Prologue

The British, experts in the art of divide and rule, have successfully portrayed the entire Brahmin species as a cunning, conceited, clever, covetous, contemptible close-knit clan and pitted the rest of the entire society against them. 

When a falsehood is relentlessly repeated ad nauseam, it starts gaining credibility and over time, it gets vociferous advocates who will spread it further, as a result of which, the factual truth is completely obliterated. The list of such false accusations and the refutation thereof is quite long and deserves altogether a different dissertation. 

Things have gone too long, too far, too much. And the time has come to call it quits. Brahmins have been, for several decades, defamed and denigrated, condemned and castigated, treated as apartheid and outlaws in their own native land to such an extent that, a sizeable section of the Brahmin folk themselves have developed ‘Stockholm Syndrome’, justifying the inhuman treatment being meted out to them. In this loathsome exercise, the anti-national Communist historians, cleverly and cunningly compiled a compendium of false narrations with ignoble intention and indecent haste, as true history and thrust them on the credulous readers as authentic versions to bolster their larger obnoxious agenda of wiping out the eternal ethereal values of our glorious nation.

A Word About The Social Structure Before The British

The modern concepts of division of labour, adoption of congenital core skills for natural advantage in executing various tasks, keeping in mind the welfare of all, and also ensuring maximum benefit for every section of the society were all voluntarily practised in our nation before the advent of the British [The system, christened as ‘Varnashrama Dharma’ and now being groundlessly criticised, chastised and castigated as though it is an elemental and eternal evil for all the ills pervading the society]. It was ‘Each for all and all for each’, without any iota of selfishness. Each section respected the other. No one treated his avocation as merely a job for wages or as a privilege of birth, but as a bounden duty, he owes to the society. Everyone lived a peaceful, happy, contented life. If, by exceptional skills or through extraneous circumstances someone or some group grows rich, the largesse was invariably returned to the society for the welfare of all. The innumerable choultries that were in existence in those days were testimonies to their intrinsic altruism.  

Tiruvalluvar emphasises charity as the cardinal criterion for the householder.

ஈதல் இசைபட வாழ்தல் அதுவல்லது

ஊதியம் இல்லை உயிர்க்கு.

The same tenet is articulated in the following proverb in Sanskrit:

दानं भोगो नाशः तिस्रो गतयो भवन्ति वित्तस्य।

यो न ददाति न भुङ्क्ते तस्य तृतीया गतिः भवति॥

Meaning:

Wealth gets utilised in three ways:

Donation, consumption, and destruction. Wealth of the one who neither gives his wealth for charity nor uses it for appropriate self-consumption has a third destination, destruction!

(It will be of no use to either the individual or to the society).

It is significant to note that here also the priority is provided to philanthropy and not personal pleasure. In the olden days, pilgrims travelled quite comfortably without any inhibition about food or shelter. There used to be choultries everywhere and travellers were accommodated invitingly. 

It is very difficult if not impossible to comprehend the picture of the ideal society that existed in those days. Here is an interesting story.

The Story Of Subbier

It was the later part of the British period. 

Angarai, a small agraharam village near Tiruchi, where around two hundred Brahmin families were living and Subbier was one rich mirasdar among them. He was enjoying around 2000 acres of fertile land. He was a good samaritan to the core. ‘Annadhanam’ to all at any cost was his motto. His house was large and everyone in his household was ever ready to serve strangers with delicious food. 

Pilgrims and pedestrians would unhesitatingly go to his house in large numbers for food and shelter and their complete satisfaction was his cardinal criterion. 

As long as he was rich, he could comfortably engage in charitable exercises. But. Darker days came. His income dwindled and became zero. Still, penury did not deter him. 

 ஆற்றுப் பெருக்கற்று அடிசுடும் அந்நாளும் அவ்வாறு

ஊற்றுப் பெருக்கால் உலகூட்டும் – ஏற்றவர்க்கு

நல்ல குடிப்பிறந்தார் நல்கூர்ந்தார் ஆனாலும்

இல்லையென மாட்டார் இசைந்து. [ஔவையின் நல்வழி

Meaning: 

A river, even when after becoming dry will continue to provide water through its springs. Similarly, a nobleman, even when he becomes poor will not stop his charity.

He sold the jewels of the womenfolk in his house and continued his services. He could not pay his annual taxes to the British government. His dues grew up in arrears. Unfortunately, somebody in the village who was jealous of his fame complained to the collector that he was just pretending to be poor and avoiding payment of dues. The collector assured him that he would take action.

One night, Subbier, while walking outside his house, heard a feeble voice begging for food. For serving such unexpected visitors there would always be sumptuous food in his house. He went inside, filled a flat-bottomed vessel neatly with rice and all side dishes, gave it to that fellow, and told him, ‘Satiate your hunger; now it is pitch dark; return the empty vessel tomorrow morning. Even if you cannot return it, keep it yourself.’

The next day, the collector visited the village to demand the dues from Subbier. After thorough interrogation, here is how the conversation flowed:

Collector: When was the last time you fed a needy?

Subbier: Last night one stranger came and I gave him food.

Subbier went on to narrate the incident in detail.

Collector: Do you have any evidence?

Subbier: No

Collector: Where is that vessel now? Can you show me?

Subbier: No, I told him to either return or keep it himself. 

The collector removed a curtain beneath his table and asked, ‘Is this that vessel?’

Everyone was shocked. Subbier could not believe that it was the collector himself who had come incognito as a beggar to test him. Collector, having understood the greatness of Subbier told him, “I bow down to your charitable character. As long as I am here none from my office will come and disturb you. Go ahead with your service. I wish you all the best.”

This incident was recorded in great detail in a book, ‘Nalluaraikkovai’ by Dr. U V Swaminatha Iyer. The descendants of that lineage are identified with the sobriquet, ‘Annadhanam’ in their names. 

Epilogue

This is just one small incident in one family and like this, there are hundreds of examples where Brahmins served society in different ways but unfortunately, such occurrences did not receive their due recognition and in many cases, were completely forgotten. 

Here are a few names of Brahmins from public life:

Neelakanta Brahmachari. V V S Iyer, Vaidyanatha Iyer, Vanchinathan, Arya Bhashyam, Bhashyam Iyengar, Satyamurthy, Ambujammal, S Srinivasa Aiyengar, Subramania Bharati, N Goplaswamy Iyengar.

With some intense search, we may know a few of them. But, consider these names:

Sankarakrishna Iyer, a young farmer; Jagannatha Ayyangar, a young cook; Harihara Iyer, a young merchant; V. Desikachari, a merchant; Vembu Iyer, a cook; ‘Vande Matharam’ Subramania Iyer, a schoolmaster; Pichumani Iyer, a cook.

These were a few patriotic Brahmins among those arrested along with Neelakanta Brahmachari in the conspiracy of Ashe’s murder by Vanchinathan. Most of them were in their twenties when got arrested. We can easily infer that all of them are from lower middle-class or poor families. They have literally sacrificed their lives for our nation. Do we know anything about them? Don’t we owe them anything for their sacrifice? 

An important disclaimer before we conclude. This article does not, we repeat it does not advocate any acrimony among any group of castes. Far from it. If, by chance, any of the statements are misconstrued and consequently misinterpreted as endorsing ill will, we offer our apologies forthwith. Our message, rather, our plea is that let us not vilify Brahmins as a single entity and throw mud on them. There are good and bad people in each group, in each section of the society. It is unfair to generalise promoting some secretive, sinister agenda. In Merchant of Venice, there is a topic, ‘Shylock is more sinned against than sinning-Discuss’. we can extrapolate that statement, ‘Unfortunate Brahmins are extremely, excessively sinned against over a long period than sinning. A corrective step is called for.  

(with inputs from Project Madurai)

Parasuram Sharma is a retired bank officer and an octogenarian whose interests include Sanathana Dharmam, Samskritam, history and politics.

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The post Reclaiming Truth: The Untold Stories Of Contributions By Tamil Brahmins To Society appeared first on The Commune.

Captain Miller, a film starring Dhanush in the lead role released in theatres on 12 January 2024. Set in the pre-independence era, the film is about a man who joins the British Army having experienced caste atrocities but later quits and fights the British Army to protect his people after witnessing the horrific atrocities committed by them.

The film has received good response from the audience with a few critics glorifying the movie. However, a clip has gone viral on social media in which Dhanush can be seen mouthing dialogues seemingly favourable to the British.

In the clip in question, Easa/Captain Miller (played by Dhanush) tells his brother Sengolan (played by Shiva Rajkumar)  “Are you fighting for freedom? Whose freedom? You’re going to save our nation from the British and hand it over to the kings who are ruling us? But they’re not letting the us inside the temples built by our fathers and grandfathers. You are fighting for them.”

Sengolan tells Dhanush “It’s not like before. Everything is changing. It will change here as well.”, a dialogue which seems to be hinting at the social reforms ushered in by thinkers and reformists.

Caveat: Reformers like Vivekananda, Arya Samaj, had ushered in a new era breaking the archaic caste rigidities in Hindu society. In Tamil Nadu, C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), the Congress Chief Minister of Madras Presidency issued the Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act 1939, under which restrictions were removed on Dalits and Shanars entering Hindu temples. The same year, Madurai A. Vaidyanatha Iyer who was the President of the Tamil Nadu Harijan Seva Sangh and an Indian independence activist, and freedom-fighter spearheaded the temple entry movement in Madras Presidency in 1939 entering the Madurai Meenakshi Temple along with six of Dalit friends including Congress leader P. Kakkan, Muruganandam, Chinniah, Purnalingam and Muthu.

Dhanush then goes on to say “What has changed Sengannen? Tell me. Will they let us inside the sanctum-sanctorum? Tell me Sengannen. Will they let our people enter the sanctum-sanctorum? They treat us like shit. He’s telling me not to wear slippers. If I join the army, the Brits are giving boots to me. He is asking me to stand slouching before him. He’s making me sit as an equal and tells me to eat. He is trampling me. That guy (British) is giving me respect. That respect is my freedom.”

When Sengolan questions why should we let people who came for business to rule, Dhanush goes on to say “Oh.. were we independent before the Brits came? They (kings) were ruling then, now they (Brits) are ruling now. We were slaves to them (kings) then, we’re slaves to the them (British) now. How does it matter for us?”

It is possible only in Tamil Nadu!

Thank you #CaptainMilIer team & Actors #Danush #Shivanna pic.twitter.com/i2gdaNqQiI

— We Dravidians (@WeDravidians) January 13, 2024

This clip has been shared by Dravidianist and DMK propaganda accounts exhilarating and hailing the dialogue saying that’s what EV Ramasamy Naicker (hailed as ‘Periyar’ by his followers) said. They have interspersed the clip with speeches of DMK MP A. Raja justifying EVR’s British-apologist stance.

However, little do the Dravidianists realize that later in the film, Dhanush fights the very same British after he realizes that they’re the biggest threat to his community.

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The post “They Don’t Let Me Wear Slippers, Brits Give Me Boots & Respect Me”: Dravidianists Go Gaga Over Dhanush Glorifying Brits In Captain Miller, But He Fights The Brits After Seeing Atrocities Committed By Them appeared first on The Commune.

Many members of the Devendra Kula Vellalar clan served as soldiers during the period of the Palayakkars. The camp chiefs formed and managed regiments in their camp areas to protect their camps from the surrounding jungles and the increasing dominance of foreigners. Pulithevan (1715-1767), a Palayakar who ruled from Nerkaattan Chevalai (Nerkattumseval today) as his headquarters, maintained one such army.

Kaalaadi, a sub-division of the Devendra Kula Vellalar clan, has served in those regiments for generations and was given the name “Kaalaadi” because they were serving in the infantry. In Tamil, infantry is known as Kaalaatpadai – காலாட்படை.

The soldiers in the army who rendered extraordinary service were described as Periya Kaalaadi, Chinna Kaalaadi, Karaiyaalar Kudumbanar, Saattan Kaalaadi, Shankarakudaiyan, Maatukkudumpanar, Muthukutumpanar, Kattakkaruppanan. They also functioned in groups as units of larger soldiers.

It appears that the clan’s leader wanted that group to be associated with them because of the valour, fighting spirit, initiative, and honesty of their community and their leaders. One such veteran is the Periya Kaaladi popularly known as Venni Kaaladi who belonged to the sub-division of Devendra Kula Kaladi and served as the main commander of Puli Thevar’s Army.

Muhammad Yusuf Khan Alias Marudhanayagam

Maruthanayagam (1725 – 1764), born in a village called Panaiyur in British India, what is now in Nainarkoil Taluk, Ramanathapuram District of Tamil Nadu, was the commandant of the British East India Company’s Madras Army.

After converting to Islam, he took the name, Muhammad Yusuf Khan. When he became the ruler of Madurai, he was dubbed as Khan Sahib. He rose through the ranks of the Arcot troops to become a commandant of the British East India Company troops.

He was hired by the British and the Arcot Nawab to put down the Polygar (a.k.a. Palayakkarar) uprising in South India. When the Madurai Nayak rule ended, he was entrusted with the administration of the Madurai region.

Puli Thevar Vs British:

Pulithevar’s reign marked the end of the Pandya dynasty and the decline of the Nayak dynasty. It was a time of transition, with Arcot Nawabs encroaching on Tamil regions and the British entering into Indian politics.

The Palayakkar Puli Thevar recognized that the small Palayams were vulnerable to such large-scale regime changes, so he gathered all the villagers and made the them realise the importance of unity.

All Palayakkars avoided paying tax to the chieftains as per the Puli Thevar instructions. The Tamil region fell into the hands of the Islamic ruler Arcot Nawab as the power of Nayakkars weakened. It later passed into the hands of Maharashtrian kings, and then into the hands of the Islamic rulers. However, due to a feud between the Nawab of Arcot and another Muhammadan king, both factions tended to collect tribute separately from the Palayakkars in Tamil Nadu. Taking advantage of the discord between these two factions, the Palayakkars ceased paying taxes entirely.

The Nawab of Arcot sought the assistance of the British in this situation. According to their agreement, the Nawab of Arcot gave the British the authority to collect taxes. Since then, the British have engaged in direct conflict with the Indian kings. British army led by Colonel Alexander Heran, the Nawab’s forces led by Mabus Khan, the brother of the Nawab of Arcot, and the native sepoys led by Muhammad Yusuf Khan set out to attack the Palayakkars in 1755 as they refused to pay taxes.

Yusuf Khan, unable to defeat the army of Puli Thevar led by Periya Kaaladi, decided to attack them at night. Yusuf Khan’s troops decided to surround and fight the Nerkattumseval fort at night from the camp they had set up. Periya Kaaladi encamped on the forest road after receiving intelligence about Yusuf Khan’s secret attack and resisted the enemy. During the attack, he was wounded due to the attack by one of the enemy soldiers.

Despite the stomach being torn and the intestines coming out, he pushed it back in, took the cloth tied as a turban, and tied it along the gut before continuing to fight the war and defeating the opponents. Realizing that many more people were lurking in the forest areas and might attack in the next few days, he got on his horse and reported to Puli Thevan. He rode his horse to Puli Thevar and reported that the enemy had gone into hiding with the army in the forest and collapsed on Puli Thevar’s lap.

Devastated by his friend’s death, Puli Thevan erected a stone near the battlefield and named it “Kaaladi Medu.”

Napoleon’s forces were fighting to take the German city of Ratisbon in 1809. Napoleon stood on a nearby hill, looking down at Ratisbon. A small cloud of dust suddenly moved away from Ratisbon. Napoleon noticed a fleet approaching him. It was a young man on a horse who told Napoleon about the victory of the French forces at Ratisbon and that he hoisted the French flag himself. When Napoleon saw the wound in his chest, he said, “You are wounded,” and the brave young man fell down, saying, “No, I am killed.” This is the essence of Robert Browning’s poem ‘The Incident of the French Camp’.

While our history textbooks may have forgotten Vennikaladi, the man who died on Puli Thevar’s lap continues to live in the Tamil folklore similar to the poem ‘The Incident of the French Camp,’ which described the valor of a French soldier.

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The post Vennikaaladi, The Devendra Kula Velalar Who Fought British Stooge Muhammad Yusuf Khan appeared first on The Commune.

We got our freedom in midnight. It has taken seven long decades for the dawn to arrive. All along we had been kept in the dark on many vital events in our history. We had been fed with cock and bull stories in our books and were ineluctably tutored to treat them as true! One such incident is the most important event that occurred in the midnight of 15th August 1947.

What Our Books Say

Our textbooks are designed to make us believe that we got freedom without a single drop of blood, through the unique weapon of ‘Ahimsa’ of Mahatma Gandhi and that the British gracefully left our land with lot of benefits like transport, communication, administrative structure, everything in tact with full of bonhomie feelings, analogous to some Chandamama story. Nehru made his famous speech, ‘Tryst with destiny’. Constituent Assembly was formed. A brief mention will be made about partition. The student will be under the impression that Mahatma Gandhi and Chacha Nehru were the main architects who got us freedom and some passing mention will also be made about Patel, Rajaji and a few other leaders as minor characters.

But is it so? Let us look deeper and find out the real face of the British, how we actually got our freedom and who were the forgotten heroes deserving major portion of credit.

The True Face Of The British

It is an elementary fact that, in history, no country would voluntarily cede control of another one, especially when it is looting our entire wealth in broad daylight without any limit. And, looking into bitter past experience, to credit that notorious British aggressor with any modicum of magnanimity in abnegating power and pulling out will be absolutely farcical.

Here are a few exegetical facts exposing their true colours:

The primary purpose of their onslaught was plunder and pillage of prodigious precious resources, making the natives poorer by the day as also to destroy our hoary heritage and surreptitiously spread their Abrahamic faith on the innocent masses. Historical data reveal that India was the richest nation two millennia ago. During 1st CE, it was peaking around 30% of world GDP with China as the second and the western nations at the extreme bottom. Even after the advent of the Moghuls, it continued to be an economic giant with as high as 25% till 1700 CE. But, the British wiped out the entire riches of our nation, as a result of which, when they left, it drastically dropped to a dismal, decimal percentage in a span of 200 years. They literally killed all our indigenous industries, took raw materials from us free of cost and forced their inferior finished products on us at extremely exorbitant prices.

A grisly gruesome instance indelibly imprinted in history was their creation and mishandling of the Bengal famine in 1943.

It is said that during the Second World War, Hitler killed as many as seven million Jews and he is regarded as the most devilish person of the twentieth century. But the ghastly genocide by the British government in India due to hunger and starvation claiming about thirty million lives is no match for Hitler in barbarism and brutality. The British always adopted a ruthless economic policy towards India. Under the British Raj, India suffered countless famines. The first of these famines started in 1770, followed by severe ones in 1783, 1866, 1873, 1892, 1897 and lastly, the biggest in 1943-44. Instead of taking efforts to alleviate the distress, they aggravated it further by diverting food grains to Britain’s war front and preventing supply from outside through their ‘Boat denial policy’.

A specious argument put forth by their protagonists is that they built infrastructure like railways, communication, administrative machinery etc. and left them in tact for our benefit. Also, they modernised our education system, taught us English language and sciences. The plain fact is that the infrastructure built by them was essentially and exclusively for facilitating their brazen loot and dumping their inferior products on us.

As regards education, it is nothing else than a myth, an outright lie. The existence of a splendid system of our native education, catering to all sections of the society, prior to the advent of colonial rule has been, after thorough research, discovered and recorded in the book, ‘The Beautiful Tree’ by the great Gandhian thinker, historian and political philosopher, Dharampal. That system was demolished by Macaulay, with the connivance of his native coteries, to hasten the process of imposing their language and culture on us and instill in us a lifelong inferiority feeling.

Now, comes the crucial moment. They had decided to give freedom. Or, to put it in the right perspective, they were forced to flee from the fury of the entire nation. But, they did not want us to live peacefully after their exit. Their sinister idea was to create chaos, conflict, confrontation, creating several tiny dominions which will always be fighting with each other, stifling progress, resulting in stagnation and starvation. What a crooked, crafty, criminal mentality! Accordingly, in May 1947, Mountbatten proposed one ‘Dickie Bird Plan’, which envisaged in effect balkanisation of the country into many independent successor states, providing them a choice to join the constituent assembly or remain a separate sovereign unit. Since it was vehemently objected to ab initio, he modified it in June, with the creation of two nations, India and Pakistan. Before leaving our soil, as a Parthian shot, they planted their stooges in every field of governance who continued their abominable agenda for several decades, a few remnants of which are still lingering even today, stifling our progress and putting spokes at every step of development. This had been their regular loathsome pattern in history wherever they have ruled.

How Bharat Was Partitioned Into India and Pakistan

In fact, the seeds of partition were sown by the British, immediately after the 1857 revolt itself, when, to their shock and dismay, they discovered the solid rock-like unity between the Hindus and Muslims during that crucial time. They vowed that this would not happen again. “Divide et impera” [Divide and Rule] was an old Roman maxim, and it shall be ours”, wrote Lord Elphinstone. A systematic policy of fomenting separate consciousness among the two communities was launched, with overt British sponsorship. When restricted franchise was grudgingly granted to Indians, the British created separate communal electorates, so that Muslim voters could vote for Muslim candidates for Muslim seats. The seeds of division were thus sown quite early which grew into a tumultuous behemoth in 1947.

The climax of the tragedy was that, Mountbatten, got the assistance of one Radcliffe who has never set foot in India earlier, to prepare the map of demarcation of Bengal and Punjab. Worse still, the map was deliberately kept secret till two days before partition, as a result of which, there was a mayhem of hindus and muslims crossing the border in a frantic, frenzied fashion, with furious masses from each side pouncing brutally on each other like beasts of prey killing around twenty lacs of people on both sides. The bloodbath of partition also left the two nations deeply scarred by anguish, angst, alienation and animus.

Historian Stanley Wolpert writes in “Shameful Flight,” Mountbatten kept the partition maps a closely guarded secret, as he did not want the festivities of British transfer of power to be marred or distracted.
“What a glorious charade of British Imperial largesse and power ‘peacefully’ transferred,” laments Wolpert as he commented the possible implications of Mountbatten’s hubris. By botching the administration of partition in 1947 and leaving critical elements unfinished, including, most disastrously, the still unfinished resolution to Jammu and Kashmir, Mountbatten’s partition plan left the fate of Kashmir undecided.

He thus bestowed a legacy of acrimony on India and Pakistan.

What Made The British Withdraw

Before the World War II, they had no idea of granting independence even in their dreams, since they had all along been liberally looting us and were able to suppress any sporadic struggle in many parts of the country by various chieftains. The first war of independence in1857 was on a larger scale which was also managed by them successfully. The 1942 Quit India Movement did not result in any significant impact, necessitating their exit. But, after the Second World War, the situation changed drastically.

The British were exhausted at the sheer cost and energy expended during the six years of war, when they were terrorised by German bombings, with sporadic defeats at various fronts and large number of their soldiers taken as prisoners. Britain was crippled by power cuts and factory closures and their economy was broken. They were no longer the indomitable giants, capable of dictating the world.

The mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy on 18th February 1946 was a momentous event. It spread rapidly and could not be contained easily. The INA trials, the stories of Subhas Chandra Bose as well as the stories of INA’s fight during the Siege of Imphal and in Burma were seeping into the glaring public-eye at the time. These, received through the wireless sets and the media, fed discontent and ultimately inspired the sailors to strike. The aggressor learnt the bitterest truth that they can no longer continue to enforce their authority over us. They were waiting for the earliest opportunity to leave the country with some semblance of dignity.

The Forgotten Heroes

Here are a few random names. We can find out how many of them and how much of each of them are known to us when juxtaposed with the familiar frequent names that our history books repeatedly force on us:

Puli Thevar, Alagumuthukone, Maruthu Pandiyar, Rani Velu Nachiar, Vennikkaladi, Ondiveeran, Pazhassi Raja, Matangini Hazra, Aruna Asaf Ali, Bhikaji Cama, Peer Ali Khan, Master Da’ Surya Sen, The Trio Of Benoy, Badal & Dinesh, Tirupur Kumaran, Subramania Siva, Vanchinathan, Tirot Sing, Parbati Giri, Surendra Sai, MNR Subbaraman, Khudiram Bose, Madanlal Dhinghra, Baji Rout.

The above are only a few names. If we scan through this link, we can see hundreds and hundreds of unsung heroes, most of them hailing from the lower strata of the society, who have rendered selfless sacrifices, losing in the holy pursuit, their livelihood, life and limb.

Many of them are youngsters, bread-winners for their respective families. Most of their episodes will be awesome, astonishing to the extent of being unbelievable.

For instance, here are a few facts about the last two in the list. Madanlal Dhinghra had the guts to go to Britain and shoot dead Curzon Wyllie an anti-Indian officer of the British regime. Madanlal said, “I wish that English people should sentence me to death, for in that case the vengeance of my countrymen will be all the more keen.” While he was being removed from the court, he said to the Chief Justice, “Thank you, my Lord. I don’t care. I am proud to have the honour of laying down my life for the cause of my motherland.”

The last mentioned Baji Rout was the youngest freedom fighter. He was shot by the Britishers when he was only 12 years old. And the crime he committed was that, believe it or not, he refused to ferry boats for British police across the Brahmani River back in 1938! What barbarous, brutal beasts!

Our Duty

Is it not our bounden duty to remember and pay our respects to all those martyrs? The most fitting way to honour them is only to dedicate ourselves and strive for restoring the glory and grandeur of our motherland for which goal they relentlessly toiled and sacrificed everything in their life. In fact, earlier, we had only one enemy but today, we are burdened with number of anti-national elements, locally and abroad, in different hues, manifest as well as masked. They are dispersed in multifarious fields like politics, media, administration, charity, social service, public activism, arts etc. Now, when we are trying to correct the past errors and proceed towards progress, they block every step and create bottlenecks, by spreading false propaganda and inciting people to fight. Our earnest efforts, therefore should be to expose their sinister designs, enlighten the masses, erase their influence and eliminate them from entering into public domain so that our nation marches forward towards eminence and excellence.

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Chennai aka Madras celebrates its 383rd anniversary today. With limited knowledge by making visits and referencing the works of the historians of the city, I am presenting various aspects of Madras right from its origin to culture to its filmy craziness.

The works of Chennai Historians Sri Muthaiah, Sriram V and Sri KRA Narasiah have been useful in my understanding of the city.

So, why do we celebrate Aug 22 as Madras Day?

Let’s go back 400 years. British sent Thomas Roe as an emissary to Jehangir’s court and sought permission to set up a trading post. Permission was granted to set shop in Surat first. Why did they want to trade? India was rich in spices, cotton, and precious stones. They wanted to export raw materials and semi-finished goods from India and import finished goods.

Meanwhile, Dutch and British were engaged in skirmishes in Indonesia as well. The British officers in Java hit upon a plan to set shop in Coromandel coast of India as they wanted to explore an alternate, peaceful location. Captain Hippon sailed in a ship by name Globe and zeroed in on Pulicat (Pazhaverkadu). Pulicat which was under Dutch control already, successfully drove the British away. Captain Hippon landed 70 miles north and set up shop at Pettapoly in 1611.

He sought permission from Golconda Sultan and a warehouse or factory was set up in Masulipattinam too. Hold on. Just as how modern day politicians keep on extorting businessmen, the scenario was the same then too. Local Governor of Masulipattinam fleeced the British. To put it in today’s lingo, there was no Ease of Doing Business then. The English traders moved their post to Durgarayapattinam. Again, there was lot of issues there as well. They went back to Masulipattinam and to their dismay famine stuck there.

The English quest for a permanent settlement continued for 2 decades. Francis Day, a dynamic chief factor, zeroed in on Madras. He found a loyal Dubash Beri Thimappa who helped him to negotiate and strike a deal with the Venkatapati Nayak, a Nayak ruler of Wandiwash (Vandavasi) under whose control the Thondamandalam region was. He took on lease a narrow stretch of land on the northern bank of River Komaleshwaram (Cooum) bordered by sea on the east. The lease was for 2 years and revenue from trade was to be shared with the Nayak. This piece of land was south of a village by name Madarasapattinam. The Nayak laid a condition that this new settlement should be named after his father Chennappa Nayakar as Chennaippattinam.

Few called it Chennaippattinam, a few Madarasapattinam. And this deal was put down in writing and communicated by Francis Day to his boss Andrew Cogan on Aug 22, 1639. Hence, Madras Day is celebrated on Aug 22 every year.

Francis Day cited availability of Calico at 20% cheaper rates as the reason to convince Cogan to get the final nod. There is a gossip angle too. His Mistress was here and he wanted to set shop to be with her!

That narrow piece of land later was developed into Fort St George. Madras was truly the gateway to British in India. It gave them a lucky break. Not only a permanent settlement but also to many firsts including the first engineering college, Corporation, and the first regiment as well.

But Chennai’s age is not 383. Perhaps 3383 or even more.

Ptolemy and Periplus have referred to the city in their works. Ptolemy calls Mylapore by the name Mylarphon. He refers it as a prosperous port town in the eastern coast. Mylapore existed as a big trading hub then.

Moving from Greek references, we will move to the tale of St Thomas, an Apostle of Christ who is supposed to have lived in a cave in the modern day Little Mount and spread Christianity in and around the then Madras.

Moving to our own rich heritage, the present day Madras has numerous Saivite and Vaishnavite Temples dating back two millenniums. About five padal petra sthalams (temples mentioned in the sacred Saivite texts) in modern day Madras.

You have the Adhipureeshwar Temple in Tiruvottriyur where prominent Saivite Saints sang in praise of Shiva. This temple dates back to 7th century.

You have Kapaaleeshwarar in Mylapore, again an ageless wonder. Sambandar performed the miracle of bringing back Poompavai to life here. This temple originally was on the shore at the present day Santhome. The Portuguese who came in search of doubting Thomas’s relic pulverised the temple. Vijayanagar kings rebuilt the temple in the present place.

Moving further down, you have another temple in Tiruvanmiyur, again dating back to 7th century.

In the suburbs, you have the Padi temple or Tiruvallithayam, yet another glorious Saivite temple. Moving north west from there, you have Tiruvalangaadu, one of the five sabhas, where Shiva addressed Karaikkal Ammaiyar as Ammaiyar (Mother) who lived in 6th century. The temple existed even before her.

And for Vaishnavites, you have about seven Divya Desams in and around Chennai. Sriperumbudur, Tiruvellikkeni, Tiruvidanthai, Tiruneermalai, Tiruvallur, Tirunindravur and Tirukadal Mallai. All glorious ones, each one atleast 1300 years old. An inscription in Sri Parthasarathy Temple, Tiruvellikkeni dates back to 810 AD by Dantivarman, the Pallava King.

There are also so many other temples which may not figure in these 108 or 275 shrines but as rich in heritage as these. Peyazhwar was “born” in Mylapore. A temple in Koyembedu Sri Korangaleeshwarar is very ancient and this area had the Ashram where Lava and Kusha, sons of our beloved Sri Rama grew up according to a myth.

After going through the sthala puranams, inscriptions, one can conclude modern Madras is not 383 years old but more than 2 or 3 millennium old!

That’s the untold glory of our Madras!

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The post The History Of Madras appeared first on The Commune.

“An error does not become truth by reason of multiplied propagation, nor does truth become error because nobody sees it.”
-Gandhi

However, the following is also equally true!

“A lie can travel half way around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes.”
― Mark Twain

The rapacious western imperialists, during their tyrannical tenure, apart from plundering all our physical wealth, had also fiendishly implanted a flagrantly faulty, fraudulent fictitious falsehood as history and the more pitiable, pathetic fact is that, instead of correcting it immediately after their exit, we still continue to reiterate it parrot-like as gospel truth, as a consequence of which, selfless patriots are projected as traitors while tergiversators and turncoats who shamelessly betrayed our nation are depicted as loyal heroes.

For instance, the notorious systematic falsifier of history, Macaulay disdainfully described our 1857 rebellion against the British for freedom as just a sepoy mutiny and in his perception, the national heroes who had sacrificed their lives and limbs were traitors! How ridiculous will it be if we continue the same concocted stories even after seven decades?

When the mammoth historical film ‘Veerapandiya Kattabomman’ featuring the peerless Sivaji Ganesan was released in 1959, propelled by a malicious motive of confusing the credulous masses, there was a loathsome attempt by one group headed by the famous author, Tamilvanan depicting Kattabomman as a dacoit of Telugu origin, thus discrediting that patriot.

One such glaring instance that is presently going around briskly is the story of one fellow called Marudanayakam. Evidently there appears to be some vested interest in projecting him as a patriot and propagating that bogus message, poisoning the minds of the gullible masses through the all-powerful media.

This guy has managed to infiltrate as a freedom fighter in the minds of the Tamil people. This idea was also peddled in the recent extravagant show on Indian independence performed at the closing ceremony of the Chess Olympiad.

However, even a cursory glance will show the true colours of this slubberdegullion.

Maruthanayagam Pillai was born during 1725 in the village of Panaiyur in a Hindu family of Vellala caste.

Being too restless in his youth, he left his native village and converted for convenience to Islam with a new name, Yusuf Khan.

He initially served the French Governor Jacques Law in Pondicherry. He later enlisted under Chanda Sahib who was then the Nawab of Arcot.

While staying in Arcot he fell in love with a ‘Portuguese’ Christian girl named Marcia and married her.

In 1751, in the struggle between Muhammed Ali Khan Wallajah and his relative Chanda Sahib for the throne of Arcot, the former sought the help of the British and the latter, the French. Chanda Sahib got defeated.

Although Marudanayagam was on the side of the opponent viz. Chanda Sahib, Robert Clive noticed his exceptional valour and got him enlisted in the British army. Yusuf Khan assisted the British with his guerilla warfare and rose rapidly in rank and recognition.

Around this time, an English captain named Brunton educated Yusuf Khan, making him proficient in English. He moved up the ranks as tax collector, Havildar and finally as a Subedar and that is how he is referred to in the English records.

While serving the British, Yusuf Khan battled with Puli Thevar, a Polygar of Nerkattumseval, a small town to the south-west of Madurai, who was rebelling against the Nawab and the British. Yusuf Khan, with his exceptional skills in warfare, captured some of Puli Thevar’s forts where others had failed. His fight with and killing of Vennikkaladi, a chieftain of Puli Thevar was ghastly, galling and gruesome to say the least. Puli Thevar later escaped from Sankarankovil and disappeared from the pages of history for a couple of years. Only now, Puli Thevar is recognized by the Government of Tamil Nadu as a freedom fighter.

Successive spectacular victories made him a megalomaniac and consequently he earned enemies also. Arcot Nawab was envious of him and wanted him to pay taxes directly to him and not to the British. He rebelled. He proclaimed himself as the ruler of Madurai. The Nawab and the British forces joined together and defeated him. In the end, he was hanged.

Thus it will be seen that there was never even a modicum of patriotism in that fellow. Every step in his life was propelled by sheer self interest in the pursuit of which he had no qualms in betraying and brutally backstabbing his own brethren. Will we not be a laughing stock if we are going to laud him as a loyal liege of our motherland.

Clinching, Conclusive Corroboration Confirming The Correctness Of History

Nobody denies that there are several versions of the history of Marudanayagam, some crediting, complimenting and commending him as the first freedom fighter even before 1857 while others, condemning, calumniating and castigating him as a conspirator colluding with the country’s enemies. Each narrator will claim that his own script is the right one. As a result, one is confused as to which one is factual and which one is fraudulent. Under such circumstances, to arrive at an accurate and authoritative account of history, we can solicit the stance of someone whose view we can verily vouchsafe for veracity and accept it as authentic. It is like sage Vasishtar acknowledging and approving his arch-rival Vishwamitra as ‘Brahma Rishi’.

Another instance is in Ramayana: Sri Rama is hailed as the embodiment of all virtues by everyone, but here is a certificate from an unexpected person,’

रामो विग्रहवान् धर्मः साधुः सत्य पराक्रमः |
राजा सर्वस्य लोकस्य देवानाम् इव वासवः || ३-३७-१३||

“Rama is the embodiment of righteousness, he is an equable person with truthfulness as his valour, and as with Indra to all gods he is the king of entire world.” This is from Mareecha, the uncle of Ravana!

In the same manner, here is a certificate, an authentic proof at that, provided by Sir John Malcolm, a British soldier, diplomat, East India Company administrator and historian:

‘Yusuf Khan, the bravest and ablest of all the native soldiers that ever served the English in India. The name of this hero, for such he was, occurs almost as often in the page of the English historian [Robert Orme] as that of Lawrence or Clive.” [It must be noted that these two Englishmen were the pillars of East India Company and they sowed the seeds of British colonialism in India.]

The entire biography of Marudanayagam alias Yusuf Khan with all details and references is available in a book, ‘YUSUF KHAN, The rebel commandant’ by Samuel Charles Hill.

Do we need any further proof? How idiotic, ironical, irrational, inane it will be if we are going to glorify as a patriot, protector and proponent of our freedom struggle, a guy who is being brazenly praised simultaneously as their peerless hero and a sincere servant by the enemy himself? The plain fact is that, while in his early career, he was functioning as a servile, submissive, slavish stooge to the British/French/Nawabs all along, later, propelled by piggishness, desirous of chewing more than he could swallow, he attempted to ambitiously act as if he is an autonomous authority and was appropriately made to pay a heavy price for it. That is all.

The post Marudanayagam Aka Yusuf Khan: A Fake, Fraud, Friend Of The Fiendish Foreign Foes Falsely And Flagrantly Lionised appeared first on The Commune.