TRAGEDY OF RAJANNA AKA SRINIVASA RANGACHAR

TRAGEDY OF RAJANNA

One day early in the afternoon Rajanna died at his second daughter’s redisence situated on the Parakal Mutt Road of Mysore. His son Dorai had come there by chance for the Mysore Gymkhana Races in which his horse had taken part.. Immediately Dorai arranged for the transport of the body of Rajanna to their native place Sathegal which is nearer to Sivasamudram in the then Madras Presidency. Dorai also made arrangements for transporting about 20 to 25 orthodox Srivaishnava Brahmins. Dorai sent words that they will be paid handsomely for their service at Sathegal,,As Dorai was quite well to do and as he promised good payment for the services rendered Brahmins came in; droves.
He also arranged for purohit that is purohit for the perfoming of the ceremony connected with death and cooks to take care of these Brahmins along with big vessels. Meanwhile
Rajanna’s second daughter who was at Mysore traveled along with this group. The first daughter and wife of Rajanna who were at Bangalore also reached Sathegal.
This entourage reached Sathyagala by night. The orthodox Brahmins were accomadated in the other vacant house of Dorai. These Brahmins went to the Cauvery river nearby and took bath and performed their evening rituals. The cooks in the meanwhile prepared some snacks . After this the Brahmins went to sleep. The next day morning Dorai got one bullock cart load of Sandal wood .from the forest. Dorai was a sort of Don in that region and neither the forest department . nor revenue department. and not even the police dare take action against him. If any bullock cart ccarries something and the bullock cart driver says that it is Dorai's the bullock cart will have a free time.
All the Brahmins took bath in the cauvery river and after abolution took part in the rituals connected with the dead.. The Purohit or the priest started the ceremony and in one of the dry almost useless dry land which was still in the name of Rajanna a pyre of sandal wood was built and after due ceremony the pyre was lit by Dorai. The very next day ashes were collected from the cremation; ground and disposed off in the Cauvery river. These Brahmins got good honourariums. They once again went to river cauvery and had their bath and changed the sacred thread and after morning abolutions and rituals they returned to their lodge. They had sumptuous lunch . In the evening the Brahmins made themselves into two groups. One group recited the Tamil poems praising Lord Narayana (Nalayira Divya Prabhandam) and other group reciting the sacred asnskrit text (Veda).
For the morning rituals the Brahmins were paid re 1/- and for the recitation Rs 10/- every day. This was a princely sum during those days. These Brahmins were looked after well and had their snacks lunch and dinner .
After all the ceremony for 11 days were over there is one ceremony where different things are offered as gift. The sandal(foot wear) is offered so that Rajanns will not have to walk barefoot in the other world, stag mark umberella so that Rajanna will walk in the shade, silver small vessel weighing about one kilo filled with water so that Rajanna does not suffer from thirst, bed so that he can get a bed in the other world to take rest, a black lactating cow with calf so that he can drink milk and other offerings of cash for all the omissions and commissions during Rajanna’s life in this world.. Dorai did not leave any stone unturned and obeyed all the instructions of the Priest.
On the day of Vaikunta Samaradhane a twenty course lunch was arranged wihich included four sweets and 4 savouries . All those who participated especially Brahmins from Mysore got one pair of dhotis and good honourarium. Dorai also provided return transport to those who had come from Mysore . He also paid hand somely to the cooks and others.

For many days to come all praise was there for Dorai from orthodox Srivaishnava Brahmins as to how he conducted the rituals and the amount spent by him without any reservation.

“One should have done lot of merit (Sin) to get a son like Dorai.
Dorai is really a Punyavan (Paapi). See how much he spent to see his father goes to heaven or say Vaikuntam directly .”
Please replace the words in the bracket instead of what is written before it. This is real Dorai!!!

THE REAL STORY OF RAJANNA.

Rajanna was village accountant of Sathegal village which ws under the jurisdiction of Madras Presidence. This area was also referred ad “Kumpani Seemai” locally. Rajanna’s forefathers had migrated to one Banathahalli village from somewhere in Tamilnadu .. Not much is known about it. Rajanna’s sisters husband was the village accountant of Sathegal. He did not have any issues . He transferred the rights of the village accountant to Rajanna and also gifted his lands to Rajanna. Rajanna had passed S S L C during those days. Rajanna knew tamil,kannada and English. The language tamil was the administrative language of Sathegal area.. He was well versed in drafting sale and other deeds and was quite knowledgeable in revenue,forest and criminal laws.
So most of the villagers used to frequent his house and used to pay some amount as honourarium. He never procastinated in his work. He always used to get RED Entries in his service book every year which was a highest reward the village accountant gets. He also acquired some property on his own and became quite rich..He had a good horse carriage in which he used to visit the taluk head quarters Kollegal whenver required. Tweice he fell ill and one of his close friend and relative suggested that he should divide the property or gift the property to his 2 daughters and his lone son and also to his wife so that there will be no problem when he is no longer there. So he took the decision to to gift the property to his two daughters and wife and his lone son. He retained a dry land of about 1 acre which was barren and had lots of stone intrusions.
Now the trouble started to Rajanna!!!
After some time Rajanna fell ill and this time a bit seriously. He was taken to Mysore where his second daughter who was a child widow had purchased the house of Prof M H Krishna situated in the Parakal mutt road. Mysore. In the beginning everything was alright. As the illness worsened they got a boy aged 12 years belonging to an agricultural family from the village and he was asked to take care of the nursing duties of Rajanna. . He was shifted to a small room . A small wooden cot with an old bedding over which a rubber sheet was spread and over which a bed spread was spread was given. An old blanket with an old bed spread was attached to the blanket and this served the purpose of a covering sheet. Originally a doctor used to visit Rajanna and this was stopped . A pharmacist working in a Govt hospital was asked to visit once in a week and he used to prescribe some tablets or other. Mada the young boy from the village was to take the bedpan and change the soiled bedspread.. The family members never visited him as the disease progressed. If any visitors or relatives came to visit Rajanna they were asked to peep into the room and talk to Rajanna. Even at the door of the room it used to deliver ubnoxious smell and Rajanna used to tell them as to how his own children and wife are not caring for him. Some times Mada used to give a floor cleaning to the room using phenoyel . we should also remember that during those periods Pencillin was not known. Rajanna started having bedsore and it became septic. Because of pain he used to shout and tell Mada to get him a lwayer so that he can bequeath all the lands which were given to his wife and children to Mada who was taking care of him.
For all this none bothered and never ever even peeped into the room.
Gradually Rajanna lost his will to fight the disease and died. Rajanna was not taken care of well when he was alive, but as I described in my earlier narration his son performed ideal ritual after Rajanna died which was of no use to Rajanna.

This is the true story. Rajanna was the husband of our mother’s paternal aunt. He was also related to Mr Sampath Kumarachar father in law of Mohan.

MONEY SECRETS ON THE WALL

MONEY SECRETS ON THE WALL
1)I am handling money and life perfectly.
2)This too will pass away.
3)I have all the time in the world.
4)I am leading a first class life.
5)Money is easily flowing into my life.
6)What money action did I take today?
7) I take 100% responsibility for my life and money
8)To day I choose to be vey enrgetic and happy.
9)My money consciousness is incresing every moment.
10) I LOVE MONEY
11) I love myself and my work
12)Every event is whole, complete and perfect.

PRODIGAL SONS' FATE

THE PRODICAL SONS’ FATE .

This happened long time back and is a true story and not an imaginary one
.
“Once upon a time long ago there was a lowest ranking forest officer by name Venkatasubbaih at Talakad. The top posts were usually held by Kodavas and the top most was dominated by Britishers.
Mr Venakatasubbaih was married to one Sm Lakshamma AKA Ammayyakka. He had two sons one aged about 9 years and another aged about 7 years . Their name was Nagaraju and narayana They were studying in classes 4th and 2nd respectively.
Mr venkatasubbaih was the firm believer in the adage “Spare the rod and spoil the child”
Even for minor faults he used to thrash these boys mercilessly not withstanding the interceding by their mother who also used to be thrashed. whenever she intercedes.
The family was living in the free Government accomadation the forest provided to staff at a place bordering the Forest and the town. The school was situated a bit away from the town and also situated bordering the forest. Many lorries used to ply carrying the forest produce on these roads and the school children used to hitch a ride at the rare of the lorries and get down in town when the Driver and the cleaner of the lorries usually used to stop for tiffin or tea or coffee.
The schools were for half say on Saturdays starting by 8-00 AM and ending by 11-00 am or 11-30. On one particular saturday these brothers saw the lorry which was going very slow in front of their school and got up at the back without the knowledge of the driver or the cleaner. Unfortunately for the boys the lorry did not stop at the town and went upto Maddur. At maddur the cleaner saw these two boys at the back of the lorry with their bag of books and told the driver. The time was around 1-00PM. The driver wanted the boys to get down at Maddur. Nagaraju told the driver as they cannot go back now to Talakad without any money with them he wanted to know as to where the lorry ws headed. The driver told them that he is headed to Bangalore. Nagaraju told him to take them to Bangalore and as his aunty is there he will go to their house and then return to Talakad later on. The driver got them lunch at his cost and they were seated inside the cabin. At Bangalore he left them near the railway station. Though the boys aunty’s house was in Malleshwarm Nagaraju could not remember the exact route to their aunty’s house.. Also
They knew the type of reception they would get if they returned to Talakad.. So the brothers decided to take any train that leaves Bangalore and try their luck elsewhere. Nagaraju had some changes in his pocket and they purchased some eatables at the railway station had them and drank water from the station platform tap. They got into a train without knowing as to which direction it was headed. Sleep over came and they slept in the train. Early in the morning a ticket examiner appeared and seeing these two boys asked them in Kannada as to where they are traveling? Nagaraju told him that they are from Talkad and they had come to their aunty’s house at Bangalore and they by mistake had taken wrong train.instead of train to Mysore . He also told him that they lost money at Bangalore,.The ticket examiner took pity on them and gave them some changes and told them to head back in the opposite direction. The brothers got down and instead of taking the train heading for the opposite direction they got into another train heading in the same direction as the first one. This they did because they were afraid to return to Talkad and face the music. After traveling for about 6 hours another ticket examiner came and in a language not known to these boys asked them several questions. As these boys could not answer them properly due to language difficulty he made them get down at the next station. They were forelorn and did not know what to do. Even the younger one who was supposed to be bold started weeping. A good man who had come to the railway station to send off a relative saw the plight of the boys and took pity on them. As these boys could not understand the language used by the gentleman by sign language he asked the boys to follow him. He had a small hotel near the railway station and gave them snacks and tea. He showed a dingy store room where all the provisions and vegetables for use in the hotel were stored . In a corner on the pile of gunny sacks they were asked to take rest. In the evening also he gave them snacks and tea. The boys were really tired and they were thankful to him . The next day morning he woke the boys by 5-00 am and by sign language asked them to clean up the floor of the hotel and tables and clean the vessels. They had no other choice but obey his orders. He also got them some clean clothes . the other workers had their own place to live. Only these two were housed in the store room. As time rolled by these boys learnt the local language and told the hotelier that they lost their parents at an young age and were looked after by a distant relative. When they grew up this relative threw them out and they did not have anyone to take care of them so they ran away. The boys became experts in preparing snacks and tea liked by the Maharastrians of the area .. In fact it was The Maratta area where they had finally landed ..
After several years the small time hotelier grew up so was the wages and privileges of these boys who had grown up and became men. They also started enjoying smoking of beedi. When the hotelier asked them to marry local girls and set up the family of their own they told him that they would like to marry from their own place and they would marry the girl chosen by their parents. At this time they revealed the true story,..The hotelier insisted that they should go and meet their parents and patch up. . These boys did not know as how to trace their parents after nearly 30 years. Also they had forgotten the local language of Mysore that is kannada. So the hotelier with the help of the village school master put the problem before him, The teacher suggested that as the father of the boys were in forest department and as it is a transferable job they can get the information about their father from the forest department officials.
So these boys began preparation for their return to old Mysore area . The hotelier had started depositing small amount in the name of the boys in the post office saving account from the very beginning. This had grown substantially. They withdrew this money and at the suggestion of the hotelier they purchased a good costly saree and blouse piece for their mother and a good pair of Dhothis to their father . They left for Bangalore by the night train. These boys knew only Marathi language and broken hindi language and no other language. After their arrival at Bangalore they had their morning abolutions at the Raiway station and managed to locate the Forest Office. With great difficulty they told the officer in charge about their desire to meet their father who about thirty years back worked at Talkad in the forest department. The officer took pity on them and traced some files and told them that their father has retired long back and as he is a pensioner of the Government they may be able to find out from the then Accountant and Auditor General’s office of the then Government of Mysore. They also gave them a letter which contained certain details of the service of Venkatasubbaih.
This letter they took it to the Accountant General’s office and with their command of broken hindi pleaded with the concerned. At that office they got the information that Venkatasubbaih had not drawn pension for the last 5 years and may be probably not alive. Regarding the last address of residence they asked these boys to go to the Treasury at Mysore where Venkatasubbaih had drawn his last pension. These boys proceeded to Mysore and by the time they were given information it was late in the evening. In the treasury also they were told that their father is no more. They decided to spend the night on the Railway platform for the night and search the address in the morning.. Early in the morning with the help of the address given at the Treasury they proceeded to the suburb where this address was situated “.

The entire portion contained within the inverted commas is a flash back as told told to ammayyakka by Nagaraju.

Ammayyakka as usual got up by around 6-30 am as it was winter an with a small bucket with water and coconut broom stick and white powder for drawing designs in front of the house opened the door . It was a small house with space alround. The daily routine was to sweep in front of the compound gate slightly spray water and draw rangoli over the we t surface. On that day when these brothers came she saw them as two men with Dhothi cross worn (kachche panche) and turban with full arm shirts and mustache standing at the gate and enjoying the puff of a beedi.. She did not know
as what to do. She ran into the house and called her son in law in panick and whose name was Soori aka Surayanarayana who was still sleeping. He woke up with a jolt and Ammayakka told him that some 2 well grown up starngers are standing near the front gate . The son in law saw them through the side opeing of the door and he took a bamboo stick and went towards the strangers with threatening gesture and shouting at the same time as to why they are standing at his gate. This these men could not decipher and with difficulty and with folded hands nagaraju told him in broken hindi that they have come to see Ammayakka and he is nagaraju and the other one is narayana, the son in law knew hindi and was surprised that these two brothers about whom he had only heard and not seen and thought to have drowned in cauvery river at thalakad were alive and kicking.. Only few people knew the aliyas name ammayykka and the son in law was flabbergasted.. he called his mother in law and told her these strangers are none other than her long lost sons and they are alive. Ammayyakka invited the brothers into the hose and they were asked to sit on the bench in the enclosed verandah. They preferred to sit on the floor and asked thei mothe to sit on the bench. On this bench sat soori ammayyakka and the daughter kamala with her son ganesh.. there was much crying and weeping and rejoicing.. strangely the younger brother neither wept nor rejoiced Kamala prepared some snacks and offered it to her brothers. When coffee was given nagaraju asked politely whether they can get tea instead of coffee. And kamala prepared tea and offered it to her brothers.
The paras above which is in the inverted comma was what was told by nagaraju to his mother through the interpreter soori.
The brothers came to know the death of their father and also came to know that a daughter was born to their parents after their leaving thalakad. They also came to know that their parents thought they had probably gone for a swim in the river and drowned..
After retirement venkatasubbaih with his savings had purchased a small house in the suburbs which was still under development , he got his daughter married to a distant relative of his who was working in a private factory at Bangalore. Later on this soori resigned the job at Bangalore and shifted to Mysore where he got another job and staying with his in laws. After sometime venkatasubbaih died and the family consisted of ammayyakka soori, and his wife kamala and child ganesh.
Nagaraju enquired soori whether they can get any job at mysore? For this soori replied that as these brothers were experts in preparing dish liked by maharashtrians there is no scope for them in any Hotels of Mysore. As they are not qualified they may not get any job in any of the offices. The only option for them is to work as unskilled labourers in any construction site.. when nagaraju asked him as to how much he can expect soori told him roughly the wages and also asked him to furnish the address of his so that as soon as he finds the job he will inform the brothers. the real reason behind sooris statement is that if the brothers return they may stake claim on the house which is now in the developed area and that soori could not aspire to get this property.. nagaraju could sense it and told soori that there is no necessity for soori to take the trouble to write letters
And when they feel like seeing their mother they will once again come to Mysore. They also told soori that what they were getting at the hotel is much more than what a skilled labourer gets at Mysore along with free food and as such they are not interested in their coming over to Mysore to work as unskilled labourers.. The brothers handed over the saree and blouse piece to their sister and the dhothi to soori and thrust some rupee notes into the child ganesh’s hand and kept some money at the feet of their mother . at the command of nagaraju both the brothers prostrated to their mother they picked up the bag they had brought and without even a single backward glance they went out of the door and then the compound gate and vanished.

EPILOGUE.

Ammayyakka was related to one Jayalakshmi who was in the second house to the north of our house in chaluvamba agrahar mysore. Jayalkshmi was a close frien of our mothe even though by agewise Jayalakshmi was senior Whenever Ammayyakka used to visit mysore she used to invariably visit Jayalakshmi’s house as a courtesy call. Ammayyakka was of the same age as our mother This way ammayyakka became a close friend of our mother and the above narration is what was told to our mother by Ammayyakka,

CHANNA AKA CHANNAIH THE VILLAGE BARBER

CHANNA AKA CHENNAIH THE VILLAGE HAIR DRESSER

Channa was the hair dresser of our ancestral village . Even though he was living in a village known aa Poorigali he was considered as the village barber..The reason being that the number of people who will get their hair dressed or shaved was not very remunerative. The remuneration for his completely one year service was about 40 litres of paddy per year per head for all males including babes in arm, 80 litres of paddy for all Brahmins who were married, even if it were to be a child bridegroom) and 40 litres of paddy for all the other boys and 40 litres of paddy for all the Brahmin widows whether they had their hair tonsured or not. In addition Channa used to get honourarium from the Brahmins during the first tonsuring ceremony CHOULA for boys, during sacred thread ceremony(Brahmopadesam), when the boys undergo head shaving in the morning before the start of the thread ceremony, and during marriage when on the morning the boys under go not only the head shave but also the entire body excluding the portion between the wrist and shoulder, back, and from ankle regain. Even the private parts will be shaved . If the barber finds any defects in the body(As he has seen the entire body) of the boy he is supposed to secretly inform the brides relatives and for this information (whether the boy is healthy or not) the brides ralatives also used to give honourarium. Honourarium for the last one was higher as it involved the shaving of the entire body of the boy including the private parts for the first time. Also the new clothes usually dhothis worn by the boys during the above ceremonies became the property of the barber. .
During death in the family of Brahmins almost all the relatives of the dead person used to attend the tenth day ceremony during which the male married members will get their entire body shaved except a small portion at the back of their head with with Juttu.. For this the honourarium was more depending upon the number of persons given shave.
When death occurs in Brahmins household the close male relatives were given shave in the cremation ground.. For this the honourarium was higher. whether the male close relatives gets the shave or not the sons were supposed to get the shave in the cremation ground and it was mandatory. In the olden days among Brahmins of our ancestral village there was an evil practice of shaving the head of the widow on the tenth day her her husbands death. Many of the child brides were also subjected to this evil practice. Channa never used to demand honourarium for this work. In fact he was against such a practice but used to do this as his durty.
Brahmins used to refer to the Almanac and send words to Chinna for their shave and hair cut at least a week in advance. Not many used to get the shave and hair cut during this visit as it was a taboo for brothers and father and son to have the hair cut on the same day. This did not prevent the Brahmins from announcing the date of arrival of the Barber to every household in the Brahmins locality. So early in the morning those who were in need of haircut and shave will be witing for Channa. Channa’s tools of his trade consisted of one short handle blade, one long handle blade, one sharp chisel like blade,one lump of alum(this used to take care of any nicks and cuts) and one mirror. As soon as channa used to arrive from the rear door entrance he will be made to wash his tools in water in which cow dung is mixed , and cows urine and then fresh water. He will start his work in full swing. The short handled blade was for the head and the long handled one was for body parts and the chisel like blade was cutting the nails both hands and toes. . He used to be given water for wetting purposes in a coconut shell. When the first person to get his hair cut and shave is ready the interconnecting door from the main house to the cow shed will be shut as the male will get his entire body shaved. After this is over the next person will visit. After all the male members had their hair cut and shave it was the turn of the widows. For them it was only shaving of their head only.
After this the males will go to cauvey river have bath change their sacred thread have their caste marks and drink a mixture of honey, cows urine, cowdung milk and ghee. And then return to cauvery for performing of their daily rituals. Widows used to take bath and drink the above mixture and wear the caste marks.
In case of other communities Channa used to carry only the short blade, mirror, alum
Lump and an old battered brass cup. . he will announce in advance the day when he will visit the village and ask those who are in need of to get the shave and hair cut to assemble in the shadow of “Peepal tree” near Ramamandira.
Some of the ladies of other communities even though their husband is alive sometimes used to offer their hair to the God of their choice and get their head shaved. This service was also done free by Chama.
All these ancient practice is no more.
Even though we had migrated to Mysore we had to give the village barber his dues without getting the service. After our fathers death Channa insisted that as our mother is a widow he has to be paid what is his due.
We sold all the lands and we were 100% absentee land lords. So my connectin with the village of our ancestors was lost.
I don’t think that Channa is alive now . I also do not know whether any of his children are carrying their trade. Let them all be happy where ever they are.

SHEERI THE VILLAGE BELLE AND THE VILLAGE COURTESAN

SHEERI THE VILLAGE BELLE AND VILLAGE COURTESAN

Our village had a village favourite and a village courtesan. She used to offer her favours to Gents of her choice . This did not exclude any of the so called high caste people. One cannot call her as a prostitute as her favours were limited to really handsome men . Her main business was to go to the weekly market nearby and select very good he buffalo calves using her instinct and experience, rare them and use it for stud purposes. Usually the he buffalo calves were sold for a very cheap rate during those periods.. For this stud service she used to be paid quite well as her experience in purchasing her studs were well known. She never got attached to any one individual and was a sort of a free lancer though in later life when she became old she became a second wife of one Kareema who treated her well. Sheeri did not have any issues and was quite rich.She treated the children of Kareema as her own. She was given permission to discipline the children of Kareema’s first wife if they misbehaved.. The first wife also used to treat Sheeri as her own sister and they were living under a single roof.
In every family there will be some Prodigal son.
In Nadipuram family also there was a prodigal son.. He got married very early and after he got a daughter his wife died. Even though he was young and could have married for the second time after the death of his first wife he refused to marry. As the family of Nadipuram was a joint family bringing up the daughter of this prodigal son was not difficult. Some how Sheeri took a fancy to this Gentleman and the love was reciprocal.
Sheeri never ever asked this person for any favours and in fact to give him money for his personal use. This person was like a wrestler and had handsome features.
When the daughter of this gentleman grew up and was to be married Sheeri sold one of her prized He buffalos and got the gold Thali made from the Gold smith of Krishnapuram nearby . This she brought to the house of Nadipuram’s in a winnow( a sort of cane tray) with coconut betel leaves and betel nut and one silver coin . she prssented to the eldest lady of Nadipuram household and requested her to use this thali for the marriage of the girl. She also said that though she belongs to a lower caste still she treats this girl as her own so this present to the girl from her adoped mother!!! The ladies of the house did not know as what to do, after much discussion and deliberations they accepted the offer.. During marriage she was invited to see the thali tying ceremony from the main door though she was not invited into the house. she was also given coconut beetle leaves and beetle nut . she was asked to come after the dinner of all invitees were over and she was given all the delicacies prepared for the marriage,
Sheeri is no more and the lady who got the thali is no more. This lady ‘s progeny is there and they are flourishing like anything. Whenever I used to see the thali of this lady (who was incidentally a distance cousin sister of mine) I used to remember Sheeri.
I do not know as to what I can deduct fromm the above story.
I came to know about this from the talks of eldrs of Nadipuram village belonging to Sheeri community who were proud of her.

RANGA AKA RANGAYYA THE VILLAGE VERINARY DOCTOR

RANGA AKA RANGAIYYA THE VILLAGE VETERINARY DOCTOR.

RANGA belonged to an ethnic group known as “Kaniyas” among dalits. Among the dalits they were supposed to belonged to the highest hierarchy . they did not eat beef, nor taken to eat dead animals which was common among others of dalit group long back.
He was living with his family in one of the nearby villages of Sosale near T.Narasipur of Mysore Dt.
He was an expert veterinary doctor but illiterate. The knowledge he gained was from his forefathers and it was passed on to the next generation . whenever an animal especially drought animals or animals which are lactating fall sick Ranga was sent for.. As soon as Ranga used to arrive he used to take the animal with its nose harness and talk to it in soothing words. Even the most violent animals which never used to be accustomed to being handled by other than its owners and other accustomed handlers used to behave like puppys when Ranga used some soothing words. He will select a small stone and break it . among the pieces he will select a stone with sharp edge and on the back of the animals left year he will make a cut. From the cut he will take a drop of blood and smell it. Also he will see the dung and urine of the animal.
Afterwards he will go to the field and collect some leaves of some shrubs. He will never allow any one to follow him during his field trips. Also he will bring the leaves well crushed so tht the shape of the lef will not be found out. He will mix it with jaggery and force feed the mixture to the animal. Some times if the animal is found to be not eating properly and he suspects something amiss in its throat he will wash his hand and smear it with castor oil and thrust it through its mouth upto its gullet. If any thorn or any vegetation is found in it he will pull that obstruction out.. If the
Problem is in the animals anus region or its private parts he will thrust his hand covered with castor oil and gently remove any obstruction. He had a sort of sixth sense I believe and it is very rare that any animal treated by Ranga did not recover.
For all his services Ranga never demanded anything . The only demand was that he should be given a handful of Betel Leaves and handful of betl nuts. Usually this was offered by the greatful people whose animals were treated gladly. In addition they used to offer his some honorarium in terms of paddy or money . If money is given he never used to find out how much has been given but tie it along with the betelleaves and betelnut in a towel and leave . He was not a much of a talker. He will just ask as to what symptoms the owners observed and that is all the information he used to gather and proceed with the treatment.
I hope that his trade has been passed on to his progeny.
May his tribe increase.

CHAMA THE VILLAGE POTTER

CHAMA THE VILLAGE POTTER..

Chama was the village potter. His duty was to supply a set of mud pots to all the house holders of the village. It was mandatory for his to supply new sets of pots during “Sankranthi” which used to fall during the month of January every year and during Deepavali which used to fall during late October or early November.
Other than these two periods whenever a lady gives birth to a child , or when there is some functions like marriage or death in the family the potter had to give a set of new mud pots as the old mud pots used to be destroyed during the above occasions.
For this service each married householder whether they are in the joint family or in case of married persons who had not yet brought his child bride(child marriage was very common) to the house were taken as a unit and they had to give certain quantity of paddy. No one objected to this practice. The quantity of paddy was about 40 litres per household and during festival times he used to be honoured with extra paddy. .During death in the family the potter used to supply some special pots and pans and for this also he used to receive extra quantity of paddy. After the harvest and during summer many of the ponds and shallow water tanks used to dry up. Before they dry up completely Chama used to collect mud from the sides of the tanks which used to contain lot of silt and clay and which he used to consider as suitable and which did not have plant waste and store it in his house. Other villagers were interested in the clay or mud with rotten vegetation and spread it in their fields as this is a good fertilizer to their fields. Chma had to collect the mud just before hot summber begins as then to collect mud sould be difficult. Usually Chama used to collect mor than sufficient mud for his needs. This mud used to be piled in heap and constantly it was kep wet by pouring water whenever the mud/clay started to dry up. After seasoning the mud he will pile small quantitites on the spinning wheel and make out the required shape. These utensils had to be dried in the sun and when they are sufficiently dry this will be charged into a crude furnace and burnt. For burning Chama used to collect all discarded straw waste dried thorns and dried cow dung which was available on the village road side and any other thing which will burn. After this burning was over he will collect the burnt product and store them in the bin. In addition to being a village potter Choma used to work in the fields when ever he was called for as a daily wager. I believe he was comfortable with his job.
Even though our father migrated to mysoe city long back and even though Choma had shifted his residence to a near by village which was at a higher ground after 1924 floods in cauvery he was still treated as the village potter and used to collect his dues. When I
cracked joke about this Choma said whenever I want the set of pots he will give it and deliver it at our ancestral house in the village (completely dilapidated and fallen to the ground and completely abandoned ) I jocularly told him as to why he should not deliver it at Mysore where we were staying now? For this his reply was that his duty is to deliver the pots and pans to the house at the village and not at Mysore as his domain is the village and his domain does not extend to Mysore . moreover it may come under different potter’s domain.
Gradually we sold all our lands in the villages as none of us were interested in the lands.. we lost touch with our ancestral village.
This is also due to the different land reforms act introduced by The Government.
Choma is no more and I do not know whether he had any children following this trade

In Kapi Ranga's Memory

Long back we were owning agriculatural lands in our ancestral village. Our father had moved to city long time ago and the lands were given on lease. There were no written agreements but only due to trust the lands were given on the basis of sharing the produce.
We used to visit the village once in a while and during the crop cultivation we used to visit and collect either the crop or sell the crop of our portion and get money for the same.
There was a farmer by the name of (kapi) Ranga in that village. He had his wife and two sons and a daughter in his house hold. He was a share cropper.
As ill luck would have it he got hold of an exotic variety of paddy for sowing as it was fetching good price in the market. The catch was that it used to take longer for the paddy to mature than what was planted by others in the surrounding field. When the paady crops of others matued and they took it home to their barn or home the only crop which was standing was that of Kapi Ranga.
All the pests and field mice from all over the area got into this field and destroyed almost all the paady crop. So he was forced to borrow money in order to compensate the loss to the owners of the land with minimum of paddy that was agreed.
Next year he got paddy seedlings which were ripe to be planted from various sources as he felt it was cheaper than sowing and trasplanting.
As the paddy planted was of different type the maturity period was also varying and different areas ripened at diffrent times.
It was very difficult to harvest this time .
Once again Kapi Ranga borrowed heavily to clear his lease. He was unable to clear the debt and also the heavy interest thereupon.
Once in a year after the harvest time some agents used to come to the village to recruit workers for the coffee and teas estates. They used to lure the people to join the labour force and used to give huge amount as advance. Mostly Dalits used to accept the offer. And once they left the village nobody retuned from the estates either to visit their villages or friends or relatives. Very rarely other communities used to go for this estate works.
When the recruiting agent came to the village Kapi Ranga was more than anxious to join and he got the advance grom the agent and cleared all the debts. He still had some amount left and he called upon all the villagers to a really a grand Dinner and one and all the villagers enjoyed the dinner. At the end of the dinner Kapi Ranga along with family cicumbulated the villagers andf prostrated before them saying that whatever mistages he has commited is to e forgiven and he should be remebered for a long time to come.
with meagre belongings he along with his family left the village.
Nothing was heard about Kapi Ranga afterwords.
I saw this scence when I was a boy of fourteen.
Later on I studied and joined Government department in a Hill Station.
In one of the estates during summer months the estate authorities were conducting
ball badminton tournaments and many teams from nearby estates and other Government organisations used to send entries. The matches were played only on sundays.
I also participated in the tournament
While I was playing in the doubles I was an boy who was going with a gait similar to Kapi Ranga walking at a distance of about 30 feet. I could not leave the match in the middle and I waited till the match was over . I thought that the boy might be seeing some match in some other court but i could not fined him.
I met the manager to the estate and asked him whether i can find from register the name of Kapi Ranga from the list of laboureres.
The manager laughed and sid that as soon as a new labourer comes to the estate a new name is given as most of the labourers who arrive are petty criminals who are in the wanted list of police.
This articles is decicated to Kapi Ranga and his family.

SUNKARIMADA AKA MADARASA

A MADARASA

Sunkari Mada was one of our share croppers or what is know as Guththigethars of our father,
We had given l land with irrigation facilities for one wet crop per year. The share cropper was to deliver specified quantity of the produce in terms of paddy every year during Sankranthi which usually falls during January. All the expenses regarding fertilizers seed etc are to be borned by the share cropper. Along with the [addyy the sharecropper will get the straw and he can grow any other crops of his liking in the land which will be still wet after the paddy is harvested. This was generally the pattern. The Brahmin s were supposed not to cultivate and also not to indulge in business during those periods . They had enough time just to attend to their rituals and other studies connected with their religion and teaching them to the children.
When we were young all the family of five children and parentswe used to go the village to collect the paddy sell them if the price is right or ask these share croppers to keep it with them unttil august. The paddy required for our consumption used to be transported to our house at Mysore where we used to keep store it in a big bin. This paddy was useful for the entire year both for our use and also for festivities which our father used to conduct in a grand scale and invite all our friends and relatives. The collection of the paady was not so easy as the share croppers used to bargain in delivering the crop. They used to say that “there is crop loss due to pests , due to heavy rain , due to crop failure due to crop disese ett etc. There was no written records for the sharecropping as the families were sharecroppers for generations..
Now let us come back to Sunkaarimada
He is the only one who never used to bargain and just used to say what ever he has promised we can take it at any time. He had 3 sons. When ever I used to go to the thrashing ground of his I used to ask him about his ancestry. If his eldest son was not there he used to tell me in bits and pieces his story.
It seems that his ancestors were rulers under Maranayaka a chieftain who was ruling with capital Hadinaru. He had divided his kingdom into several smaller units and had fixed for smaller units administrative heads or chieftains known as Palegars.. Sunkarimada.s forefather was such a chieftain. When the rulers of Mysore became weak and maranayaka became strong he sent words to the then Maharani who had lost her husband with no other male relative to take care of the kingdom to giver her daughter in marriage to him. As the wodiyars family thought that Maranayaka belonged to Gamga,atha and whose caste was considered as thnically below that of wodiyars she refused. Maranayaka became angry and sid he will take over the mysore kigdom by force if necessary and carry away the princes. For this maharani was worried and did not knw as what to do. By that time there were two Princesses who had come all the way from Rajastan may be from a Royal family for pilgrimage to the south. When maharni came to k now about it she sent secretly her envoys and requested them to help her. The prices agreed with her request but on the condition that the pricess should be given in marriage to Yaduraya who was the elder brother of Krishnaraya. For this the Maharani readily agreed and charted out a plan words were sent to Maranayaka that he can come with all his escorts to Mysore palace for the function of betrothal. On the appointed day Maranayaka appeared with all his escorts and relatives with great pomp and show. At the entrance to the palce the guards asked Maranayaka and his entourage to keep all the arms aside as the function is a peaceful one and arms should not be taken to such a place where some auspicious religious function is held. It is not known as what made Maranayaka agreed. When the entire entourage and Maranayak were disarmed and when they entered the second gate the entire soldiers of Mysore palace pounced upon them and slaughtered them mercilessly. This included Maranayaka. The heads of all these were chopped and they were mounted on spikes and shown outside the palace. With no one to lead them the others who had accompanies Maranayaka ran helter skelter. So the entire amy of Maranayaka ws destroyed. As promised the Maharani gave her daughter in marriage to Yaduraya and the Yadu dynasty took root in Kysore.
As a subsequent development to please the news King other bad elements started pillaging the Palegars and their fortune and also the Fort of Maranayaka was completely destroyed , it ws converted into a level field , donkeys were harnessed and ploughed and castor seeds were sown.
In order to escape from this holocaust the ancestors of Sunkari mada came with whatever treasure they could lay their hands upon took it and fled north. Also it appears that they buried some treaure in some secret places.
They reached some villages and doing some farm work or other and later on moved to Hullamballi.. All along they never begged nor asked for any financial help from others. They sold some of the jewels they had brought with them and carried on. They had carried with them one PETA or the cap which adorns the head of the palegar and a steel sword. They also had some copper plates which had granted the lands by Maranayaka to their ancestors.
Sunkari mada used to say that Maranayaka was honest and just. If it were not so he could have easily tallk over the Mysore kingdom and married the young princess. Also it was Maranayaka who wa s dishonestly killed. If it were a real war Maranayaka would have single handedly slaughtered everyone of Myssore army.

Sunkari and his sons were hard working so for them getting work during non agricultural season ws also not difficult. They will not spend time in chitchatting and they vey rarely mixed with others. For any village panchayat Sunkari used to be absent as he used to say “whatever way the judgement is given the other party will feel that injustice has been done. So I do not want to get involved.” He never used to wear stitched clothes and never used to use foot wears. His wife was also following the same rules.. The reason being that only slaves and soldiers wear stitched clothes. Regarding foot wear he used to say that it is the duty of chamberlain to fit the footwear to his foot. He also was not using betel leaves which was very common among the villagers. His reasoning was that the betelleaves should be rolled by the “Sanchi” who was meant specifically for that work. So no stiched clothes no foot wear no betel leaves..
In the presence of paligar only these people were entitled to chew betel leaves 1) the senior minister 2) The court dancer 3) the of high caliber court appointed wrestler 4)the special advisor. By his sight the Paligar will show to the “Sanchi” to whom the betel leaves are to be given and she will give it to them.
When paligar leaves ususlly on a horseback the following retinue will follow 1) the torch bearer 2) Fan man who will carry the fan 3) official who will call the titles of the paligar
4)umberella carrier to shade the paligar 5) one or two body guards who were known as “halepaika” or “Garudas” who will carry a naked sword and who are prepared to even die to save their paligar. These bodyguards were given special privileges and land grants. In case the paligar dies even due to natural causes these body gurads were also put to death. It was considered a great honour to die for a king/palegar.
Coming back to sunkari mada every year at the time of harvest six persons used to come to him from somewhere from his ancestral old place. They were 1) karanika or minister 2)Defense minister of the fort also known as Daroga!!?? 3)minister for maintaining law and order in the country 4) person in charge of religious affairs.5) minister in charge of collecting taxes 6)judge who will advice the paligar on legal issues.
These poeple used to come to collect their annual pay. As soon as sunkari used to see any of them he used to call his wife and on a black blanket on a straw heap he will sit along with his wife. All these persons were not actually employed but descendants of the original servants of paligar. I do not know how many generation had passed and even sunkari does not know it. However the giving of annual pay continued. It is also not known as to how these people traced the descendents of the old paligar and continued to get their pay without rendering any service for generations.
These people will come to the thrashing field and will bow to the couple by prostrating on the floor. Usually sunkari used to ask thes following question 1) are the cows and people happy? 2) is there timely rainfall? 3)are the temples running well and feeding of travelers on pilgrimage being looked after? 4) is the fort maintained properly 5) is the justice rendered properly 6)is the tax collected properly with out harassing the people?
6)is the law and order maintained properly?
For all these questions the answer was yes. .then sunkari will say with a flourish “go to the treasury and get your share “. The visitor will go to the paddy heap and he will be given around 40 litres of paddy.
I do not know as to how long this donatoin was carried out by the successive ancestors and sunkari.. Sunkari’s eldest son was named Nanja. His wofe’s name ws nanji. Nanja was very much opposed to his father giving paady to people who ar not doing any service but come during harvest season to collect paddy as if it their rightful due. Sunkari had kept his sword and the “Peta” or turban in a old wooden box. When the Dassera starts at mysore and on the day the King sits on the throne sunkari will take early bath with well washed dhothi he will don the turban and take out the sword. A black blanket will be spread over the wooden box. He will wait to hear the sound of Gunshot which will be fired at mysore palace as soon as the king sits on the throne. Bust by this time sunkari would also sit on the wooden box. He will sit and his feet will be washed by his wife madmma/madarasi. None of his sons woud take part in this as they considered this as a joke. On the tenth day of dasara he will be ready with his dress and turban and the sword. As soon as the Gunshot boomed by the afternoon he will go to the nearby shrub farst and come home with a branch of “Bannitree”. Again his wife will wash his feet and welcome him home.
According to sunkari he wanted to crown his eldest son nanja as the next paligar. For this nanja’s reply was that he is fed up with the antics of his father and would like to remain as mere nanja and his wife mere nanji and not nanjaarasa and nanjarasi. The crowing was also an elaborate affair. It was conducted during midnight as it was thought that enemy may ride if it is held during day time and all the people are assembled. The paligar and his wife will take bath and the old turban will be put on the new paligar and sword will also be handed over to the new paligar.
Nanja used to make fun of his father and say “if as you say that there is lot of treaure

hidden why you did not try to get these treaure all these years? How you can claim right to a small Palaya whose details are not exactly known?. For this sunkaris reply was that it is all secret and can be revealed to nanja only when he takes charge. When I asked sunkari as what he will do as nanja is refusing to become next paligar. Sadly he said that he will throw the turban and also the sword into the deep abyss in the river cauvery known as malangi and forget about the past. I also asked him as to what happened to the copper plates. He said that there were some problems during his fathers period and he sold them to the Veerashaiva land lord or the village and he in turn got it made into good vessels with the help of village coppersmith..
We have sold all our lands and I have lost touch with sunkari and the village. I am sure that hs sons would have come up in lfe. I don’t think that sunkari or his wife is alive now.
All these which I have recorded concerning sunkari was told to me in bits and pieces
If Nanja found his father talking about the past in the paddy thrashing ground he will shout to his father to attend to work. Only when nanaja was cutting paddy sheaves in the field which was a bit away could I gather information . I was around ten when I gathered all the above information not in a single sitting. For me it ws more like a story rather than actual incident Sunkari Mada AKA Madarasa

Ningachari the village architect and Raama the washerman

Ningachari the village architect.


Ningachari AKA Ningaji Achari was a carpenter,stonemason,iron smith and expert mason all in one.. He was not a literate. Any house built in and around his native village belonging to well to do families were built by him. If a building has been built by Ningachari it had its own extra value. The quality of workmanship was also excellent.
It appears that he never used any scale. The scale used was the length between his elbow and the tip of his middle finger, This length was used to fix the height of pillars length and width of halls, rooms doors and windows,
He would mark the length on the ground or mark on the stone and will tell his subordinates to fix the various sizes as multiplier of this.. .
None of his clients or subordinates questioned. Except for the main door which used to be about six feet in height and width of four feet other doors were of maximum height five feet and width of three feet. His reasoning was that a person should always be thinking of the supreme God and always try to bend his head.
The windows provided were above six feet from the ground level. His reasoning was that the outsiders should not see what is happening inside the house.
All the houses built by him had sufficient cross ventilation and light.
The centre of the house invariably had an open square space which was open to the sky surrounded by columns.. The rain water in this area was led to the outside by and underground drain. The total columns determined the size of the house. It may be 16 or more column house or even four column house.
When all the work was finished and handed over and when the house warming ceremony was performed he used to be honoured with shawl and one handful of betel leaves and one handful of betel nut ,coconut and sufficient honourarium.
I do not know whether any of his offsprings are into this field as Ningachari passed away long time back..



Raama the washerman.

Raama was the traditional washerman in our ancenstral village.. This tradition of father to son passing of the work was in vogue.
His grandfather shifted his household to a nearby village which ws at a higher elevation after the village was affected by floods.
Raama though he had shifted his residence he was still considered as the village washerman. He used to be given five kolagas (about 40 litres of paddy) for every member of the family furing harvest... For this he used to wsh all the clothes of the members of the family for the entire year.
There used to be no soap of deteregent during those times.
After the harvest time which usually ended by the end of January he will go with a bullock cart in search of a soil known as “Choulu Mannu”. This was a sort of red black and white coloured soil which he used to wsh the clothes.. He will make several trips and collect sufficient soil to last him for an year atleast.
The mode of washing the clothes was as follows: He will wet the clothes for an hour or so and spread them on the ground.. On this he will wet this special mud and sprinkle this mud . Then he will roll these clothes tight and keep it for an hour. Afterwards he will spread it by layers aprinkling some water for each layer of clothes over a big open mouthed mud vessel fixed over a mud choola.. He will light th choola using all waste dried cowdung and straw waste. This he will do it for an hour or so.
Later after the clothes have cooled sufficiently he will wash them in the river .
Presto all the grime and dirt have vanished like anything. He will then spread the clothes for drying and after drying these clothes he will deliver it to the concened .
He did not “Iron “ the clothes. Ony when specially requested he will do it.
His other durties for which he was given honourarium were to spread sarees or dhothies on the walk way of roads when during soe auspicious occasion some ladies used to carry water on their head from the temple to their house hold. None of the owners of the sarees or dhothies could raise objection for using their clothes for this purpose. Raama was also given honourarium for this.
On special occasions such as marriage he used to be gifted with clothes. When someone dies and before fcreamatin or nurial some communities used to dress the corpse in new clothes. This they usually used to remove before nurial or cremation and this also used to e given to Raama as it wa his right.
These Raama used to wash and sell it to used cloth dealers during weekly market..
Even though we left the village during our father’s time as a right he was given paddy though we never got anything in return.
Due to various land reform acts we sold our lands in our village long back and we had no interest in going to the village where only our ancestral dilapidated house remained..
I do not know whether this system still continues. I as sure that Raama is no more as I remember him to be old several years back when I visited our native village. ..