Kovai Kizhar (1888 - 1968) C.M.Ramachandra Chettiar was a noble scholar. He was a multi-faceted personality and was known for his practical nature.
Kovai Kizhar (1888 - 1968) C.M.Ramachandra Chettiar was a noble scholar. He was a multi-faceted personality and was known for his practical nature.
Kovai Kizhar was associated with the management of temples for a number of years. He was responsible for bringing out the stories (sthala puranams) associated with a number of temples in the form of short books and essays.
His association with the Perur Tamil Kalluri is well known. About 75 books were written by him and his work on the history of Kongunad and Coimbatore are being used as reference material.
The book connecting the Jain religion with Kongunad has been extremely popular. He believed in the Satvik form of worship all his life.
Ezhuvar Naangal or Seven of Us is a travelogue written by Kovai Kizhar based on the experiences of the group which traveled to the ' Emerald Isle ', Sri Lanka in the year 1951.
The objective of the trip was to participate in the fourth Tamil Vizha at Yazhpaanam or Jaffna in Sri Lanka. Kovai Kizhar led a contingent of seven people including himself and they included T.S.Kalyanasundaram, T.S.Arunachalam, T.S.Jambulingam, T.K.Shanmughanandham (Former Chancellor Avinashilingam University), T.S.Thiyagarajan and T.A.Venkatachalam. With the exception of Kovai Kizhar C.M.Ramachandra Chettiar (CMR), everyone else belonged to the same family. It must be remembered that the six of travelers belonged to the family which consisted of several stalwarts like T.A.Ramalingam Chettiar, T.S.Sivasubramaniam Chettiar, T.S.Avinashilingam Chettiar and T.V.M.Thillai Ammal.
The members of this family had done much for the freedom movement, framing of the constitution, cooperative movement, temples, charity, women's' empowerment, education, commerce, banking, industry and public administration. The travelogue was reprinted in the year 2010 on the occasion of the Semmozhi Mahanadu that took place in Coimbatore and two of the co-passengers of Kovai Kizhar, Late T.K.Shanmughanandham, and Late Prof T.A.Venkatachalam have added a note each to the original work.
Kovai Kizhar begins his narration by talking about Sri Lanka in a beautiful manner. He goes on to state that the island had drawn Rama and Hanuman in their quest for Seetha. The story of the Prince of Magadha who was taken away by a Nagakanya and how the Sinhalese lineage began are well elucidated by him. He shares the story of the children of Samrat Asoka - Sangamithra and Mahendra visiting Sri Lanka in order to spread Buddhism.
The travelogue contains details about the place where the king had received a sermon from Mahendra. It’s interesting to learn about Elaelosingan's story and also the image of Kannagi who was regarded by King Gajabahu.
Of course, he talks about the mighty Chola emperors, Raja Raja ( 985 - 1014 ) and his son Rajendra Chola ( 1014 - 1044 ) conquering all of the island. He goes on to add that even the Arabs and Europeans of several hues were attracted to Sri Lanka. Details on Buddha and Sri Lanka have also been included.
On learning that the cost of travel by ship was to cost the same as flying out through Trichy, the group decided to travel by air and it had taken them about an hour to reach Jaffna (Yazhpaanam). Kovai Kizhar shares details of the travel by stating that they were strapped to the seats and were given tea along with other refreshments in the course of travel. The group had reached Jaffna on the 26 Th of April 1951 and returned to India on the 13 th of May.
Kovai Kizhar and his friends who included youngsters traveled all over Sri Lanka by car and his narrations are marvelous. He tells us about the climate, ecology, customs, faith, language, economy etc., in the narrative. It’s interesting to note that the scholarly Sri Lankan Tamils had a lot of similarities with the people of Kerala in terms of some habits and style.
The tour begins with the Tamil Vizha and Kovai Kizhar subtly states that he participated in the same by addressing the gathering. He begins by sharing facts about the centenary celebrations of Sir Ponnambala Ramanathan who taken the popular culture of the Sri Lankan Tamils around the year. Kovai Kizhar likens the centenary celebrations that preceded the Tamil Vizha to the village deity festival that normally precedes a Brahmotsavam. We get to learn that the group stayed at Kala Nilayam and were well looked after by the Navarathna Dampathi (couple) with the best of love. The couple seemed to have had a lot of interest in Tamil. Unlike the overseas trips of the recent times, the group had to draw water from the well for bathing and washing clothes. They sorely missed the tasty Siruvani water of Coimbatore and the scholar makes it a point to state the same.
They traveled by car to the rest of Sri Lanka and in the process visit a couple of ports, shopping areas, temples etc., Kovai Kizhar states that the car driver used to stop at a number of wayside temples in order to offer worship during the course of travel. He adds details about the agricultural pursuits of the local populace.
We learn that they indulged in tobacco farming, nurtured palm, coconut, and plantain in the Jaffna area. There was a time when the tobacco merchants of Chettipalayam in the outskirts of Coimbatore used to deal in tobacco from Sri Lanka and had made a huge fortune thanks to the opportunity.
Kovai Kizhar shares details about the captains who had made this conference happen and also the meetings with a number of politicians and scholars in Jaffna. One cannot miss his observation wherein he states that Tamils were slowly being shown lesser importance. The group moves through Sri Lanka and gets to see its rivers, forests, waterfalls, farmers while visiting temples like him Nallur Kandaperuman temple. Kadirkamam Subramanya temple, Koneswaram and Thirukedareeswaram. Notes on the sacred waters are included too. The religious are aware that 2 out of the 276 Paadal Petra Sthalams (temples eulogized by the 63 Nayanmars, apostles of Lord Shiva) are located in Sri Lanka. He shares details about the destruction of some of the places of worship by the Europeans.
The group visited a number of Buddhist sites and Kovai Kizhar writes about the relic of Buddha in Sri Lanka while also talking about the tree connected with Mahendra’s visit to the island. He shares details about the art, architecture and paintings found in the Buddhist temples. Kovai Kizhar is keen to point out the links between some Hindu and Buddhist icons found in the places of worship. The details pertaining to the turtles found in these places have been recorded by him. He talks about Pollenaruva, Candy, Anuradhapura, Colombo etc., in a vivid manner. Candy seems to have attracted his attention for he waxes eloquently about its altitude, climate among other things. He does not miss out the details about a ' Tamilnadu Kapi Kadai ' relished by them in the course of their travel. They visit Trincomalee, Batticaloa and get to see the hardy fisher folk of Sri Lanka in quite a few places. The visit covered route which consisted of rubber and tea plantations. It was an 18-day trip and therefore they could see and learn much.
Kovai Kizhar talks about the small issues between the travelers and goes on to state that these matters made the travel all the more interesting. He states that the youngsters ate and slept well. The scholar shares details about the observations made by the youngsters particularly. He is frank to state that they got bored at the times of lengthy lectures in the Vizha.
The freshwater crocodiles basking in the sun has been recorded by Kovai Kizhar who had been a keen chronicler all his life. The visit to the tooth temple of Buddha and the expensive items seen there have been well brought out by the writer. Kovai Kizhar talks about the eatery ' Krishna Vilasam ' in Anuradhapuram. He talks about the excavations near Thirukedareeswaram and how many among the 1008 conches used for the temple rituals had been discovered by the archeologists. He wishes that our country should take up such activities and wonders why it was happening in the manner that it should be!
The seven travelers had acted more like hitchhikers for they seemed to have just eaten in wayside places and rested in ' thinnais' and shops during the course of their journey.
Kovai Kizhar speaks about the snakes visiting a temple regularly in the travelogue. Vavuniya is not missed by the travelers. Kovai Kizhar talks about the camera used by his co-passenger and the book has some pictures too.
Kovai Kizhar uses words like 'vana urdhi' while referring to the airplane and never fails to miss out on tiny details. He is happy to share the fact that a lot of homemade snacks were carried by the group into Sri Lanka in order to let the youngsters gorge on them throughout. The great scholar states that the trip was an economy trip and that it had fostered fellowship among the passengers.
He concludes the travelogue by stating that the trip had been a safe and happy one due to the grace of the Lord Almighty.