Kadavasal Ramadurai Iyer and his son Kunjitapatha Iyer
Cadavasal Ramadurai - There is only one likeness of him. That is in a Tanjore painting of Nataraja, in which he is shown standing with palm folded. . (the photo of the Nataraja picture, was with Vattaram Siavaswamy Iyer) and is now with his grandson Rajiv in Chennai). Good interactions have taken place between Kanchi Chandrasekara saraswathi Periyaval of haloed memory and used to recount how he was well looked after during his travels in a palanquin. Ramadurai Iyer, used to keep a full "kudam" of milk and the palanquin bearers should not shake the palanquin and keep such a smooth movement that the milk should not spill, when the Sankaracharya was in the palanquin. There was a "bhoygi" ie. Palanquin bearer named Lakshmanan, whose legs were bowlegged and his shoulder was black with hardened skin by carrying the palanquin. He used to talk of his "yajaman". There was one Lakshmi Patti mother of one Seshu Sasthrigal in Cadavasal, and Lakshmi Patti, fondly kbown as Echi patti used to say in Tamil, " when Ramadurai Iyer walked by after visiting the temple or his lands, no woman in the village will stand in the front yard and men, if any, will stand up and tie their towels around their waist and keep their hands crossed over the bellies! In those days, the private road that lead to Cadavasal house was not there and the only entrance to the house was via Agraharam. Another servant, who himself had faint memnories was Mannadhan, whose father was a servant of Ramadurai Iyer. Ramadurai Iyer wife’s name was Janaki. She was a very fair person in her mien as also in her mind and intellect.
When he was in the palanquin on his way to Karunthittangudi, he saw a nice looking girl
peering out of the window in a house. He was smitten by her looks and immediately sent word through his Kariyasthan (secretary/manager) to find out who the girl was. When he was told that the girl's wedding was impending, he called for the girl's father and told him to call off the marriage as he wants to marry her. Legend has another version ie. that he saw a girl in the house that was being prepared for a wedding the next day or so with plantain trees and other festoons, then called the girl's father and said he will marry her, at the same time advising the bridegroom's party to keep away! A true Maharaja Story! There is no method of checking which version is true; it is all over 130 years old.
Few interesting anecdotes. Chinnadorai of Vadagal, whose ancestors were originally Palayakars of the Vijayanagar empire. His ancestors had one day Puja in the Sirkali festival of Thirumullaipaol and a similar day was for Ramadurai Iyer. The protocol was that the Oorvalam should commence only after the Kartha of that day was present and performed the puja. Unfortunately on one Occasion Ramadurai Iyer was late and the Kattalai Thampuran ordered the Oorvalam. Ramadurai Iyer's palanquin reached the Sannadhi St, just as the procession was starting. He asked his Bhoyis (palanquin bearers) to bring the Kattalai thampuran and was beaten up. This appears too extreme and may have been embellished over repeated narrations but it is possible that Ramadurai Iyer had the Kattlai thampuran beaten up and collected an apology. He was a terror in his lifetime.
Sattanathapuram Manni patti (Baghirathi) used to remark about Ramadurai as “Kandal viduvano cadavasal Ramadurai” (will he leave a girl after sighting her !!!)
Cadavasal Ramaiyer (Ramadurai Iyer) was named after his grandfather. Cadavasal Ramaiyer sister was named as Janaki in memory of her grandmother. In the Current generation Sattanathapuram Natarajan’s son Ramesh is named after the legendary Ramadurai.
Cadavasal Ramadurai Iyer’s son was Kunjitapatham Iyer (Senior Kunjithapatham Iyer)
Sitting on the left is Cadavasal Kunjitabatham Iyer [ Senior CRK ]
He was a leading lawyer in Nagapattnam. There is "Sanad" in Mayavaram CRK's (Senior CRK’s grandson) office room right under Kujithapatham Iyeer's photo, conferring the title of Rao Bahadur or Rao Sahib to the late senior CRK Iyer with the date Sep. 1917 or so signed by Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India. The Sanad and the medal that goes with it was collected by Cadavasal Ramaiyer (Senior CRK’s son) from the Governor of Madras, as by that time, senior CRK Iyer was dead. (died sometime during the first world war betwen 1914 and 1918). Probably it was in 1917 or so
Cadavasal Ramadurai - There is only one likeness of him. That is in a Tanjore painting of Nataraja, in which he is shown standing with palm folded. . (the photo of the Nataraja picture, was with Vattaram Siavaswamy Iyer) and is now with his grandson Rajiv in Chennai). Good interactions have taken place between Kanchi Chandrasekara saraswathi Periyaval of haloed memory and used to recount how he was well looked after during his travels in a palanquin. Ramadurai Iyer, used to keep a full "kudam" of milk and the palanquin bearers should not shake the palanquin and keep such a smooth movement that the milk should not spill, when the Sankaracharya was in the palanquin. There was a "bhoygi" ie. Palanquin bearer named Lakshmanan, whose legs were bowlegged and his shoulder was black with hardened skin by carrying the palanquin. He used to talk of his "yajaman". There was one Lakshmi Patti mother of one Seshu Sasthrigal in Cadavasal, and Lakshmi Patti, fondly kbown as Echi patti used to say in Tamil, " when Ramadurai Iyer walked by after visiting the temple or his lands, no woman in the village will stand in the front yard and men, if any, will stand up and tie their towels around their waist and keep their hands crossed over the bellies! In those days, the private road that lead to Cadavasal house was not there and the only entrance to the house was via Agraharam. Another servant, who himself had faint memnories was Mannadhan, whose father was a servant of Ramadurai Iyer. Ramadurai Iyer wife’s name was Janaki. She was a very fair person in her mien as also in her mind and intellect.
When he was in the palanquin on his way to Karunthittangudi, he saw a nice looking girl
peering out of the window in a house. He was smitten by her looks and immediately sent word through his Kariyasthan (secretary/manager) to find out who the girl was. When he was told that the girl's wedding was impending, he called for the girl's father and told him to call off the marriage as he wants to marry her. Legend has another version ie. that he saw a girl in the house that was being prepared for a wedding the next day or so with plantain trees and other festoons, then called the girl's father and said he will marry her, at the same time advising the bridegroom's party to keep away! A true Maharaja Story! There is no method of checking which version is true; it is all over 130 years old.
Few interesting anecdotes. Chinnadorai of Vadagal, whose ancestors were originally Palayakars of the Vijayanagar empire. His ancestors had one day Puja in the Sirkali festival of Thirumullaipaol and a similar day was for Ramadurai Iyer. The protocol was that the Oorvalam should commence only after the Kartha of that day was present and performed the puja. Unfortunately on one Occasion Ramadurai Iyer was late and the Kattalai Thampuran ordered the Oorvalam. Ramadurai Iyer's palanquin reached the Sannadhi St, just as the procession was starting. He asked his Bhoyis (palanquin bearers) to bring the Kattalai thampuran and was beaten up. This appears too extreme and may have been embellished over repeated narrations but it is possible that Ramadurai Iyer had the Kattlai thampuran beaten up and collected an apology. He was a terror in his lifetime.
Sattanathapuram Manni patti (Baghirathi) used to remark about Ramadurai as “Kandal viduvano cadavasal Ramadurai” (will he leave a girl after sighting her !!!)
Cadavasal Ramaiyer (Ramadurai Iyer) was named after his grandfather. Cadavasal Ramaiyer sister was named as Janaki in memory of her grandmother. In the Current generation Sattanathapuram Natarajan’s son Ramesh is named after the legendary Ramadurai.
Cadavasal Ramadurai Iyer’s son was Kunjitapatham Iyer (Senior Kunjithapatham Iyer)
Sitting on the left is Cadavasal Kunjitabatham Iyer [ Senior CRK ]
He was a leading lawyer in Nagapattnam. There is "Sanad" in Mayavaram CRK's (Senior CRK’s grandson) office room right under Kujithapatham Iyeer's photo, conferring the title of Rao Bahadur or Rao Sahib to the late senior CRK Iyer with the date Sep. 1917 or so signed by Lord Chelmsford, Viceroy of India. The Sanad and the medal that goes with it was collected by Cadavasal Ramaiyer (Senior CRK’s son) from the Governor of Madras, as by that time, senior CRK Iyer was dead. (died sometime during the first world war betwen 1914 and 1918). Probably it was in 1917 or so
10 comments:
Sattanathapuram Natarajan’s son Ramesh is named after the legendary Ramadurai.
It is great to know and am proud I was named in the memory of the legend. Thanks Shyam for your investigative journalism and interaction with my mother to know why Ramesh alias Ramadurai?, as I can now explain to people when they ask the meaning of Ramadurai.
Hi All,
Iam Uttmakumar, am also from Kadavasal .My father name is K.Ragavan. Am in UK Now. You can reach me @ r.uttam@gmail.com
It is a great work Mr. Sundar.
I am Subramanian and my origin is Arupathi - My wife Mahalakshmi a Science Teacher and my children - Amruta is in UK on a project and son Amitesh an Information Security Analyst is in Bangalore. Best wishes to you. Wish to be in touch with you.
Hi, My name is Ashok , my father N
. Rajagopal and his father K.S. Nagaraja Iyer ( K stands for kadavasal) hails from there - though my grandfather left the village in his teens for chennai - my father when i was a kid always used to say the sastha temple in kadavasal is our 'kuladeivam' and he tracked down the gurukkal of the temple for paying a small donation (yat kinchat he used to say) - but after so many years and me even moving out of chennai for quite sometime, i strongly wish some day to go to kadavasal sastha koil and pay me obeisance as a tribute to my father & grand father .
Mr. Ashok, I know of one Nagarajan, son of the Cadavasal Pattamaniar. The initial S does not appear to tally as the Pattamaniar was known as Vaithu. I am unable to place your grandfather. Can you please give me some co-ordinates and we can find the roots? My e-mail is nvpattani@yahoo.com. There was another family, the lone occupant of the home was an elderly lady whose son had moved to Madras. I can not recall her name. Happenstance I found two other Cadavasal personalities in the web site Cadavasal one is S Kumar amd te other Ravishanker Venkatramaan. I am unable to get in touch with either and I will continue to search. I am a descendant of Ramadurai Iyer, being his great grandson. I live in SanDiego, California. it is always nice to connect with people from a family ut it is a greater joy to connect wit people from the same soil.
c r natarajan
S in the name of K S Nagaraja Iyer corresponds to Subramania Iyer. I do not know much about him as he passed away when my grandfather was a kid and great grand mother was a young widow by the name of Anantha lakshmi and neither was she alive when i was born. My grandfather had an elder half brother with whose family & children we used to be in touch with when my father and grand father were around, but not now.
I am not sure who the S Kumar you are talking about , My father has a younger brother by the name of Saravana Kumar, could be him - but i don't know of any ravishanker.
And nice to know you are from san diego, My Maternal Grand father Mr. T.S. Balaraman (Thirumangalakudi Sitaraman Balaraman) used to stay in encinitas ( very close to san diego - He used to stay with my uncles)- and he used to be known for his Tulsi Ramayana parayanams & for being a linguist & teaching Hindi & English grammar. But he passed away a few years back.
Hi All
Good to read all the comments. Incidentally my Grandfather K.S.Aswathanarayanan was born in Kadavasal and had his initial years there -maybe during the early 1900s. He moved over to Madras during his teens. My father and myself were born and brought up in Madras. I am too in the process of connecting to the people of this village, maybe we all would be related in someway or the other.... I stay in Chennai and my mail id is ssuresh1964@yahoo.co.in. My mobile number is 92822 22250.
Dear Ashok.... happy to see your comments on this blog. Am the grandson of your father's elder half-brother. Your father Gopu and my father Mani are cousins. Hope Hari, your elder brother, is fine. Pl let me know further about you and your brother. And also any other details of others you may know from Cadavasal. I have given my mobile number and mail ID in my earlier comment. I keep visiting Cadavasal as often as I can....
Comments from Shri C.R.N via email.
Since I find Shri Suresh's e-mail I am endorsing a copy to him and you may incorporate this in your blog too. This may help some one to recall the names and images.
" Was Aswathanarayanan also known as Acchi. His elder brother was Kalyanamm younger brother Chandran and a sister Malli. His grand father was Venkata Thattha, as he was known in the village.His house was directly opposite to ours across the road that ran East-West. There was an open plot of land to the West of his house that belonged to Kunnam Raghupathi Iyer. The house to the East of Venkata thattha's was Nana iyer (Narayanaswamy Iyer) who looked after Raghupthy Iyer's properties. Last visit I made to Cadavasal was in 2009 or so and I found Thatha's home standing proud. I have a visual in my mind as he trudged his way around with his walking stick, dressed in the typical panchakaccham. His wife was the embodiment of the old sumangalis, a rare breed. Achi's maternal uncles were Gopalan and two others whose names I do not recall though their images are live. Gopalan suffered from loss of hearing. I think Acchi and Kalyanam were both in the Indian Postal Service. I remember hearing from Kalyanam on my mother's death. I also recall meeting Aswathanarayanan once after many years. I do not believe memory is playing any tricks. One way or the other I would like to hear from Sri Suresh. I often think of my the life that was and in a reversal of Rip Van Winkle go to sleep and wake up with time regressed. That will never be! If Alex Haley can find his roots 7 generations later, afer his ancestor Kinte Kunte was brought as a slave to America, only to find when he went to the village, that the oral history of those days is still preserved and live, I hope you find someone other han me to corroborate. My love for the soil of the village and the long dead humans has not waned but is nourshed by vivid memories and uncontroled nostalgia. good luck in your quest Sri Suresh.
c r natarajan
Nice to see a quick reply. My grandfather Aswathanarayanan had no elder brother. He had only one younger half-brother as indicated by Ashok in this blog earlier and his name was Nagarajan. Incidentally my grandfather passed away in 1966 in Chennai at the age of 63. And Nagarajan is also no more. My great grandfather's (father of Aswathanarayanan) name was Subramania Iyer. He was a stamp vendor in those days and was working out of Madurai. Subramania Iyer had two brothers-names not known. Incidentally our Gothram is Naithruba Kashyapa Gothram. This would also be a factor in determining the roots. Looking forward to hear further from this blog....
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