It is very strange that “The 3 initial” people have created History in Tamilnadu and in India. To just to recall few such names:
- MGR [Marudur Gopalan Ramachandran] a well-known philanthropist, a flamboyant Actor, a fair politician, & more than anything a good human being. Wait wait I am not writing this bloc on MGR.
- O.C or Va.Vu.See [Valliyappan Olaganathan Chidambaram Pillai], a stubborn freedom fighter, a leading lawyer of his times, a rich man, and the first Indian to run a Swedesi Shipping Company against the mighty Britishers, spent all his wealth to the poor people and mill workers, spent several years in grueling British jail and died in abject poverty.
- Po.See. [Mylai Ponnuswamy Sivagnanam] a great freedom fighter, a tamil scholar, a prolific writer, and he was the one who fought to retain Chennai as part of Tamilnadu, otherwise it should have gone to Andhra Pradesh.
- On this illustrious line of 3 initial people most of the current generation would not have heard about a great freedom fighter called Va.Ve.Su.Iyer or V.V.S.Iyer [Varaghaneri Venkatesa Subramania Iyer]
Born on 2 nd April 1886, Va.Ve.Su. Iyer studied in St.Joseph College, Trichy and he became District first in the undergraduate course and went on the study Law in Madras. In the meantime he married his Aunt’s daughter Bakkiyalakshmi, at a very young age, as per the prevailing traditions those days. He was 15 years of age at that time. He started his practice in Chennai Pleader Court.
Va.Ve.Su had learnt Greek, Sanskrit, Tamil, English, Latin, French and he became proficient in all these languages. After some time he returned to Trichy and was practicing Law there . With the aim to become a BARRISTER AT LAW, moved to Rangoon, capital of Burma which was a lucrative town in those times. From there he travelled to London and enrolled himself in “THE LINCOLN INN” .
He stayed in India House and got introduce to freedom fighters, like Veer Damodar Sarvarkar, Shyamji Krishna verma, TSS. Rajan, and Madam Cama, he was taught Combat Training , usage of rifle, guns, and pistol. The barrister dream has taken a back seat when he realized his passion towards freedom fighting. Though he got secret training, he did concentrate in his studies and passed out BAR – AT – Law.
Madanlal Dingra another student shot the British Col.Curson Willi dead for his cruel attitude towards IndianS. Dingra was personally trained by Va.Ve.Su. Iyer.
While taking Oath to get the Degree BAR-AT–LAW, it was insisted that Va.Ve.Su must swear in the name of the King. Va.Ve.Su refused do so and hence, though he passed out in distinction he could not get a degree and he was declared as proclaimed offender and the British police was searching for him.
He escaped from London, went to Paris in disguise as a Sardarji. It was like a espionage movie, moved from one city to another and travelled via, Turkey, to Rangoon and reached Pondichery on 9 th October 1910. Pondichery was a French Colony at that time.
He established a Gurukulam kind of School called ‘Dharmalayam, to train young IndianS to fight against British . He trained youngsters in, Silambam, Wrestling, and boxing, hand to hand Combat and weapons training. He invented code language to pass secrete message among the freedom fighters. He also trained his students in Gorilla warfare. Vachinathan who shot Collector Ash at the Maniachi Rail Junction was trained by Va.Ve.Su. It is also learnt that the pistol which was used by Vanchinathn to kill Collector Ash was supplied by Va.Ve.Su , a French made pistol.
Va.Ve.Su became Ahimsavadhi when he second time met Gandhi. He surrendered before Gandhi by handing over the pistol to him. After the World War 1 the British Government allowed him to travel to Tamilnadu. But he continued his writing in the ‘Desabakthan’ publication against British tyrant rule. Finally he along with V.O.C and Subramani Siva were imprisoned. He got a general amnesty and was released from Jail after serving ‘rigorous imprisonment’
Finally he moved and settled in Cheranmadevi and established a Gurukulam called Tamizh Gurukulam and also started an ashram called Bhartwaja Ashram. He emphasized his students learning Vocation Education and Physical training.
Ironically he died in a freak way. On June 3rd 1925 he took his students, his daughter Subadra and his son Krishnamurthy on a tour to nearby Ambasamudram Falls. Next day 4th June 1925.he jumped into the falls to save his drowning daughter Subdra and died there. His son Krishanamurthy a medical doctor lives in Trichy.
Va.Ve.Su. was considered as the pioneer of Tamil Short Story . His short story “ Kullathangarai Arasamaram” was considered to be the ‘First Short Story’ Genre in Tamil Literature.
He translated Thirukural in English with excellent interpretation.
He also wrote notes on Kambaramayanam.
He wrote lot of books on world leaders, like Nepoleon and Karibalti.
One of his valuable contribution was his commentary on Bharathiar Poems.
Tamil Nadu Government turned his house at Trichy as a Memorial and kept all his literal works there.
A boys hostel at Charanmadevi has been named after him.
– Article by PK Sowmyanarayanan
