‘Neerparavai’ – a salute to the seafaring communities of Tamil shores.

I was overwhelmed by this film!

A bench mark movie indeed....

It stirred like the recently popular articles of ‘Samas’ on Tamil seashores in the ‘Tamil Hindu’ daily.

Our seafarers belong to one of the five landscape divisions of Tamil land – ‘Neidhal’.

‘How come this country could prosper by neglecting our valiant seafaring communities and their tradition?’

How come this country could afford to completely forget the indispensable role of this land in the history of Tamil heritage? 

How come this portion of the lands has been almost completely cut off from the main stream socio - political dynamics?

Ordeals of our fishermen on the sea has become just trivial usual news to the hinterland!

As the acclaimed author of ‘Korkai’, Joe D’ Cruz articulates, the seafaring people who have been historically taken for a ride by  every opportunist dispensation need to muster their political voice!

On the other hand, the history points out that Korkai, Alagankulam, Arikkamedu, Kaviripoompattinam, Nagapattinam and Chathurangapattinam  were among the most ancient active ports of the World. Tamils built the above ports on the confluence points of their major rivers. Apart from the above major ports there were numerous smaller ports invariably with the suffix ‘pattinam’. Kulasekarapattinam, Veerapandianpattinam, kaayalpattinam and Devipattinam are few such ports still remain in the same names.   

We have Sangam literary records and native community history with ample corroborating external evidences to say that the Tamils bestowed with a long shoreline were one among the pioneering seafarers in the World!

Our ancestors built ships and traded with far off ancient civilized regions like Rome, Egypt and China. Pandiya emissaries negotiated the terms of trade in the courts of ancient Roman Empire. Roman senators lamented the flight of hard earned Roman gold to India on adverse balance of trade!

Tamil ship building industry is perhaps one of the systems wiped out without any traces during the colonial subjugation. It is most likely that Tamil ships might have been built near the ancient ports of Tamil shoreline. The vantage shoreline stretch between, Kodiakkarai – Adhiraampattinam – Manamelkudi might have accommodated the ancient Tamil shipbuilding industry. There is a likelihood of similar ship constructing/ repairing facility like that of ‘lothal’ of Gujarat in Tamil shoreline. A seafaring artifacts museum / memorial in this shore line, on the model of Longjiang shipyard ruins park of China may be a fitting tribute to the seafaring tradition of Tamil Country.

Tracing the people who engaged in ship building and navigation; instrumentation and materials used by them and techniques applied for construction and navigation and their maritime etymological glossary available in literature and if continue to be still in vogue among such communities is one of the areas left unexplored in Tamil history. The traders, the goods traded and the trade routes used would also be other interesting related dimensions of such a study. 

Tamil Saivite tradition elaborately portrays the biography of Manivaasagar, one of the prime four Gurus of Tamil Saivism that as the ‘Chief Minister’ of Pandiya Country, he traveled to Manamelkudi direction while on an assignment to procure imported horses for the Pandiya cavalry.

The mighty Chola ships sailed beyond the Bay of Bengal on successful military expeditions to Indo-China region and to the Indonesian archipelagoes – the only exceptional kind of such a feat in the Indian sub continental history.

I mull over with enthusiasm about the piece of modern history that the chief of fishermen communities of the southern shoreline, hailing from Tuticorin, assisted Oomaithurai, the legendary warrior of Tirunelveli Cheemai in his war efforts against the British colonizers by procuring ammunition for him.

 In Tamil Saivite tradition, one of the foremost 63 revered pioneers of Saivism worshiped in every Shiva temple of the Tamil country is ‘Adhipathar’ – meaning ‘the great devotee’ was a fisherman from the ancient Chola port of Nagapatinam.

 I once watched with awe, the way the neighboring fishermen community, gave a resounding traditional welcome to the Chidambaram Nataraja during a car festival, as they own the deity as their son in law from the time of yore.

It is the tradition of our fishermen to consider the sea not merely as a hunting ground but as ‘kadal amma’ - the life giving and protective mother.

A combination of socio - political and military reasons led the Northern Srilankan and the southern shoreline of Tamil country stretching from Thangachimadam near Rameswaram to down the south, proselytized by the Portuguese navy during the colonial era which might have historically alienated the seashore communities from the hinterland and from the people of the Northern shoreline and perhaps even the Tamil Southern shoreline's social linkages with the Western shoreline as well. 

Tiruchendur temple history records say about the Portuguese occupation and plunder and their eventual eviction by a native resistance. Mylapore temple history mentions about the destruction of the original Pallava shoreline temple at Marina -Santhome seashore and eventual shifting of the Kabaaleeswara temple due to Portuguese vandalism.    

Colonial naval operations have left deep imprints on the shoreline history of Southern India.

The Goa Inquisition, Political standoff and the valiant naval operation of the Jain Queen of Ullal, Rani Abbakka Devi, causing a decisive wreck on the Portuguese fleets, European interference in Kolikkode kingdom and the legendary naval exploits of the great Maratha Admiral, Kanhoji Angre, all had their intricate socio - economic fallout on the Western shores.

Matha Amirthananda Maa, one of the modern spiritual Gurus of India with a Global following of unprecedented scale hails from the Western shoreline fishing community.

Another interesting tradition reported is that the Kanyakumari Bhagawathi Amma is still revered as the protecting deity of our Southern seafarers.  

This Maa once blessed Swami Vivekananda before he embarked on his mission to the West. He meditated for 3 days in December 1892 on the ‘Sripaada Parai’ rock off Kanyakumari shore. In his meditation it is told, the great monk visualized the reemergence of Mother India to her lost glory.

I pray unto Maa Bhagawathi to bless the emergence of Tamil seafaring communities into their due place in the society.

The Tamil ‘Neidhal’ history needs specific exploration and compilation by collating all the available numismatic, external, literary and excavated evidences. New areas need to be explored to understand the Tamil marine history. There might be abundant information yet to be collected from the seafaring communities. 

The background details of the endeavours of VOC while launching ‘Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company’ in 1906, one of the first native shipping companies of India as part of his Nationalist Movement in the pre-Gandhian era need to be brought out to the Tamil consciousness in a big way. May this great visionary leader of our southern shores, bless the shores of Tamil country.

May great shipbuilders and mariners emerge from the southern shores!

May elite marcos units emerge from the southern seafaring communities in the service of Mother India!!