http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/15/stories/2009111554570600.htm At the height of British dominion in 1899, G. E. Baudry, the newly appointed police superintendent, was blocked at the entry point to Madurai. The sentry from the Piramali Kallar community would not allow him in without paying tax.
Baudry went on to record his bewilderment at the fearlessness of the guards in demanding entry tax even after the British had taken total control over the region. It is said that the British officer had to pay the tax before his entry.
Tamil writer Su. Venkatesan stumbled upon this interesting piece of information when he embarked on a study of the compulsory settlement camp set up by the British in Kambam-Gudalur areas to house the most feared persons from de-notified communities, predominantly the Piramalai Kallars.
For generations, the Piramalai Kallars have protected the Madurai residents from robbers and dacoits, for a fee of course. They also proved their valour on the battlefield.
"The more I read about them the more I was fascinated," says Mr. Venkatesan. In the year 2000 he began work on his novel Kaavalkottam, based on the security system that prevailed in Madurai. The book was finished nine years later.
The 30-year-old Mr. Venkatesan is an executive committee member of the CPI (M)'s Madurai district unit. He unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election from Tiruparamkundram constituency in 2006. Kaavalkottam (Tamizhini publishers) is his first novel.
Tracing the 600-year-old history of Madurai, the gripping novel, supported by thorough historical research, transports the reader to the glorious days of the temple city and talks about the perfect security system in the hands of men from Thathanoor (a fictional village) and their hard life.
"I first wrote the last chapter. The first chapter was written last. The first chapter was a fiction constructed on history while the second was historical narration in fiction form," explains Mr. Venkatesan.
He researched for six years to find out how the people from Madurai reached Chennai to make a representation to the Governor against the demolition of the Fort in 1849.
"I was able to trace the travel allowance bill (TA) submitted by a Jesuit Priest to the American Madura Mission. He had written that since a palanquin journey from Madurai to Madras would have taken him 28 days and cost him Rs 30, he arrived faster, in just 16 days, by travelling in a bullock-cart." What is more interesting is that the Madura Mission subsequently became a Protestant institution.
Mr. Venkatesan's achievements are many. While the redoubtable French Anthropologist Louis Demont (author of A South Indian Subcaste : Social Organization And Religion Of The Pramalai Kallar) could not record the criminal `code' that governed the life of the Piramalai Kallars, the novelist has succeeded in doing so. He has not only unearthed them all, but weaves them into a touching story.
He points out how a few villages converted to Christianity to escape the ignominy of being called the de-notified community, but adds that in 1947, barring a few, all the villagers returned to their roots.
Is he planning anything else?
"Yes, another novel.... It is based on some unique Tamil traditions," he says, but would not elaborate.