Ponniyin Selvan Varalaatru Peravai

Respected Members,
I am a new member and hence some of my comments may sound old/odd or could have
been already discussed. Please excuse me for the same, if they were already
brought in and discussed.
While all of us wish the tomorrow meeting a grand success, I would like to bring
a few points for discussion, if it is worthy enough:
1. As we grow bigger, need for an organized one-day seminar (with
sufficient time for all of us to plan- at least 2 months in advance) may be a
good idea and can be a regular annual event. These can even come in rotation as
far as venue is concerned (like Chennai, Thanjavur, etc). We need to look into
roping a few sponsors to cover expenses which we cannot pool in.
2. It may be a better idea to form a trust where we can become officially
members and do a bit of annual contribution.

3. The trust/ forum may conduct such seminars, guided tours (not the
regular ones but for the real knowledge thirsty ones) and publish a few (even e-
publications) publications which can generate a bit of revenue.
4. I know Varalaaru.com meets some of these objectives. These can all be
brought under single umbrella.
5. I sincerely wish the spread of cultural and historical knowledge is to
be taken to the next generation (hope more children show interest in these) and
we have to be instrumental in this.
Back to the main purpose of the forum, I have one suggestion for which I welcome
the feedback (please feel free to correct myself or criticise)of this august
forum:
As time pass by, the concept of religion, caste and all associated belief will
continue to evolve. These are inevitable.
With Tamil nadu state had so much transition in the last century and in the
current century, many of the traditional information held within the older
generation is not getting passed. Today’s generation does not value such belief
(they are also not to be blamed) and we may permanently loose many of these.
A classical example is while a Ramachandran XXXXXX in Tamil Nadu has become
Ramachandran, he is Ramachandran Nair in Kerala and Ramachandra Naidu in AP. I
am neither against caste belief nor supporting it. I am only looking at neutral
angle and an angle very much related to us. With Tamil society dropping the
caste/sub caste title from their name, so goes the tradition and history
attached to it at a faster speed.
Before we permanently loose these, it is high time we spend some energy in
preserving the traditional knowledge available with these people.
Example of sub titles of our Ponniyin Selvan heroes- like Pazhuvettarayar,
Mazhavarayar, Kadavarayar, Pallavarayar, etc can still be found with many of
today’s family. My suggestion is not to bring them to glory but bring out
whatever these families have in their memory before it is permanently lost. I am
sure the next generation of people from these families may not even know of
their back ground.
A recent example of Mr. Gandhi of our forum met Udayarpalayam Jamin and tried to
dig out whatever they know; A similar exercise I feel should be initiated as
soon as possible to bring out many hidden facts.
I am aware of families living in remote villages of chola desam with titles of
cholanars/ cholanganars traditionally engaged in strict marital relations with
families of mazhavarayar, kachchirayar, narasingharayar and pattarayar
(pazhuvettarayar) ONLY. I am sure people like them might have something in the
memory passed from one generation to another. We have brought many visible
things to the fore. It is time for invisibles!!!