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Book Review
TAMIL
From the pages of history
PREMA NANDAKUMAR
SEDHUPATHIGAL SARITHIRAM: S. M. Kamal; Kavya, 16, Second Cross Street, Trustpuram, Kodambakkam, Chennai-600024. Rs.400.
AN OMNIBUS volume put together with loving care by Kavya Shanmugasundaram, Sedhupathigal Sarithiram, brings us S.M. Kamal’s erudite books on different aspects of the Sedhupathi kingdom of Ramanathapuram, published earlier. Widely known for a fierce sense of independence, the Sedhupathi clan traces its origins to the Ramayana days. When Rama returned to Ayodhya, he had placed the local Maravas in charge of the bridge (sethu) he had built. Subsequently, the Sedhupathi rulers came to be well-known for being the guardians of Tamil culture as well. A fascinating story in every way.
Whether it is Gibbon, Macaulay, Nilakantha Sastri or S. M. Kamal, they have to deal with human beings hidden in the cloak of royalty and army command. Naturally we come across valour, betrayal, servility, pusillanimity, crudity and even gross irrationality in history. With a firm grip on facts and figures, Kamal studies epigraphs and copper plates with infinite patience to arrive at his findings. The definitive, documented beginning points to Sadaikkan Sedhupathi I (17th century A.D.); later, Tirumalai Raghunatha and his successors performed yeomen service to Hindu religion, while remaining totally secular, helping Islam and Christianity flourish.
The political tangle of Ramanathapuram-Madurai-Tiruchi areas led to the inevitable beginning of the end of the Sedhupathi suzerainty. On February 8, 1795, the British occupied the Ramnad fort. The king of Ramnad became a helpless prisoner in Tiruchi while the British behaved shamefully towards the women in the zenana. It is clear that despite the understandable weaknesses of the Sedhupathis, they certainly did not deserve the kind of termination to their suzerainty engineered by external forces. As Kamal says bitterly: “It was, of course, no use looking for justice and fairplay from the Englishmen drunk with power and pride. Besides, the Englishmen were not rulers. They were but traders who had come to the east to take away the artistic creations of these nations and the gifts of nature such as pepper, betelnuts and, sandalwood!” Dare we ever forget Muthuramalinga Vijaya Raghunatha Sedhupathi (1760-1809), foremost among those who raised the flag of Indian independence from foreign domination? Lest we forget, here is Sedhupathigal Sarithiram, every chapter a Greek drama, each page an inspiration and a lesson, and all of it a mass of reliable information.
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