Five years ago, Sellur K Raju, the former Tamil Nadu Minister for Cooperatives, came up with an ingenious idea to curb water loss due to evaporation at Tamil Nadu’s Vaigai dam.
The officials of the Public Works Department, under the guidance of the minister, undertook the task of covering a portion of the dam with thermocol sheets worth ₹10 lakhs to curb water loss due to evaporation.
Minister Sellur K. Raju said he got the idea from a source. It involved using thermocol sheets, worth ₹ 10 lakhs, to cover a portion of the dam to curb water loss due to evaporation.
So, five years ago, on April 21, 2017, Minister Sellur K. Raju and the officials of the Public Works Department tried to cover a portion of the dam using thermocol sheets.
The minister invited the press to the Vaigai dam, located 67 km away from Madurai, to view his breakthrough technique to save water.
As the minister set the experiment in motion by placing a few sheets over the waterbody, strong winds swept the sheets away.
Tamil Nadu Cooperative Minister Sellur K Raju places thermocol sheets at Vaigai dam
Undeterred, the minister directed the PWD officials to spread the thermocol sheets deep in the water using an Indian coracle (Tamil: பரிசல்). But, wind washed them ashore within a few minutes, leaving the minister and other officials red faced.
K. Veera Raghava Rao, the Collector of Madurai, said they would hereafter adopt different methods to save water. Rao also said that they used thermocol because it is non-polluting. But, Mr. Rathnam, a scientist, says thermocol is non-biodegradable and can harm fish when it breaks into smaller pieces.
The public and social media threw brickbats at the minister for his failed experiment that earned him the moniker “Thermocol” Raju.
Statue of Devasahayam Pillai at St. Francis Xavier Cathedral, Kottar, Nagercoil.
In the Vatican, during the impressive canonization ceremony held in St. Peter’s Basilica today, Sunday, May 15, 2022, His Holiness Pope Francis canonized Blessed Devasahayam Pillai, along with nine others. The choir made Tamil proud by singing “Tamil Thai Vaazhthu” (Praise to Mother Tamil).
Credit: News 18 Tamil Nadu
Devasahayam Pillai, embraced Christianity in the 18th century and is considered a martyr. He is the first Indian layman to be declared a saint.
Devasahayam Pillai (April 23, 1712 – January 14, 1752) was born as Neelakanta Pillai into an affluent Pillai-caste Hindu family at Nattalam in the present-day Kanyakumari District, then belonging to the Kingdom of Travancore.
Neelakanta Pillai’s father, Vasudevan Namboodiri, hails from Kayamkulam, in present-day Kerala state. He was a priest at the Adikesava Perumal Temple in Thiruvattar, in present-day Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu. His mother, Devaki Amma, hails from Thiruvattar in Kanyakumari District. In the Nair matrilineal traditions of the day, his maternal uncle raised him and inculcated him with Hindu beliefs and traditions.
The family of Vasudevan Namboodiri had much influence in the royal palace of Maharaja Marthanda Varma, King of Travancore. So, young Neelakanta Pillai went into the service of the royal palace. Ramayyan Dalawa, the Dewan of Travancore, noticed the capabilities and enthusiasm of the young man and appointed him as an official in charge of state affairs.
Captain Eustachius De Lannoy
In 1741, the Dutch East India Company sent naval commander Captain Eustachius De Lannoy to capture and establish a trading port at Colachel in Travancore. In the ensuing “Battle of Colachel”, the Dutch forces were defeated. De Lannoy, his assistant Donadi, and some Dutchmen surrendered.
The king of Travancore pardoned De Lannoy and the Dutchmen , on condition that they serve in the Travancore army.
In the course of time, earning the trust of the king, De Lannoy became the commander of the Travancore armed forces. He trained the Travancore forces on European lines. He introduced new weaponry and gun-powder. He won many battles for Travancore and annexed many neighbouring kingdoms and territories to Travancore.
Conversion to Christianity
When Neelakanta Pillai was 29 years old, he got acquainted with Captain Eustachius De Lannoy. The latter’s Christian faith interested the former. De Lannoy enlightened Neelakanta Pillai on the Christian faith.
In 1745, Neelakanta Pillai got baptized at the Roman Catholic sub parish church at Vadakkankulam village (in the present-day Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu), where the Jesuits had a mission under Rev. Fr. R Bouttari Italus SJ. He assumed the name Devasahayam, which is the Christian name ‘Lazarus’ in the local language. “Lazarus” or “Devasahayam” in Malayalam, translates to “God is my help.”.
Devasahaym’s wife, Bhargavi Ammaal hailed from Kunchu Veedu, Elanthavilai, Mayicode in Travancore State. She, too, got baptized alongside her husband. She assumed the baptismal name “Gnanapoo Ammaal” (“Flower of Knowledge,” equal to Theresa in Tamil and Malayalam). Later on, some other members of Devasahayam Pillai’s immediate family also received baptism.
Fearing reprisal in her native village in Travancore against her religious conversion, she became a migrant-resident of Vadakkankulam village.
Accusations and charges
Devasahayam Pillai insisted on the equality of all people, despite caste differences. This infuriated the higher classes. The Brahmin Chief Priest of the kingdom, a few feudal lords, some members of the royal household, and the Nair community brought false charges against Devasahayam Pillai. They alleged that he, by using his powerful official position and the state funds, was orchestrating conversions of Hindus to Christianity. He was also accused of treason for divulging state secrets to Europeans because they were his coreligionists. Also, documents dating back to the period encompassing Pillai’s lifetime show that the religious conversion of court officials to Christianity was not tolerated. The Dewan, Ramayyan Dalawa arrested Devasahyam Pillai and divested him of his portfolio in the Travancore administration.
The authorities treated Devasahayam Pillai like a criminal. As advocated by the royal ministers, ten different karyakkars (Royal officers) tortured him. They beat him every day with eighty stripes.; rubbed pepper on his wounds and nostrils; made him stand in the sun, and gave him only stagnant water to drink.
Devasahyam Pillai remained in prison for three years, during which time the king of Travancore came under tremendous pressure from the Europeans who sought his release. Finally, in 1792, royal orders declared his banishment from the Kingdom of Travancore.
The authorities made him sit backward on a water buffalo (the mythical vehicle or vahana of Yama, the lord of death in Hinduism) . They marched him from the Padmanabhapuram Palace to Aralvaimozhy over a period of a few days.
According to the royal order, he was to undergo a public humiliation. As was customary in those days for criminals, they painted his body with red and black spots. They made him sit backward on a water buffalo (the mythical vehicle or vahana of Yama, the lord of death in Hinduism).
They marched him from Padmanabhapuram Palace to Aralvaimozhy. On the way, they halted at Puliyoorkurichi about 15 km from Nagercoil. There, Devasahayam kneeled before a rock to pray. The Christians believe that God quenched his thirst by letting water gush through a small hole in the rock. The water hole is still found in the compound of St. Martyr Devasahayam Pillai Church, at Puliyoorkurichi.
On reaching Aralvaimozhy, the authorities released him into a mountainous forest area, on the other side of which was the kingdom of the Pandya kings, the traditional rivals of Travancore.
Death
After his release, Devasahayam started meditating. People from the nearby villages started visiting the holy man. This infuriated high caste Hindus, who plotted to kill him.
On January 14, 1752, soldiers from the Travancore kingdom tried to shoot Devasahayam but were unable to fire their guns. Devasahayam then took a gun from one of the soldiers. He blessed it, gave it back to him, and asked the soldiers to shoot him to death if they wished to do so. The soldiers then fired at him five times and threw his dead body near the foothills at Kattadimalai. Devasahayam Pillai thus received the crown of martyrdom.
Some people in the region recovered Devasahayam’s body and carried it to St. Francis Xavier’s Church (now the diocesan cathedral) at Kottar, Nagercoil, and interred his mortal remains near the altar. From that day on, many Christian pilgrims have visited his tomb and offered prayers.
The followers of Martyr Devasahyam Pillai, have preserved his clothes and other belongings at the Holy Family Church, built in 1779, in the small town of Vadakkankulam in Tirunelveli District of Tamil Nadu State, India. Kept in a glass case, these relics are exposed on August 15 every year, during the feast of the Assumption of Mary. His wife, Gnanapoo Ammaal is buried in the cemetery there.
Five years ago, Sellur K. Raju, the former Tamil Nadu Minister for Cooperatives, came up with an ingenious idea to curb water loss due to evaporation at Tamil Nadu’s Vaigai dam.
Under the minister’s direction, Public Works Department employees covered a section of the dam with ₹10 lakh worth of thermocol sheets to reduce evaporative water loss.
Minister Sellur K. Raju said he got the idea from a ‘source’. It involved using thermocol sheets, worth ₹ 10 lakhs, to cover a portion of the dam to curb water loss due to evaporation.
So, five years ago, on April 21, 2017, Minister Sellur K. Raju and the officials of the Public Works Department tried to cover a portion of the dam using thermocol sheets.
The minister invited the press to the Vaigai dam, located 67 km away from Madurai, to view his breakthrough technique to save water.
As the minister set the experiment in motion by placing a few sheets over the waterbody, strong winds swept the sheets away.
Tamil Nadu Cooperative Minister Sellur K Raju places thermocol sheets at Vaigai dam
Undeterred, the minister directed the PWD officials to spread the thermocol sheets deep in the water using an Indian coracle (Tamil: பரிசல்). But, wind washed them ashore within a few minutes, leaving the minister and other officials red faced.
K. Veera Raghava Rao, the Collector of Madurai, said they would hereafter adopt different methods to save water. Rao also said that they used thermocol because it is non-polluting. But Mr. Rathnam, a scientist, says thermocol is non-biodegradable and can harm fish when it breaks into smaller pieces.
The public and social media threw brickbats at the minister for his failed experiment that earned him the moniker “Thermocol” Raju.
Our mothers fed us at any time of the day, even when we cried.
We did not sleep in cribs; we slept with our mothers or siblings on hard beds or on mats spread over the floor.
When we fell ill, the doctor gave us aspirin tablets for fever. Our mothers powdered the tablets, added honey, and forced us to swallow the bitter-sweet mixture.
There were no childproof lids on medicine containers.
We never got checked for any allergies, but we got inoculated for smallpox.
There were no locks on doors in our houses except the front door, and there were no locks on cupboards.
In the 1940s, we never saw a household plastic utensil, but we had celluloid containers. The mass production of plastic utensils started only in the 1950s.
As little children, we rode in cars that had no booster seats, no seat belts, and no airbags.
We rode on rickshaws pulled by humans.
When we grew up and rode bicycles, we had no helmets to protect our heads.
We had fun drinking water from the garden hose.
We shared a single soft drink bottle with several friends without anyone dying.
We added brown sugar or jaggery when we drank tea or coffee.
We ate white bread with real butter and a naturally fruity jam.
We ate lots of chocolate; even so, no one said that we were overweight.
Though we played a lot outside in the sun, we never applied sunscreen lotions or creams.
During holidays, we played all day. We returned home only after the lights were on.
No one could reach us or bother us because there were no mobile phones. Even so, we were all right.
There were no rupee coins in Ceylon at that time. Now, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents are not in circulation in Sri Lanka, and the minting of these denominations has been discontinued.
In India
1 pice = 1/4 Anna = 1/64 rupee (in Tamil, we called this coin ஓட்டைக் காலணா / oattaikaalana, meaning 1/4 Anna with a hole). . .
1/2 Anna = 1/32 Rupee .
1 Anna = 1/16 rupee .
2 Annas = 1/8 rupee .
1/4 rupee .
1/2 Rupee .
One Rupee
Telephones were rare. They were mounted on the wall or placed on desks; they were not mobile. One stood static in one spot to talk since an electrical cord connected the phone to the receiver.
Since there were no calculating instruments, the word ‘computer’ was not coined at that time. We never heard of computers in the 1940s and 1950s. My first calculating instrument was a Faber-Castell slide rule bought in 1963 at Lake House Bookshop in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Now, young people ask my wife and me, “How do you still manage to stay together for 56 years?”
Our reply: “We were born at a time when if something broke, we would fix it, not throw it away.”
Dindigul C Sreenivasan, Minister for Forests in the present AIDMK government in Tamilnadu, India.
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Today, Thursday, February 6, 2020, Dindigul C Sreenivasan who serves as the Minister for Forests in the present AIDMK government in Tamilnadu was at Theppakadu in Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) located in the Nilgiris to inaugurate the annual rejuvenation camp for captive/tamed elephants. Along with the minister were Ms J Innocent Divya IAS, District Collector of the Nilgiris District, Mr A Ramu, alias ‘Shanthi‘ A Ramu, the MLA for Coonor, and officials from the district revenue and forest departments.
Dindigul Sreenivasan who bent down almost to the floor every time he saw Ms JJ when she was alive and after her demise bowed to Ms Sasikala, and hence nicknamed “a tire-licker” along with his fellow ministers, has accumulated so much fat that he can’t bend even to remove his own footwear now.
The inauguration of the annual rejuvenation camp for elephants was marred by an incident in which Dindigul C Sreenivasan exposed himself as a VVIP Racist.
Kethan, a Class IX schoolboy belonging to the Irula tribal community was present there to witness the inauguration of the rejuvenation camp with a friend. Both the boys were sons of mahouts at the camp.
Before entering a shrine, the 71-year-old minister, who found it difficult to bend due to accumulated fat, beckoned the tribal boy Keithan.
Keithan was afraid when the minister called him as he thought the minister would scold him for not having gone to school. With hesitation, Keithan and his friend approached. The minister asked Keithan to unbuckle his slippers.
When press photographers and others tried to take photographs, Dindigul C Sreenivasan asked them to stop, while A Ramu, the MLA for Coonoor, tried to block photographers from getting a clear picture.
The two boys were then asked by another member of the minister’s entourage to pick up the slippers and leave them at the entrance of the shrine.
Now, the above video of the incident has gone viral on social media. People are outraged by the minister’s “arrogance” and are demanding action against him and sacking him from his position for discriminating and mistreating the tribal boy.
Many want Dindigul Srinivasan to be booked under the SC/ST PoA Act. along with the equally liable government officials who were silent spectators during the incident.
School Children Seated on a Live Bomb (Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com)
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Any fuel, including those used in motor vehicles, can be dangerous if handled improperly. Fuels contain energy, which is released when ignited. Gasoline is a potentially dangerous fuel and the same is true of natural gas.
At a compressed natural gas fueling station the gas is compressed before being provided to vehicles at 3000 to 3600 pounds per square inch (psi).
In India, many parents prefer to send their children to school in vans, some of them powered by natural gas because monetary wise it’s cheaper than official school buses; these parents do not object to overcrowding in the vans because their children can be picked up and dropped closer to their homes.
Whenever these vans are checked for safety and action initiated against them for failure to comply with the norms, it is the parents who come forward in defence of the errant van owners.
In the epic Mahabharata, Droṇāchārya was the 3rd incarnation of Brahma, an avatar of Brihaspati and was the royal preceptor to the Kauravas and Pandavas. He was a master of advanced military arts, including the divine weapons or Astras.
Some consider Droṇāchārya as a casteist due to his pervert behavior towards Ekalavya, the son of a Nishadha chief, who came to him for instruction. Droṇāchārya refused to train Ekalavya along with the kshatriya princes because Ekalavya was not a kshatriya prince but hailed from a lower caste.
Holding Droṇāchārya in high esteem as his virtual guru, Ekalavya made a clay idol of Droṇāchārya, and began his study of archery by himself in front of the idol. Through his steadfast determination and practice Ekalavya became a warrior of exceptional prowess and proclaimed that he was a pupil of Droṇāchārya.
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Ekalavya’s Guru Dakshina (Author: Ramnadayandatta Shastri Pandey)
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But Droṇāchārya had a strong bias in favor of Arjuna, his favourite pupil and.had promised him that he would train him as the world’s greatest archer. So, to prevent Ekalavya from excelling Arjun, the perverted Droṇāchārya demanded that Ekalavya cut off the thumb of his right hand and offer it as Guru Dakshina (fee) for proclaiming that he, Droṇāchārya, was his teacher. Immediately, Ekalavya severed his thumb and offered it to Droṇāchārya, his evered guru though he was aware that by doing so, he would lose his prowess as an archer.
Ironically, the Indian Government now presents the Dronacharya Award for excellence in “Sports Coaching” in the name of Droṇāchārya, the biased casteist guru.
The most ancient sources of pearl, the queen of jewellery,are believed to be the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Mannar which lies between India and Sri Lanka. Pre-historic people of these regions were probably the first to find the first pearls known to mankind, obviously during their quest for food. However, pinpointing the exact region where the discovery and appreciation of pearls first began may be difficult.
In 315 BC, the Greek philosopher Theophrastus, pupil and successor of Aristotle in the Peripatetic school wrote that pearls came from the waters off the coast of India, and certain islands in the Red Sea and in the Sinus Persicus (Persian Gulf).
Megasthenes, the Greek geographer and writer, who accompanied Alexander’s general Seleucus Nicator in his Asiatic conquests, visited many regions of India, including Madurai, the capital of the Pandya kingdom. While in southern India, he also learnt about the neighbouring island of Sri Lanka which he called “Taprobane,” and its valuable resources, such as pearls and a variety of gemstones. Subsequently, in his famous work “Indica” he wrote that Taprobane was an important source of large pearls.
The Alexandrian-Roman geographer, Claudius Ptolemy ( c. AD 100 – c. 170) wrote about the pearl fishery in the Gulf of Mannar, both on the South Indian side and the Sri Lankan side.
The Periplus Maris Erythraei (Periplus of the Erythrian Sea), written by an unknown Alexandrian-Greek author, in the second half of the 1st-century A.D (approximately 60 A.D.), mentions the route to the east coast of India, is through the Gulf of Mannar, between India and Sri Lanka. It provides an extensive account of the pearl fishery in the Gulf of Mannar, particularly on the Indian side of the Gulf, and the pearl fishery of Epidprus (Mannar Island) on the Sri Lankan side of the Gulf.
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The Gulf of Mannar
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The Gulf of Mannar is a large shallow bay, a part of the Lakshadweep Sea. It lies between the southeastern tip of India and the west coast of Sri Lanka. The estuaries of the river Thamirabarani of south India and the Malvathu Oya (Malvathu River) of Sri Lanka drain into the Gulf of Mannar.
Geological evidence suggests that in ancient times India and Sri Lanka were connected by land. An 18-mile (30 km) long isthmus composed of limestone shoals, and coral reefs, popularly known as Adam’s Bridge or Rama’s Bridge or Ramsethu, lies between the Rameswaram Island, off the southeastern coast of Tamil Nadu, India, and the Mannar Island, off the northwestern coast of Sri Lanka. Adam’s Bridge separates the Gulf of Mannar in the southwest from the Palk Strait in the northeast. The sea in the area is very shallow, only three to 30 feet (1 to 10 metres) deep in places, and hinders navigation. Some of the sandbanks are dry. Some claim that up to the 15th century, Adam’s Bridge was completely above sea level and people travelled between India and Sri Lanka on foot. The bridge they say was breached, fissured and the channel deepened by storms when a cyclone devastated the region in 1480.
In ancient times, this coast was known worldwide for its natural pearls. Greeks, Romans and Arabs sought the beautiful pearls harvested in these waters. From the time of the known history of the Tamils, pearl trading became one of the principal sources of revenue for the Tamil kings.
The bed of the Pearl Fishery Coast in the Gulf of Mannar is a fertile breeding ground for pearl oysters. There were two distinct fisheries in the Gulf of Mannar – one on the South Indian coast, the other on the northwestern Sri Lankan coast.
On the Indian side of the Gulf of Mannar, the Pearl Fishery Coast of southern India extended along the Coromandel Coast from Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) to Kanyakumari (Cape Comorin). This fishery coast has been known in different periods of time in various languages as the Cholamandalam coast, Colkhic Gulf, Comorin coast, Coromandel coast, Fishery Coast, Kuru-Mandala coast, Ma’bar coast, Paralia, Pescaria, Fishery coast, Tirunelveli coast, Madura coast, etc. The coast took its name from the presence of natural pearls in the bed which is a fertile breeding ground for pearl oysters.
The pearl banks on the Sri Lankan side of the Gulf of Mannar stretch from the island of Mannar, off the northwestern tip of Sri Lanka, south to Chilaw.
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Map of the Pearl Fishery Coast (1889)
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The Pearl Fishery Coast in Southern India and Sri Lanka were predominantly populated by the Paravar caste. The Paravars were fishers, seamen and maritime traders. The majority of the Paravars specialised in the seasonal harvesting of pearl oysters and chank for thousands of years.
The Pandyan kings allowed the Paravars to manage and operate the pearl fisheries because of their ancient skills in that activity, which required specialist seamanship abilities, knowledge of the location of the oyster beds and the art of tending them. The Pandyan kings exempted the Paravars from taxation and allowed them to govern themselves in return for being paid tribute from the harvested oysters.
In ancient times, this Pearl Fishery Coast was known worldwide. Greeks, Romans and Arabs sought the beautiful pearls harvested in these waters by the many Parava fisheries that operated to exploit them. From the time of the known history of the Tamils, pearl trading became one of the principal sources of revenue for the Tamil kings. By the first century AD, pearls and shanks were among the important exports from southern India.
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Royal Flag of the Jaffna Kingdom.
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In the late 1270s, Maravarman Kulasekara Pandyan I sent an expedition to Sri Lanka under his minister Kulasekara Cinkaiariyan Aryachakravarti near the end of the Sri Lankan king Bhuvanaikabâhu I’s reign (1272-1285 AD). Aryachakravarti defeated Savakanmaindan of the Jaffna kingdom, a tributary to the Pandyans. He plundered the fortress of Subhagiri (Yapahuwa) and brought with him the Relic of the tooth of the Buddha. Bhuvanaika Bahu’s successor Parâkkamabâhu III went personally to King Kulasekaran’s court and persuaded him to return the tooth relic.
Most historians agree that on later expeditions it was this Arayachakravarti who stayed behind to create the Arayachakravrati dynasty in the Kingdom of Jaffna and raided the western Sri Lankan coast. From then on, the pearl banks came under the sole dominance of the Aryachakravarti line of kings of the Jaffna kingdom.
Political and military leaders of the same family name left a number of inscriptions in the modern-day Tamil Nadu state, with dates ranging from 1272 to 1305, during the late Pandyan Empire. According to contemporary native literature, the family also claimed lineage from the Tamil Brahmins of Rameswaram in the modern Ramanathapuram District of India.
In 1450, a Tamil military leader named Chempaha Perumal under the directive of the Sinhalese king Sapumal Kumaraya of the Kotte kingdom invaded the region which remained under the control of the Kotte kingdom up to 1467. After that, the region once again came under the Jaffna kingdom.
The Arayachakravrati dynasty ruled the Jaffna kingdom from the 13th until the 17th century, when the last ruler of the dynasty, Sankili II, also known as Sankili Kumaran confronted the Portuguese. Thereafter, the entire pearl fishery on both the Sri Lankan and the Indian side of the Gulf of Mannar came under the exclusive jurisdiction of the Portuguese.
The pearl fisheries of the Gulf of Mannar were controlled independently of one another, by the Pandya, the Chola or by the regional rulers on the Indian side, and by the Sinhalese or Tamil kings on the Sri Lankan side. Sometimes, the two fisheries came under the jurisdiction of the same authorities, such as the Pandyas, the Cholas, the Portuguese (in 1619), the Dutch (in 1658), and the British (1796), whoever controlled the regions on both sides of the Gulf of Mannar.
In this and the next chapter, I will attempt to present in a condensed form some of the myths that pertain to the origin of the Paravars.
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Myth #1: Paravars are offsprings of a Brahmin and a Sūdra woman
The word ‘Tantras’ refer to various scriptures of several esoteric traditions rooted in Hindu and Buddhist philosophy.
Henry Thomas Colebrooke (1765 -1837), an English orientalist and a former director of the Royal Asiatic Society, followed some of the Tantras while enumerating Indian classes, and he represented the Paravars as descendants of a Brahmin who consorted a Sūdra woman.
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Myth #2: Paravars are offspring of a Kurava male and a Chetty female
Mudaliyar Simon Casie Chitty (1807-1860) of Sri Lanka, a writer of great repute, cites the Jātībēdi Nūl (a work of some celebrity among the Tamils) which describes the Paravars as “the offspring of a Kurava (or basket-maker) begotten clandestinely through a female of the Chetty (or merchant) tribe.”
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Myth #3: Paravas descended from Varuna (the god of water)
Some Paravas have among themselves a different tradition about their origin. According to them, their progenitor was Varuna (god of water).
Soorapadman, the leader of the Asuras (evil spirits) after performing a tapas (an act of devotion through deep meditation) received a boon from Shiva that protected him from death except a being manifested from Shiva himself. Having gained immortality, Soorapadman vanquished the Devas (heavenly spirits) and made them his slaves. The Devas appealed to Vishnu, but he refused to help them. Next, they appealed to Shiva.
Shiva decided to take action against Soorapadman‘s increasing arrogance. He opened his third eye – the eye of knowledge – that started releasing flares. There were six flares in total. Shiva gave Agni, the god of fire, the responsibility to take the flares to Saravana Lake. Soon after, a beautiful child manifested on a lotus in the Lake with six faces.
Six sisters known as the Kṛttikā (constellation Pleiades) were given the responsibility of taking care of the child and thus the child came to be known as Kārtikeya.
According to an extension of the myth, the Paravars also manifested along with Kārtikeya and were nursed by the constellation Kṛttikā. Since the Paravars were born out of the water they naturally became the descendants of Varuna, the god of water.
Kārtikeya became the supreme general of the Devas. He led the army of the Devas to victory against the Asuras. On the fifth day of Kandha Sasthi, Soorapadman visited Kārtikeya and saw his Vishwaroopam.
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Soorapadman vathai padalam
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Soorapadman faced Kārtikeya in battle and was defeated even though he used illusions. As a last stand when all his illusions had failed him, Soorapadman transformed himself into a mango tree hoping to escape death. Kārtikeya with his vel (spear) split the tree in two. One half became the peacock, the vehicle of Kārtikeya and the other half became the cockerel, the emblem on Kārtikeya‘s flag.
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Myth #4: The fable in Valaivīcu kāviyam
In Valaivīcu kāviyam: Tiruviḷaiyāṭal kataippāṭal, an epic composed by the Tamil poet Ār̲umukapperumāḷ Cir̲avān̲, Parvati, the consort of Shiva, and her son Kartikēya, having offended the deity by revealing some ineffable mystery, were condemned to quit their celestial mansions, and pass through an infinite number of mortal reincarnations, before they could be re-admitted to the divine presence. However, when Parvati pleaded with Shiva, he reduced the punishment to one incarnation each.
About this time, Triambaka, King of the Paravas, and Varuna Valli his consort were performing tapas (acts of devotion) to obtain an issue. Parvati conceded to their prayer and incarnated as their daughter under the name of Tīrysēr Madentē.
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Kartikēya transformed himself into a fish and roamed the North Sea for some time. He then entered the South Sea, where, after growing to an immense size, attacked the vessels of the Paravas and became a threat to their traditional fishing and seafaring trades.
An enraged King Triambaka publicly declared that he would give his daughter in marriage to whoever would catch the fish.
Shiva, assuming the character of a Parava fisherman, caught the fish, and was once again reunited with his divine consort.
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Myth #5: Ancestors of the Paravars were fishermen of river Yamuna
Some Paravars believe that they migrated from the ancient city of Ayodhya, the birthplace of Lord Rama and that prior to the Mahābhārata war, they inhabited the territory bordering the river Yamuna.
One day, Girika, the wife of King Vasu, bathing and purifying herself after her menstrual course, told him her state. But that very day the Pitris (spirits of the departed) of Vasu came unto him and asked him to slay a deer for their Sraddha (a ritual performed for one’s ancestors, especially dead parents). The king, thinking that the command of the Pitris should not be disobeyed, went a-hunting.
The whole forest was maddened by the sweet notes of the kokila and echoed with the hum of maddened bees. The king became possessed with desire, and could not keep his mind away from the thought of his beautiful wife Girika. Beholding a swift hawk resting close to him, the king, acquainted with the subtle truths of Dharma and Artha, said, “Amiable one, carry thou this seed (semen) for my wife Girika and give it unto her. Her season hath arrived.”
The swift hawk took it from the king and rapidly soared through the air. While thus passing, the hawk was seen by another of his species. Thinking that the first hawk was carrying meat, the second one flew at him. The two fought in the sky with their talons and beaks. While they were fighting, the seed fell into the waters of the Yamuna wherein dwelt an Apsara named Adrika, transformed by a Brahmana’s curse into a fish.
As soon as Vasu’s seed fell into the water from the claws of the hawk, Adrika rapidly approached and swallowed it.
Ten months later, Parava fishermen caught that fish. From the stomach of that fish came out a male and a female child of a human form. The Apsara after having given birth to the twins, and killed by the fishermen was freed from her curse. She left her fish-form and assumed her own celestial shape.
The fishermen approached King Uparichara, their ruler, and said, “O king, these two beings of human shape have been found in the body of a fish!“
King Uparichara took the male child under his wings who later became the virtuous monarch Matsya. The King gave back the fishy-smelling daughter of the Apsara to the fishermen, saying, “Let this one be thy daughter.”
That girl, named Satyavati, gifted with great beauty with tapering thighs and had a graceful smile – an object of desire even with an anchorite was also known as Machchakindi).
As was customary with the Parava fisher-women Satyavati ferried passengers over the waters of the Yamuna river. One day, while engaged in this vocation, the great wandering Rishi Parasara saw the celestial beauty and desired to consort with her.
He said, “Accept my embraces, O blessed one!“
Satyavati replied, “O holy one, behold the rishis standing on either bank of the river. Seen by them, how can I grant thy wish?“
The ascetic thereupon created a fog which enveloped the region in darkness. The maiden, beholding the fog became suffused with the blushes of bashfulness and she said:
“O holy one, note that I am a maiden under the control of my father. O sinless one, by accepting your embraces my virginity will be sullied. O best of Brahmanas, my virginity being sullied, how shall I, O Rishi, be able to return home? Indeed, I shall not then be able to bear life. Reflecting upon all this, O illustrious one, do that which should be done.“
That best of Rishis, satisfied with all she said, replied:
“Thou shall remain a virgin even if thou grantest my wish. And, O timid one, O beauteous woman, ask for the boon that thou desirest. O thou of fair smiles, my grace hath never before proved fruitless.”
The maiden then asked the rishi for the boon that her body might emit a sweet scent instead of the fish-odour that it had. The illustrious Rishi thereupon granted her wish.
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Rishsi Parasara and Satyawati
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Having obtained her boon, she became highly pleased, and her season immediately came. She accepted the embraces of that Rishi of wonderful deeds.
She thenceforth became known among men by the name of Gandhavati (the sweet-scented one); and since men could feel her scent even from a distance of a yojana (16 km), she was also known as Yojanagandha (one who scatters her scent for a yojana all around).
After this, the illustrious Parasara went to his own asylum.
Satyavati gratified with having obtained the excellent boon in consequence of which she became sweet-scented and her virginity remained unsullied conceived through Parasara’s embraces. She brought forth the very day, on an island in the Yamuna, the child begot upon her by Parasara and gifted with great energy. The child, with the permission of his mother, set his mind on asceticism. He went away saying, “As soon as thou rememberest me when the occasion comes, I shall appear unto thee.”
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Vyasa (Author: Ramanarayanadatta astr)
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It was thus that Vyasa (the arranger or compiler), the author of the Mahabharata, as well as a character in it, was born of Satyavati the fisherwoman through Parasara the ascetic.
The people belonging to the Paravar caste in Tamil Nadu and Kerala in southern India, and on the west coast of Sri Lanka are coastal inhabitants, fishermen, seafarers, and maritime traders. The Paravars are also known as Parava, Parathavar, Bharathar, Bharathakula Pandyar, Bharathakula Kshathriyar and so on.
There is a variety as well as a discordance of opinions about the origin of the Paravars. The available materials on the origin of the Parava communities are so full of contradictions that it is almost an impossible task to reduce them to order and coherence.
There are many theories – most of them myths from Hindu Vedas and Puranas and a few slanting towards Jewish. Many of these myths were readily accepted and endorsed by the affluent Paravars, who wish to remove the stigma placed on the occupation of their caste which was considered “low and ritually polluting occupations,” namely, fishing, diving for pearls and chanks, and producing salt.
In his book “The Madura Country: A Manual, Compiled by the Order of The Madras Government” published in 1868, James Henry Nelson of the Madras Civil Service states:
THE FISHERMEN belong to several castes. They are usually called Sembadavans if they fish in tanks and streams, and Savalakaarans if they fish in the sea. Those again who live on the sea coast, karei, are also called Kareiyaans. Some of them are Mahometans and some of them are Paravans.
These last were the earliest converts made by the Portuguese: and resorted to the first Roman Catholic Church in Madura before the time of Robert de Nobilibus. They are constantly spoken of by the Jesuits. After they lost the protection of the Portuguese they sank into great poverty and wretchedness.
The Paravas of the District appears from the list to have numbered only five and thirty in 1850-51. This seems very strange. Formerly they were very numerous along the whole coast from Cape Comorin to the Paamban Pass, and I know of no reason why they should have died out. I can only account for the fact of their fewness (if indeed it is a fact, which I doubt) by supposing that most of them are now either Roman Catholics or Labbeis, i.e… Mahometan converts and appears as such in the census returns.
It appears from a letter of Father Martin dated 1st June 1700, that when the Portuguese first came to India, they found the Paravas groaning under the yoke of the Mahometans, and assisted them to shake it off on condition of their becoming Christians.
The Paravas flourished after this and built many substantial villages. But they became poor and wretched after the decline of the Portuguese power: and when this letter was written, were in a very miserable condition.
Though works in the Tamil Sangam literature such as Ettuthokai, Pathupattu, Ahananuru, Maduraikkanci and Pattinappaalai refer to the lives of the Paravars, there are different views regarding events up to the early 16th century among the investigators of the Paravar history.
Simon Casie Chitty mentions in The Ceylon Gazetteer that the ancient name “Taprobane” for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) might have been named after the Paravars:
Among the Greeks and Romans, it was known by the name of “Taprobane,” the etymology of which is disputed by many authors. Some deduce it from the Phoenician words “Tap-parvaim,” or “the shore of the Parvaim;” alleging that the latter (whom they identify with the modern Paravas) were at one time masters of the commerce of the Island; others, from “Tapo-rawan,” or “the Island of RAWANA,” the giant king who was conquered by RAMA; others from the Sanskrit term “Tepo-vana,” or “the wilderness of prayer;” while many, with more probability, suppose it to have originated from the Pali word “Tamaba-pannya,” which signifies a betel leaf, and to which the Island bears some resemblance in its figure.
Little is known about the Paravars from the 5th to the 13th century. There are no native literary works with a developed sense of chronology, or places, before the arrival of the Portuguese, and the ‘en masse’ conversion of the Hindu Paravars to Roman Catholicism. Therefore, any historical observations have to be deduced using Arab, European and Chinese accounts.
Every origin myth is a tale of creation and they describe how some new reality came into existence. In some academic circles, the term “myth” properly refers only to the origin and cosmogonic myths. Many folklorists reserve the label “myth” for stories about creation. Traditional stories that do not focus on origins fall into the categories of “legend” and “folktale.”
According to Mircea Eliade (1907-1986), a Romanian historian of religion, writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago, nearly every sacred story in many traditional cultures qualifies as an origin myth. By tradition, humans tend to model their behaviour after sacred events, seeing their life as an “eternal return” to the mythical age. Because of this conception, nearly all sacred stories describe events that established new paradigms for human behaviour, and thus nearly every sacred story is a story about creation.
Mircea Eliade says that an origin myth often functions to offer an aura of sacredness to the current order. Here are some observations:
When the missionary and ethnologist C. Strehlow asked the Australian Arunta why they performed certain ceremonies, the answer was always: “Because the ancestors so commanded it.“
The Kai of New Guinea refused to change their way of living and working, and they explained: “It was thus that the Nemu (the Mythical Ancestors) did, and we do likewise.“
Asked the reason for a particular detail in a ceremony, a Navaho chanter answered: “Because the Holy People did it that way in the first place.“
We find exactly the same justification in the prayer that accompanies a primitive Tibetan ritual: “As it has been handed down from the beginning of the earth’s creation, so must we sacrifice. … As our ancestors in ancient times did—so do we now.”
This reminds us of the doxology, a short hymn of praises to God in various Christian worship services often added to the end of canticles, psalms and hymns. For example, the Catholics while praying The Rosary recite:
“Glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As it was, in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, a world without end. Amen.
And so also are the glorified myths borrowed from the Hindu Vedas and Puranas and a few from the Jewish traditions that have been concocted, accepted, and endorsed by the affluent Paravars who wish to hide the stigma placed on their low and ritually polluting occupations namely, fishing, diving for pearls and chanks, and producing salt.
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