The debates after
celebrating ‘Quit India movement’ – brought to fore – what we should be learning
in Schools as History and whom we should
rever ? – the freedom at midnight was gotten not free or easily but due
to sacrifices of those martyrs who underwent untold sufferings and yet remained
without ever getting in the limelight.
The Nation should be learning the lives of such great people. 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 on May 14, 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 Poosa Mantapam 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. Mahakavi Bharathiyar 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.
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.
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 ‘Vanchi Maniyachi Junction’. 108 years ago, at
10.30 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.
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 Dist Admn.
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 Raghupathy Iyer and Rukmani Ammal. His actual name was
Shankaran. He
did his schooling in Shenkottai and graduated in M.A. from Moolam Thirunal
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 a mantap 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 Kappalottiya Tamizhan, Actor
Balaji played the role of Vanchinathan.
With tears thinking of
the Great son of India
- S. Sampathkumar.
- In Nov
1908 before the Bench of CA White & Miller came up the appeal filed by
patriot V.O. Chidambaram Pillai who was the accused in Calendar Case No. 1 of 1908 on
the file of the Additional Sessions Judge of Tinnevelly. The offences convicted were three offences of abetment
of the uttering of seditious words. Mr Sadagopachariyar pleaded on his
behalf. At Tuticorin, Subramania
Siva made a speech in which in plain language he put before his audience
the goal to which they should aspire, the overthrowing of the British
supremacy and the liberation of India from a foreign yoke. He was the prime accused. The bench however felt that V.O.
Chidambaram Pillai was therefore rightly convicted and that the law was
vindicated by a sentence of 6 (six) years' transportation.
- Satyendranath
Tagore [1842 – 1923) was the first Indian to join the Indian Civil Service
and become a Collector. He was the second eldest brother of Rabindranath
Tagore, Nobel laureate in
Literature.
