Brothers & Sisters-Ramani ,Suppuni, Janaki & Meenakshi

Ramani Iyer, was one of those feared in his domain for his chastisement of anyone who crossed his path. He was feared by the villagers. Most of the time he used to be in Kaveri pattnam village and in Vellore. He died in 1952 in vellore and the last rites were performed there itself.

He comes across as a man who has enjoyed the pleasures of life. I had a lengthy conversation with Peria Ramu iyer (one of the key contributors for installation of Prithaykara devi in Sivan temple and a native of SNP. He will probably be one of our dayadhi’s), remarked “If your Grand dad’s (Ramani iyer) bullock cart is heading southwards, then definitely it is heading towards pleasure” (an obvious reference to the journey towards Vaitheeswaran kovil)

Ramani Iyer's frist wife was from a village called Kozhipputhur near Mayavaram. This marriage was short lived and It is said, she died when she was 6 or 7 months pregnant. His second wife was Mohambal (from Kurumberi village).

Ramani Iyer had One son Sethu Raman and one daughter Sundari. Sethuraman set up a shop dealing with Iron metals in Sirkazhi. I have seen people calling him “Erumbu kadai Ayya”. Probably he is one of the 1st Entrepreneurs in Jagadeesan Iyer’s family. The business did well.

Sethu periappa was married to Meenambal (d/o Subbulakshmi athanga and grand-daughter of Meenakshi athai)

Sundari athai is married to Srinivasan and lives in Chennai.

Subramani iyer, on the other hand was an introvert and a 100% family man. He lost his father when was just 5-7 years old. Suppani was a tough man and loved his mother very much. (see next section for an incident during partition).He kept his thoughts and dreams to himself. Apparently, he had a feeling, (except S.Natarajan who had joined the police force) his other sons were not good in studies, and therefore was worried about their future. My appa, used to say, Subramani Iyer, used to take the advice of KNR, K.Seetha rama iyer more seriously, than consulting any of his own family members and except Natarajan periappa his other sons, were too young or were just out of college.

He was the village head man, and my father was a very favorite son to him and used to assist him in the village administrative accounting. He has received a certificate from the then British government for assisting the British police in nabbing a notorious thief. This certificate used to be displayed in the main hall.

Subramani Iyer went to Chennai to seek the advise of K N Ramanathan [KNR], to buy some lands in chennai, as investment to his children. (KNR had bought some lands in T Nagar).There is a saying he went with Rs 5000/- as cash in the early 1950's. KNR dissuaded him from investing in chennai and said "ithallam madu katra edam, nee inga vangatha, oorle vera idam paru" (These places are for tying cows and u do not invest here. See some places in the village itself).

As they say “Life is full of missed opportunities.”

Note: I do not want any of the clan members to be judgmental based on such incidents. There is nothing right or wrong, and thats the way they lived their lives. One can ask logical question “Why did Subramani iyer not have thinking on his own and had to rely on somebody else. The writing’s and compilations are not for Judgements.

Subramani Iyer was married to Kunju (1st daughter of Cadavasal Rama Iyer and Grand daughter of Naganatha Sastry). The marriage took place in the Cadavasal House. (Pls see the CDL house pictures in the beginning of the document). The laminated marriage invitation of Subramani iyer with Kunju is available with my father S.Jagadeesan. They had 11 children.

1) S.Natarajan married to Kamala (d/o of A.N.Kalyanasundaram of Arupathy)
2) Padma married to V.Muthuswamy (s/o M.V.Iyer) of Kaveripatinam
3) Muthuswamy (died when 3 years old)
4) Thulsi married to S. Ramamoorthy (S/O of Sundaresan Iyer of Kulithalai)
5) S.S.Srinivasan married to 1st Bhooma,2nd Meenakshi
6) S.Jagadeesan- married to Savithri (D/o Pavattakudi S.Venkatarama Iyer)
7) Girija - - married to Krishnaswamy (Mayuvaram)
8) S.Chandru - married to Chitra (Mayuram)
9) Mangalam - married to Viswanathan (S/oA.P.Mani Iyer)
10) Sasikala - married to Gopalakrishnan (S/O Thayagaraja Iyer of Chidambaram)
11) S.Raman - married to Prema (Daughter of Krishnan of Sundarpandipuram)


SNP Siblings : S.Natarajan, S.S.Srinivasan (sitting on a tall stool),Sugu (sitting in small chair) Thulsi, Padma

Subramani Iyed died of Brain Hemorrhage on 31-05-1959. After, the death of Subramani Iyer, his brother in law C.R.Kunjithapatham, (CRK mama from Cadavasal/Mayavaram), was instrumental in convincing Seenu periappa to take care of the lands and also assume the role of Head of the family. C.R.K mama has played the role of a Patriarch within the SNP family. A courtesy visit to Mayuvaram CRK’s house is definitely on the agenda by the present day clan members whenever they visit SNP. Till date, there were not many instances, in which the decision of Seenu periappa has been overruled and conflicting decisions implemented as far as the lands, temple and SNP house administration is concerned.

Kunju patti, it is said, imbibed all the qualities of her mother (Cadavasal Patti). She was patience personified. Her respect and devotion to her husband and her mother in law manni patti was 100%.She was also a chronic asthma patient and the long list of Children, also had it share in weakening her health. She passed away in 1966.

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Shri Kailasam Iyer [a.k.a Kailasam Athaan]

While talking about Shri J.Subramaniam Iyer and family, Special mention needs to be made about the family of Shri Kailasam Iyer. The family lived 6 or 7 houses away from the current SNP house.


He was also referred to as Shri Kailsam Athan and was very close to our family. Integrity and uprightness were the hallmark of Shri Kailasam Iyer. The association between both our families dates back to a few generations earlier. It is reliably learnt that the forefathers of Kailasam Iyer migrated to the Sattanatahpuram village at the behest of our SNP ancestors to take care of the Sattanathapuram family. Kailasam Iyer was himself personally taking care of the properties of  Shri K.Gopalakrishna Iyer (Founder of Standard Motors family).

Shri Kailasam Iyer was treated as a member of the SNP family and almost had a say in the day to day affairs of the family. The eldest son of Kailasam Iyer is Shri K.Narayanaswamy Iyer. He was the class mate of Shri S.Natarajan and V.Sethu (Eldest sons of J.Subramani Iyer and J.Venkatramni Iyer respectively). Regular tuitions used to be conducted in the present day SNP house for this trio.

In one of my interactions with Shri Narayanaswamy uncle, he fondly recalled some nice incidents of the yester years and the close association between the two families. He remarked that lot of families are deeply indebted to J.Subramaniam Iyer for the help rendered by him including their family. He also eulogized the meritorious attitude and character of Shri J.Subramanim Iyer

Shri Kailasam Iyer youngest son Shri Muthu is class-mate of S.Chandrasekaran (s/o J.Subramaniam Iyer).

Shri Kailasam Iyer passed away in 1964. Shri Narayanaswami iyer recalled , that his father in his end days was remembering J.Subramaniam Iyer very frequently and even a made a reference that, with J.S Iyer gone, there is not much left for him in the village. Such has been the affection and mutual trust between Shri Kailasam Iyer and J.Subramaniam Iyer.

The bonhomie and trust between the families exists even today and thanks to the forefathers of both the families who have shown to the society that the world is an extended family. (I checked if both these famalies were related, but could not get any leads on the affirmative to suggest a relationship)

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Janaki Athai - It is said, she is very fair looking and orthodox. Till her death she managed on her own, following the strict principles of ‘Madi’[othodox]. Kittachi athan. (His name is Krishnamoorthy and is the son of Janaki Athai ). He was a tall man, with broad shoulders, and with a tuft. His wife name is Jayalakshmi.

Kittachi athan wife Jayalakshi is the daughter of Manni patti's own brothers daughter (i.e. he married his mother's own maternal uncle's daughter). Interestingly, manni patti's name is Bhagirathi and (Kittachi's athan wife Jayalakshmi horroscope (to be checked) name is also Bhagirathi. Going by the traditions, they should have carried the name of their ancestor of 2-3 generatiobns before them. My younger daughter Aparna is also named as Baghirathi in rememberence of Manni patti.

It seems, kittachi athan was a favourite of Manni patti and used to be in the SNP house very often. There was a marriage aliance proposal between Padma athai and kittachi athan. Kittachi athan refused, stating that, he and padma athai were almost like brother and sister, because of his closeness with the family.

Jankai athai’s daughter is Pattu athanga. She was married to Raja Iyer. They lived in chennai. They had 3 sons and 1 daughter.
- 1st Son Ambi. He was not married
- 2nd son Natarajan
- 3rd son Gopu and he worked in Standrad motors.
- 1st daughter Paru


Kittachi athan's brother was Shri Ramanathan- he was also called as Bombay athan .

Meenakshi Athai: The other sister of Subramani iyer was called as Meenakshi. She was married to a Mirasudar whose village is Annavasal (about 20Kms from Sirkazhi). It seems she died of Typhiod fever when on a pilgrimage to Rameshwaram and the last rites were performed there itself. The widower - Annavasal Mirasudhar re-married and had issues through the 2nd wife as well.

Meenakshi athai had 5 childern (3 daughters and 2 sons)

- Subbulakshi
- Neelaudhathatchi
- Gnanambal and sons
- Ambi attan and
- Seetharaman.

There had been no contact with this family for a long time. Recently a contact has been established with the family. This needs to be researched further