Veera Pandiya Kattabomman

Veera Pandiya Kattabomman (Veerapandiyan means brave one in the pandiyan line)also known as Kattabomman hails from Panchalankurichi, a historically important place, in the present day Tirunelveli a district in Tamilnadu, India. Veera Pandiya Kattabomman's father Aadi Kattabomman was actually a minister in the court of Jagaveera Pandiyan, a desendent in the pandiyan line. Jagaveera pandiyan was issueless and declared Kattabomman as his sucessor. Since Kattabomman was the first of the new clan, he came to be known as Adi Kattabomman (Aadi means first or beginning in sanskrit and tamil). History is that Aadi Kattabomman, before becomming a minister at Jagaveera Pandiyan's court, migrated from the present day Andra Pradesh to Panchalankurichi. His actual name was Bommu. Bommu's physical strength and appearance earned him the name Getti Bommu (strong Bommu)which later, influenced by the provincial language Tamil, became Katta Bommu (Kattabomman).

Veera Pandiya Kattabomman was born to Aadi Kattabomman and Aarumugathammal on January 3, 1760 and became the 47th king of Panchalankurichi at an age of 30. Veera Pandiya Kattabomman is among the kings in southern India who resisted the British East Indian Company. He initially evaded tax that the British demanded and ignored repeated summons to meet collector Jackson. Later his meeting with Jackson ended up into a physical combat in which Deputy Commandant of the Company’s forces, Clarke was slain. He later revolted against the british refusing to pay taxes when a new collector was assigned to retrive due taxes. This resulted in the British East India Company, under the leadership of Major Bannerman dispatched army to capture Kattabomman. Company's army engulfing Kattabomman's fort at Salikulam, a few miles from Panchalanckurichi, intended to arrest him there whcih later turned out to be lossful battle for the british losing a great fraction of the assigned troops and Lieutenant Collins. Immediately after the retraction of the british forces Kattabomman vacated his fort suspecting cannon attacks from the brithsh which his fort may not whithstand. The East India Company priced his head. He was later betrayed by Ettappan which resulted in his arrest and execution later. He was hung from a tamrind tree in 1799. After that his fort was completely demolished by the british and his wealth was looted.

Government of Tamilnadu honoured the hero by raising a monumental fort at Panchalankurichi in his memory. His name is remembered among the people as a brave tamil hero who stood against the british long before the first war of Indian independence that would be instigated by Mangal Pandey on 1857.

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V. O. Chidambaram Pillai - Kapaplottiya Tamizhan

V.O.Chidambaram Pillai was born on 5 September 1872 in Ottapidaram, Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu (the same District which a hundred years earlier given birth to Veera Pandiya Kattabomman) . Chidambaram Pillai was the eldest son of Ulaganath Pillai and Paramayi Ammai. His early education was in Tuticorin. He passed a pleadership examination in 1894 and this enabled him to practise law at the local sub-magistrate's court. He then went on to practise at the nearby port town of Tuticorin.

The partition of Bengal in 1905, the rise of militancy evidenced by Swadeshi (boycott of foreign goods) movement, saw Chidambaram Pillai taking a direct interest in the political struggle. These were the years before the arrival of Gandhi on the Indian political landscape. Chidambaram Pillai supported Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the militant wing of the Indian National Congress. He participated in the 1907 Surat Congress meeting together with Subramaniya Bharathi. He was one of the earliest to start the 'Dharmasangha Nesavuchalai' for hand-loom industry and the 'Swadeshi Stores' for the sale of India made things to the people. He played a lead role in many institutions, like the "National Godown", "Madras Agro-Industrial Society Ltd"., and "The Desabimana Sangam".

Commerce between Tuticorin and Colombo was the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISN) and its Tuticorin agents, A. & F. Harvey. Inspired by the Swadeshi movement, V.O.C. mobilised the support of local merchants, and launched the first indigenous Indian shipping enterprise, the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, thus earning for himself the name - "Kappalottiya Tamizhan".

The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company was registered on the 12th of November 1906. He purchased two steamships, S.S. Gallia and S.S. Lawoe for the company and commenced regular services between Tuticorin and Colombo against the opposition of the British traders and the Imperial Government. His efforts to widen the base of the Swadeshi movement, by mobilising the workers of the Coral Mills (also managed by A. & F. Harvey) brought him into increasing conflict with the British Raj. On 12 March 1908, he was arrested on charges of sedition and for two days, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin witnessed unprecedented violence, quelled only by the stationing of a punitive police force. But newspapers had taken note of VOC. Aurobindo Ghosh, acclaimed him in Bande Mataram (March 27, 1908), with "Well Done, Chidambaram".

Apart from the Madras press, even the Amrita Bazaar Patrika from Kolkata (Calcutta) carried reports of his prosecution every day. Funds were raised for his defence not only in India but also by the Tamils in South Africa. Bharathy gave evidence in the case which had been instituted against him. V.O.C. was confined in the Central Prison, Coimabtore from 9 July 1908 to 1 December 1910. The Court imposed a sentence of two life imprisonments (in effect 40 years). The sentence was perhaps a reflection of the fear that the British had for VOC and the need to contain the rebellion and secure that others would not follow in Chidambaram Pillai's footsteps.

VOC in prison, was left to fend for himself. His wife, Meenakshi Ammal, followed him from the Tirunelveli sub jail to the Coimbatore and Kannur central jails, where he spent his term and almost single-handedly organised his appeals. Chidambarampillai was not treated as a 'political prisoner'. The sentence that was imposed on him was not 'simple imprisonment'. He was treated as a convict sentenced to life imprisonment and required to do hard labour. He was "yoked to the oil press like an animal and made to work it in the cruel hot sun..." writes, historian and Tamil scholar, R. A. Padmanabhan.

In prison VOC continued a clandestine correspondence, maintaining a stream of petitions going into legal niceties. When he stepped out of prison in late December 1912, after a high court appeal had reduced his prison sentence, the huge crowds present on his arrest were conspicuously absent.

After his release in 1912 he completed his autobiography which he had started writing in prison. It was in Tamil in a verse form. He wrote a commentary on Thirukural and edited the Tamil work of grammar, Tholkappiam. He authored a few novels in Tamil. His translation of some of James Allen's books earned him an indisputable reputation of being an erudite Tamil scholar. His Tamil works like "Meyyaram" and "Meyyarivu" reflect a creative mind, restless for uninhibited expression. V.O.C. attended the Calcutta Congress meeting in 1920.

V.O.C. showed the way for organized effort and sacrifice. He finished his major political work by 1908, but died in late 1936, the passion for freedom still raging in his mind till the last moment. He was known as "Chekkiluththa Chemmal" - a great man who pulled the oil press in jail for the sake of his people. He was an erudite scholar in Tamil, a prolific writer, a fiery speaker a trade union leader of unique calibre and a dauntless freedom fighter. His life is a story of resistance, strife, struggle, suffering and sacrifice for the cause to which he was committed. In accordance with his wishes, VOC was taken to the Congress Office at Tuticorin, where he died on the 18th November, 1936.

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Mahakavi Subramaniya Bharathi - Mundasu Kavignan

Bharathiar (Maha Kavi meaning Great Poet) in Tamil, is deemed one of the greatest poets of twentieth-century India. A prolific writer, philosopher and a great visionary of immense genius and perspicacity, Bharathiar was also one of the most prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement in South India.

Born on December 11, 1882 in the Tamil village of Ettayapuram, Bharathi was educated at a local high school where his talents as a poet were recognized even at the age of 11. After an early marriage, Bharathy, curious to see the outside world, left for Kashi in 1898. The next four years of his life, served as a passage of discovery, where Bharathy discovered a country in tumult, outside his small hamlet.

He had an exceptional love and devotion towards his mother tongue Tamil language, which he considered as the sweetest of all the languages known to him. He was fluent in many languages including Bengali, Hindi, Sanskrit, Kuuch, French and English and frequently translated works from other languages into Tamil. He had a voracious apetite for learning ancient and contemporary Tamil literature and had a gifted intellect to derive astonishing truths from ancient poems.

Immersing himself in Hindu spirituality and nationalism, Bharathy returned to his Southern home, an iconoclast who shattered without hesitation, every meaningless social taboo and rule that held sway amidst the orthodox South Indians. By the early 1900s Bharathy had become completely involved in the nationalist movement and took active part in the Congress meets through out the country. During this period, Bharathy understood the need to be well-informed of the world outside and took avid interest in the world of journalism and the print media of the West. Bharathy joined as Assistant Editor of the Swadeshamitran, a Tamil daily in 1904. By April 1907, he had started and become the editor of the Tamil weekly India and the English newspaper Bala Bharatham.

These papers not only served the purpose of enlightening the masses on the affairs of the nation and the world outside, but also as a means of expressing Bharathy's stupendous creativity, which began to peak at this time. Bharathy started to publish his poems regularly in these editions. From complex religious hymns to rousing nationalist anthems, from contemplations on the relationship between God and Man to Songs on the Russian and French revolutions, Bharathy's subjects were truly diverse. This period produced such masterpieces as Kannan Paattu (The Song of Krishna), where Bharathy sought to portray The Divine as the source of all of humanity's passions in the most accessible of forms including in the roles of a love-lorn lover, of a mischievous child, of an innocent child, and of a wise teacher. The poetry and imagination of Bharathy, of this era, has rarely been surpassed in any literature that followed. Bharathy also published two of his most widely read epics during this period Panchali Sabatham (Draupadi's Vow) a poetic semi-political reflection on greed, pride and righteousness derived from the Indian epic Mahabharata and Kuyil Paatu (Song of The Cuckoo) an ode and a tribute to the poet's favorite Shelley.

As a journalist, Bharathy was the first in India to introduce caricatures and political cartoons to his newspapers. They were satirical and angry hand drawn illustrations of the poet that improvised heavily on the works of his inspiration Thomas Nast. By 1912 Bharathy was already a legend in South India and his political meetings in Pondicherry, where he lived since 1908, were attracting multitudes of young patriots, ready to join the non-violent constitutional agitation against the British rule. This led to a systematic British suppression of what was dubbed as the "militancy". Several arrests and bans on his newspapers followed. The poet's health was badly affected by the imprisonments and by 1920, when a General Amnesty Order finally removed restrictions on his movement, Bharathy was struggling in penury and failing health resulting in his tragic premature death.

Bharathy died as a result of trampling by an elephant at Parthasarathy temple, Thiruvallikeni on September 11, 1921, not yet forty years of age. The legacy of the poet however endures.

His major work includes:- Desiya Geethangal (Songs of the Nation), Desiya Iyakka Paadal (Anthems for the Indian Congress), Kaaviyangal (Epics), Kuyil Paattu (Song of the Cuckoo), Kannan Paattu (The Song of Krishna), Paanjaali Sabatham (Draupadi's Vow), Stothirangal (Hymns).

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Vanchinathan

Vanchinathan is one of the most inspiring youth participated in the freedom movement of India. Vanchinathan is trained by V. V. S. Aiyar, who had at that time had sought refuge in French Pondicherry.. In 1911, Tirunelveli District Collector, Ashe was assasinated by Vanchinathan. The British response was brutal and a witch hunt followed. And the Swadeshi movement petered out with many of its activists languishing in jail.

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Marthanda Varma - ( 1706 - 1758 )

Marthanda Varma was the son of the Rani of Attingal. He inherited the throne of Venad, a small principality on the southernmost tip of peninsular India, from his uncle, according to the matrilineal system of inheritance. A shrewd tactician and a brilliant general, he signed a treaty with the English East India Company in 1723, in his capacity as the crown prince. The sons of the king, Pappu Thampi and Raman Thampi, conspired with the nobles Ettuveetil pillamar (nobles of the 8 houses) and the religious heads, the Yoggakaar to assassinate him. He escaped from the capital city of Padmanabhapuram to the loyal city of Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), and was assisted all along the way by the local people. Collecting his forces, he destroyed both the feudal nobles and his cousins and exiled the Yogakkar from the land.

On assuming the throne in 1729, he was assisted by his able minister Ramayyan Dalawa. Marthanda Varma raised a powerful and well trained army from the local people of Venad. He started on his campaign of expansion and started conquering the neighbouring kingdoms. Many of these were allies of the Dutch East India Company and they declared war on Marthanda Varma. Following the defeat of the Dutch and the capture of Admiral D'lennoy at the Battle of Colachel in 1741, Marthanda Varma continued his expansion and annexed all the princely states right up to Kochi in 1746.

An invasion from Rettipalayam through the Aramboli Ghat was stopped and Marthanda Varma secured the Eastern border as well. Marthanda Varma renovated the 8th century old Sri. Padmanabha temple of Trivandrum, and on January 3rd 1750, he dedicated his new kingdom to his deity (tripaddidhanam) and ruled as the servant of the deity (Sri. Padamanabhadasa). He is known as "the maker of modern Travancore" for developing a small kingdom into a powerful state. He appointed his former prisoner, Admiral D'lennoy, as his commander-in-chief and gave him the status of a local noble. D'lennoy modernised the Travancore army and equipped the army with firearms and artillery. Marthanda Varma also took steps to improve trade, and built waterways and roads. He passed away in 1758, leaving his kingdom to his nephew Karthika Thirunal Rama Varma (Dharma Raja), during whose reign, the kingdom withstood the Mysorean invasion.

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