Veera Chokkappa Thevar and Maadasaamy Pillai – the Demi Gods of Southern lands!

It was an anecdote. I heard it from my father when I was a kid. I vividly remember his narration about one Paandya warrior, ‘Elu kanu thaandiya’ Veera Chokkappa Thevar. The title ‘Elu kanu Thaandiya’ literally means one who has withstood seven nodes.

The story is that in one battle the said warrior, Chokkappa Thevar in the midst of his fight was pierced by a hostile arrow shot which tore into his torso to the other side. The unrelenting southern warrior withstood the attack and continued his fight. He held out and was fiercely fighting while each successive node of that bamboo shaft was going into his torso one by one. The warrior fell down only when the seventh node pierced into him.

Amazed by his indomitable spirit and endurance, people referred him as, ‘Elu kanu thaandiya veeran’ meaning ‘the warrior who withstood seven nodes’. 

I really don’t know where this particular battle took place or from where that warrior hailed.

But I believe the authenticity of the story as it has been passed on down the time line in the region by word of mouth - at least to the extent that it narrates about the tenacity and spirit exhibited by an indomitable Paandya warrior in a particular battle.

Placing ‘Nadu-kal’ in the form of menhir or the standing memorial stone slabs in remembrance of a fallen warrior is the ancient Tamil custom. Remembering, worshiping and celebrating such warriors who martyred for their country, people or a noble cause is part of the tradition of Tamil communities. ‘Pulikkuthikkal’ is a form of ‘nadukal’ which is a memorial for the warrior who was killed while hunting tigers disturbing the residential localities.  

I have heard that God Karuppasaamy worshipped with much vigor throughout the Paandya territory of Southern Tamil Country is linked to such martyr worship. This land remembers it’s heroes who fell for a noble cause.

Karuppasaamy with various variants is a household name of the South.

Karuppasaamy is the deity who protects the Paandya territory.

This land is protected by the spirit of our fallen warriors!

Karuppasaamy is in the form of weapons drawn out - usually of aruvaal – the long sickle, sword, spears or mace and in a ready to attack position with sharply piercing eyes and twisted mush of an ancient Tamil warrior either in standing form or driving his horse.

Karuppasaamy temple priests usually hail from family lineages of the localities and the festivals decided by local customs. Liquor, cigar and mutton are offered to the warrior deity.

Artist expression of Karuppasaamy worshipping custom 

Wearing sangili i.e. iron chains symbolizes a fierce kind of warrior. Similarly Sangili Karuppasaamy is a fierce form of deity, worshipped by the Southern Tamil communities. 

Karuppasaamy in the form of  portrait on a rock side  worshiped in Arittappatti Hills near Madurai

It has been reported in the dailies that in the jungle outskirts of Kumarappatti village near Pudukkottai, the villagers worship 'Oomayan Karuppar' particularly on the full moon day of the Tamil month Chithirai. This Karuppasaamy is said to be the popular Southern warrior, Oomaithurai, the younger brother of the legendary Veerapaandya kattabomma Nayakkar. Oomaithurai is said to have been arrested by the British at this jungle due to the betrayal of the Pudukkottai King. However the people felt the guilt and the popular support remained – and still remains with the hero of Southern lands who chose to fight against the British colonialism!   

Similarly, there were chosen warriors who led the ancient Paandya army from the front lines of the columns. There is scarce chance for survival while at the front rows of clashing armies in ancient battles. 

Such men who volunteered to be at the front of the charge and bore the brunt of the enemy onslaught for the country were said to have been consecrated by the Southern communities as Muniayasaamy.

Muniyasaamy

The heroes who led us during the crises may fall, but their grace and power is exuded through our deities which would ever rekindle the ethos of our lands. 

Kottai Karuppasaamy is a protective deity of the ancient Paandya fortification. There is a Kottai Karuppasaamy temple still near the Northern Gate of the former Palayamkottai Fort. Similarly there is a Muniyasaamy temple at the site of the Southern Gate of the former Madurai Fort. 

Southern forts were protected by the exemplary actions of our fallen warriors. Karuppasaamy and Muniyasaamy at the gates of the ancient forts of Paandya country are the standing testimonies to this fact .   

I was shaken to see the way, people of Madurai throng to worship the Northern Temple Tower Muneeswara and place their infants before him on the road side floor seeking his blessings.       

There may be tens of scores of glowing portrayal of acts of bravery shown by Tamil warriors in the Sangam literature, ‘Puranaanooru’.

There are also abundant evidences of epigraphy which throw light on the course of Tamil history.

However there are also equally important similar pieces of history passed down through the generations as available in many regions of the Southern lands, among communities and within family trees in the forms of ballads, anecdotes and other folk expressions. Such information need to be picked up, compiled and collated with the literary, epigraphy and other evidence based ‘elitist’ academic history.

May the history of the southern Tamil lands also be folk sourced. 

I doubt the survival of such precious information surviving through another generation, in this age of fast paced style of anxious living.  

One childhood rhyme which still tinkling in my mind as I recall my childhood playmates rhyme in a loud chorus while playing on the dusty streets of Sankarankoil,   

             "ஐ ச்சக்கா ஐ............... 

              அரப்படி நெய் !

              வெள்ளக்காரன் கப்பல்ல 

              தீயக் கொழுத்தி வை !!"

a rough translation is,

               "Huraah......

                there is half a kilo of ghee!

                use it to burn the ships 

                of the whites!!"

It may be an embarrassingly funny, rhyming sequence of the childhood play.

But it points out the burning fire of under current flowing down the generations in the Southern Tamil Country. I found this very rhyme in a folklore compilation later.

The Western province of Tirunelveli region spearheaded the ever first uprisings against the British colonial mechanism in the Indian sub continent during the very first decade of the 19^th century immediately followed by the Eastern province which fell one by one. However the free spirit and the fight put forth by the southern Tamil country flowed down through the generations. Nellai Cheemai gave out so many fighters who struggled for the freedom of the land from the colonial occupation.

One fire brand Nationalist, Maadasaamy Pillai of Ottapidaaram and his comrades attempted to sink the British ships in the Tuticorin harbour by fire bombs. This extraordinarily talented warrior - forgotten in the modern Tamil history went underground and his biography is one which remains still untold by academic historians from their Macaulayan ivory tower tops.

I want to link the above said that age children's rhyme with the attempt of the brave men of the south who attempted to attack Tuticorin harbour used by the British to export black cotton to Lancashire, firing the industrial revolution there.

There are similar anecdotes which need academic recognition such as the folk narration on Panjalamkurichy warriors, Kattai Karupanan Sundaralingam - who martyred as a suicide bomber and destroyed an ammunition dump of the British, Potti Pagadai - who was instrumental in protecting his leader Oomathurai on the last battle of Panjalamkurichy war - II, and Vellaya Thevan - who led the Panjalamkurichy troops in the Panjalamkurichy war - I and the women warrior Kuyili of Sivaganga - who blasted a British ammunition store as a suicide bomber who all martyred in their land’s resistance against the alien occupation.   

Similarly this country worships the galaxy of Sithars – the revered Zen Gurus who rose from the ordinary households to the spiritual heights and guided the people of ordinary walks of life. People still throng their samaadhus - where their mortal remains are confined. The belief is that their immortal spirits remain there. There are hundreds of such jeeva samaadhus across the Southern Tamil Country worshiped.

When I visited one such Jeevasamaadhu of Sri Kannappa Sithar adjacent to Thirumalai hillock an ancient historic place of importance near Melur, I was stunned by the simple way of reverence shown by a companion who just chose to take a handful of sand nearby and distributed it in pinches among us as the holy ‘prasaadam’ as the blessing of our Sithar. Such is the sheer simplicity of ways our people express…..

 That is the way shown by our Sithars!   

May the southern lands be uplifted by the blessings of hundreds and hundreds of our Gods and Gurus!