AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF
ADHYATMA RATNA KUMBAKONAM C N CURUSWAMI SARMA (1900-1968)
CHAPTER 23
THE IMPERIAL HOUSEHOLD OF PUDUKKOTTAH
The house was a big one and an imposing structure. With arches in front and large pials the broad steps from the big street led into a capacious rezhi (ரேழி) and thence in to a big hall with a swing. from thence we entered another passage to the north of which was w big well inside a room where one could bathe and it was always cool. from the south of this capacious Koodam (கூடம்) a flight of steps both to the east and west leading to to a spacious koodam there also . To the south of this Koodam and covering the flight of steps was a verandah with an arch in the south. In this verandah was an easy chair and a small table. This was the place where my father sat and discoursed with a number of visitors who dropped in all through the day. Except when he came down in the early mornings for a bath, and for the two measl to another spacious dining hall and a large kitchen, he was always seated in the cane chair dressed in speckless white dhoties and angavasthram and vibhuti very correctly worn in the forehead and on the body. Many whom I did not know came and prostrated before him and received prasadam. Some recited Gita before him or chanted upanishads in the morning and slokas in the evening . I also joined them if my fahter ordered me to do so.
My cousin's wife "Manni" as she was universally called was an "imperious' woman. Her voice was only command in the whole house (Ref 1). Her first son Nagaraja Iyer held some small post , honorary as bench magistrate. He was the son inlaw of Justice T V seshagiri Iyer but he was nothing in the household though flashing with diamond ear rings and finger rings. he used to be writing something in Tamil probably stories for journals but I do't remember having seen any of them in print. he was grandlooking but a stammerer. There was one Gopala Iyer who took commands from "manni" regarding all household matters. he was very kind to me and used to cheer me up by some word or other as I was fish out of water in that house hold. there was one Kanagasabai Pillai who was another major domo running about at the bidding of my manni. Sreenivasan (lately called Sarma) (Ref 2) and Venkittu were of my age , the former elder by some years. Manni's only daughter Yoga was married to one Ramachandra Iyer and he was the son in law of that imperial household. he was living separate a few doors from this house in the same row and he had by then a son called Cheenu and two daughters. I was told that he was retired from the state Police service but he was posing to be an ardent chela of my father who was universally or atleast in Pudukkottah called "Chithappa" by every one. Musical celebrities who came to the royal Court and to the Palace used to stay in that house and I remeber the visit of one "Poochi" (ramnad Srinivsasa Iyengar) along with his sishya Ariyakkudi Ramanujam. The former used to be nervous before his evening programme and used to walk nervously to and fro in the koodam singing to himself some tune or the other. he ued to attract my attention a good lot and I was going to closee to him whenever I could. There was a whiote bedecked lady who was in that house and she was called Gnanam. She used to take me up in her arms and sometimes feed me. I did not know about her and I thought she was a member of that household. Long after, I heard that she was a vaineeka and my deceased cousin (Ramachandra Iyer) who could also play on Veena was allowing her to be in the house two decades before his demise. Whatever it might be, she was an angel to me in that house. To the back of that house was a big tank called "Pallan Kulam" and I was taken for a bath in the muddy water along with the boys. i was presented two famous Pudukkottah "Chaya veshtis" along with my meagre wardrobe and in addition to the existing apparel. there ws a baby cart int hat house and a few days after my arrival, i was admitted in a primary school called Baliah school and used to be pushed over to school in that cart along with Sreenivas (lately called Sarma the third son of the deceased cousin) I vaguely remmebr some school mates of mine of whom one is now the famous "Rukmini Arundale".(Ref 3) I was having this schooling for about a month. My manni always used to call me "Kolundhu nar" (a pun of the word to be pronounced as Kozhundanar meaning brother of the husband-Ed) and not kolunthanar and I was vaguley feeling that she and her coterie were not taking kindly to me but were probably under the impressiion that I will be left in their hands, a poor relative. My father's another eder brother deceased panchu anna as he used to refer to him in his talks left one son Vembuchami Iyer who after having been employed under Abraham Pandithar (Ref 4) at Tanjore was employed int hat state itself. He was even then a very poor man with a number of daughters and one son. There were some other realatives who were pointed out to me among them one Ramachandra Iyer and one Meena Akka and others. Other elatives from my paternal side came and saw my father -the "universal chithappa" and after spending some time with him they left. Even fthe looks from the large rolling eyes of my "Manni" spelt derision and contempt though the lips were visibly shaped with a smile. . All told that the atmosphere was stultifying and not conducive to the growth of the young one -me. You felt a palpable difference in every way and the language used was no doubt pompous and full worded but it always meant a smile and thrust into you the feeling that you are not at all a welcome inhabitant and had no place in that august household. I had shed lonely tears in the back hall of the upstairs and none I had to whom I can turn for comfort and sympathy. Things were going on and I was almost an automaton fixed in the gyration of that family. One day while being pushed in the cart along with Sreenivas (Sarma), the cart was upset and I fell down near a gutter in the turning of the main road to school. Of course, Sarma also slid down but being an elder boy he managed to keep his balance. There was a lot of good cheer at my discomption all round. I broke into tears and was taken home with a soiled cloth and had my bath in the Pallan Kulam. My father was absent from that place on that day and so the whole incident was attributed to me and it was attributed to my haing been given a status while I was only fit for the gutter. Veiled jokes of this sort pained me terribly. I would have welcomed open abuses.
Just as if God desired to save me from this black spot. my father arrived a few days laterr and announced that his son-in-law at chingleput sas consented to take me in and have me educated there. My Manni was very disappointed after the announcement. She said that all her plans to have her "kolundhanar" educated that in the course of years he may occupy the position of her husband as a lawyer in his ancestral city and sit in his "gadi" were all shattered. She , probably rightly guessed that none else of her sons were going to do it. many talks and discussions were held the sense of which my child mind could not comprehend.
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Editor's notes:
1. I met this lady in 1963 when she was almost 100. I had spent a night in that house enroute Kumbakonam from Trichy. I saw her in a form which could rarely be compared with what is described here. She was frail, old with wrinkled face and looked sad sitting in a crouched position in a corner 3 by 3 in that house. When someone introduced me as "Guru's grandson", she had a twinkle in the eye as she cupped her hands above her eyes and tried to see me. I do not know what thoughts might have gone through in her mind.
2. Sreenivas as he is introduced here was known as R S Sarma and I met him several times. The last time I met him was in 1974 when on my way to Mumbai for training in IBM, I met him in Triplicane in chennai in a small house. Though R S Sarma was cousin to my grandfather and logically he should have been addressed as "Periappa", my father used to call him "Ammanji".
This strange name is due to the following reason. My grandmother's mother by name Nagalakshmi ammal came from Pudukkottah and R S Sarma was maternal uncle's son to her. (She must have been the daughter of Chinna Ramchandra Iyer's sister).
3. Padma Bhushan Smt Rukmini Devi Arundale, a Dancer and a Theosophist, was born in 1904 at Madurai. Her father was in Public works Department and hence had a transferable job. She could have studied for few years in Pudukkottah. Her father also being associated with theosophical society, my grandfather's father could have interacted with him in those years.
4.Abraham Pandithar was born in Sambavar Vadakarai in Tirunelveli District in 1859. he moved to Tanjore around 1890 to study medicinal plants. Due to his interest in Tamil literature, he did extensive research in Tamil music and established Sangeetha Vidyalaya Mahajana sangam in Tanjore and conducted music conferences regularly. He published several Tamil Keertanais and published papers in Music conferences , the notable being the All India Music Conference held in Baroda in 1916. He passed away in 1919.
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Just as if God desired to save me from this black spot. my father arrived a few days laterr and announced that his son-in-law at chingleput sas consented to take me in and have me educated there. My Manni was very disappointed after the announcement. She said that all her plans to have her "kolundhanar" educated that in the course of years he may occupy the position of her husband as a lawyer in his ancestral city and sit in his "gadi" were all shattered. She , probably rightly guessed that none else of her sons were going to do it. many talks and discussions were held the sense of which my child mind could not comprehend.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's notes:
1. I met this lady in 1963 when she was almost 100. I had spent a night in that house enroute Kumbakonam from Trichy. I saw her in a form which could rarely be compared with what is described here. She was frail, old with wrinkled face and looked sad sitting in a crouched position in a corner 3 by 3 in that house. When someone introduced me as "Guru's grandson", she had a twinkle in the eye as she cupped her hands above her eyes and tried to see me. I do not know what thoughts might have gone through in her mind.
2. Sreenivas as he is introduced here was known as R S Sarma and I met him several times. The last time I met him was in 1974 when on my way to Mumbai for training in IBM, I met him in Triplicane in chennai in a small house. Though R S Sarma was cousin to my grandfather and logically he should have been addressed as "Periappa", my father used to call him "Ammanji".
This strange name is due to the following reason. My grandmother's mother by name Nagalakshmi ammal came from Pudukkottah and R S Sarma was maternal uncle's son to her. (She must have been the daughter of Chinna Ramchandra Iyer's sister).
3. Padma Bhushan Smt Rukmini Devi Arundale, a Dancer and a Theosophist, was born in 1904 at Madurai. Her father was in Public works Department and hence had a transferable job. She could have studied for few years in Pudukkottah. Her father also being associated with theosophical society, my grandfather's father could have interacted with him in those years.
4.Abraham Pandithar was born in Sambavar Vadakarai in Tirunelveli District in 1859. he moved to Tanjore around 1890 to study medicinal plants. Due to his interest in Tamil literature, he did extensive research in Tamil music and established Sangeetha Vidyalaya Mahajana sangam in Tanjore and conducted music conferences regularly. He published several Tamil Keertanais and published papers in Music conferences , the notable being the All India Music Conference held in Baroda in 1916. He passed away in 1919.
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