TWO GERMAN CRUISERS AND ABDICATION OF THE COCHIN KING

Oh, It was not Emden, after all!

A King of Cochin, in Southern India, was known as, Vazhcha Ozhinja Thampuran, or, Ozhinja Valiya Thampuran in Malayalam language, meaning, His abdicated Highness. The incident in 1914, created a furore and it shocked his subjects, because, clinging to power by all means was the practice, and abdication was unheard of in the Kingdom. The rumour spread that the abdication was not a normal act and that he was forced to do it after he gave a garden party to the officers of a German cruiser. Still, I find takers for this theory. I too had believed in the theory, and had thought that the cruiser may have been, SMS Emden, which bombarded Madras on the night of September 22,1914.

SMS Emden

Many still believe, the second in command of Emden, Chempaka Raman Pillai, of Thiruvananthapuram, had rowed Emden ashore at Cochin, to see his friends and family members. The fact remains that the Malayalam word, Emandan (huge) originated from Emden, taking the cruiser to the state's legends. Though Emden never came to Cochin, it has a small connection with Cochin, as a diary entry of Georgina Lee, shows in the book, Home Fires Burning: The Great War Diaries, by Gavin Roynon:

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22

The German cruiser Emden which has been at large ever since the war, doing much damage in the Indian Ocean, including the shelling of Madras where she destroyed the oil tanks, has sunk five more British Steamers, three of them being liners. The Emden transferred the crews and passengers to the Steamer, Egbert and sent them to the nearest port, Cochin, near Madras.

So, Egbert came, not Emden.Georgina Lee was a normal homemaker, who began making diary entries, addressed to her nine-month-old son, Harry, when the First World War broke out after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated at Sarajevo, on June 28,1914. Georgina depended on newspaper stories. I too searched old newspaper reports, and here is a report dated October 24,1914, in Hawera and Normanby Star, page 5:

The Bombay steamer, Egbert has arrived at Cochin with 325 members of the crew and 22 passengers of seven steamers, sunk by the Emden between the 15th and 19th.

Rajarshi Rama Varma

The guns of Emden, Captained by Karl von Muller, bombarded the oil tanks of Burma Oil Company on the illuminated port of Madras at 9.30 PM, and then sank a merchant ship, killing five and injuring 28.125 shells were fired in 30 rounds, and it lasted for half an hour. It was a surprise attack and the British lost their morale. Raman Pillai was an engineer, assisting Muller. Later he became Prime Minister of the Indian provincial government based in Afghanistan, and he was poisoned to death by the Nazis, in 1934.

Chempaka Raman Pillai

Emden was named after the city of that name and was launched from the dockyard of Danzig, in 1909. It had 10 guns and two torpedo tubes. It was part of Germany's East Asia Squadron, based in Tsingtao, China, and Muller became its Commander in 1913. He detached it for independent raids in the Indian Ocean. It was quiet in the Chinese and Japanese waters in the first half of 1914, and when Ferdinand was assassinated, it was the only German cruiser in Tsingtao. Germany declared war on Russia, on 2 August, and Emden captured the Russian Steamer, Ryazan, and converted it to, an auxiliary cruiser, Cormoran. Then it steamed up the coast of Sumatra, to the Indian Ocean, entered the Bay of Bengal, on 5 September, and moved to the Colombo-Calcutta route, on September 10. Muller decided to bombard Madras in late September. After the bombardment, Emden forayed to the western side of Ceylon, and I got relieved only after reading this line because I was born in Cochin! It captured a British Steamer, off Minikoy, on October 15.

Oil Tanks Burnt by Emden/Madras, 1914

So, King Rama Varma XV, who reigned from 1895 to 1914, had nothing to do with, Emden, or any German officer in 1914. Then why he abdicated? Was he connected with any German delegation at all, at any point in time?

Yes.

Records show he gave a garden party to the officers of the German cruiser, SMS Gneisenau, in 1911. So, it was three years before and has nothing to do with abdication.

Gneisenau was an armoured Cruiser of the German Navy, part of the two-ship Scharnhorst Class. It was named after August von Gneisenau, a Prussian General of the Napoleonic wars. It was launched from the Bremen dockyard in June 1906, and completed in March 1908 at the cost of 19 million gold marks. Franz von Hipper was the first Commander for a few months. It had eight guns. Like Emden, it was also assigned to the East Asia Squadron, at Tsingtao, with the Flagship, Scharnhorst, in 1910 and served as the core of Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee's fleet. At the outbreak of the First World War, the two ships, accompanied by three light cruisers and several colliers, sailed across the Pacific Ocean, before arriving off the Southern coast of South America. It encountered and overpowered the British Squadron at the Battle of Coronel, on 1 November 1914. The stinging defeat prompted the British admiralty to detach two battle cruisers to hunt down and destroy von Spee's flotilla, which they accomplished at the Battle of the Falklands Islands on 8 December 1914-Gneisenau sank. It had won the Kaiser's Cup four times, twice in Asia, in 1911 and 1914.

SMS Gneisenau

Hosting a garden party at Hill Palace, Tripunithura, for German officers of the cruiser, in a British dominion, was definitely not an innocent act, you may think. It was not a political act-the occasion was the visit of the German Crown prince, Wilhem and his wife Duchess Cecilie, to India, in December-January,1911. Wilhelm was the Guest of Honor at the Viceregal Lodge, when the escort ship, Gneisenau lay at anchor in the Cochin Harbor; with the formal approval of the British Government, the German Consul, Bueler arranged for the King's visit to Gneisenau and the King entertained its officers at a garden Party, and the Dewan gave a Cocktail Party in the night at Bolghatty Residency, with the approval of the Resident. The temporal sequence was ignored and this incident was termed pro-German by his detractors, three years later.

Wilhelm

No records of a British resistance against the King exist, for hosting such a party. If they had taken it as an offence, the King should have been removed, in 1911, not in 1914. Or, he could have been removed in 1902, for using Germans, for building the Parambikulam Tramway. Or he could have been removed in 1907, when a German Baron, Kauffman visited Cochin as the King's guest, spent time hunting in forests, and got a monograph on the King written in German on his return. Instead, his gun salute was raised from 17 to 19, in 1911. There is no point in arguing a power tussle in this case, because, a lot of records exist, to prove that King Rama Varma had revealed his intention to abdicate as early as 1905, but the British insisted on his continuation. In 1914, though the King was advised by his well-wishers to reveal the earlier correspondence, to silence the critics, he said, "When someday the truth comes out, the disappointment of my detractors will be all the greater, but, there is no reason to hasten that end".

The King's letter dated 18 August 1905, from Tripunithura to the Resident, James Andrew, begins thus:

The proposal I am going to make in this letter may appear to you as somewhat strange and ill-considered. But, it is not so. I have spent a good deal of careful thought over the matter, and am making the proposal only after long and mature consideration. I wish to be relieved of my charge of the administration at the end of this Malabar Year. My chief and almost sole reason for deciding on such a course is my desire to have complete rest and peace of mind during the remaining portion of my life.

.......

I, of course, expect an allowance for my maintenance during my retired life. But, knowing as I do, of how heavy a burden the family of Cochin is on the State, and considering that the item of expenditure is altogether new on account of the step I am now proposing, I shall not name the sum of the allowance for me. Whatever sum the Durbar and the Government consider to be a proper amount will be accepted by me with gratitude and thankfulness. It is now my intention to keep up any great position or dignity during my retired life, and it will not, therefore, be difficult for me to live comfortably on a moderate amount. In this connection, I have to make one request for the consideration of the Government. It is this: a portion of my allowance, not less than Rs 100 a month, may be continued after my lifetime to my wife and her children as long as one of them is alive.

........

He was 53 then, and the letter brings out the sage in the King. This was the King, who auctioned off the 14 gold caparisons in the Poornathrayeesa Temple to build the Ernakulam-Shornur railway line, ignoring the criticism inside the royal family. He sold all gold ornaments and borrowed money from the Chidambaram Temple Trust. Though the first train ran in 1902, the effort took a heavy toll on the King.

German Crown Prince in India

P Rajagopalachari, who was the Dewan, when the railway project was begun, was shocked to learn about this letter, and he wrote to the King, requesting him to withdraw it. The Cochin Dewan at the time, N Pattabhirama Rao was also shocked. The Resident forwarded the King's letter to the Governor of Madras, and the Governor, Lord Oliver Russel Ampthill (1900-1906), in his rejection letter of 4 September 1905, said: There is nobody at present who is fit to succeed you as Raja of Cochin and to govern the state without detriment to the interests of the people.

Lord Ampthill sought  Viceroy Lord Curzon's advice and wrote to the King on December 9,1905:Neither this Government nor the Government of India can consent or be a party to your Highness' abdication.

Ampthill

The King again wrote to Resident A T Forbes, on 13 June 1913, saying he was not prepared to extend his public career beyond December, but the British vetoed. The King prevailed, and Dewan J N Bhore issued an extraordinary gazette on 25 November 1914:

"It is the desire of His Highness the Raja to abdicate on the 22nd Vrischikam 1090 (7 December 1914). His Highness would be glad to meet such of his people as many find it possible to be present at the Durbar Hall on that date at 12.50 PM".

But, according to T K Krishna Menon's Memoirs, the King abdicated on 13 July 1914.

After abdication, Rama Varma stayed on at Ernakulam for some months, while his Palace at Thrissur was in the process of construction, and he shifted to Merry Lodge Palace, the present Kerala Varma College, during the summer of 1915, led a sage's life and died on 29 January 1932. The Palace was built for him by his old, loyal friend, T(Thatikonda) Namberumal Chetty, the master builder of Madras and business partner of Dewan Pattabhi Rama Rao.   A statue of him was unveiled in the public park at Ernakulam(Rajendra Maidan), on October 13, 1925, by the Governor of Madras, the 2nd Viscount, Goschen(1924-1929), in the presence of the Political Agent, Cotton. The statue was made by British Sculptor, E G Jillicken, at the cost of 1300 pounds.

The question once again, is why the abdication?

There is a hint in the following lines of I N Menon, Son of the King, who was Director of Public Instruction in Cochin:

My father had hoped to harness the waterfalls at Athirapally and get enough electrical power generated for running not only the indigenous factory and cottage industries but also to attract to State big industrialists from other states and provinces to invest capital in the state;, before any concrete steps could be taken, he laid down the reins of administration in the hope that his Dewan Mr Bhore, with whom he had discussed his plans at great length, would be able to implement them. Unfortunately, Mr Bhore could not get my father's successor to agree to these proposals, and he left Cochin a sadder and wiser man.

Rama Varma XVI

It means, his successor, Rama Varma XVI, known as, Madrasil Theepetta Thampuran(The King who died in Madras), was a roadblock to, Rajarshi Ramavarma. It is evident in the abdicated King's very brief autobiography that the earlier King, Rama Varma XIV(1864-1888), Mithunamasathil Theepetta Thampuran, and a courtier called Cheruvathur Nambudiri, were hands in glove, against him, and his cousin(son of the Raja's elder brother, who died at age 33, in 1880)spreading canards. Rama Varma XIV, was very weak, affected by illness throughout his reign. He built the Puthan Malika and Mani Malika(clock tower)in Tripunithura.In the Palliyil house in Tripunithura, there was a girl who was the stepdaughter (daughter of his wife by an earlier husband) of the late Raja who was then Elaya Raja. This girl was about 16 years old and had a regular husband. Rama Varma(Rajarshi) proposed to become a paramour to her, and as the husband raised no objection, it was done so. Cheruvathur and others spread a story that he did it simply to please the Elaya Raja(Vira  Kerala Varma), but not because he loved her.

He, as heir apparent, wrote to the Dewan against Cheruvathur, on 11 April 1886:

Cheruvathur and some of his(Raja's) comrades were for some time back trying to annoy me in various ways, especially by spreading bad reports about me, and my royal cousin-unfortunately for me-seemed to connive at their attempts; but as you know I took very little notice of it though His Highness's taking sides with them was really unpleasant to me...

Duke Ferdinand

Rama Varma was the son of the third daughter, Amba/Kunjikavu Thampuran of the Senior Rani, and Bhaskaran Nambudiripad. He has recorded that, his brother, Kerala Varma (Kochunni)Thampuran (Born in 1855, he died as heir apparent), began to attempt certain radical changes in social and religious matters which gave rise to severe criticism all over Tripunithura. His mother too, felt some uneasiness at these things. A set of newly English-educated men of State, gained the sympathy of his brother and a few other princes."My brother", Rama Varma writes, "though very intelligent and well educated in Sanskrit, was somewhat hasty in coming to conclusions and acting upon them. He was also very very obstinate....he fell out with me, and ever since, tried to annoy me in several ways. From this time forward we began to pull the ropes in opposite directions, with equal force, and the consequence was that we never became friends again".

This coterie led by his own brother worked against Rama Varma over time, and every decision of his was made controversial, culminating in a palace rebellion, during 1898-1902, when the gold caparisons of Poornathrayeesa Temple were sold and the allowances of the princes were cut to raise funds for the Shornur line.

The date of Rama Varma's first abdication letter is very important. It is August 18,1905, exactly a month after the verdict to excommunicate and banish Kuriyedathu Thatri, in the caste inquisition or trial of chastity(Smartha Vicharam). The majority of the banished were rich, influential and well-connected. It was the last nail in the coffin when the coterie spread the rumour that the trial was stopped when Thatri was about to pronounce the name of Rama Varma. So it was not a cruiser that led to the abdication; it was Thatri, who launched a thousand ships.

Reference:

1. The Rajarshi of Cochin/Ed.I K K Menon

2. Sir Rama Varma Rajarshi/I K K Menon
3. The Story of an Abdication/C Achyutha Menon

© Ramachandran

See my Post, PARIKSHIT THE LAST KING AND THE OTHER PARIKSHIT

 

MGR'S FATHER AND THE CASTE INQUISITION

He left the children to fate and poverty

Iruvar: An Actor, and his Script Writer, with the Mentor in the background

I began seeing the picture of MGR's mother, Satyabhama, somewhere around 1972, when MGR started writing his autobiography, in the Tamil weekly Ananda Vikatan. Her image and the stories of the family's poverty were an integral part of the pages of the magazine, and,I  never saw an image of his father, Melakkath Gopala Menon. I never expected to see it for two reasons: Menon was ostracized by society, by a caste inquisition. Hence, his first wife's descendants might not be keen to publish it. Secondly, MGR never liked his father's first family. But there is one picture, for posterity.

MGR's Father, Gopala Menon

Palakkad Nallepully Melakath Gopala Menon was a Court official at Thrissur when he was implicated in an adultery case with a Nambudiri widow. I had interviewed a victim of the last caste inquisition(Smartha Vicharam), A M N Chakyar in 1999, and he had told me that Menon was not a victim of the sensational trial of Kuriyedathu Thatri, in 1905, but of the first trial of the century, in 1903. It is described very briefly, in his book, Avasanathe Smartha Vicharam (The Last Caste Inquisition). I quote:

There is an interesting story in circulation, related to the  Kuriyedathu Thatri incident. Among the people ostracized, there was a law officer of Thrissur, who was married; he left the place and married a lower-caste woman from Palakad. They migrated to Ceylon, lived there for some time and he died after two sons were born. The insecure widow came back to Tamil Nadu, and became a maidservant in several towns, to look after the children. One of the children became a very reputable film actor, a politician and a top administrator.

Chakyar adds: Everything in the story is true, except the reference to Thatri. The names and details of the 66 adulterers in the Thatri incident are there in the archival records at Ernakulam, signed by Smarthan Pattachomayarath Jathavedan Nambudiri, on 1080 Mithunam 32 (1905 July 15), but there is no name with the caste, Menon. It has been gathered from reliable sources that the Menon in reference, is Melakath Gopala Menon. He had married Meenakshi Amma of the Vattaparambil Nair family, Irinjalakuda. They had two daughters. He was punished in another caste trial and had to flee the place and leave the family. The rest of his story begins at Palakad. He might have been ostracized in the 1903 inquisition, conducted at an Illam, near Kunnamkulam. It was a mix-up of two trials that happened within a few years, and his name got included in the notorious one.

In the 1903 trial, the widowed Antharjanam confessed to having slept with 15 men, from Nambudiri to Barber. The 15 and the widow, were excommunicated. The incident has been reported in the Malayala Manorama on June 27, 1903, but the place name in it is, Kunnamkulangara. The report records that the trial was conducted at Tripunithura and she was accompanied to Chalakudi by soldiers and was interned there. It laments that none of the 16 was allowed to put forward their arguments.

Here is the report:

The King of Cochin got a report that a widowed Antharjanam, close to Kunnamkulangara, in Cochin state, had a defect of prostitution, she was summoned to Tripunithura and was put to trial, by priests, under the supervision of the King. In the trial, it was proved the allegations were true, and she was excommunicated by clapping, and then accompanied by soldiers to an uninhabited home on the bank of the Chalakudi River, where it was certain, she would live isolated, at the expense of the Government. Since it has been proved by this cargo(Sadhanam-term for the woman under trial), by her own admission and the trial of the priests, no one would be there to grieve her life imprisonment. She has confessed to having relations with 10-16 males, and accordingly, the 16 have been excommunicated and have been banned from entering the temples and temple ponds, by the King, by orders to the Peshkar. In this case, too, the arguments of the two sides have not been heard into, following, precedence. Everyone has the impression that this is sad and sans justification. This lecherous cargo may have implicated a few gentlemen out of vengeance, or by prodding. Among the 16 who have been excommunicated, there are people from Nambudiris to barbers. There are a lot of gentlemen, people who are married, and few government servants. It is impossible to redeem them from punishment, by someone else, or an apology. Since the decision is for them to stay away from their wife and children, and the Hindu society, no need to say, the decision is arbitrary.

As a Journalist, I salute the democratic values, followed by the then King of Cochin, Rajarshi Rama Varma. A newspaper was free to criticize the King, in 1903. Today, unfortunately, while I write this, Journalists are silenced by bullets, by fundamentalists and administrators alike.

Rajarshi Rama Varma

Smartha Vicharam was a ritualistic trial of a Nambudiri woman and fellow male adulterers, accused of illegitimate sexual relations. The accused were, excommunicated, ostracized and banished. 

MGR's First Wife at 8

The banished Gopala Menon, married Satyabhama, of Maruthur, an Ezhava family of Vadavannur, 15 Kilometers from Palakkad, in Chitur Thaluk. They migrated to Ceylon, where, both worked as labourers in tea plantations. Erik Barnouw, who was Professor Emeritus of Dramatic Arts at Columbia University, interviewed MGR in 1961 and recorded in his book, Media Marathon that Menon was a School Principal and he died when MGR was just two. Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran(1917-1987), was born in a squalid tea estate 'line room', in Nawalapitiya,38 Kilometers away from Kandy and 112 kilometres from Colombo. If Menon was a Principal (quite unlikely) it would have been an elementary school for the Indian labourers in the tea estates. Nawalapitiya is primarily a tea plantation area, with no great school to boast of. The story that Menon had been a Magistrate in Candy, too is fiction. M G Chakrapani was the eldest and MGR the younger, with a girl child in between. The girl child died soon after the death of Menon. The child MGR was a devotee of Murugan, whereas his mother, was of Guruvayoorappan. She used to call MGR, Mudikalan, meaning, the hairy little demon!

V N Janaki

With the chief breadwinner gone, Satyabhama, with her two sons, returned to India. I have read in a Tamil magazine that first they came to Kerala, and sought the help of Menon's first wife, Meenakshi and her family, who drove them away. I have also read, Meenakshi Amma then had two daughters, Kanaka Lakshmi and Sumitra, and a son, Balakrishnan. But, now it appears that she had a daughter, Ammu and a son. Ammu is a nickname. Vattaparambil Meenakshi was the daughter of Parameswara Menon and Pappi Amma, and they had 11 children. The first five among them, are Kochukutty Amma, Narayana Menon, Parameswara Menon(?), Karunakara Menon, and Kalyanikutty Amma.

Sheela

It is said, the poverty-stricken Satyabhama went with her children to Burma, came back to Erode, and settled down in Kumbakonam, with her elder brother's help, during,1919-1920.Chakrapani was 9 and MGR,3.She could not think of sending her children to school, and MGR joined the drama company, Madurai Original Boys Company of S M Sachidanandam Pillai, at age 7, together with his brother. "We were given food, clothes and 25 paise a week, which we did not need at all," MGR reminisced years later. He was afflicted with cholera when he was 10, and with his unemployment and illness, Satyabhama spent her days in penury and prayer. His debut in films was when he was 19, in Ellis Duncan's Sathi Leelavathi in 1936 and he was an extra in M K Thyagaraja Bhagavathar's 1941 movie, Ashok Kumar.

Satyabhama

Tamil politics had been a roadblock to the Malayali in MGR, forcing him, at times, to claim a Mandradiyar or Mannadiyar ancestry. I quote a moment of MGR speaking to the actor, Arurdhas, from, Arurdhas' book, Naan Mugam Partha Cinema Kannadikal (The Cinema Mirrors that I Looked At):

One day in the make-up room when we were alone, MGR told the following: "Everyone believes that I am a true Malayali. I'm telling this you. That's wrong! There isn't anything inferior in identifying oneself as a Malayali. But as for me, it is not true. My ancestors belonged to the Kongunadu region and were from the Mandradiar caste. Their ancestral town was Pollachi. During the period of Hyder Ali, who ruled Mysore, he passed an edict that Hindus should convert themselves to Muslims. Scared by this, many Hindu families turned into Muslims. Those who were not willing to convert left Pollachi and passed Coimbatore and via Palakkad valley settled in the villages around that region. Among those settled, my father's ancestor was one".

On December 7,1962, there was a switch-on function of the power supply facility, enabled to the Maruthamalai Temple by Sando M M A Chinnappa Thevar, MGR's producer. The Minister for Co-Operatives, Nalla Senapathi Sarkarai Mandradiar presided over the function, and MGR claimed he was a Mandradiar!

After the DMK split, Karunanidhi and Kannadasan were harping on the Malayali ancestry of MGR and he had no choice other than to vehemently deny it, and to speak to his Malayali friends, secretly in Malayalam.

Still, there is an attempt among the descendants of Chakrapani to deny MGR's Malayali connection, saying his father was not Melakkath Gopala Menon, but Maruthur Gopalan. Among Nairs, it is the matrilineal system, to use the family name of the mother, for the children. So in MGR's case, the Maruthur is not Menon's family, but the mother's family.

Even in the marriage of both MGR and his brother, the Malayali root is visible.MGR married thrice: first wife, Chitarikulam Bhargavi /Thankamani died early; second wife, Sathanandavathi(Ammukutty), daughter of Kuzhalmannam Kadukunni Nair and Mookambika Amma, died of TB. MGR, as Chief Minister, visited Sadananthavathi's home, Chandranantha Nilayam, Kuzhalmannam in 1986. The family had preserved the cot used by MGR in earlier days; he sat on the same cot and cried. He spent money to renovate the home.

Sadananthavathi's home in Kuzhalmannam

MGR, in 1956, eloped with V N Janaki, an actress and a Malayali from Vaikam, who later divorced her husband, Ganapathi Bhat, a make-up man, to marry MGR. Some relatives of Janaki have married Vadavannur. Janaki (1923-1996) was the daughter of Rajagopala Iyer, elder brother of Papanasam Sivan, and Narayani Amma of Vaikam. Her brother, P Narayanan was an educationist.MGR in his autobiography has written that she was earning double her income in the 1940s and '50s. She had a son, Surendran, at age 16, from Bhat. She succeeded MGR as Chief Minister. She always resented Jayalalitha, with whom, MGR was romantically involved. In 1967, when C N Annadurai picked up MGR to contest the assembly elections, MGR asked, how much he should contribute."I don't need money", Anna said, "Your face is worth millions".He won the election from a hospital bed, because the actor, M R Radha had shot him.

MGR with Sathanandavathi

I have always felt that mixing up MGR's father with Thatri was but natural because, a few artists were involved in her life: She cherished the famous Kathakali artist, Kavungal Sankara Panikkar sleeping with her in the attire of Keechaka. Other famous Kathakali artists of the time, Katalathu Narayanan Nair, Panankavil Govindan Nambiar and Ranathu Achyutha Poduval had to leave the land and stage. The Kathakali singer,Kunjiraman Nambisan left for Kasi.Thirty years later, in 1935, when Kavungal dressed up to perform, in the silver jubilee celebrations of Palakad Government College, his companions refused to accompany him. Malayalam actress Sheela is Thatri's granddaughter.

In the infamous 1905 trial of Kuriyedathu Thatri, in which 66 males were involved, 64 males and Thatri were excommunicated. Two, Thonallur Krishna Warrier and Guruvayur Njarakattu Pisharath Achu Pisharodi, had died before the trial. Among the punished, there were 30 Nambudiris, including  Desamangalam Vasudevan Nambudiripad (I had spoken about this to AKTKM Guptan Nambudiripad, at Kozhikode, in 1983-he admitted and said it was there in the unpublished family history) and one Kaplingad Bhattathiri, 1o Tamil Brahmins, 13 Ambalavasis and 11 Nairs. During the trial, the cash-rich Desamangalam Nambudiripad, sent some people to  Thatri's place, to silence her. The area was cordoned off, and the attempt boomeranged on him. The King of Cochin, Rajarshi Rama Varma had permitted the males to come forward with their version, in the trial, in consultation with the legal luminary, V Bhashyam Iyengar.

Vadavannur home of MGR

Ramavarma, who abdicated the throne in 1914, confessed in his Autobiography that he had a relationship with a 16-year-old married girl after his first wife died. Thatri was the wife of Chemmanthatta Kuriyedathu Raman Nambudiri and the daughter of Kalpakancherry Ashtamurthy Nambudiri. She was 18 when she was married off to an 80-year-old Nambudiri. She had been raped, when she was just 10.

Chakrapani

The trial took six months, in the Vallayil nalukettu, near the Hill Palace, at Tripunithura. Thatri could reel out the names of the males she bedded, some with identification marks. She was sent to Chalakudi and interned at a riverside home. Desamangalam Nambudiri was invited by Swami Nirmalananda of Ottapalam Sree Ramakrishna Ashram to stay there, and he married a Nair woman. There was great furore after the inquisition, and the King, in consultation with renowned lawyers, changed the system, introducing a hefty deposit from the complainant. There was only one trial after that, in 1918. I had been to Chemmanthatta, near Kunnamkulam once, and saw remnants of her Illam. 

Nedumparampu Mana/Tripunithura

The last inquisition happened very close to my own house in Tripunithura, and I used to walk to my school through the vast compound of Nedumparambu Mana, the victim's home.

The heroine in this incident was also Thatri(Savitri), of Pazhur Paduthol Illam, married to Elampankodath Aadhyan Vishnuthrathan Nambudiri of Tripunithura. She was his third wife. Thatri, her four children, Thayyil Raman Menon, Ezhumavil Vasudevan Bhattathiri and Nedumparambil Cheriya Krishnan Nambudiri and his four children were excommunicated. A M N Chakiar, was one of Krishnan Nambudiri's children, who was a Nambudiri, till he was 11. Krishnan Nambudiri hanged himself the same night, and his wife and children were notionally attached to the Ayiniyil Muringoth Chakyar family. Though she had named Krishnan Nambudiri, he had gone to her illam, when he was just seven, to study Rigveda from her husband. His Guru had even died. Her stepson had approached King Rama Varma, against her lecherous activities.

Sathanandavathi (C.1887-1947)

Raman Menon and Bhattathiri were never seen after their ex-communication. Thatri was taken by a Muslim of Vadanapally, Thrissur. Her daughter was married into a Chakyar family; her eldest son married the niece of the famous Chachu Chakyar of Irinjalakuda. The next son became a car driver for the Royal family and the fourth died young. A M N Chakyar retired as Registrar, Kerala University.

MGR/Debut role

Though the Last Inquisition in Cochin was in 1918, records show that, in Malabar, there was a trial in May-June,1930 at the Appala kothamangalam Illam, Kuruvadissery, Ozhur, Ponnani. There were trials in 1902,1908 and 1914 at Parayath Thekkupram Illam, Sukapuram. Other caste trials: Ayanamkunnam 1916, Ponnani Irimpiliyam Moothedath 1917, Ponnani Vadakkekad Thekkekat Kolathapally 1917, Mangad Illam 1917(Kavungal Sanku involved), Ponnani Kaladi Peruvur Edamana Veluthedath 1919, Thirunnavaya Padinjarepattu in 1920 (name, Kenka), Kookkod Chempakassery 1920, Palakad Thatukassery Pakkath 1922, Keraladhiswarapuram Appala Kothamangalam 1927.

In Travancore, Malayala Manorama of  November 16 and 21, 1901 reported the trial of a 13-year-old girl, of, Kottayam Muttambalam Peringara Illam, at Thrigouthamapuram Vishnu Temple. She was alleged to have a relationship with Kunjunni Thampan of Koratti Swarupam. When both were excommunicated, she told the Tahsildar that she doesn't need the money of the Travancore government for sustenance; she would live with the Thampan. Thereafter, both began living at a rented house called, Puthenpurakkal, at Kodimatha. Thampan got a job at the Kottayam Engineer office, at a salary of Rs 12. Her father was generous enough to pay her Rs 25 for the expenses till he gets his first salary.

These records show the zeal of Nambudiri women in chasing their dreams, at regular intervals, thereby, challenging the archaic, cruel system and the existing male dominance. But there is a larger question: For MGR, who dabbled with women, on-screen and off-screen, with his father's DNA, and for Karunanidhi, who married thrice, what was a woman? A cargo?

Menon's first wife from Mulavukad

Rathi Venugopal from the UK informs me that her grandmother, Rugmini, is the daughter of MGR's father's first wife, Devaki. Devaki was from Veluthamveed, Mulavukad, Kochi. He had three children in Devaki: Rugmini and two sons. In other words, Menon married Rathi's Ammumma's mother. Devaki's family had migrated to Mulavukad from Ponnani.

Rugmini was only 1. 5 years old when Devaki passed away. Then Menon left.

-----------------------------------------

Reference:

1. Avasanathe Smartha Vicharam/A M N Chakyar

2.Nan Mugam Parkum Cinema Kannadikal/Arurdhas

3. Media Marathon/Erik Barnouw

4. Archival records, newspaper reports, and Zamorin palace scrolls
5. Smartha Vicharam/P Bhaskaranunni

6. My interviews with AMN Chakyar, Sheela and Premji

Courtesy:mgrperan.blogspot.com for two images.

© Ramachandran 

Please buy my book: https://hamletram.blogspot.com/2023/01/red-jihad-pre-launch-offer.html

See my Post, BHARATI,BARRISTER AND VIDUTHALAI

BHARATI,BARRISTER AND VIDUTHALAI

The Song was Composed on George's Veranda

In the introduction to the patriotic song,Viduthalai,of Subramanya Bharati, S Sowmya says, her Guru,Dr S Ramanathan had told her that the song was composed in Pondicherry,inspired by the French national anthem.It is not so.While it is true that Bharatiyar had escaped to the French ruled Pondicherry in 1908 and remained there till 1918,the song was composed in the Madurai home of Barrister George Joseph,who was practicing there.While the life of Bharatiyar is well known,only  few Malayalis remember the Christian nationalist,George Joseph,who was in jail with Jawahar Lal Nehru,who had led the Vaikam Satyagraha and who was,Editor of,Gandhi's Young India.

That wonderful moment in the life of Bharatiyar,is recorded in the biography,George Joseph:The Life and Times of a Kerala Christian Nationalist,by George Gheverghese Joseph,grandson of George,who also wrote the famous, The Crest of the Peacock,on the non European roots of Mathematics.
SONG:VIDUTHALAI/SUBRAMANYA BHARATI/S SOWMYA

I quote from the book:
Living during such an eventful period of Indian history,Bharati threw himself into the freedom struggle,using his poetic gifts to arouse the people.One of his songs,Viduthalai,Viduthalai(Let Go,Let Go),became the clarion call for freedom from foreign rule.The back ground to the composition of this song is interesting.The few years before his death in 1921 were years of great hardship and poverty ,induced partly by the restrictions on his movements by the government and partly by his opium addiction.It was during this period that Bharati practically lived on the veranda of the Joseph residence in Madurai.Susannah had a soft corner for this otherworldly charming poet and looked after him as if he were a member of the family.She recalls the time when Bharati rose as if from a trance,shouting in Tamil to all present,"Kottada,Kai Kottada!"("Clap! Clap your hands!") and then went on to sing as he composed,Viduthalai.
It is from this book I came to know that Bharatiyar was an addict to opium.I also felt that the family could have promoted him from the veranda,though it is the safe place for an addict!(Viduthalai means Freedom,not Let Go).

Bharati with wife Chellamma

Subramanya Bharati(1882-1921),within a short span of 39 years,left an indelible mark as a poet on Tamil nationalism,and he was first an Indian,then a Tamil.He was fortunate to have been  born in Ettayapuram,and to be recognized as a poet at the early age of 11,and to become the court poet of the Raja of Ettayapuram,because it was in that court,the Dikshitar brothers sang and played Violin.Subramanyan,son of Chinna Swamy Subramanya Iyer and Lakshmi Ammal,was accorded the title,Bharati,there itself.His mother died when he was just 5,and father,two years later.He married a seven year old Chellamma in 1898 and was in Kasi,till 1902,before becoming a teacher and Assistant Editor of Swadesa Mitran,in 1904.Meeting Sister Nivedita,disciple of Swami Vivekananda in 1905 was a turning point,and he considered her,his Guru.He attended the Congress sessions of Kolkata(1906) which demanded Swaraj for the first time,and Surat(1907),which saw the fight between the militant faction of Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Aurobindo with the moderates.Bharati was with the militants,which comprised Kappalottiya Thamizhan, V O Chidambaram Pillai and Kanchi Venkatachariyar.He gave evidence in the case framed by the British against Pillai and with the prospect of being arrested,escaped to Pondicherry.He met with Aurobindo and V V S Iyer when they arrived at Pondicherry in 1910.

When Bharati reached Pondicherry,George Joseph was doing Law at Middle Temple,London and he returned as Barrister to India in 1909,and married Susanna,forgetting his love in Britain,Mary Caldwell.His mother had threatened to commit suicide,if he married her.
George(1887-1938)was the eldest of 9 children of Oorayil C I Joseph of Chengannur,an Engineer and Saramma in the former princely state of Travancore in Kerala.Never a brilliant student,he studied FA  in Madras Christian College,and knowing his hate for distant places,his father told him,if he passes,he can continue in the same college,but if he fails,he would be sent to Britain.He failed and celebrated it by jumping from a hay stack.He was the first Syrian Christian to go to Britain for higher studies;he went in  1904 along with K P Gopala Menon,brother of K P S Menon.When both were invited by Prof Asquith,Principal of CMS College,Kottayam,both went with younger brothers,Pothan Joseph and KPS Menon,giving the Asquith family a surprise,and the younger brothers sipped tea,from the saucer,for the embarrassment of  the family.Though K PS Menon poured the tea back into the cup,Pothan Joseph continued sipping from the saucer,and took it to great heights,by naming his column,Over a Cup of Tea,when he became a celebrated Editor.  George did MA Philosophy at University of Edinburgh,where Prakash Karat studied,years later.He did Law at Middle Temple,London.He set up law practice first at Madras,edited South India Mail, and then,at the advise of criminal lawyer Gopala Menon, shifted to Madurai.He modeled himself on famous lawyer,the founding member of the Congress,Eardley Norton,who had appeared for the accused including Aurobindo,in the Alipore conspiracy case, and became a reputed criminal lawyer.He vehemently opposed the Criminal Tribes Act(CTA)of the British which branded certain communities like Piramalai Kallars and Maravars,as criminals. He joined the Home Rule movement and was selected by Annie Besant in 1918,as part of a three member delegation to speak in Britain on home rule.Syed Hussain,whom Vijya Lakshmi Pandit loved(Gandhi was against that affair;she later used to offer floral tribute to him at his qabr in Cairo) and B V Narasimhan were the other members and the three were arrested at Gibraltar and deported to India.When P Varadarajulu Naidu was arrested for making a speech at Victoria Edward Library Hall,Madurai,George assisted C Rajagopalachari who appeared in the case and Naidu was exonerated.He organized the textile mill workers in and around Madurai.

George Joseph

Rajaji introduced George to Gandhi on March 22, 1919 at Madras,and when Gandhi visited Madurai on March 26,stayed at the house of George.Gandhi spoke at a widely attended public meeting against the Rowlett Act on 29th.  At Gandhi's instigation,George threw off his roaring practice and went to North India.He moved closely with the giants of freedom struggle for four years.Motilal Nehru selected him to edit The Independent,at Allahabad and was soon arrested on sedition charges on December 6,1921,and one of his prison-mates was Jawaharlal Nehru.On his release two years later,he was chosen by Gandhi to edit his weekly,Young India,succeeding, Rajaji.He took charge on September 27,1923,and worked only for six months.He returned to Kerala next year,with growing disenchantment with the factionalism within congress coupled with the illness of his wife,and he found himself in the midst of Vaikam Satyagraha.The issue was that the dalits were not permitted on the Siva temple roads although,Christians and Muslims were allowed.George was arrested,and while he was undergoing six months imprisonment,the Nairs in the Congress complained to Gandhi against a Christian leading a movement,around the temple. Gandhi lent his ears to those casteist forces,and wrote to George:I think that you should let the Hindus do the work.It is they who have to purify themselves.You can help by your sympathy and by your pen,but not by organizing the movement and certainly not by offering satyagraha.
The casteist in Gandhi was out,and,George,disillusioned with Gandhi,joined the Justice Party,but returned to the Congress in 1935.

Bharatiyar

He corresponded with B R Ambedkar on Vaikam Satyagraha and mass conversion and wrote in The Hindu,an article,Gandhiji's New Formula,criticizing his actions on Khadi,Salt Act and prohibition.
It was after his return to Madurai from Travancore,he met Bharati.Though George had distanced himself from Gandhi,he maintained his friendship with Kamaraj; they  organized a mass rally against Simon Commission's visit to Madurai,in 1929,and Varadarajulu Naidu and George appeared for Kamaraj,when he was implicated in the Virudhunagar conspiracy case(1933).George,at this time,received a post card from Gandhi,in which he  asked:Oh George Joseph,why you have forsaken me?Of Gandhi's vision of a future India,George had remarked:Some call it Gandhiraj,others,Swaraj.In reality,it is Hindu Ramaraj.George was very sceptical of Gandhi's claim that his 'inner voice' acted as his conscience.

Statue of George

His disappointments in his political life were accentuated by his failure to win two elections,as a result of caste and religious parochialism and he began dabbling in Roman Catholicism and its medieval cultural baggage.After his return to Congress,he was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly from the Madurai/Ramnad/Tirunelveli constituency,unopposed,in 1937.He attended just one session,died in Madurai on 5 March,1938.Gandhi wrote to Susannah:I have before me your most pathetic and humane letter.I have seen your longer and fuller letter to Mahadev Desai.You must not grieve.That will show lack of faith in God.He gives and takes away.And surely it is with Joseph.You will come to me whenever you can and want to.You shall remain a dear daughter and more so;if possible,now that Joseph is no more in our midst in the flesh.Love to you and children-Bapu.
 

Gandhi's letter to Susanna

Incidentally,it was on his visit to Madurai,in 1925,and in the house of George,Gandhi  took the historic decision to switch over to his trade mark loin cloth,after he found,people coming for his darshan,were bare footed and bare bodied,except for a dhoti, around their waist.The decision came after the public meeting at Thiagaraja College.Recently when I visited Madurai,I was shocked at the sight of the blood stained cloth of Gandhi,which he wore at the time of his assassination,at the Gandhi Memorial.I was not prepared to see the cloth,because I had thought,it would be in Rajghat,Delhi.
In 1966,a statue of George Joseph was erected at the Yanaikkal Junction in Madurai.Every year,on his death anniversary,the Piramalai Kallars tribe offer flower tribute to him-they still name their children,Rosapoo or Rosappa Durai, in honour of Joseph.Maybe it is a mispronunciation of Joseph,or it is remembrance of the rose flower on his lapel.
Coming back to Sowmya,she was partly right,when she said Bharati was inspired by the French national Anthem.It is very militant,and it says:

Arise! Children of the Fatherland!
The Day of Glory has Arrived!
..................................
To Arms Citizens!
Form Your Batallions
Let us March!Let us March!
So that the impure Blood
Waters our Fields!
Bharati's Viduthalai,Viduthalai,rhymes like the French,Marchons,Marchons(Let us March).
SONG:THE FRENCH NATIONAL ANTHEM/LA MARSEILLAISE

Our national anthem,Jana Gana Mana,was,originally the anthem of Indian National Army(INA),of Subash Chandra Bose,and it was selected and rushed by Nehru,when the United Nations asked for the national anthem.  
This post is dedicated to Sowmya,who grew up at Ambalamedu close to my place,Tripunithura,near Cochin,Kerala.Her father,Dr Srinivasan was a Chemical Engineer at FACT,if I remember right,what she said during the MDR commemorative  concert at Tripunithura.
Reference:
1.George Joseph:The Life and Times of a Kerala Christian Nationalist/George Gheverghese Joseph
2.M K Gandhi/Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi/XXIII/page 391-Gandhi's letter on Vaikam Satyagraha
3.Unions in Conflict:A Comparative Study of Four South Indian Textile Centres 1918-1993/Eamon Murphy
4.Barrister George Joseph:A Memoir/Maya Thomas
5.George Joseph and the National Struggle for Freedom/R Renjini

                                                                    Bharati Signature


See my Post,PARASURAMA,DALITS AND THE ART OF AXING