Nadar Mahajana Sangam

“The Shandrors or Nadars, have descended from the lost dynasty of the Pandya kings. They belong to the proud Kshatriya race, and the social degradation they faced in previous centuries has been solely due to oppression by the ruling losses that followed the Pandyas. Persecution made the Nadars seek their living as palmyra climbers and toddy toppers”

Nadars from various parts of Tamilnadu faced a lot of discrimination in the 19^th century from other castes.

The vast majority of the Nadar community remained miserably depressed economically and continued to suffer social disabilities.

The hierarchy of caste status was recorded in the government census, each caste being listed with its traditional occupation, in an order which reflected the caste ranking in the Hindu hierarchy of ritual purity (Varna system of Hinduism). [1]

The Shanars (Derived from the name Shandrors, the other name for Nadars), as traditional toddy-drawers, came very near the bottom. According to the 1891 census report, the Nadars ware considered to be one of the polluting castes. They are classed in the census division with “the caste which pollutes even without touch but does not eat beef. [2]

In 19th and early 20th century, Nadars resent being called Shanans, as it is used as an offensive expression in describing the community (no one ordinarily refers to them as Shanan except when he intends to be discourteous or reproachful). [3]

In the areas where Nadars lacked the strength of numbers and wealth, the suffered severe social disabilities. They were even denied the ordinary tights of citizens such as the use of public streets, wells etc.

Whenever a Nadar man or a group of Nadars tries to put their foot forward to break the “rules” imposed on them, they were severely confronted, the Kalugumalai riots of 1895 (27 Nadar men were killed), Sivakasi riots of 1899 (886 Houses of Nadars were burnt and 3 Nadar men were killed) are some of the well-known outbreaks on the Nadars.

This extended to an extreme when High Court of Madras banned the Nadars from entering the temple in the infamous Kumudi case, i.e. On May 14, 1897, 15 Nadars entered Meenakshi Sundareswara temple at Kamudi and worshipped there. The Raja of Ramnad, M. Bhaskara Sethupati (belongs to Maravar community), the hereditary trustee of Meenakshi Sundareswara temple in Kamudi, filed a suit against Nadars from entering his temple.

The District Court at Madurai and, on appeal, the High Court of Madras and the Privy Council at London ruled that neither the defendants nor any member of their community (Nadars) was entitled to enter into any part of the temple of “Meenakshi Sundareswara”, and a permanent injunction was issued to that effect. The Nadars were also ordered to pay the sum of 500 rupees for the necessary purification ceremonies in the temple. [4]

With the defeat of the Kamudi case, it became increasingly clear to Nadar leaders that they must address themselves to the problems of the entire Nadar community.

The discrimination Nadars facing for centuries made the Poraiyar Nadar estate worry.

It is noteworthy that since the Poraiyar Nadars maintained a cordial relationship with the British government and due to their aristocracy status in the society, the Nadars of Poraiyar never faced such discrimination anywhere in the society! While the Nadars ware being banned to even enter a temple, his family had customarily worshipped at the temples (for details see temple entry page), Ponnuswamy Nadar of Porayar Nadar Estate was the member of the Kumbakonam Devasthanam Committee controlling the famous temples). [5] [6] [7]

Rathinaswamy Nadar of Poraiyar Nadar estate wanted to find a permanent solution for the humiliation his community is going through for centuries.

Rathinaswamy Nadar, an educated visionary, strongly believed that in the 20^th century, the “Social Status” of his Nadar community does not only rely on their claims to the Pandiyan / Chola ancestry nor in their aspiration to Kshatriya status, but rather in the modern education, unity of the community and most importantly, access to the political power!

Direct representation of the Nadar community in the Legislative Council alone can attract the attention of the government for the protection and advancement of the community’s interests.

• An article published on Aside Magazine, describing the event

The objectives of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam were:

• To promote the social, material, and general welfare of the Nadars.
• To protect and promote the interests and rights of the community.
• To take practical measures for the social, moral, and intellectual advancement of the Nadars.
• To start schools and colleges for imparting western education to Nadar children and to help poor but deserving pupils belonging to the community with scholarships, books, fees, etc.
• To encourage and promote commercial and industrial enterprise among the members of the community.
• To foster and promote the spirit of union and solidarity among the members of the community.
• The raising of funds by subscription, donation or other means for the above objects, and the doing of all such other things as are incidental and conducive to the attainment of the above objects or any of them.

Membership for the Sangam was originally open to any adult male, of “any sub-class, any religion.

In a circular, distributed widely among the Nadars in 1921, the Nadar Mahajana Sangam urged all Nadars to join the association, and each member was encouraged to enlist as many Nadars as possible and to establish branch offices. Youths between the ages of five and fifteen were encouraged to attend school, and educational facilities for girls were advocated. [14]

The early members were mostly wealthy traders. Gradually the small shopkeepers and toddy tappers also joined in.

With its strength increasing year by year, the Mahajana Sangam soon had branches in every town in the state. The headquarters of the Sangam was shifted to Madurai (where it still remains), and the 3^rd conference was convened at Madurai.

The Nadar Mahajana Sangam’s role in the uplift of the Nadar community.

• Shanan to Nadar – Official recognition for the community’s  name NADAR

One of the first concerns of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam was to disassociate itself from the word Shanar and to seek official recognition of the community’s Kshatriya status.

After continuous letters and petitions to various Government departments and officials (Starting from collectors/secretaries to His Excellency, the Governor himself), from 1910 to 1921 [15], at last on 7^th of July, 1921, the Government chose to recognize the name Nadar and a government order was issued to that effect. [16]

Also, in compliance with the order, the Madras Government have decided not to show traditional occupation of the Nadars as toddy-drawing.

• Sangam’s support in the community’s education

Robert L. Hardgrave, in his book “The Nadars of Tamilnad” penned :

“The most important advance in education among the Hindu Nadars came with the founding of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam in 1910. From its inception, education became one of its primary concerns”

One of the early objects of the Sangam was to provide financial aid to needy students. Since 1921, the Nadar Mahajana Sangam offers scholarship-loans for Nadar students. The scholarship and educational expenses represent the largest expenditure of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam, and the fund is drawn from general Sangam income and donations.

The Sangam has also assisted villages and towns to establish their own schools, and each year (as of 1964) around 50 elementary schools receive direct financial assistance from the Sangam. The Sangam also helps to send outstanding Nadar students abroad for higher studies. [17]

Sangam undertook the development of several educational institutions and the uplift of the economically backward sections of their community. Today, the Sangam maintains schools and colleges all over Tamil Nadu. [18]

Currently, there are 25 educational institutions including 8 colleges under the control of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam:

• Nadar Mahajana Sangam S.Vellaichamy Nadar College
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam S.Vellaichamy Nadar College of Education
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Sermathai Vasan College for Women (Avaniyapuram, Madurai)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Kamaraj Polytechnic College
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Kamaraj College of Education (Pazhavilai, Kanyakumari)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam M.S.P. Velayutha Nadar Lakshmithai Ammal Polytechnic College
• (Pavoorchatram, Tirunelveli)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Vimala Chelladurai Polytechnic College (Mallampalayam, Dharapuram, Tiruppur District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Jayaraj Annapackiam College of Paramedical Science (Mattur Thiruvattar Kanyakumari District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Teacher Training Institute (Nagamalai Pudukottai, Madurai)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Annapackiam Jayaraj Nadar I.T.I (Mallampalayam, Dharapuram, Tiruppur)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Sethuramu Nadar Nelliammal I.T.I (Thamaraikulam, Rettaiyurani, Ramnad District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam L.A.M.K.Natarajan I.T.I (Kallikudi, Thirumangalam, Madurai District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Ayya Vaikundar I.T.I (Kallikulam, Nellai District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam V.P.Ramalinga Nadar I.T.I (Pachayapuram, Vembar, Tuticorin District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam High School (Methalodai, Thiruppullani, Ramnad District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Sermathai Vasan High School (Arasadivandal, Ramnad District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Sermathai Vasan Middle School (Mayakulam, Ervadi, Ramnad District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Sermathai Vasan Middle School (Thoppalakarai, Paralachi, Aruppukottai, Virudhunagar District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Kalvithanthai K.S.Shanmugavelnadar Middle School (Sayalkudi, Ramnad District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Sermathai Vasan Elementary School (Methalodai, Thiruppullani, Ramnad District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Sermathai Vasan Elementary School (Aruppukottai, Virudhunagar District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Pandianar Elementary School (Arasadivandal, Ramnad District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam V.Natarajan Nadar Primary and Nursery School (Rettaiyoorani, Ramnad District)
• Nadar Mahajana Sangam Sarasvathi Gopalakrishnan Nadar Primary and Nursery School (Nagupillaithopu, Madurai District)

• Sangams efforts to protect Nadars

The Sangam, from its founding in 1910, has been primarily concerned with community solidarity.

Nine travelling agents, kept constantly in the field by the Sangam, visit villages and towns through the southern districts in an attempt to organize the Nadar community in each place as a “uravinmurai” or as a Sangam, which in turn is established as an autonomous branch of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam.

The urazinmurai is then encouraged to collect funds and donations for the establishment of schools and public buildings for general community welfare.

As of 1964, the Nadar Mahajana Sangam received approximately two hundred complaints each year regarding disputes in villages. Of these, 150 involve disputes with other castes and nearly 50 involve disputes among Nadars.

The Sangam’s touring agents in these villages attempt to eliminate factional antagonism among the Nadars and to reduce their dependency upon the other caste landowners. In organizing the Nadars of any village, the Nadar Mahajana Sangam backs than with the strength of the larger community.

In any dispute arising between Nadars and the members of other communities, the Nadars may petition for the Sangam to intervene. The Sangam will take action only after an investigation to establish the truth of the situation as described by the “plaintiffs”.

If a settlement of the dispute is possible only through police intervention and subsequent court action, the Sangam will make a full report to the proper authorities, presenting the situation as accurately as it has been able to ascertain. The Sangam will offer all assistance in securing legal counsel and in seeing that the Nadars case is properly heard.

If the dispute does not involve deep caste antagonisms and if police intervention can be avoided, the Sangam will approach the leaders of the other community to discuss the possibilities of a settlement.

For example, in a village dispute in 1960 in western Ramnad, the Nadars were denied the use of the public road through the dominant Konar section of the village for the purpose of carrying their dead to the cemetery which lay beyond. By tradition, the Nadars carried their dead around the Konar hamlet, but a crisis arose when bad weather forced the Nadars to carry the body of a dead child through the Konar hamlet for burial. Feelings ran high, and the Nadars brought the case to the Sangam. An influential Konar businessman living in Madurai, who had tics with the village, and another Konar, a sub-registrar in Madurai, agreed to participate, together with Sangam officials, in a panchayat committee for the mediation of the dispute. The final settlement agreed to by all, broke the tradition and allowed the Nadars to pass freely along the road. [19]

A look at the list of the Sangam’s activities for the year 1979, gives an interesting picture of the problems faced by the community in many areas of Tamilnadu (published in Aside Magazine’s Cover story (Nadars: A people on the move) on February, 1981 by Janaki Venkataraman)

1. In Rajagambeeram village (Sivagangai taluk) rioting and ill-feeling between the 15 Nadar families and the 500 odd Muslim families residing in the village, was stopped and the matter amicably settled by the intervention of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam.
2. In Kalaikulam village (Ilayangudi taluk) there have been long-standing quarrels between the Nadar and the Thevar community (which enjoys a majority in the area). The Nadar well was dirtied by the Thevars and a great quarrel resulted from this. Nadar Mahajana Sangam, on being approached by the Nadars from the Village, contacted the police officers in charge and took action. Further, a compromise has been brought by the Panchayat, by bringing together Thavar and Nadar leaders in the area.
3. In Pukkulamvilla (Ramanathapuram taluk), Ramachandra Nadar died falling down from the palmyra tree, the Sangam made arrangements for the insurance amount of Rs 12,000 to be handed over to the widow.
4. In Kudiraimozhi village (Mudukulathur taluk), 42 families of toddy tappers had been living in shacks in the palm groves themselves. They have been now united in Uravzinmurai and, with the help of the Tahsildar, they have been given land nearby to construct proper huts for themselves.

The confrontation continued between Nadars and Maravars in Kumudi since the infamous Kumudi case. Nadar Mahajana Sangam intervened and after several meetings with Maravar community leaders and the quarrel was settled peacefully.

In order to case the continued hostility between the Nadar and Maravar communities, the Nadar Mahajana Sangam invited the Raja of Ramnad to preside over the eighth Nadar conference, to be held at Sivakasi in 1922. Only twenty-three years before, Sivakasi had been the scene of a major between the Nadar and Maravar communities.

In its activities for the advancement of the Nadar community, the Nadar Mahajana Sangam has earned the respect of all those familiar with its work. The Raja of Ramnad has urged the Maravars to emulate the Nadars. “Many people are saying that the Nadars have come up because of Kamaraj. This is not true. They have come up through their own efforts. Some people are jealous of them – but why should we be jealous of success. We should try to do the same. The Nadars have come up because they were united”- Raja of Ramnad, in an interview with Robert L. Hardgrave.

• Politics: Nadars representation to the Legislative Council

In 1919, the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms brought a limited measure of self-government to India under the system of dyarchy, whereby certain reserved subjects were to remain the responsibility of the governor and certain transferred subjects would be entrusted to the elected Legislative Council.

In the year preceding the proclamation of the reforms, Montagu, the secretary of state for India, and Chelmsford, the viceroy, had toured India in an attempt to ascertain the needs of constitutional reform.

Before their visit to Madras in October 1917, some of the leaders of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam met at Madurai under the chairmanship of W. P. A. Ponnusamy Nadar of Pattivccranpatti.

It was resolved to send a deputation to Montagu and Chelmsford, petitioning the government to look into the needs of the Nadar community. The request was rejected “on the ground that no political reason was furnished in the request.”

The Sangam president, V. Ponnusamy Nadar, however, along with other representatives of the non-Brahmin community, net with Montagu [20]

The first elections under the Montagu-Chelmsford reforms were in November 1920, and the Justice party returned by a substantial majority. The Sangam urged the government to consider the nomination of Nadars to the Legislative Council.

The Nadar Mahajana Sangam, Madurai, respectfully prays that in view of the numerical strength, tax-paying capacity and loyalty of the Nadar community Your Excellency will be pleased to nominate at least two Nadars to the Madras Legislative Council, as otherwise owing to the peculiar social position which the Community occupies its interests (will) altogether be unrepresented. The Community has numerous grievances, social, economic and political which will not be properly voiced by members of other communities in the Council. Direct representation of the Community is indispensable for the protection of its interests. [21]

A few days later, the Governor, on the recommendation of the leader of the Justice party, announced the nomination of W. P. A. Soundrapandian Nadar (1893-1953) to the Legislative Council.

{Soundrapandian Nadar, the twenty-seven-year-old son of a prominent planter family of Pattiveeranpatti estates near Kodikanal, became the first Nadar to enter the Madras legislature. During the 1920 elections, W. P. A. Soundrapandian took an active part in the campaign around the Madurai District and caught the eye of the Justice leaders. Thus, to reward the Pattiveeranpatti family and at the same time to appeal to the Nadar community by nominating one of their number to the council, the Justice party put W. P. A.’s name forward and won the support of the Ramnad-Madurai Nadars}

P. A. Soundrapandian, who served in the Legislative Council from 1920 until 1937, considered himself the representative of the Nadar community and of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam.

Soundrapandian was general secretary of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam for four years and its vice president for seventeen years. His position in the Sangam was so towering that there was even a period of one year, 1929, in which the Sangam head-quarters was shifted from Madurai to Pattiveeranpatti.

Soundrapandian exerted a strong influence over both the Nadar community and the Nadar Mahajana Sangam, and came to be known as “the uncrowned king of the Nadar community”.

• Nadar Bank Ltd. (Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd)

Since the inception of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam, Rathinaswamy Nadar wanted to start a bank for the Nadars. [22]

In 1920, at the Nadar Mahajana Sangam’s Tuticorin conference, M.V. Shanmugavel Nadar and A.M.M. Sinnamani Nadar proposed the need and possibilities forming a bank for Nadars. The council passed a resolution to start a bank.

By then, T.V. Balagurusamy Nadar was the head of Poraiyar Nadar Estate, he was also the President of the Nadar Mahajana Sangam.

The leaders from Sangam approached Zamindar T.V. Balagurusamy Nadar and requested him to be a part in the bank as the Nadar Estate’s presence in the board will improve the trustworthiness of the bank.

T.V. Balagurusamy Nadar gladly agreed and brought 10% share and joined the board.

Founder Directors of Nadars Bank ltd:

• T.V. Balagurusamy Nadar
• V. Shanmugavel Nadar (Chairman)
• M.M. Sinnamani Nadar
• VE. Kasisamy Nadar
• A.M.A. Kaliyappa Nadar
• K.S.A. Arumuga Nadar
• VE. Ratnasamy Nadar
• A.S. Arumugasamy Nadar
• P.A. Marimuthoo Nadar
• A. Shenbaga Nadar

The bank was registered on May 11, 1921, as ‘The Nadar Bank Ltd”. The bank was opened by to public by T.V. Balagurusamy Nadar on Nov 11, 1921, in Ana Mavanna Building at South Raja Street, Tuticorin. Nadar Bank Ltd. became a Scheduled Bank under the Reserve Bank of India Act on May 11, 1935.

In 1962, the Nadar bank changed its name to the Tamilnad Mercantile Bank Ltd. The bank has had a vision of extending banking service to common people of rural areas, out of 509 branches, 457 branches are located at rural, semi-urban & urban (non-metro) centres.

The bank has achieved a turnover of Rs. 15,726 crores in foreign exchange for the year ended March 2019. For the financial year 2018–2019, Tamilnad Mercantile Bank has reported a net profit of ₹ 2585 million!

Nadar Mahajana Sangam completed its 100th year in 2010. It is no exaggeration to say that the Nadar Mahajana Sangam and its founders, Poraiyar Nadar Estate family, has played a vital role in the progress of the Nadar community in the society.