திண்ணை

மகேஷ்

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Dear Sir,

When a writer passes away, the essays written immediately after that should be of explaining his contributions to the language and society. But the essays written by Shankaranarayanan and Malarmannan are of very poor in taste. It critises the La.Sa.Ra and talks more about Shankaranayanan and Malarmannan. It is really boring to read such stuff. I request thinnai to obtain good articles from really good tamil writers in memory of La.Sa.Ra and readers like me would be grateful to you for that.

I am not against criticising La.Sa.Ra.. but this is not the time..
Regards.

Mahesh
Chennai

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umahesh2000@gmail.com

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ராம்கி

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I don’t know how long you are going to publish these type of articles ( http://www.thinnai.com/?module=displaystory&story_id=20705172&format=html ) which doesn’t have anything other than just creating waves. If you are not able make any criticism on the political parties which run only for the sake of some families, cricket players who are all active only in advertisements, caste parties which threatens the common people, dailies playing politics by giving wrong messages, magazine which discusses unnecessary things, private groups which challegnes the law and order problem, industrialist who earns lot of money without getting the attention of public,obviously you do not have the rights to make any critics on actors and their fans? hope it makes sound!

anbudan, Ramki

Anbudan, J. Ramki

http://www.thaiyal.com
http://rajniramki.blogspot.com

rajni_ramki@yahoo.com

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சோனா எம்

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Dear Editor,

This is in reference to the letter ‘Bharathi Darsanam ‘by Mr. KV.

I feel sorry for Mr. Karpaga Vinayagam ?s (KV) single track minded approach. I hope he will remove his blinders and take a wholistic approach to historical facts. Bharathi was one of the greatest poets of India. Mr. KV raise some major complaints about Bharathi. First he complains about the reasons for Bharathi ?s mustache!. Secondly, he complains about Bharathi saying that how being a Brahmin was difficult for him in the prison. Thirdly, he even complains about Bharathi ?s integrity of disappearing from sight when required for the great V.O.C ?s trial. There are also other complaints where Mr. KV was so upset about Bharathi was promoting Hindu feelings. I do not want to answer each

It is high time that Mr. KV must learn to look at history from a socio psychological perspective too. Mainly, he need to understand the social structure at that time when Bharathi lived. If he truly understands that with objective reasoning, he will not write calumny about a great soul who rendered wonderful poems and vision.

In the 1800 ?s and early 1900 ?s, a person born in a Brahmin family was expected to follow certain social norms and Bharathi was courageous to break the superstition and many of the religious or s ocial constraints. He raised the bar that helped the later social reformers to follow and move forward. His social consciousness was far supreme and his kind heart sang ? Karumbu thottathile ? for the ill treated laborers.

Regarding the great V.O.C ?s trial, Mr. KV need to understand that Bharathi was always on the British rulers wanted list and when there was no evidence and the person was not here to defend do not give assumptions. Also, Mr. KV need to read carefully about Bharathi ?s quote in Karma Yogi about Sathi. Bharathi, mentions that in future a women who righteously live will be considered great. He was not promoting Sathi. His reference to a past practice should not be manipulated and misinterprested. Mr. KV must read the poem ‘Madhar thammai izhivu seyyum madamaiyi koluthuvom ‘. Again, Mr. KV must understand the historical context and under which social conditions people live in each era. The pioneers and leaders who act as catalysts or trigger for a change process cannot deviate too much from the structure. They have to work within it to create a new social order.

Hence, Mr. KV need to to three things. 1. Learn to write objectively and do not be one sided 2. Do a thorough research on the subject including the socio economic and political structure under which that era ?s norms and social constraints affect a leader or the people. 3. Understand that social change is taking place every minute. The cumulative effect can be seen only after some time.

Mr. KV, to vent your anger or hurt feelings you may have for the Hindus, please do not denigrate whomever you can think of.

Regards,

Sona M

mayabrahm@yahoo.com

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ஜீவா

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After reading Karpaga Vinayagam ‘s ‘Bharathi Dharisanam ‘ featuring excerpts from Madhimaran ‘s book, I literally gasped for breath. So Bharathiar was a fraud, casteist, traitor, coward etc. etc. How easy it is to slander a poet revered by the whole Tamil Nadu , for these people. Any one can smear such kind of mud, with their own kind of interpretation, on anyone, take Gandhi, EVR.

Jeeva

jeevartist@yahoo.co.in

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சதுரகிரி வேல்

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Dear Editor,

I have been reading with interest the articles

published in Thinnai and kudos to you all!

Of late, it has become a habit for people like

Mr.Nellai Nedumaran to appropriate hindu customs,

hindutva icons and other historical figures for the

promotion of his Nadar caste that he belongs to. (He

might get angry with me that i am not mentioning that

he belongs to highest clan within Nadars.)

The recent one on Nammalvar is the extreme. He makes a

number of inappropriate assumptions:

1. He assumes that Velalars are only Saivites; In

reality, Velalars were both Saivites and Vaishnavites.

There is a subcaste called Namadhari Pillai and large

number of velala mudaliars in Thondaimandalam are

vaishnavites. In fact, there were Velalar Jains and

Buddhists too earlier like we have velalar christians

today.

2. He assumes that if one is called Nadan, then he

could have been from Nadar caste. Like kallar, maravar

and aghamudaiyar seem to think that Thevar denotes

their caste and appropriate Moovendars. This is quite

simplistic. Sekkilar was called as Arunmozhithevar in

his young age and recently Nanjil Nadan is a famous

son of Nanjil Velalar.

3. The last of Pandyas were ruling in Tenkasi and

around. If Nadars were descendants of Pandyas, then

there was no reason for any animosity between Maravars

and Nadars; Maravars were the backbone of Later Pandya

armies. Any one with some knowledge on Later Pandyas

would vouch for it. For example, the right for widows

to remarry among Maravars was allowed by Maravarman

Sundarapandian, looking at the plight of Maravar

widows.

4. Like all tamil castes, Nadars also would have had

an illustrious past. There is no requirement for

people like Nellai Nedumaran to justify Hindutva links

of Nadars or to misappropriate Nammalvar and the like

to upgrade themselves in the Hindu caste hierarcy. If

Nadars have tamil orgins, they do not have to worry

about their low rank in Varnashrama and invent

Shatriya origins. Tamil country did not have four fold

divisions. (The tolkappiyam reference itself is foud

only in later Urais and no direct reference is found

in any of the earlier urais). Anyway, Kuravars could

become kings in Nanjil Nadu; why not nadars or

velalars in other parts of Tamilnadu ?

5. He should respond to one aspect that there are no

clear cut references to Nadars in tamil literature

before 19th century though there are humpteen

references to Sanars or those who were involved in

tody distilling before. He might say we were Chera,

Chozha or Pandyas. If so, why was Ezhavas, nadars

counter parts in Chera country were ill treated by

Kerala varmas and nairs ? He might disown Ezhavas too.

6. One school of thought thinks that Nadars were late

immigrants into Kerala country from Sri Lanka or some

indian ocean islands. They took up toddy tapping to

survive. Then they spread from there to other parts of

tamil country; included other similar groups who were

into similar activities and have grown into a caste

conglomerate today.

5. It is worrying with the amount of misinformation

happening on the net and i do not whether it is

huamnly possible to respond.

I request this letter to be published in Thinnai to

forewarn others.

—-

Dear Editor,

Thanks for the prompt response. Though

it would have been very appropriate if I could have

written this letter in Tamil, I am sorry I am unable

to do the same due to usual culprits (lack of time,

laziness, etc.,). Hope to correct this mistake soon.

Coming to this previous mail of mine, that was in

response to the last few articles written by Mr.Nellai

Nedumaran, alone as well as with others. I have the

following observations:

1. His overall tone approach seems that he is out to

establish royal lineage (Pandya and Chera are

mentioend in two of his articles) for Nadars,

especially the sub-caste that he belongs to. Since it

is not clearly mentioned anywhere that what caste

Pandyas belonged to, i agree that anyone can claim

origin from them, be it Parathavar of Tuticorin or

Maravars of Tirunelveli or Nadars of Tirunelveli. Now

that he is tracing Nammalvar origin from Pandyas, I

guess even Velalar can claim Pandya lineage. But I am

sure all of us would agree that the caste equations

those days was not this simple and royalty had blood

streams from the powereful families of all hues.

2. He is also trying to establish that Shatriyas in

tamil country were Nadars and hence they ought to be

Pandyas. He has also tried giving them Chera lineage,

but it does not fly considering that the present

surviving Chera dynasties like Travancore claim

themselves different from Ezhavas and are more related

to Nambudhiris and Nairs. He does not give them any

CHozha lineage as Nadars are very few in number in

those areas. But any cursory understanding of Indian

history would prove that any caste group can form

kingdoms and become royal overnight in India. Right

from Nandas, Mauryas, Guptas, etc in the North to

Chalukyas, Kakatheyas, Vijayanagar, Marathas,

Sethupathis, Tondaimans, etc., in the south. I can go

on and on about the emergence of warriors and kigndoms

in Indian history from all castes and hues, including

Brahmins. My point is that the four fold varna did not

exist in South India to a large extent. It does not

even exist in North India to large extent. The famous

clan that ruled Varanasi belongs to Bhumihar caste and

Delhi was ruled by Jat rulers, who are definitely not

accepted as Shatriyas by known customs.

3. He thinks that he can get sanction for his

hypothesis by appealing to the Hindutva section of

Tamils, similar to when Nadars were in the forefront

of Hindu Munnani in Kanyakumari district earlier. He

conveniently forgets that Nadars were not permitted,

even in Madurai Meenakshi temple, patronised by

Pandyas.

4. The same approach is being used by him for

appropriating Nammalvar. Though the generally accepted

history and number of references abound for Nammalvar

belonging to Velalar clan(albeit some of them going to

define him as ‘lowly velalar ‘, simple Google search

would vouch for this ‘lowly ‘ reference), Nedumaran

tries vainly to prove that he belonged to Nadar caste.

He also wrongly assumes that Velalars are only Saivas.

He also assumes that velalars could have been only

farmers (uzhavar is the word used by him) where as

velalars grouping was much larger and had included

people of various professions, right from small kings

(I would not venture out to claim Chera, Chozha and

Pandya lineage, but they were marriages between them

and velalar clan. Right from Karikal Chozhan, Cheran

Senguttuvan, Nedunchezhiyan, etc., upto Rajarajan,

Cheraman Kulasekaran, Nedumara Pandian, etc., had

relatives with names ending in Vel or Velir.

5. Coming back to the point, my contention with his

writings is that his approach seems not to present

facts as they were and allow readers to come up with

their own hypothesis. Instead he comes up with

conclusions by twisting parts of tamil literature to

establish his caste ‘s royal linkage. Though i do not

know how it is going to benefit nadars of today, it

reminds me of the days when Zamindars of ordinary

background tried to establish lineage from Sun and

Moon. I am trying to sound net readers with alternate

view points so that they do not get misled by what

people like Nedumaran are writing.

6. I am protesting only because Thinnai allows

alternate viewpoints and has serious writers and

readers, even if i do not subscribe to their view

point. In other forums.magazines, i might have ignored

this as i ignore countless others.

I conclude here and shall write more in details when

time permits.

Thanking you,

Sathuragiri Vel

sathuragirivel@yahoo.com

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மலர் மன்னன்

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Dear editor,

Thanks to reader Dr. Sivan for enlightening me on the venue of the meeting of Anna with Medical College students. My presence at the meeting was NOT to cover the occasion. I went to meet Anna in the morning on that day and he told me to get into the car. We went to several places with great difficulty because of the hurdles created by transport workers in all major locations. Initially, we went to the hostel only and probably we might have gone to the college premises later. However, Anna ‘s helplessness and students ‘ agitated mood were NOT questioned by Dr Sivan. As for his remarks about the dean,I have no comments because I have no knowledge about it.

I am NOT the advocate of Anna to argue for his achievements or failures as the CM and my intention of wrting the article is to show the difference between today ‘s leaders occupying the seat of power and a person like Anna holding such post. Anna was very soft in nature and was keen on bringing peace and cordial relationship between transport workers and students. When the representatives of workers met Anna, he asked whehter they were having sons and were NOT they students. Would they attack their sons, as they were attacking students ruthlessly. Yes, he sholud have taken severe action on both the workers and students alike because students were also behaving violently. For workers, it is only the idnetity of teenagers as students, irrespective of whether they were medical college students or from law college or just young boys. As the clash occurred shortly after his party came to power, Anna did NOT want his party to become unpopular so soon. While returning, Anna kept his cool and said since students were young, it was natural for them to behave violently with him. Afterall they were our children only, he said. To be very frank, he was NOT capable of taking severe action on anybody and many took advantage of it. Personally speaking, he should have been very strict toward his followers, as well as the erring staff. And I should also point out that it was the students who made the situation worse by their collective misbehaviour.

Yours,

Malarmannan

malarmannan79@rediffmail.com

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