Ramanathapuram, a town after a dog

It cannot be believed, if one says that a dog was the reason for founding the little town Ramanathapuram in Coimbatore. However, legend has it that Maravars, a division of the Thevar community chased away the Agamudaiyars, as they insulted the former by showing a dog instead of a beautiful bride in Ramanathapuram (one of the southern districts).

Though the two sub–divisions of the Thevar community do not give their sons or daughters in marriage between their castes, it is said that a Maravar chief wanted to marry a beautiful Agamudayar girl. As he was invited to the girl’s home for the betrothal, he, with all his kith and kin, took out a procession to see his would-be-wife. However, as he reached the bride’s home, he noticed to his shock that there was only a dog tethered to a wooden pole! Angered by this, he chased away the Agamudayars and they fled and settled at a place called Marudhur in Coimbatore renaming it as ‘Ramanathapuram’ in memory of their ‘original’ home town!

Though castes and creeds are out of question in this rapidly developing hi-tech city today, the legend has answers for why Agamudayars, who are in no way related to the nativity of Coimbatore, are more in number than Maravars at Ramanathapuram being called as ‘Vethalakarar’ for their planting betel leaf in Nanjundapuram .

Observing the traffic congestion and plenty of commercial establishments at Ramanathapuram today, none can believe that it was once a spread of paddy fields irrigated by waters from Valankulam.

Octogenarian scholar and landlord at Puliyakulam, Pulavar Kuppurasu says that when he was a boy, he used to plough a paddy field, which he never expected that the Corporation Boys Higher Secondary School would come on it one day and he would be employed there as a Tamil teacher!

With plenty of coconut plantations at Nanjundapuram, toddy was tapped and women could be seen carrying the toddy pot selling the beverage across the city. There were also occasions of culprits waylaying them for ‘free booze’ and on one such occasion, when two persons of transgender, who were thought to be women, were way laid by the culprits, and the duo thrashed them with their slippers. Interestingly, the spot where this happened decades ago, is still called by a name related to the incident as “Serupaddi Pallam” a highly polluted stream, which is carrying sewage next to Alvernia Matriculation School today! 

As an unbelievable dream, Ramanathapuram got developed into a town with the establishment of two motion picture studios Pakshiraja Studio and Central studio at Puliyakulam and Singanallur respectively. 

Former chief minister and yesteryear film superstar MGR lived at Ramanathapuram, took training with Sandow MMA Chinnappa Thevar at Veera Maruthi Gymnasium and walked to the shootings in the two studios. 

Packshiraja studio housed not only film stars from Tamil Nadu but many other popular film stars from various states. 

Elders still recall Hindi superstars Dilipkumar and Meenakumari staying at Packshiraja Studio and MK Thiagaraja Baghavathar heading to Central Studio riding on his beautiful white horse on the roads of Ramanathapuram!