan Poorva Pattayam, an available work on the ancient history of Coimbatore, the tribal deity Konamma expressed Her wrath over the Chola king Karikalan's plan of founding a 'new' town by clearing Her woods. However, the book says that Karikalan appeased the tribal deity by promising Her that he would christen the new town or 'Puththur' after Kovan, the chieftain of the aboriginal Irular tribe and continue the tradition of offering Her the triple sacrifice of hen, goat and buffalo. But, later on, the tribal deity was incorporated in the Hindu pantheon as 'The Manifestation of Shakthi'

After clearing the forests, when the land was ready for founding the new town, Karikalan got several check dams built across river Noyyal, set up canals to channel the river water and dug lakes to store it for irrigating agricultural lands and named the new town as 'Kovan Puththur'

The Chola king followed the traditional procedure of choosing office bearers through 'Kuda Olai Murai' an election in which palm leaves containing names of the contestants would be put inside a pot and someone would pick one from the lot. And, the person, whose name was found on it, would be appointed as an office bearer. The selected office bearers were, then allocated different departments including Temple Maintenance, Irrigation, Agriculture, Law and Order and Tax Collection.

As known from the book Cholan Poorva Pattayam, Karikalan selected leaders to govern different groups of people in the new town. He appointed Chola Naattupuracheri Vellalan Pichayappan to govern the community of cultivators, Kavarai Varathappan to supervise the trading community, Vadavaadi Mandraadi to administer the town and Chidhampara Adhikaari Pillai to maintain accounts of the local body. Thus began the first administration of Coimbatore with its earlier name as 'Kovan Puththur'

However, citing the popular quote ' History is written only by victors', tribal historians opine that the Chola king, indeed, killed the innocent Irular chieftain Kovan, drove his descendants into the deep forests and set up a military base here to invade the neighboring Chera dynasty.

Appropriately, implying the annihilation of their ancestors, the present day Irulars believe that the earth had once been destroyed and their deity Konamma wanted to know whether there were any people left. Hence, the Goddess ordered a wild insect called 'Sullaampookke', which creeps by tapping its tail on the ground, to find out the whereabouts of Her people, the Irulars.

Sources: Ithuvo Engal Kovai, Cholan Poorva Pattayam – By Kovai Kizhar, Odiyan – A book of poems in Irular language – By Lakshmanan.

Link to my story in The New
Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/2538578