வீரசுதந்திரம் வேண்டி, தம் இன்னுயிர் ஈந்தார்
தமை போற்றுவோம்
This day 111 years ago !!
Padma river is one of the important rivers of Bangladesh and
there is a century old steel railway truss bridge over the river at Ishwardi,
Pabna and Bheramara, and Kushtia in Bangladesh. Those of us interested in
history would have read about Delhi Conspiracy case too – the subject matter of
the post preceded that too.
In school days, History was no doubt interesting ! ~ what we read about Indian freedom struggle
was often a terse statement of India getting freedom through non-violent
(ahimsa) means advocated by Mahatma Gandhi.
The history as handed by Britishers and reviewed by commies neither
portrayed the cruelty of the rulers nor the sacrifices of innumerable individuals.
The King-Emperor vs Nilakanta Alias
Brahmachari and others was a sensational
case before the Madras High Court on 15
February, 1912. In this case fourteen
persons were tried by a Special Bench of this Court, constituted under Section
6(6) of the Indian Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1908, for an offence, and the
arguments centered around ‘Evidence Act’
"competent to investigate the fact". It
is unfortunate that there was no adequate inquiry before the Special Bench as
to how far Inspector was an authority legally competent to investigate the
facts relating to the murder of a British official. The Deputy Inspector-General of his
Department, was a witness, but he was
never asked any question at all as to the Inspector's competency to investigate.
The result the Bench recorded that – ‘we are obliged to deal with the case on
very imperfect information as to the facts’.
Fourteen persons were tried on charges under Section 121 A, Indian Penal
Code, and Section 302, Indian Penal Code, read with Sections 109 and 111, by a
Special Bench of three learned Judges (the Chief Justice, Sankaran Nair and
Ayling, JJ.) constituted under the provisions of the Indian Criminal Law
Amendment Act (XIV of 1908) which provides for the speedy trial of certain
offences. The trial was held without a jury and the Bench unanimously found
that the charge under the latter sections of abetment of murder was not proved
against any of the prisoners and acquitted them all under that head of the
indictment. But upon the
remaining count, viz., the charge of conspiring to wage war against the
King-Emperor, the learned Judges did not agree with respect to the case against
all the accused : the Chief Justice and Ayling, J. came to the conclusion that
the charge was substantiated against 9 out of the 14 persons tried but not
against the rest while Sankaran Nair, J.
was of opinion that the Crown failed to establish the case not only against the
five persons acquitted by the majority of the Bench but also against four other
accused persons.
Before
we proceed further – Tamil Nadu now has 38 districts – about a century ago
districts in Madras Presidency would include :
Anantapur; Bellary, Chingleput, Coimbatore, Cuddapah, Ganjam, Godavari,
Krishna, Kurnool, Madura, Malabar,
Nellore, Arcot, Canara, Trichinopoly, Vizag and Tinnevely ! The name District Collector evokes awe even
among the senior officers. The person on the street looks at the post as a
saviour and the administration is diffident in the presence of the Collector.
The post was created in 1772 by the East
India Company. Up to 1853, the Directors
of the British East India Company made appointments of covenanted civil
servants by nominations. This nomination system was abolished in 1861 by the
Parliament in England and it was decided that the induction would be through
competitive examinations of all British subjects, without distinction of race.
A century and a decade ago, a man made a speech at Thai
PoosaMantapam in the bed of river Thamirabarani at Tirunelveli [on the night of
9th March 1907] and was convicted under sections 124A & 153A of Indian
Penal Code by the Bench consisting of CA White & Miller. After that speech in 1908, he was arrested
on charges of sedition. MahakaviBharathiyar and Subramanya Siva appeared in the
Court in the case and VOC was sentenced to double life imprisonment tantamount
to 40 years ad confined to prison. He was treated badly as a convict and
subjected to inhuman torture. That was Kappalottiyathamizhan – VO
Chidambaranar.
The report of the sedition commission introduces “Republican or Parliamentary forms of government, as at present understood, were neither desired nor known in India till after the establishment of British rule”. Infamous words of the President of Sedition Committee who was later was viewed synonymous with cruelty - the Hon'ble Mr. Justice S. A. T. Rowlatt.
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As you travel down south and as the train winds its way to a
small station – perhaps you might get down to free your legs, take a stroll or
enjoy a cup of tea – unlikely that you will bow down to touch the land ! –
after Madurai, it would be Virudunagar, Sattur, Kovilpatti and 624 km away from
Chennai Egmore it is Maniyachi station – now named ‘VanchiManiyachi Junction’. 111
years ago, around 10.40 in the morning pistol sounded – there was commotion as
the only killing of British Official in South India occurred – few minutes
later – there were sounds of pistol again – this time the martyrdom of a youth
– hardly 25 years of age did the supreme sacrifice of his life for the
motherland.
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Pic credit: Veera
Vanchi by Rakami – Barathi Noolagam, KUmbakonam
This
is not to eulogise the killing but the martyrdom needs to be extolled. Inspired
by the Surat Congress in Dec 1907 the man who pioneered shipping – VO Chidambaram
Pillai organised political meetings in Tuticorin and Tirunelveli. There were fiery speeches by Subramania
Siva. The Freedom struggle spread and on
Feb 1908, around 1000 workers struck work in the Coral Mills of Tuticorin. The collector Robert William Escourt Ashe had
imposed restriction by Sec 144 and the union of workers was not to his
liking. When the patriotic leaders
planned to celebrate release of Bipin Chanda Pal as Swarajya day – violence was
unleashed by the DistAdmn. VOC, Siva,
Padmanabha Iyengar were arested in Mar 1908. There were riots in Tuticorin and
Tirunelveli termed as incendiarism.
Perhaps all these made Ashe. The
downfall of the VOC’s Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company was also linked to
Ashe.
Robert Ashe had been born in 1872 in Ireland. In 1895, he arrived in India, where he began his career as an Assistant Collector and rose up to be District Magistrate and Collector. In 1907 he had his posting in Tirunelveli. For two months he officiated at Tuticorin during which period much occurred. A few years later, on 17th June 1911 - Ashe was travelling along with his wife Mary Lillian Patterson. At 10.38 the train halted at small Maniyachi, a neatly dressed man with tufted hair alongwith another in a dhoti approached the carriage and shot Ashe on the chest from point blank range with a belgian made pistol. The assailant ran towards the latrine and shot himself in the mouth. He belonged to Bharatha Matha Association.
----
and that Man of unflinching courage was Vanchinathan. He
was born in 1886 to RaghupathyIyer and
Rukmani Ammal. His actual name was Shankaran. He did his schooling in
Shenkottai and graduated in M.A. from MoolamThirunal Maharaja College in
Thiruvananthapuram. Even while in college, he married Ponnammal and got into a
lucrative Government job. After Vanchi shot Ashe and himself, a letter was
recovered which purportedly indicated that the murder was political and caused
great apprehension. The timing of the assassination indicated a protest against
the impending coronation. A massive
manhunt followed the assassination.
Sadly, it was reported that even his last rites were not performed. 14 persons were arrested and charged with
conspiracy. More deaths were to follow
as two committed suicide - Dharmaraja Aiyar took poison, while Venkateswara
Aiyar slit his own throat. Madasamy, widely believed to be Vanchi's accomplice
and who was seen running away after the assassination, was never traced.
In
a Court of Justice in the colonial context there were testimony of approvers
who perhaps were threatened and there was panic amongst the freedom fighters as
they feared strict action. What happened
to the family of Veera Vanchinathan is not documented but there cannot be any
doubt that his lineage would have suffered chill penury and were left uncared
for – they would have been hounded by the British and after India obtained
freedom, nobody ever cared for them.
Indians exhibited their loyalty immediately after the killing by
erecting two memorials – one at the place where Ashe was interred and
another amantap at Great Cotton Road in
Tuticorin - the subscription of Rs.3002/- being raised from the Indians !!.
The life history of the Great Patriot Vanchinathan is not found in
any great detail in the history books
and not many remember him. In his
birthplace Sengottai [Shencottah] in the foothills of Western Ghats closer to
Tenkasi / Courtallam, a statue was erected during the regime of CM MGR. In the movie KappalottiyaTamizhan, Actor
Balaji played the role of Vanchinathan.
The railway bridge mentioned in first para on Padma river is
named Hardinge bridge, named after - Charles Hardinge, 1st
Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, who served as Viceroy and Governor-General of
India at the time of Ashe incident. The
Delhi Conspiracy case, also known as the Delhi-Lahore Conspiracy, refers to an
attempt made in 1912 to assassinate the then Viceroy of India, Lord Hardinge by
throwing local bomb (a self-made), on the occasion of transferring the capital
of British India from Calcutta to New Delhi. Hatched by the Indian
revolutionary underground in Bengal and Punjab and headed by Rash Behari Bose,
the conspiracy culminated in the attempted assassination on 23 December 1912,
when a homemade bomb was thrown into the Viceroy's howdah as the ceremonial
procession was moving through the Chandni Chowk suburb of Delhi.
Nation
needs to remember all those martyrs and record their history in proper
perspective – it is not Congress who alone fought for freedom and obtained it
without bloodshed. They only got lioness
share of power once British left.
With great regards –
Salutes to all those martyrs and special pranams to Vanchinathan.
17th June 2022.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
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