If this info is true .. i am really surprised .. having seen and heard the Shivaji version of Kattabomman .. this katta bommu version is very difficult to digest ..... Tippu Sultan story is also totally against what is being protrayed or taught in schools >history is often about what a majority wants to >hear and not the real truth. This is 100 % true ..
dear kamal most of the info on kattabomman was obtained from the walls of the memorial in panchalan kurichi.
and another thing Kamal, just dont imagine the actual scenario by watching the movie v.p.kattabomman. you will be in for a shock when you see actual panchalangkurichi. I took my son there once and was shocked at the small size
his comment was " enna appa fort is smaller than my school"
and there was some truth in it.the movie had been done with a truckload of imagination.
Dear Venkat our people did have a vivid imagination but to think a pro tamil DMK movement would have glorified him as a martyr and name a tarnsport corp and district after him is a bit un imaginable... So there must have been some bits of truth in his legend But I have been to kayathar and i did feel bad See the monument they have for Wllace in stirling and all that was in Kayathar was virtually nothing
the kattabomman legend was started by the theru koothu movement and came into the drama companies ahead of the dmk movement
but making a pakka telugu speak the most remembered tamil vasanam of the century was an achievement- dont you think so.
if you exclude the telugu contributions tamilnadu will have very little.
some of our greatest temples were built( or rebuilt) during naik period.most of our feudal kings of the previous centuries were telugu.
but it was kannadasan who felt kattabomman had been blown out of proportion and tried to bring into light the achievements of the marudu brothers whose opposition to the british was on a much larger scale.
Paanchalankurichi is a hamlet 18 kms from Thoothukkudi. It was here that Veerapandian, the 47th king of Paanchalankurichi was born on January 3rd, 1760 to Jagaveera Kattabomman and Aarmugathammal. The Kattabommans traced their ancestry to Bommu, who was a minister in King Jagaveera Pandian's durbar in Azhagiya Veerapandiapuram, as Ottapidaram of today was known as. Bommu, or Gettibommu was he was called, had migrated from the Vijayanagar region of what is Andhra Pradesh today and was a fearless warrior as well. After Jagaveera Pandiyan died issueless, Bommu ascended the throne. Veerapandian became the king of Panchalankurichi on February 7, 1790, and ruled for 9 years The TN Government has propagated the memory of Kattabomman by erecting (in 1974) a memorial fort in his honour in Paanchalankurichi. Sri Devi Jakkammal Temple, the hereditary Goddess of Kattabomman, is located near the fort.
To observe the bicentenary on 16th October 1999 of Kattabomman's hanging, the Central Government brought out a postal stamp in his honour.
there are seven living direct descendents of the Kattabomman family.The Government pays each of them a monthly pension of Rs. 500,
Sree Vaikuntham which constitutes the first of the nine Nava Thiruppatis in Thirunelveli district in the belt between Thirunelveli and the coastal shrine of Thiruchendur. This temple witnessed the battle between the valiant Veerapandya Kattabomman and the British, where the British used this temple as a fortress. Battle marks are seen on the temple's door.
the film kattabomman was not without its share of controversies. Denouncing the glorification of Kattabomman, Thamizhvaanan wrote "kattabomman telungan! koLLaikkaran! avanukku munbE pulithEvan engiRa veera maRavan pOraadinaan!" Kannadasan claimed that the Maruthu brothers were the true sons of the soil who raised their voice against the British. And to bolster his claim, he set about making the movie `sivagangai seemai'. veerapaNdiya kattabomman was released on May 6, 1959, and sivagangai seemai was released on May 19, 1959. Kannadasan Productions' Sivagangai Seemai- 1959 was Kannadasan's labour of love, He wrote the script & lyrics; and produced the film. It was his second venture in the wake of the success of Maalaiyitta Mangai the previous year. Sivagangai Seemai was directed by K.Shankar, and had a talented star cast led by T.K.Bagavathi, SSR, P.S.Veerappa, S.Varalakshmi, Kumari Kamala, M.N.Rajam and others. Unfortunately for Kannadasan, Sivagangai Seemai was consigned back to the cans within no time of its release while the successful Veerapandiya Kattabomman was acclaimed as a magnum opus. Kannadasan ended up with a huge financial loss. Sivagangai Seemai still remains among the best historical films made in Tamil. Kannadasan's native soil was the canvas, and he was familiar with its history and geography. He had a keen sense of the period, and his passion ensured that Sivagangai Seemai was much more than a commonplace costume drama.
I am from Sivagangai. My grandfather, who had tutored 3 generations of the Rajas of Sivagangai was the source of information for Kannadasan. I have heard from my grandmother that whenever Kannadasan came to our house to learn and discuss historical matters with him, the womenfolk of the house and street used to sort of go away, as he was a "nasthik" at that time and used to write on women in a not so dignified way.. at that time. So, many people told my thatha not to co-operate with him, as he may not put the things in the right perspective. Still, my thatha liked working with him, understanding his genuine feeling for Marudhu Pandiyar and they had worked together for days on.
Of course, no acknowledgement was made anywhere in the movie for all the help rendered is another thing which we Indians are used to.
In fact, Kaviyogi Maharshi Suddhanandha Bharathi had written a full-fledged drama on Marudhu Sahodharargal, which is full of actual facts dramatised very well.
The present family members of Sivaganga Samasthanam are associated with Suddhananda Bharathiyar's school at Cholapuram, near Sivagangai.
Panchalankurichi is visited mostly by school children where they can see paintings ( recent) depicting life of Kattabomman. There is a watchman who takes you around the painting repeating what is written there in Tamil and asks you for money at the end of the trip.
Just outside, there is temple of Jakkamma and ruins of the palace of Kattabomman. One interesting thing about the place is, there is a spot which is very cool even in the hot afternoon of May ( when we were there). This is open to sky, but the stone is very cool. You can feel it with your bare foot. The next stone is very hot. This one is absolutely chill.....
A person who claimed that he is descendent of Kattabomman ( he had the relevant document issued by Govt.) tells you stories of Kattabomman and told us about this stone which was part of the Andhapuram, which was sort of air-coolled. This guy has got a lot of rare issues of history based books which God knows he procured from where.
Sad part is, at the end of the discussion, he literally begs you for money. You are left with a mixed feeling of .............
Dear uma the present sivaganga royal family has not descended from the maruthu brothers. their descendants live in an area called aranmanai siruvayal. they are still honoured on the ther thiruvizha of kalayar koil every may month
kattabomman had no great conquest except occasional raids into ettayapuram zamin whereas maruthu sakotharakal even held madurai for some time.
but all said and done kattabomman was a brave warrior who defended his rights against an alien. and ettayapuram which was reportedly responsible for his death repented in a great way?????? know what????
I remember reading a book by tamilvanan called as 'Kattabomman kollaikaran'.
In that book late tamilvanan says that kattabomman wasnt a hero.The movie showed him as a revolutionary leader but whereas in reality he was running after banerman requesting him to postpone tax payments says tamilvanan.
The fall of kattabomman was a result of his infighting with ettayapuram maharaja it seems.
Was kattabomman popular before the movie came?Or was he raised to cult status because of the movie?was he a real freedom fighter or a local king who lost the game with ettayapuram raja?
I find it difficult to accept pre 1857 kings as freedom fighters.They never had any dreams of indian indpendence.They wanted to rule their province independently and dint give a damn when other indian kings were attacked.Tippu opposed british when they attacked him but kept quiet when marathas and other kings were defeated by british.
British were very much an indian kingdom then.Other kings saw them as another indian kingdom and frequently entered into agreements and friendships with them.Those who fought with british were later on raised to cult status.
In reality no king thought beyond his samasthanam.1857 was first attempt to chase away british from whole of india.
We went to Ettayapuram thinking that we would get to see Bharathiyar's house in all its glory ( I dont mean richness..... I mean well preserved, respected and valued). Unfortunately, the guy who is supposed to come and open did not come beyond the appointed time. We made 3 repeated trips on the same day, but still it was not open. Compare this with the way Shakespeare's house is treated in England!!
Why are we like this??? The neighbour of this great house, where a man like Bharathiyar lived, does not want to even open his house to answer our questions. He is happy watching a stupid serial in Sun TV when a group of us want some information from him as to the timings of the place... this house has been taken over by Govt and it employs a man to show it around. Still, this is the condition!
Yes, I know Sivagangai Samasthanam has no connection with Marudhu Pandiyar. But they had access to a lot of valuable historical data which they did not really value! Their tutor had read almost all of them and knew more about Marudhu Pandyas!!
we as students of history should realise there was no entity called india till just before the british left. and the indianness started with 1857.
kattabomman and maruthu pandyar were feudatories of the arcot nawab a remnant of the mughal empire. when arcot transferred its powers to the british rose these problems.
i distinctly remember having read that kattabomman visited fort st george as a valued guest of the british a few years before he turned rebel.
> Was kattabomman popular before the movie came?Or was he raised to cult > status because of the movie?was he a real freedom fighter or a local > king who lost the game with ettayapuram raja?
kattabomman and the ettappaa business must be after independence when we were hunting for heroes.
perhaps Bharathiyar would never have been in the employ of the ettayapuram if he had beleived it had betrayed kattabomman.(????)
Dear Venkatesh, Nice and Good info thrown.. After reading all your emails. now I got one more doubt in my mind? what is true history abt maruthu pandiyar and katta bommu. In schools they tought us only wrong history.. poor teachers.. Good.
many of ur icons are false gods.For example janshi rani laxmi bhai.She is hailed as something great,but she never had any dream for independent india or independent jhansi state.Her reason for joining the sepoy mutiny was that british refused to accept her adopted son as king.She was about to lose her province anyway.So she joined mutiny in 1857.Had british allowed her adopted son to rule the kingdom,she would not have joined the mutiny.
In many ways we should thank god that 1857 mutiny failed.had it succeeded now jhansi,ayodhya,bengal,punjab etc would have been seperate countries.we would have had 1000 countries in place of India.To go from arcot to pudukottai we would have needed passport and visa.Maybe we would have become a federation in the euro model but chances for that is very,very less.
A country needs heroes.Unfortunately in our country we have very few 'all india level heroes'.Gandhi,Nehru,nethaji,...the list becomes very thin after these 3 names.
Leaders like kamarajar,muthuramalinga thevar,VOC,ambethkar,marshall nesamani ponnaya,rajaji have become icons for their respective castes.Periyar,veer savarkar,indira,baktavatsalam etc have become icons only for their parties.Tippu sultan and satrapathi shivaji are hailed only by specific religions.Depending on which party comes to power these icons are either hailed or degraded.
Even kings of past are hailed as icons of their community.This makes other castes to immediatly detest the kings.Our politicians also played a major role in this.Theeran chinnamalai became theeran chiinamalai gounder,king alagumuthu became alagumuthu kon and we even had sambuvarayar mavattam before some time.
true most of the indian kings were tyrants and bled the country dry. the lives of the princes was crazy. debauchery and lavishness bled the country.
thats a different subject altogether but the charecter of the kings was nothing to boast of.
the british did a favour holding us together till we realised there was unity in diersity. and today we blame them for partion without hailing them for unification
Dear Venkatesh and Sampath You have to read Freedom at Midnight by Dominique Lapieere and Larry Collins and the Chapter on Indian princes will tell you all the stupid and egotistic practices the then kings had In Siraisalai the english lady remarks to mohanlal charector you keep talking about free India but was therea country called India till the british came? It hurts its Sad but its the truth
freedom at midnight was the book that changed my outlook on gandhi.I read it in school.
to me he changed from a whimsical and weak leader into a man with mammoth intellect.one who could match machivelli for every move. he was not weak I realised but acting so.( when he spurned violence)
words like " he humbled the empire with a glass of water and bicarbonate of soda( gandhi used to take this during his fasts) still are fresh in my mind.
"Freedom at Midnight" had its impact on me as well. I dont remember the entire content of the book (I usually have a poor memory) but I finished it at a stretch when i was doing my PG. i remember tears rolling down my cheeks as I keep reading. I have cried like anything. What an humble soul Gandhi was. Due to its impact I was mad with Gandhi those days, that my friends used to tease me (Even today) as Pseudo Gandhi, because for them I talk about gandhi but dont practice (I am short tempered) :) .
But later, I did found or felt that i found some mistakes in gandhi as well. No human is perfect. Kamal's "Hey Ram" really had an impact on me, a mixed impact.
when bahadur shah was declared emperor the marathas had come to the very gates of delhi
the mughal empire was but a few villages
the scindias of gwalior were all powerful
one should read khuswant sings "delhi" he describes the siege and fall of delhi from the eyes of a sikh soldier.how the soldiers rejoice the fall of the city where their guru's were killed.