There are 3 messages in this issue.
Topics in this digest:
1. Early Eazham-Tamil diaspora novel published in Malaysia in 1927
From: RVS
2a. Re: Origin of Arya Chakravartis
From: RVS
3. 15th century temple unearthed in Jaffna
From: RVS
Messages
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1. Early Eazham-Tamil diaspora novel published in Malaysia in 1927
Posted by: "RVS" taw...@yahoo.com tawady
Date: Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:37 pm ((PDT))
Early Eazham-Tamil diaspora novel published in Malaysia in 1927
[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2011, 09:59 GMT]
A Tamil novel, SampasivamGnanamirtham, set in the background of migration from
Jaffna to British Malaya and Singapore, and was published in 1927 in Kuala
Lumpur, is one of the earliest pieces of Eezham Tamil diaspora literature,
writes a student of History who brings out an electronic copy of the
publication for the benefit of research and documentation. The author of the
novel Mr. A. Nagalingam (1901-1979) himself was a migrant to British Malaya
from the Island of Kaarainakar, Jaffna. He was working in the Treasury of Kuala
Pilah at the time of the publication. The 360-page novel was printed by S.
Lazar & Sons, 13, Scott Road, Kuala Lumpur. The author records his intention of
renovating a tank in his native village from the sales of the book and the
support he received in this respect from the Sultan of the Negri Sembilan State
of Malaya, Sir Mohamed Shah.
Arunachalam Nagalingam [25.02.1901 - 19.03.1979] of Champantharka'ndi,
KaarainakarNaakamuththup Pulavar of Kaarainakar, Madras High Court lawyer R. P.
Sethuppillai (later, Professor of Tamil, University of Madras), Hindu Organ
Editor M.V. Thirugnanasampanthappillai (pioneer Eezham-Tamil short story
writer, under the name Sampanthan, who himself wrote a novel touching the issue
of migration to Malaya almost at the same time), Historian of Jaffna, Mudaliyar
C. Rasanayakam and St. Patricks College Head Tamil Teacher, V.S. Rasa Iyanaar
have given foreword to the publication.
Newspapers, Lohopakari of Chennai, Kalikaala-theepam and Tamil Nesan of Kuala
Lumpur came out with review notes on the novel in 1928.
Chillaiyoor Selvarasan in his pioneer book on modern Eezham Tamil writings has
made a note on this novel that this was the first Eezham Tamil novel published
with pictures. There are 11 plates of line drawings in the book.
In 1975, when the author was alive, Mallikai monthly in Jaffna interviewed him.
However, it seems, the copies of the novel is not available in any of the
archives in Singapore and Malaysia today.
A very valuable recent publication "Legacy of the Pioneers, 125 Years of Jaffna
Tamils in Malaysia," brought out in Kuala Lumpur in 2006, also doesn't give any
information on this novel. Obviously, the novel or even information of the
novel was not available to the compilers.
Cover of the book published in Kuala Lumpur in 1927
Sampasivam Gnanamirtham in PDF (360 pages)
The main character of the novel, Sambasivam, brought up by his poor widowed
mother in Jaffna, and studied only up to 5th standard, goes to British Malaya
alone, at the age of 12 to find livelihood.
His mother, after selling her jewellery for 60 rupees, arranges his travel with
a marriage broker, whose job was to find young brides to the affluent in the
diaspora. But Sambasivam is left to himself after landing in Malaya.
Through honesty, sincerity and hard work Sambasivam comes up in life, educates
himself and becomes a teacher in Tamil and English. He also becomes a social
activist.
The idealist Sambasivam attracts the daughter of his mentor, Gnanamirtham, who
is determined to marry him and after many dramatic events they get married.
Sambasivam returns to Jaffna to work for his native land.
Apart from dealing with typical social issues of those days such as caste,
dowry, child marriage, widow-remarriage, alcoholism, bribery etc, the novel
goes further into discussing the importance of education, women's education,
importance of print media, civil society institutions, cooperative movement and
development of agriculture and industries in the society.
Some of the issues the novel deals with, such as the inability in the society
to differentiate between modernisation and westernisation, the need to maintain
family relations in diaspora life and the contempt shown by some in the
diaspora towards learning Tamil, seem to be still relevant.
"Mama (uncle), I hate Tamil," says a diaspora child in the novel.
Many of the Jaffna Tamils who went to British Malaya and Singapore were
professionals who received English education from the elite schools of Jaffna.
The first generation thought that speaking English at home was prestigious as
well as a vehicle for upward social mobility. The language was lost in home
itself from second and third generations onwards for Jaffna Tamils, while it is
better preserved among the Tamil migrants from Tamil Nadu.
Front page of the book in Tamil
The life of Mr. Nagalingam was analogous to the novel he wrote.
Born in Sampantharkandi in Kaarainakar, Jaffna, in 1901, as the third child to
Kanapathippillai Arunachalam, Mr. Nagalingam, after schooling at American
Mission Tamil and English schools in Kaarainakar as well as at Kaarainakar
Hindu College, went to British Malaya before he was 19. He also studied at King
Edward VII School at Taiping and joined the Treasury of Malaya as a clerk at
the age of 19.
His father was a farmer as well as a bullock-cart trader who used to buy
commodities landing at Kayts harbour and trade them by going up to Kandy. He
was also a social worker, contributed to the renovation and building of the
Aiyanaar shrine of the Kaarainakar Sivan Temple in the 1930s.
Nagalingam's inspiration to go to Malaya was a relative of him T. Govindasamy
of his village, who was a contractor in Kuala Pilah.
Even though The Legacy of the Pioneers has no information on the novel, it
comes out with two brief notes on Mr. A. Nagalingam that he came to Malaya with
his uncle T. Govindasamy and contributed to build the Kanthasamy Temple at
Kuala Pilah (P.73 and 234). The facts are correct but the dates given there,
perhaps associated to Mr Govindasamy, are not applicable to Mr. Nagalingam.
A letter written in 1921, from Port Dickson by Mr. Nagalingam's future
Father-in-Law Mr. R.V. Alagacone to his son, shows that Nagalingam was a
Gandhian at that time and he was also inspiring others to wear Kathar
(hand-made native textiles).
Mr. Nagalingam was a founder member and manager of a Tamil school in Kuala
Pilah, records R. Nagaratnam, a former state councillor of the Negeri Sembilan
state of British Malaya.
In writing an obituary later, Kalaiyarasu Sornalingam, regarded as the pioneer
of Eezham Tamil drama, records that Nagalingam was also a good actor, staging
dramas in Malaya.
Mrs. Amirtharatnam Nagalingam [23.06.1910 07.12.1988], the `Gnanamirtham'
married to Mr. Nagalingam in 1928, with their eldest daughter photographed in
1936 in Singapore.Nagalingam met his wife Amirtharatnam in Malaya. Her family
was of Urumpiraay and Navaali connections. Their marriage was a love marriage.
It is said that he was in love when he wrote the novel. Note the affinities
between Amirtha-ratnam and Gnana-amirtham, the character he created.
All the siblings of Mr. Nagalingam subsequently went to Malaya.
During World War II, the Japanese Administration shifted him from Treasury
chief clerk to hospital manager.
We come to know that during this time he was translating the speeches of Subhas
Chandra Bose into Tamil. Savarkar's "The Volcano" (on 1857 Sepoy Mutiny),
reproduced by the Japanese in Malaya, which was later banned by the British,
and newspapers as well as documents of the Indian Government formed by Subhas
Chandra Bose in Singapore, were found among Mr. Nagalingam's personal
belongings which he brought back to Jaffna.
"It is significant that my uncle the late Mr. A. Nagalingam had been a regular
subscriber to the leading standard journals like the Madras Hindu, The Indian
Review, The Modern Review and Visva Bharathi of Rabindranath Tagore, as early
as 1927, and had been a keen student of the Indian Independence struggle of the
Indian National Congress, and a close follower of Indian politics; and this
was, I believe an anticipation of and a precursor to his involving later in the
Indian Liberation Movement in Malaya led by Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, and
addressing many large mass gatherings under its aegis," says Mr. N.
Kanaganayagam who was earlier with him in Malaya and later wrote his obituary
in 1979.
Nagalingam returned to Kaarainakar in 1947 two years after the war ended. Two
of his seven children were born after his return.
As a Malayan pensioner, he devoted the rest of his life to social work in
Jaffna. He was a member in many of the social, cultural and religious
associations of his time and was joint secretary for renovating the Kaarainakar
Sivan Temple in 1968.
The Maruthadi temple tank he renovated in the1920s from the sales of his novel
is still in good shape. Many of the children of the locality learn their
swimming in that tank, which maintains potable groundwater supply in the wells
of the neighbourhood.
[The original book in print produced herewith in PDF form is its author's
personal copy found with his signature and newspaper clippings about the book
attached to it. He gave the copy to one of his grandchildren towards the end of
his life. The book is released here for research and documentary purposes with
kind permission from the family members of the author.]
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=79&artid=33976
Messages in this topic (1)
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2a. Re: Origin of Arya Chakravartis
Posted by: "RVS" taw...@yahoo.com tawady
Date: Thu Jul 14, 2011 2:39 pm ((PDT))
This is no longer a mistory, there are number of reliable historical books
written by accredited historians.
See below
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aryacakravarti_dynasty
--- In varalaaRu@yahoogroups.com, "Subramanian Kaleeswaran" <kskal_2000@...>
wrote:
>
> Dear friends!
>
> While browsing through the Google Books, i have found a book that
> might help us explain the origin of Arya Chakravartis of Jaffna. As i
> understand, they seem to have come from Rameswaram and general trend
> is to name them as Brahmin Ministers of Rameswaram. Some of these
> kings carried a word called "Pandaram" as a part of their name.
>
> Interestingly, before the advent of Telegu nayaks into tamil country,
> most of the big temples in South Tamilnadu were managed by a person
> titled "Pandaram" and it was generally heriditary; in the sense, the
> Pandaram had the right to nominate his successor. They were mostly
> from Gurukkal/Odhuvar group, a sub-caste of Saiva Velaalar and most
> aryanised among Tamils, including Poonul or sacred thread. They
> imitate Brahmins in most aspects and today very people are aware that
> Gurukkals are not Brahmins.
>
> Coming to our topic, the head of Rameswaram temple, was called a
> Pandaram and he did not even consider that the Setupathis had any
> right over his temple affairs. We might have to keep in mind that the
> Sethupatis came into picture in 1600s, after the Madurai Nayaks where
> as the temple was in place much before.
> For more info,
> Please search for this book in Google Books
> "Kingship and Political Practice in Colonial India "
>
> Hence it is highly probable, that the Arya Chakravarthis are
> descended from the lineage of these pandarams of Rameswaram.
>
> Regards,
>
> Kalees
>
Messages in this topic (2)
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3. 15th century temple unearthed in Jaffna
Posted by: "RVS" taw...@yahoo.com tawady
Date: Thu Jul 14, 2011 3:19 pm ((PDT))
15th century temple unearthed in Jaffna
[Express Buzz, Saturday, 29 January 2011 09:05 No Comment]
Archaeologists of Jaffna University, led by Prof Pushparatnam, have discovered
the ruins of a 15th century Hindu temple buried in the sand in the middle of a
thick jungle in Pooneryn in North Sri Lanka, which could unravel a part of Sri
Lankan history in which the Pooneryn area of the Wanni was on the high road
linking Jaffna with South Lanka.
"The temple, 130 ft by 30 ft, is located in Kaudaari Munai, on a narrow stretch
of land almost fully surrounded by the sea. Most locals do not venture into
this area because the place is snake- infested. However, they knew that there
was a temple buried in the sand and informed us," Pushparatnam told Express on
Wednesday.
The Jaffna team found to their astonishment, the remains of a garbhagraham,
vimanam, karnakoodu, maadam and a place for the parivaara deivangal.
Asked how ancient the temple might be, the historian said that dating it
scientifically would take time because no inscriptions had been found yet.
"However, we are checking out if this was the temple which finds mention in the
15th Century Sinhalese Buddhist historical-poetic work Kokila Sandesaya (The
Message of the Cuckoo) on the conquest of Jaffna by the southern Sinhalese
prince Sapumal Kumaraya," he said.
Sapumal Kumaraya or Shenbaga Perumal, a man of Kerala origin, was the adopted
son of the Sinhalese king of Kotte in the South. He had conducted an expedition
to Jaffna to seize it from the Tamil King Kanakasuriya Singaiya Rayan of the
Arya Chakravarti dynasty around 1450.
The expedition was a historic and comprehensive success for the Sinhalese,
because it also led to the subjugation of the Tamil chieftains of the Wanni
(where Pooneryn is located).
Sapumal Kumaraya had also taken revenge against the Pandyan king of Madurai,
who had seized a Lanka ship laden with cinnamon.
The victory over the Arya Chakravarthi's is hailed in south Lanka as a major
event in Sinhalese history because it had punished the Arya Chakravarthis for
raiding the southern town of Yapahuwa (between present day Kurunegala and
Anuradhapura) and taking away the Buddha's Tooth Relic. Sapumal Kumaraya's
conquest of Jaffna is sung in the Sinhalese epic Kokila Sandesaya.
According to Pushparatnam, the Kaudaari Munai area must have been on a major
route linking the north and south of Lanka.
http://www.tamilnewsnetwork.com/2011/01/29/15th-century-temple-unearthed-in-jaffna/
About the ethnic origin of Sapumal Kumaraya there are other opiniosn as well,
see here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapumal_Kumaraya#Origins_theories_and_end
Messages in this topic (1)
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