The ' Father of the Nation ' , Mahatma Gandhi declared that Hindi should be the official language of India during the eight Hindi Sahitya Sammelan held at Indore in the year 1918. He sent a number of ' Pracharaks ' to various parts of the country in order to popularize the use of Hindi. The Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha was an outcome of this effort. The seed was brought to Coimbatore in the year 1932. The Coimbatore Hindi Sabha was formed in the year 1932 under the leadership of Kovaikizhar C.M.Ramachandran Chettiar ( 1888 - 1968 ). CMR was a great son of Coimbatore and was the first to chronicle the story of Coimbatore.
The ' Father of the Nation ' , Mahatma Gandhi declared that Hindi should be the official language of India during the eight Hindi Sahitya Sammelan held at Indore in the year 1918. He sent a number of ' Pracharaks ' to various parts of the country in order to popularize the use of Hindi.
The Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha was an outcome of this effort. The seed was brought to Coimbatore in the year 1932. The Coimbatore Hindi Sabha was formed in the year 1932 under the leadership of Kovaikizhar C.M.Ramachandran Chettiar ( 1888 - 1968 ). CMR was a great son of Coimbatore and was the first to chronicle the story of Coimbatore.
Hindi was taught in Coimbatore due to the efforts of Kollupuram Velasamy Chettiar. He founded the Kollupuram Hindi Vidyalaya and it functioned as a night school. Velasamy Chettiar used to sponsor the fees of the Hindi teachers. He was a saree merchant who had clearly understood the need for communication and linguistic skills. The enterprising Devanga community had migrated to Coimbatore during the time of the Vijayanagar Empire. They added to the textile wealth of the city and most of them lived in the Sukrawarpet area. The advent of the railroads, modern ginning and the availability of mill yarn added to the prosperity of the weavers. There was a time when 400 types of head gears were manufactured in Coimbatore. The money earned because of this textile trade helped the merchants dot the city with lovely townhouses.
The Kollupuram Hindi Vidyalaya was a marvelous initiative and thanks to the same, a number of people learnt Hindi, Marathi and Telugu during the after hours. A number of touring businessmen, aspiring teachers and the staff who worked under the big merchants of the era got linguistically enriched. The Coimbatore Hindi Sabha was formed due to amalgam of the ideas of Gandhi and the fine merchants of Sukrawarpet who believed in leading a practical life.
A number of Hindi enthusiasts, patriots, business people, teachers and social leaders did their bit for the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha. C.M.Ramachandran Chettiar, G.K.Sundaram, S.E.Narayana Iyer, K.Nanjundayya, D.Santiago, Dr.C.Nanjappa, Dr.R.Sharada, U.R.Joshi Bhai, N.R.Duraiswamy, V.Ramanathan, K.V.Ramnath, S.Sadasivam, M.J.Swamikannu and G.Sivasubramanian ( long serving Secretary ) have served as the office bearers for more than 50 years.
Octogenarian G.Sivasubramanian is an eminent Hindi teacher and he is serving as the Secretary of the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha Trust . He was happy to share some details, " I learnt Hindi as a student of the Sabha and my teachers were Sadasivam, Muniappan and Sundaram. I went on to become its first teacher. It was due to efforts of the Sabha , Hindi was taught in the Municipality Bazaar, Sukrawarpet and the R.S. Puram Middle School. D.Santiago , the Secretary of YMCA was a Committee Member and has helped the Sabha in a big way by offering space for its operations. K.V.Ramnath was instrumental in getting the Sabha registered. Mahatma Gandhi came to Coimbatore in the year 1934 and he was given a rousing welcome by Coimbatore Hindi Sabha.
The Sabha conducted a number of dramas like Mewad Pathan in the Edison Theatre. A lot of financial support was given by the public and they did so by participating in the events with full gusto. Thanks to the help provided by Dr.C.Nanjappa ( Municipal Chairman ) , a place was acquired from the Municipality and a building was erected due to the support of a number of people including G.K.Sundaram of Lakshmi Mills. The resolution for the land was passed because of the interest shown by Dr.C.Nanjappa. Those were times when the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha Exams were conducted by the Sabha. The District Hindi Pracharaks held a conference in the Sabha during the year 1967. There had been a Hindi conference in Savita Hall before the Hindi agitation. It was during the year 1980 that the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha Trust was formed and G.K.Sundaram was elected as the President, U.R.Joshibhai became the Vice President. We reconstructed the building in the year 2017 and the Vidya Ganapathy Temple was consecrated in the Sabha premises in 2018. I am happy to share the story of the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha from the initiative of Mahatma Gandhi in a nutshell on the occasion of the Centenary Year of his declaration."
Hindi has been among the top ten spoken languages of the world. Hindi and its dialects are spoken all over India and its written in the Devanagari script. G.Sivasubramanian ( M.A in Tamil, Hindi., M.Phil., M.Ed ), the Secretary of the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha has been a Hindi teacher for over 60 years. He has taught and ensured a career for a number of his students. Over 30000 students have been thus far coached by him. He started branches at Karuppa Gounder Street, Selvapuram and Singanallur during his tenure. More than 200 students had been in all the branches simultaneously. He has a rich experience and has taught at the Union High School, Devanga Higher Secondary School and the Kodaikanal International School. His students have cleared school exams and the routine Hindi Exams. G.Sivasubramanian had saved the Sabha library and property during the time of the anti Hindi agitation in the year 1964 - 65. The Sabha door had been set on fire at that time. The Sabha Golden Jubilee Sounvenir has given a list of 79 Pracharaks who have done yeoman service to the Hindi language. It goes on to acknowledge the role of supporters like D.Santiago S.R.Chandran and Raghuttamji. Ladies like Leela Duraiswamy and Miss.N.Nagarathnam have done their part by serving as the trustees of the Sabha. The committed Secretary G.Sivasubramanian has given a loan of Rs.10 lakhs for the construction of the new buildings for the Sabha. The Sabha is located on Syrian Church on about 20 cents of land. Samuel, Swamikannu and Ponnuswamy have served the Sabha by teaching Hindi.
Many years ago the nice teacher Ratnam of Perur used to teach Hindi in a number of residences and he was a life member of the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha. Selvi V.Sushila Devi ( Praveen ) of Perur was a kind teacher. She had made a number of students take Hindi exams like Prathmik, Madhyama, Rashtrabasha, Praveshika, Visharath ( first and second half ), Praveen ( first and second half ). She used to teach G.Aravindakumari, S.Nirmala and S.Vasantha who belonged to the family of P.A.Raju Chettiar . Aravindakumari had cleared quite a few exams under her tutelage. Sushila Devi believed in ' Sarvodaya ' and she led a very simple life. She used to encourage the kid students by putting in the comments, ' Bahuth, Bahuth, Bahuth Acha ' in Hindi. R.Mohanambal, of GRG Matriculation School at Peelamedu was one more Pracharak. Vedambal, wife of freedom fighter L.S.Krishnamurthy was a Hindi Pracharak too. T.A.Baskar Iyer B.O.L., of GRG Higher Secondary School was a multi lingual scholar. He could speak, read and write - Hindi, English, Sanskrit and Tamil. Many of his students became tall leaders and he was known for his innovative approach. He made every class of his most interesting.
T.P. Krishnan of Rajendra Textiles, R.Lakshmi Bai of S.P.R.Jewellery , T.V.M. Thillai Ammal of Seva Nilayam, P.Devichand Jain, Bhavarlal and many others supported the Golden Jubilee Celebrations. A number of leading industrial houses, traders and mills supported the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha by supporting the souvenir released on the occasion. A large number of women served as Pracharaks. Jayanthi Rajagopal did her bit by doing the dance cum performance. The Gujarathi Samaj and Rajasthani Samaj had supported the event along with corporates like Shivaram Associates. The Coimbatore Hindi Sabha is now spearheaded by Aravind Kikani, N.Nagarathinam, G. Sivasubramanian ( Secretary ) and supported by the trustees - S.R.Ramesh, C.Parameswaran, Mohanasundaram, Narendranath Ranka, Srigopal Maheshwari, Bhagwandas and Mayur Kikani.
G.Sivasubramanian added further, " We are running a very good Hindi books library, organize Hindi book sales while preparing people for the Hindi Exams conducted by the Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha. More than 50000 students have learnt Hindi through the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha and our wish is to produce good Hindi scholars who will serve the nation in the most ethical manner".
An extract of the ' Rules and Regulations' state that the category patrons had contribute Rs.100 , Life Members Rs.25 and Ordinary Members Rs.2 per annum. The Secretary was authorized to spend a sum of Rs.50 only and higher amounts would require a sanction from the managing committee. The Rules covered 14 points in all.
Going by its track record and the ability to withstand adversities, the Coimbatore Hindi Sabha is sure to add to the linguistic diversity of Coimbatore and its lovely neighbourhood.