Sharing People's Discovery of Kovai's Ancient Highway

History enthusiasts Perur Jayaraman and Anbarasu share their views on the Rajakesari Peruvazhi inscription: Picture by L.Anantharaman

For the illiterate villagers living on the forest fringes, a strange four-lined note inscribed on a slab of rock inside the woods must have been an enigma. And one such inscription is still seen inside the Madukarai forest. Though eminent epigraphists later deciphered the inscription, people had viewed it from a different perspective earlier.

The inscription found in the Madukarai forest 

The venba, a four-lined Tamil poem inscribed on the rock praises a Chola king for his relaying an ancient highway and trade route called 'Rajakesari Peruvazhi' which had connected the east and west seashores before the Christian era. The poem, inscribed in the old Tamil vattezhuthu ( rounded alphabet), praises the king for his deployment of a 'shadow army' in the highway to protect the traveling traders from the attack of robbers. But now, one can hardly believe the location of the inscription is the disused Rajakesari Peruvazhi, for it is now a haunt of wild elephants.

Archeologist Poongundran's imprint of the inscription in 1976

“ Though elders in our village hardly knew to mention it as 'kalvettu', a technical Tamil term for stone inscription, they simply called it 'ezhuthu parai' ( Letter rock) “ says Anbarasu, a native of Ettimadai, a forest fringe on Tamil Nadu – Kerala borders in Coimbatore.

Anbarasu, who was once a shepherd, used to read magazines as his cows and goats grazed in the woods. As usual on a day, he was busy reading a book about the disused ancient highway Rajakesari Peruvazhi. Interestingly, the Rajakesari Peruvazhi was nothing other than the spot where Anbarasu was reading the book!

Epigraphist D.Sundaram's rewriting of the old Tamil vattezhuthu inscription 

“ I was much elated to know that I was at the spot, which the book was telling me about ! “ he avers.

As heard from his ancestors, Anbarasu recalls another interesting incident on the inscription:
" As the epigraph was a mystery to the villagers, they believed that the ununderstandable writing in it contained the secret of a treasure, which was buried inside a nearby well. They had also been of the opinion that a 'Bootham' (a goblin) was keeping watch of the treasure. And one day, the people even got a yagna  performed by the local priests to appease the 'Bootham' and get his 'permission' to dig up the 'treasure !. The superstitious people did not know that the well was constructed by the king to quench the thirst of the traveling traders and their horses and bullocks " 

Recalling a different experience, 68 year-old Perur Jayaraman, a well- known source person for Coimbatore history, shares how he stumbled upon the stone inscription:

“ While I was a boy, I accompanied a s

ervant of our farmland to take lunch for a man that was absconding at K.G.Chavady, being accused of a crime. On our way from Perur to Chavady through the forest, we halted at a spot. There, a man met our servant and told him that his friend was sleeping on the 'ezhuthu parai'. And that was when, I heard the inscription being called so”

Having observed the four-lined inscription, a surprised Jayaraman told his parents that it was written in a 'ruled notebook', as a horizontal line ran engraved under each line in the epigraph!

Though Anbarasu and Perur Jayaraman hail from Ettimadai and Perur respectively and had little chance to meet each other, City Express brought the two together for a freewheeling chat on Rajakesari Peruvazhi. The history enthusiasts recalled how the stone inscription had an impact on the people living in the forest fringe.

However, R. Poongundran, former assistant director, Tamil Nadu Archeolgy Department, who deciphered the inscription in 1976 , says:

“ The epigraph mentions only a Chola king's title as 'Kokandan'. Even R. Nagasamy, the then director of Tamil Nadu Archeology department, opined that the title could refer to king Rajaraja. But, after long years, when I stumbled upon another stone inscription mentioning king Aditya Chola I as 'Kokandan', I confirmed that he was the one that relaid the Rajakesari Peruvazhi,which ran through Coimbatore for many centuries even before the Christian era” 

 Link to the feature in The NewIndian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/16779468 

A Modern Writer's Admiration for the Tamil Classic

Eminent English philosopher Francis Bacon's popular quote differentiating kinds of books as 'Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested' can hardly include one book in Tamil for its exceptional quality, as heard from its definition by famed modern Tamil writer Jeyamohan. And the book is none other than Thirukural.“  

 Readers cannot get the essence of a couplet in Thirukural just by reading it as a mere group of words. Rather, they should 'train' themselves in its every letter, word and contemplate it to obtain the wisdom, which the great poet and philosopher Thiruvalluvar conveyed through the seven- worded Kural Venba - a short verse form, whose composition requires strict prosodic rules “ averred Jeyamohan.

Addressing the three-day programme 'Kuralinuthu' ( sweet is Thirukural) on the immortal Tamil classic, which was organised by Sri Krishna Sweets in the city, the modern writer said:

“Kural Venba is a 'sutra' - a concise form, which expresses what is needed, but strictly in a very few words. And the couplets in Thirukural were primarily meant for learning and saying by heart. Nevertheless, in the modern age, the method has been changed from 'payiluthal' (knowing by practice) to 'vasithal' ( mere reading) ”

Describing such serious methods of 'exercising' or 'practising' the Thirukural couplets, he informed:

“ One of the disciples of the social reformer Sree Narayana Guru practised Thirukural in such a way. Because, the classic, which should be called 'a book of meditation' is to be learned deeply throughout one's life, as the work is incomparably wise to provide answers for all questions in human life”

Quoting T.S.Eliot, a famous 20^th century British poet, essayist and literary critic, Jeyamohan said that Eliot defines a classic as a literary piece that has the capability of producing more such works in the days to come.

“ And Thirukural, being one such classic, stood as an inspiration  for the birth of similar didactic pieces of literature like Cilapathikaram, Manimekalai and Naladiyar , which appeared later and preached the virtues for mankind ”

Paying his tribute to the recent demise of Vanavan Mahadevi, a 36 year-old muscular dystrophy patient and founder of Aadhav Trust for the development of similar patients of her kind, Jeyamohan explained how a couplet in Thirukural defines life and death philosophically thus:

Death is like a slumber deep

And birth like waking from that sleep

Describing a classic being the supreme creation of a culture, Jeyamohan admired Thiruvalluvar for his love and concern to mankind that he curses even the creator of the world 'to wander and perish', if human beings were destined to survive by begging and living. The 1062^nd couplet reads thus:

If he that shaped the world desires that men should begging go,

Through life's long course, let him a wanderer be and perish so.

Sharing his visit to Shravanabelagola, a pilgrimage destination of the Jains, Jeyamohan said:

“The Jain ascetic Bhadrabahu migrated with thousands of his disciples including Chandragupta Maurya, the king-turned monk, to Shravanabelagola, a pilgrimage destination in Karnataka for Jains today. Thiruvalluvar, who was also a Jain scholar, is believed to have breathed his last at Shravanabelagola, which was once called as 'Saravana Vellai Kulam' in Tamil. In the bygone era, it was a practice there to outline a Jain scholar's feet and engrave them on rocks. And I walked amidst such plenty of engravings on the mountain”

The audience were moved to tears, as Jeyamohan closed his speech thus:

“ Of the large number of foot prints engraved at Shravanabelagola, one could be Thiruvalluvar's. At this point, I touch and make obeisance to it ”

Link to my story in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/16258555

Serving the Abodes of God for 36 Years

Azha.Muthupalaniappan - Picture by A.Raja Chidamparam

Buying a match box is a matter of spending Re.1 today. Moreover, with the invention of lighters to lit cigarettes and gas stoves, match boxes will soon be things of little use. However, in the bygone era, when purchasing a match box was a 'costly affair', people had no other option,but 'borrow' fire from each other to light their traditional ovens.

“ As a boy, I used to get fire for my cooking mother with a cow dung cake from a neighbouring house “ recalls Azha. Muthupalaniappan, former assistant commissioner, Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments department.

The 65 year ,who has recently penned his book Koyilkalil 36 Aandukal ( My 36 year experience in temples ), says:

“ You know, whenever a Devadasi ( temple dancer) of the Sri Ranganathar Swamy Temple at Srirangam passed away, the fire to cremate her body would be taken from the shrine's madaipalli ( cook-house of a temple). Also the vaaikarisi ( Handful of rice dropped into the dead person's mouth before cremation) and the kodi ( offering of a new cloth to the deceased) were also provided by the temple “

Sharing a tale behind this tradition, Muthupalaniappan informs:

“ A Devadasi beguiled a man, who had a plan to harm the temple, and she took him to the shrine's gopura and pushed him from the top. It is said that she too jumped from the temple tower and died. From then onwards, as long as the Devadasi system was in vogue in the state, the demise of any temple dancer was honoured with the tradition of the shrine's offering fire for her cremation”

Muthupalaniappan, who is already an author of the books Muthumanithiral and Padithathil Pidithathu, is working as a lawyer in Coimbatore after his retirement. A man with a passion for temple art, sculptures, theology and epigraphy, in his new book Koyilkalil 36 Aandukal, the former assistant commissioner with the H.R.& C.E department has shared his experiences on temple administration.

“ In the bygone era, temples were administered by teams of elderly people in villages. With the shrines being centres of public gathering, they helped people by providing them education, medical care and even lending money at needs. In short, a temple, in those days, played the role of a school, bank and hospital. Since the shrines had to function permanently with regular poojas and annual festivals, kings and landlords made gifts to them by donating a plenty of agricultural lands, whose revenue facilitated their active functioning. Nevertheless, after the country came under the British rule, The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board was established in order to check the prevalent fraud and malfeasance in Hindu temples. Later, when India became independent, The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Board was modified into Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department” details Muthupalaniappan.

For an ardent reader on temples, Muthupalaniappan's book Koyilkalil 36 Aandukal is an interesting work, for it narrates the historical and mythological incidents behind the temples and informs his service to their development. 

Link to a small news item in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/15685905 

Why Gold Plating, Again On Gold ?

'Kalvi Thanthai' ( Father of education), as he is popularly called for his great reforms in education, former Tamil Nadu chief minister K.Kamaraj was remembered on his birth anniversary a few months ago. But, what do you think of the same egalitarian social reformer, as his image appears on the calenders hung in many provision stores, depicting him the representative of a particular community ? Adding insult to injury, the city has also witnessed a flex banner misusing even the eminent linguist and etymologist Devaneya Pavanar as a member of a particular community.

The banner announced the Naatru Nadu Vizha, an annual festival celebrated at Perur to honour the deity Lord Patteeswarar. The celebration is to remember the Supreme God ,who, by taking the incarnation of a farmer, planted saplings in a paddy field on the banks of river Noyyal in Perur.

Legend has it that Lord Shiva or Patteeswarar, a 'friend' of the eighth century devotional Tamil poet Sundarar, was 'helpless', since He had few gifts to present the bard. And, having known that the poet was on the way to meet Him at Perur, the God incarnated himself into a farmer and left the temple to plant saplings on a paddy field surrounded by fragrant creepers.

Speaking its glorious past, the Shiva temple stands on the banks of river Noyyal at Perur. Nevertheless, its deity seems to be 'helpless' even now, like how He was to His friend and poet Sundarar. The Almighty, who caught even the sacred river Ganga on His brow and checked its flow from His matted locks, seems to have done little to protect Noyyal from Karunya University, Chinmaya International School and Isha Yoga Centre, which are blocking the river's waterways.

While industries and dyeing units of Coimbatore and Tirupur discharge their effluents into Noyyal and certain NGOs pretend to restore the polluted river for obtaining domestic and international funds, it is a great pity that the God stands as a mute spectator in His Perur shrine, which is commended as Melai Chidamparam on par with the great Thillai Nataraja Temple.

Unlike the silent Shiva, great Tamil poet Thiruvalluvar, in his immortal work Thirukural, emphasizes the importance of water by glorifying rain as 'ambrosia', without which, even offerings to God would be hardly possible on earth.

However, the poet and philosopher, who preached equality in birth of all beings, has faced a discrimination from the touch-me-not sadhus at Haridwar in Utharakhand. His 12-ft statue, which was taken to be installed on the banks of the highly polluted Ganges, unbidden, is now lying abandoned wrapped in a plastic sheet.

At a time, when a few political leaders demand the proper installation of Thiruvalluvar's statue on the same river bank, Raja Manickam, one of the Facebook user from Coimbatore, only wonders at the 'crying need' for installing the universal Tamil poet's statue in North India.

Praising a poem by Venil Krishnamoorthy, a Coimbatore-based publisher and poet, on the uninvited act, Raja Manickam left a comment thus:

“ Thangathirkku Etharkada Varnam? “ ( Why gold plating again on gold ? )

Sources: Kongumandala Sathakam – Karmega Kavingar, Thiruperur Puranam - Kachiyappa Munivar, Noyyal Andrum Indrum – Tamil Nadu Vivasayigal Sangam, A Classical Dictionary of Hindu Mythology and Religion – John Dowson.

Sharing Memoirs of His Nondescript Kongu Hamlet

C.Subramaniam, Former Vice - Chancellor, Tamil University, Thanjavur 

In his poem Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, famed English poet Thomas Gray mourns the death of the common people as he comes across a country churchyard in an evening. Finding no difference between the great and common, Gray even assumes that there might be someone like John Milton, Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden among the dead villagers, whose talents had never been discovered, for they were simply folks of the countryside. From a similar angle as Gray viewed the rustic people, a poet from the Kongu region shares his memoirs on the people of his village people in his book Mamaraththupatti. And the poet is none other C.Subramaniam, former registrar of Bharathiyar University and retired Vice-chancellor of Tamil University, Thanjavur.

“ The hamlet 'Mamaraththupatti' in the present day Tirupur district is my native. In my book of poems on the same title, I have remembered a few, great people, who have left an indelible mark on me” says C.S, as C.Subramaniam is popularly called in Coimbatore.

While introducing the arid village C.S says:

“ Despite its name being ' Mamarathupatti' ( A village of mango trees), the village hardly has any trees. And I wonder how it was named so”

But, Sirpi Balasubramaniam, a two-time Sahitya Akademi award winning poet of Coimbatore, who has penned the foreword to the book, assumes the answers for C.S's question.

“ It is surprising that the village ' Mamarathupatti' has few trees. Still, it could have got the name after a rare event, in which a mango tree must have grown somewhere there! ”

Though the book is about a nondescript hamlet in the Kongu region, Sirpi commends C.S for making it distinctive by introducing its sons of the soil in the background of their anecdotes in his book of poems.

A busy educationist, heading a number of schools and colleges in the city, C.S informs that he could find a little time to write the book while he was at his daughter's home in the US recently.

“ Writing a book on my native village Mamarathupatti had been my long-time wish. The characters you come across in my book are real men and women of my village, alive or dead today. Their ethical life style,culture and sincerity inspired me to pen the book” says C.S.

The book Mamarathupatti, which has as many as 24 chapters, includes the author's memoirs on a traditional midwife, who helped his mother deliver the child. Interestingly, soon after the baby boy (C.Subramaniam) was born, the birth worker had to attend to another pregnant woman, who delivered a baby girl just after an hour from C.S's birth. And now, the baby-boy and baby-girl are the elderly couple C.Subramaniam and Chellam Subramaniam – the husband and wife, who met the coincidence of sharing their birthday!

Writing a chapter on Periyaa Nadar, a coconut palm climber, C.S recalls:

“ Periya Nadar would always be bare-chested. If you observed the bruises on his body, you could certainly say the number of trees he climbed. A diehard fan of the Tamil matinee idol and former Tamil Nadu chief minister M.G Ramachandran, Nadar, one day, watched the evening show of M.G.R's 1955 box office hit Gulebakavali at the touring talkies in the village Arikaran Valasu. The film, which portrays the hero's fight with a tiger, had a different effect on Nadar. As we headed to the same film for the night show, the innocent Periyaa Nadar told us that we would not watch M.G.R's fight with the tiger in the night show. Because, the hero had killed the animal in the evening show itself ! “ 

Link to a small publication of this story in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/15022155 

Introducing the Unorthodox Spiritual World of Siddhas

Ignorant people, who are in the rat race of modern life, can opt out of the meaningless struggle for material, if they read and enjoy a few interesting songs by Pambatti Siddhar, one of the unorthodox saints, who practised a revolutionary form of spirituality against the established religious doctrines in Tamil Nadu. Though most Coimbatoreans have been to the 'Pambatti Siddhar Cave' on Marudhamalai, many know little on his life, contributions and attainment of Samadhi in the cave.

“The term 'Siddha' has different synonyms to mean the wisest man, for 'Sidh' means wisdom” explains S. Sethupathi, who has authored the Tamil book Sindhai Kavarntha Siddhar Padalkal ( Inspiring poems of the Siddhas)

S.Sethupathi

An author of over 50 Tamil books, Sethupathi is currently a professor of Tamil in Bharathidasan Government College for Women, Puducherry. His book Sinthai Kavarntha Siddhar Paadalkal is a compilation of poems by as many as 24 Siddhas. Of them, a verse by Pambatti Siddhar parodies the short- lived material pleasures of people.

Eminent poet and bilingual translator M.L Thangappa has rendered the poem into English for Parai, an anthology of Tamil literature edited by modern Tamil poet Pothiyaverpan. It reads thus:

Storeyed mansions

Decorated halls

Fortressed castles and palaces

Do not accompany one

After life is gone.

People who know this

Do not cherish those things

But look upon them with disdain.

Declare this to the world, O snake

Though the world does not know the natural name of the unorthodox saint, it is interesting to note that he got the name ' Pambatti Siddhar', as he could once be a snake charmer by profession. Some other researchers on Siddha literature view it from a different angle and opine that it could be due to the refrain in his poems ' O snake', as, at the end of every stanza, he orders the serpent to take his philosophy to people.

In addition to the poems, Sethupathi has also provided short biographical sketches of the Siddhas as he heard from people and read from legends, for no historical documentation was done on their lives.

“ Legend has it that Pambatti Siddhar was once a snake charmer. One day, he had gone deep into the woods looking for a king cobra, which had a ruby in it. But, there, he came across a mystic, whose name was Sattai Muni. The mystic, with a tinge of philosophy, asked the snake charmer why he had come in search for the serpent, while it is already within his body ! Then he explained to him that every human body is a forest, inside which a cobra dwells. Its name is Kundalini, the potential power which is believed to lie coiled ( like a snake) at the base of one's spine” says Sethupathi.

It is also believed that Kundalini is awakened through meditation and other yogic exercises for attaining enlightenment.

“ The snake charmer accepted Sattai Muni as his guru and listened to his 'upathesams'. Then having learned all austerities from him, the snake charmer did penance for years and finally became a 'Siddha'. Hence he came to be called 'Pambatti Siddhar' ” explains Sethupathi. 

Link to a short, edited write-up in The New Indian Express : http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/14922106 

Imbibing Pablo Neruda's 100 Love Sonnets in Tamil

 How is the translation of their languages

Arranged with the birds?

- Pablo Neruda, The Book of Questions

As a boy, Pa.Gunasekar would run errands for the DMK founder C.N.Annadurai, whenever the leader visited Coimbatore. Anna would call the 15 year-old boy and ask him to hire a horse cart,in which he and his party colleague E.V.K.Sampath traveled on the streets of Coimbatore to address public meetings.

An author of as many as 24 books, Gunasekar is 80 years old.

Pa.Gunasekar - Picture shot by A.Raja Chidamparam

“ We lived just opposite the house of the couple Krishnasamy and Gandhimathi in R.S.Puram. Gandhimathi, a teacher of Mathematics, was the daughter of Kannammal, Periyar E.V.Ramasamy's younger sister. And Krishnasamy was a cousin of E.V.K.Sampath. During those days, I have seen Anna and Sampath stay in their house and go to the Rainbow cinema in an Oldsmobile car to watch English films” recalls Gunasekar.

“ After enjoying an evening show at Rainbow, the Dravidian stalwarts traveled to 'Chidamparam Poonga' ( V.O.C.Park) in a horse cart and addressed the public meetings there” reminisces Gunasekar, who also penned a book Perarignar Anna Oru Pugazh Gopuram – His memoirs on C.N.Annadurai.

The leader, whom people addressed as 'Tamil Nadu's Bernard Shaw' for his memorable plays, staged many of them including Chandiramohan, Or Iravu, Vandikaran Mahan and Needhi
Devan Mayakkam at the R.S.Puram Boys High School.

“ In Needhi Devan Mayakkkam, I have seen Anna even donning the role of Ravana, the Lankan Tamil king, who is depicted as a villain in the Ramayana “ remembers Gunasekar.

Though Gunasekar's earlier inspiration was C.N.Annadurai, his world of letters has crossed new horizons and brought valuable pieces of world literature to Tamil.

Gunasekar, who earlier rendered a number of Latin American poems into Tamil and compiled them in his book Kannadigalai Vizhungum Kannnadi ( A mirror that swallows mirrors), has now come out with another work Kaadhal Oru Minnal Por ( Love, a lightning war) – his translation of poems from 100 Love Sonnets, a book written by the Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda.

An avid reader of literature, Gunasekar says that his life is synonymous with books.

“ Whenever I had a compulsion of visiting a relative's home in a distant town, I don't stay there for long hours, but rather go to a nearby library and spend my time there. Even when I visit my son's home in Florida in the US, I take a bus to Orlando to reach a public library . During one such visit to the library, I translated many of the Latin American poems from the books available there” informs Gunasekar.

Evaluating Gunasekar's recent translation of Pablo Neruda, popular Tamil periodical Kumudham has commended him saying that he has honoured Neruda by rendering his verse in a lucid Tamil language.

“ The art of translating poetry is not a job of looking for equivalent words by browsing through bilingual dictionaries and thesauruses. But it is an art of carefully fetching a poet's emotion from one language to another “ signs off Gunasekar.

Link to the article in The New Indian Express: http://epaper.newindianexpress.com/c/14343410