REVIVAL OF HINDUISM WITHIN NADAR WOMEN - By-Kamarajarprofessionalsforum

 

REVIVAL OF HINDUISM WITHIN NADAR WOMEN  By-Kamarajarprofessionalsforum
 

In the 19th century many Christian missionaries travelled to India from Europe, aiming to convert the idol-worshipping Hindus to Christianity; the missionaries believed that the souls of the converted Indians would thus be saved. Most people of the Nadar community area were steeped in the Hindu religion (which is a way of life, as with the Jews). In accordance with the traditional way of life there at that time, the men went out to work, and the women looked after the home and raised the children. The missionaries (which would have included the converted Indian Christians with missionary zeal) reckoned that in this set-up it would be difficult to convert the men or whole families but that it might be possible to start the conversion process through the women. Therefore, they visited the women whilst their husbands were at work and, using very persuasive techniques (which would have included giving help to the needy, such as comforting sick people), succeeded in converting large numbers to Christianity.



However, the men were either oblivious to or turned a blind eye to the wholesale religious conversion taking place in their homes. A number of these women subsequently succeeded in persuading their husbands also to convert to the new religion, but large numbers went on pretending to be Hindus and practised Christianity without the knowledge of their husbands, eg, going to church before their husbands got up in the morning and reading the hidden bible only when the husbands were safely out of the house, because they were afraid of the consequences if the husbands found out about the secret conversion. This secret practising of Christianity was almost invariably passed on down the female line!



Mostly maternals femal line ie mother’s mother had been influenced or converted to Christianity in this way, and the secret practice was duly passed on to next daughter generation, so that she could change at heart a devout Christian. However, in the traditional Indian manner, a tamilnadu woman believed that a wife should follow the path chosen by her husband in every walk of life.

Generally Nadar males are tolerant and accept all the goodness of each religion and decide to pursue the religion based on their understanding on what the some holy books really mean to life phases, recommended their wives to read them and then decide if women to be a Hindu or Christian or at times even reformed athiesm. Nadar men say philosophically “one need not convet to any religion as all holdy texts intend for better life and after all Christ was also an incarnation of the God on earth like several other Gods in this native land”.
Revival of Local Nadar Beliefs in Sivakasi and Tuticorin
Smt. Shenbagammal, wife of Gnanagiri Nadar of Sivakasi was a gem who had a selfless nature. She was a great devotee of Lord Siva.She could recite by heart Devaram, Thiruvasaham and other saivite scriptures. She was a good orator and could give religious discourses for hours.

During the 1920 - 1940’s, there was a Nadar community people were taken by Christian missionary at Sivakasi to convert the from Hindu fold to Christians fold in a major way. . Smt. Shenbagammal, , started visiting every home, initially alone, told them the value of the Hindu God’s Names and made them stick to their religion. She was then in her late 20’s.
She started a women’s organization through which she worked to redeem the suffering of the poor people and infuse faith upon the people, asking them to remember God’s Name. If Smt. Shenbagammal had not taken initiatives, the entire nadar community of the Sivakasi people might have been converted into Christians.

Sri Gnanagiri Nadar the husband of Smt. Shenbagammal encouraged her to start a home for the destitutes and orphans. Smt. Shenbagammal after her husband passed away, was not able to live in the big house where she had lived for decades. She shifted to a home along with destitute and orphans, on the outskirts of Sivakasi where there was no comforts at all. All the time she meditated on God, the saints and their teachings. Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsha and his teachings attracted her in a great way.

Services of Gnanagiri Nadar

Sri Gnanagiri Nadar, Sivakasi had built a colony consisting of around 150 houses for his workers and staffs to live, deducting the cost of the houses from their salaries every month- a very meager amount. Now every house costs several lakhs and one can see today, in everybody’s house, Sri Gnanagiri Nadar’s photo being garlanded daily.

Sri Gnanagiri Nadar had created the Gnanagiri Trust and requested his two male children to construct a Public Library and a water tank for the purpose of drinking water for the cattle for which he allotted properties and resources. Sivakasi had always had a scarcity of drinking water


Subbiah Nadar Madam, Thiruvannamalai

Shenbagammal’s father Sri Subbaiah Nadar, in 1929 became critically sick. He was a great devotee of Annamalaiyar, the deity of Tiruvannamalai Temple. He remembered Annamalaiyar, thinking his final moments were nearing. There appeared a saivite sadhu who came inside the house without being invited to see Sri Subbaiah Nadar. He sat near him and touched him. He applied Vibuthi on his forehead
and asked him to take sannyas and live at Tiruvannamalai for the rest of his life. Then the sadhu went away and disappeared.
Miraculously Subbaiah Nadar got cured. Immediately he took sannyas and went to Tiruvannamalai in the year 1930 and lived at Tiruvannamalai till his end.

After Subbaiah Nadar passed away, his children built a Samadhi on the mortal remains of Sri Subbaiah Nadar in Tiruvannamalai and still are maintaining the samadhi. Moreover they had modified the small house where Subbaiah Nadar lived and every year during the Deepam Festival all the children would gather there and give annadhanam to the sadhus and sannyasis.





Sri ARPN Rajamanicka Nadar

Sri Rajamanickana a devotee of Swami Gnananandhagiri of Thapovanam had become an ardent devotee of Yogi Ramsuratkumar after the Swamigal’s samadhi. He was instrumental in bringing the Nadar caste devotees in large numbers to Yogi in the 1970s.He along with a few of his trusted friends of the Nadar community joined together and purchased the house for Yogi Ramsurathkumar.
Rajamanicak nadar used to celebrate Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s Jayanthi day (Birth Day) i.e., December 1st , every year at various places. At Sivakasi where a lot of Yogi Ramsuratkumar’s devotees lived, he made arrangements through his followers to celebrate Jayanthi Day.

So, in the year 1985, the devotees at Sivakasi met together and decided to have bhajans for one whole year to bring harmony and unity among the devotees, so that they could celebrate the Jayanthi Day, which would come on 1st December of every year, jointly with great understanding and cooperation. There was great enthusiasm among the devotees and they met together every second Sunday at Sri Rajadurai Nadar Memorial, which was situated in the complex of Ramji Match Factory at Sivakasi. Sri Rajadurai Nadar was a great devotee of Yogi Ramsuratkumar and after he passed away, his son Sri Chandra Prakash erected his father’s granite statue in the factory complex Rajamanickam nadar was the founder of the Mayamma Samajam and he built a beautiful structure facing the ocean at Kanyakumari in remembrance of his favorite Guru Mayamma. He also built a Mani Mandapam for Nayanar Swamigal at Pothayadi and was helpful in completing the Ramji Ashram at Kumarakoil near Nagarkoil. With the help of his devoted friends he was able to complete several works and in his final days he was the trustee of the Gnananandhagiri Swamigal Thapovanam.

Rajamanicka Nadar was a hard working businessman and a natural philanthropist. He passionately believed that saints alone could do all the miracles of life to make one reach the top most position of social,political, business and religious aspirations. He would observe each and every word of the saints and would try to find out the real meaning of those words, as he believed that those words were loaded with special and subtle messages for him.

Revival of Hinduism in Kanyakumari and Nagercoil

Sivananaintha Perumal Sadayan
Sadayan came in contact with Yogi Ramsuratkumar. He was the ardent devotee of Muthukutty Swami of Swamithoppu nearby Tamaraikulam in Kanyakumari District, the south end of India. Muthukutty Swami was living in the Southnear Kanyakumari some 300 years ago. He belonged to the Nadar community. In that period, the Nadar community people were persecuted by the upper caste Hindus. On seeing the atrocities of the upper caste Hindus, particularly the Brahmins, Muthukutty Swamigal resolved to eradicate the sufferings of the Nadar community.
He realized that only with the help of GOD, he could protect the Nadar community from the atrocities of the upper caste people and the King of Trivancore under whose territory the area came.
Most of the officials were the upper caste people and they misused their power to exploit the Nadar community people. They did not allow them to walk with chappals on the streets. The ladies should not wear the tops and they should always carry a bamboo basket on their heads. They should not enter into temples and should never raise their voices against the atrocities.
On seeing the plight of his own people, Muthukutty Swamigal, did severe penance and attained God Realization. He taught his people the divine mantra, “Hara Hara, Siva Siva, Siva Siva, Hara Hara”. He explained to the people that the Nadar community people were the direct children of Pathrakali, the consort of Lord Siva. He gave courage to the Nadar community people to live with freedom and discard the age-old habits and customs.
On hearing the teachings of Muthukkutty Swamigal, the Nadar community people started living in total freedom. On seeing this, the upper caste Hindus,complained to the king of Trivancore and asked the king to punish Muthukutty Swamigal. The King put Muthukutty Swamigal through several hardships but Muthukutty Swamigal came out of it successfully with the help of GOD. On seeing his divine power, the King realized his folly and allowed freedom to Muthukutty Swamigal and the Agobalapuram Nadar Sangam community people.

Muthukutty Swamigal took his community away from the place and settled them near Thiruchendur. After his mission was over, in the presence of everyone he jumped into the sea and did not come back.
He came into the dream of one devotee and narrated in village folk verses, the history of the Nadar community and how he would come again on different occasions to protect the Nadar community people.
The devotee recorded the verses and called it Akilathirattu. In Akilathirattu, Muthukutty Swamigal narrated the origin of the Nadar community and how they would prosper in the future and how he himself would come in different forms, at Tiruvannamalai, having a white beard, carrying a dry coconut shell and also a palm leaf fan to protect and guide his own people. His predictions, all came true regarding the business and other activities of the Nadar community.
Perumal Sadayan who belonged to the Nadar community and had come back from Thamaraikulam and settled at Tiruvannamalai was a prosperous metal vessel businessman in the main business lane just opposite to the Rajagopuram of Annamalaiar Temple. He was a spiritually inclined man and was very fond of sadhus and. From morning to evening he would roam with Yogi Ramsuratkumar and try to prevent many a nuisance from insensitive people towards Yogi Ramsuratkumar. They would sit beneath a peepul

Rajadurai Nadar Memorial, Sivakasi

Sri Rajadurai Nadar was one among Rajamanicka Nadar’s relatives who had been introduced to Yogi Ramsuratkumar. He was one of the prosperous, successful businessmen at Sivakasi, a small industrial town, manufacturing matchboxes and its raw materials. He had several factories.Rajadurai Nadar was a busy man having little time to spare for any other activities. He had several factories to look after. He was not aware of the religious scriptures and its rituals. He did not have a suitable atmosphere either in the house as his wife was a staunch Christian. Nor did he know the value of the Guru. But, when he first saw Yogi Ramsuratkumar, he could feel that he was being filled with the presence of Yogi by Yogi’s grace.Rajadurai Nadar remembered his Guru Yogi Ramsuratkumar all the time and in a few days, he passed away with the remembrance of his Guru. His only son Sri Chandra Prakash who was studying engineering had to manage his father’s business at that tender age. Yogi Ramsuratkumar spared time for him whenever Chandra Prakash was able to come to Yogi directly to seek Yogi’s guidance. Chandra Prakash wanted to build a memorial for his father and Yogi encouraged Chandra Prakash. Chandra Prakash spent a lot of money in building the memorial for his father

The memorial was situated at the Ramji Match Factory Complex, Srivilliputtur Road, Sivakasi. The Memorial had a granite doom supported by four carved granite pillars. The Sri Rajadurai Nadar Statue was erected at the memorial. If anyone enters into the complex of the Match Factory to visit the Memorial, they can feel a different spiritual vibration radiating from the Memorial.

Revival of Nadar Hinduism in Tuticorin

Unnamalai Thayammal was the wife of A.M.M Sinnamani Nadar a prominent industrialist who founded the Tamilnadu Mercantile Bank, The Tuticorin Spinning Mills and the Sinnamani Unnamalai School with orphanage for the community. She formed a forum called Sachitnanda Sabha to create awareness to the Nadar women who can be given confidence to remain Hindus. Her daughter- in –law Padmavathy Ganesan ,inspired by her Guru Swami Sidhbavanandha, started a preschool called Sri Saradha Siruvar Kalikoodam, named after annai Saradha devi, the consort of Sri Rama Krishna Paramahamsa.

Sakthi Sangam was also started by nadar businessmen to support womenfolk to follow their ancestral beliefs

Revival of Nadar Hinduism in Virudhunagar

Karikkal Ammayar madam, 63 nayanmar Madam, Yogasana Alayam and other similar groups dominated by Nadar women spread the spiritual discussion within Nadar families to gain understanding on Hindu religion and instead of swaped completely into Christian fold

 

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