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On Tamil Militarism - a 11 Part
Essay
Part 9: Bharathy and the Legitimation of Militarism
Lanka Guardian, [pp.6-8]
[prepared by
Sachi Sri Kantha, for electronic record]
1 October 1992
 One
of the main figures of the Indian revolutionary movement
in Tamilnadu at the turn of the [20th] century was
Maha
Kavi Subramaniya Bharathy. One of it sympathisers
was the Tamil scholar M.Raghava Aiyangar, who was the
court pundit of the Maravar kings of Ramnad. Subramaniya
Bharathy has been one of the most powerful influences in
Tamilian cultural and political life in the twentieth
century. The fundamental idea of modern Tamil militarism
� that the Tamils were a martial race and that the
rejuvenation of their martial traditions is necessary
for national liberation, was enunciated by these two
Brahmins in the first decade of the twentieth century.
This idea has informed Tamil scholarship as well as
the narratives of militant Tamil nationalism since then. It has been
reproduced in many forms but its fundamental structure has remained
the same. This narrative has been a basis of the vocabulary of Tamil
nationalism in
(a) The Indian revolutionary movement in
Tamilnadu,
(b) The Indian National movement in Tamilnadu,
(c) The DK�s secessionist and Anti-Hindi movement,
(d) Caste revivalist movements in Tamilnadu,
(e) The DMK,
(f) The Federal Party in Sri Lanka, and
(g) The armed Tamil separatist movement in the North and East of
Sri Lanka.
Current (establishment) literature in the West on
the use of history in national liberation organizations and
terrorist groups, refers to what these organizations endeavour to
disperse among their members and their people as �the� authentic
reading of the nation�s past and present, as projective narratives
which are, it is claimed, �stories that not only recall the past,
but also teach how to behave in the present.�
�Narratives of this sort tell individuals how they would ideally
have to live and die in order to contribute properly to their
collectivity and its future.�
It has been argued in an analysis which draws attention to the
frequent use of these projective narratives by the Armenian Secret
Army for the Liberation of Armenia, that the members of the Army are
not marginal outcastes from Armenian society, but that projective
narratives transform them into �paradigmatic figures of its deepest
values.� (Gerald Cromer: 1991). The projective narratives that
shaped militant Tamil nationalism and its idea of nationl liberation
were formulated as a reassertion of feudal Tamil militarism and its
traditional cultural hegemony in Tamil society.
This was so because they were eseentially linked to the Indian
revolutionary movement�s idea of reviving India�s traditional
martial heritage as a precondition for national liberation. The
importance of chiefly Bharathy and to lesser extent Raghava Aiyangar
in the rise of modern Tamil militarism lies in the fact that they
initiated a political reading of the ancient Tamil text Purananooru,
in particular- an anthology of predominantly heroic poems � and a
heroic Tamilian past in general, as basis of a Tamilian concept of
national liberation. Their reading was conceived as part of the
Indian revolutionary movement�s ideology of national liberation
through armed insurrection.
It must be emphasised that they saw the Tamil martial tradition from
a pan-Indian perspective. To them the heroic Tamil past was a
reflection of a great Indian martial heritage, whereas the Dravidian
school vehemently rejected the pan-Indian perspective as a myth
promoted by Brahmin interests. Therefore the politics of the views
propagated by Bharathy and Raghava Aiyangar have to be located at
two levels; the pan-Indian and the south Indian.
At the first [pan-Indian] level, the following factors have to be
considered; (a) British recruitment policy and its theory of martial
races, (b) the cultural and political reaction to it among the
educated Indian middle classes in Bengal and west India., (c) the
kshatriya revivalism of Bal Ganghadar Thilak, (d) Japan�s victory
over Russia in 1905.
At the south Indian level, the following factors shaped the two
men�s thinking; (a) the movement for elevating the status of Tamil
language, (b) the rediscovery of the Sangam anthologies, (c) the
status and role of feudal Tamil militarism in Tamil society.
The shift in [military] recruitment to the northwest of the
subcontinent toward the latter part of the 19th century was
accompanied by the martial races theory which sought to elaborate
the idea as to why some Indian people � Rajputs, Sikhs, Punjabi
Muslims � were martial, while others � Marathas, Bengali upper
castes, Mahars, Telugus and Tamils who had once been the predominant
groups of the British Indian army � were not martial.
Lord Roberts of Kandahar, the commander in chief of the Indian army,
1885-1893, had made disparaging remarks about the martial character
of the Tamils [and] Telugus who had once formed the backbone of the
army�s largest group of infantry units.
�Each cold season I made long tours in order to acquaint myself with
the needs and capabilities of the men of the Madras Army. I tried
hard to discover in them those fighting qualities which had
distinguished their forefathers during the wars of the last and the
beginning of the present century�and I was forced to the conclusion
that the ancient military spirit had died in them.�
It was reasoned that long years of peace in the south had had a
softening effect on them. There were protests and petitions from the
de-recruited classes including Tamils and Telugus. A need to prove
their ancient martial character arose among many classes that were
thus affected.
At a Congress session in 1891, two Telugu Brahmins invoked the
ancient Hindu law giver Manu in support of their contention that
they were traditionally a war-like race, to refute Lord Robert�s
alleged slights against the Telugu people. These sentiments had been
already exacerbated by the Arms Act of 1878 which prohibited Indians
from possessing arms without permission. This was seen as a loss of
self respect. Raja Rampal Singh protested against it at the second
session of the National Congress in 1886,
��But we cannot be grateful to it (the British Government) for
degrading our natures, for systematically crushing out of us all
martial spirit, for converting a race of soldiers into a timid flock
of quill driving sheep.� (Cohen; 1990, chapters 1, 2)
The Marathas had also been particularly affected by these
developments. Thilak arose as a national leader among them. He
propagated the view that the kshatriya class which had been
disfranchised by the British had to rise again. They were the
traditional defenders of the realm and internal order. National
emancipation could be achieved through the rejuvenation of that
class and the traditional Indian social order.
Thilak�s ideas played an important role in the rise and dispersion
of the Indian revolutionary movement. The movement got a big boost
in 1905, when Japan defeated Russia. The victory demonstrated a
point � that Asian martial spirit could prevail over European
military might. Hence, for the revolutionaries (the Raj classified
them as terrorists) India�s emancipation lay in the revival of its
traditional martial values. The impact of Japan�s victory over
Russia on the Indian revolutionary movement in Bengal and west India
has been examined (in detail, in Dua: 1966).
At this time
Subramaniya Bharathy was the editor of a nationalist Tamil paper
called, �India�. He was an ardent follower of Thilak and the
revolutionary movement and was one of the few in Madras who were
bold enough to propagate its ideas through his paper. On Thilak�s
fiftieth birthday, he wrote an editorial (14.7[July] 1906):
�The present condition of the country makes it necessary to have
Veera Poojai (hero worship)�Veera Poojai is indispensable for a
country�s progress. The people of our country who have always keenly
observed Veera Poojai, should not be slack at a time when it is most
needed.�
A note in the paper says that, Thilak�s birthday was celebrated in
Madras at Bharathy�s house at Lingaya Chetty street and that a pooja
had been held for India�s martial goddess � Veera Sakthi � Bhavani
(the goddess worshipped by the Maratha warrior king Shivaji). The
revolutionary movement was spreading the Shivaji festival in many
parts of India to rekindle the martial spirit which according to
them had been systematically crushed out of the Indian nation and
were establishing gymnasiums to improve its physical power.
Bharathy wrote an editorial titled in English as, �The Outrage of
the Arms Act�, reminiscient of Raja Rampal Singh�s outburst � �An
evil Viceroy called Lord Lytton introduced this Act in 1878. The
people should have opposed it then. It is totally against divine law
to make a great country�s people cowards who cannot wield weapons.�
(1.12[Dec] 1906)
Again he wrote an editorial titled, �Are Indians Cowards?�, on
Japan�s martial example. �A few Asiatics soundly beat hundreds and
thousands of Russians. This is enough to show the valour of the
Asians. The warrior�s heaven � Veera Swarkam � is better.� (29.12
[Dec.] 1906)
He [Bharathy] was opposed to those who upheld the value of English
education. The ideas of the revolutionary movement had to be rooted
in Tamil culture and its deepest values; and they had to be spread
among the ordinary Tamil masses. This could be done according to him
only by adopting a simple style of writing Tamil. This view
underlies his poems and songs through which he propagated the idea
of the rejuvenation of the Tamil martial spirit as part of the
India�s heroic reawakening and liberation.
�Amongst us, the Tamils, manliness is gone, valour is gone. We don�t
have a country. We don�t have a government. Will Saraswathy (the
goddess of learning) appear in this country in such a situation?�
�Tamil Nadu has not lost its wealth, independence, physical
strength, and mental strength and has descended to a low state.
Hence good poets disappeared from this country.�
In his Puthiya Aathisoody (a book of moral aphorisms for children),
he wrote, �Dismiss fear. Do not fail in courage. Learn the art of
War.�
Thilak�s idea that the kshatriya class of India that had been
disfranchised by the British, had to reasert itself in the struggle
for the nation�s emancipation was more real and immediate to
Bharathy, because he came from a Brahmin family from Tinnevely in
the deep south, that had served the Poligars of Ettayapuram. He was
hence, acutely aware of the traditional status of the Maravar in
Tamil society and what had befallen them under the British. The
great famine of 1876 had brought untold suffering upon the people in
the deep south and had led to a further decline in the standing of
the poorer sections of the Maravar. They were constantly harassed by
the police which was formed by Brahmins and other non-military
castes.
The poet, a Brahmin who had given up the holy thread, hated
Brahminism and his castemen who were servile to the English. To
Bharathy, the kshatriyas of Tamilnadu were the Maravar. (This view
seems to have been common to Brahmin families that had served the
Marava chieftains and kings. See also, Dirks; 1982; p.662). In a
note to his �Paanjali Sapatham�, he says,
�Maram means valour � Veeram. Maravar are kshatriyar. Understand
that, in our country, the class that is known now as Maravar are
kshatriyar.�
His �Maravan�s song� (Maravan Paattu) relates the predicament of the
traditional Tamil military castes under British rule and urges the
reassertion of the Maravar, and their martial reputation. He
portrays his own castemen in the police as a wretched and greedy
lot, abject before the English master, framing criminal cases
against the Maravar and fleecing them under various pretexts.
�Alas, we have to dig the soil today to earn our wage. The might of
our swords and spears are gone! A bad name has come upon us in this
world�The times when we made war with bows, blowing our chanks, are
now a thing of the past�Can we bring disgrace upon our great
warriors of yore by selling our honour? Aren�t we the valourous
Maravar? Should we lead this useless life anymore?�
Thus the revival of traditional Tamil militarism � in its caste and
broader cultural forms � was essentially linked to Bharathy�s
project of propagating and kindling Tamil nationalism among the
masses as a means of national liberation. The project has continued
to be at the centre of all political schemes that have invoked Tamil
nationalism from his time.
Bharathy�s convictions received a boost in September 1906, at the
time when the activities of the revolutionaries were gathering
momentum. It came from a talk given by U.V.Saminatha Aiyer on a poem
from the
Purananooru � an anthology of heroic Tamil poetry.
U.V.Saminatha Aiyer, after many years of research, had
discovered and published the Purananooru in 1894. It was considered
to be one of the most ancient Tamil works. It is said that �the
publication of Purananooru created a revolution in Tamilian
thinking.� (P.S.Mani; p.105. Bharathiyarum Thamil Pulavarhalum,
1981, Madras. �They � the Tigers � are writing the new Purananooru�,
Ulahath Thamilar, 1.5[May].1992)
The talk gave Bharathy what he was looking for � a sound basis for
propagating the idea of reviving the martial spirit among the Tamils
to achieve national liberation through violence. He wrote an
editorial on the subject titled in English as �Ancient Tamil Lady of
Ever Sacred Memory�, on 8.9[Sept].1906. The political life of
Purananooru, the foundation text of Tamil militarism, begins in this
editorial.
It was a time when very few Tamils knew about Purananooru or the
Sangam corpus. He says,
�A Tamil work called Purananooru was written
many centuries ago. It does not, like later works, relate
Puranic fables. It tells of the condition of Tamilnadu in those
times, the wars of the kings and many other natural events. A
poem from this work was expounded by U.V.Saminatha Aiyer of the
Madras Presidency College. There are some, who out of ignorance
think that there is no use in learning Tamil and that it cannot
inspire patriotism. Aiyer spoke on this poem to refute their
erroneous notions.
The poem is about the mother of a warrior (Rana
Veeran). The woman had sent her son to the battle field,
thinking that he will either die in war for his mother country
or come back victorious. A liar came and told her that her son
had taken fright and run away from the battle field. On hearing
this the old woman exclaimed, �Did I bring up a coward to whom
his life was more important than the love for his nation? I
shall go to the battle front and if he has done so, I shall hack
these breasts that gave him suck and will die there.�
Determined thus the old woman went to the field
and was overjoyed to find her son slain in battle. She was at
peace, because her son had given his life for his motherland.
The woman�s name is not known now. But only if Lord Isvara
blesses the continent of Baratha with many such mothers in these
times, a solution to all our problems could be found.�
Bharathy draws a parallel here to the story of a
Japanese mother who had lost all her sons in the war but was found
crying that she did not have more sons to send to the battle front.
There were books on Japan�s victory over Russia like, �The
Russo-Japanese War� in circulation, particularly among the
revolutionaries and their sympathisers at that time. The theme of
the heroic Japanese mothers who nurtured the martial spirit in their
sons during the 1905 war was emphasised in these books.
Japan�s victory over Russia had inspired another nationalist minded
Brahmin to write Parani poems (A form of Tamil war poetry sung for a
warrior who slays 1,000 elephants in battle) hailing its martial
example. This was M.Raghava Aiyangar, who was the editor of the
Madurai Thamil Sangam�s journal �Senthamil.�
References
1. Bharathi Kavithaikal; 1982, Vanavil Pirasuram,
Madras.
2. Bharathi Tharisanam (�India� essays, 1906), vol.1, New Century
Book House, Madras.
3. Nicholas B.Dirks; The pasts of a Palayakarar � The ethnohistory
of a South Indian Little King. Journal of Asian Studies, vol.XLI,
no.4, August 1982. �Many of my informants (Brahmins as well as
Maravars and Kallars) have told me that the Mukkulathors � the three
Tamil military castes � are really the kshatriyas of Southern
India.� Dirks deals with the Poligars (Palayakarars) of Othumalai,
who belong to the Kondayam Kottai subsection of the Maravar, the
group to which most of the Southern feudal military
chieftainsbelonged. The Sethupathys � the kings of Ramnad � belong
to the subsection known as Sembi Maravar.
4. R.P.Dua; 1966. The Impact of the Russo-Japanese (1905) War on
Indian Politics, S.Chand, Delhi.
5. Gerald Cromer; In the Mirror of the Past � The use of history in
the justification of terrorism and political violence. [Journal name
is missing here, due to author�s or printer�s slip], vol.3, no.4,
winter 1991.
Letter of Correspondent C.R.A.Hoole [Ontario,
Canada]:
Tamil Military Caste
[Lanka Guardian, September 15, 1992, p.12]
D.P.Sivaram�s claim that Bishop Caldwell�s writing served to
�demilitarize Tamil society� (August 1) discloses a fixation on
Tamil martial prowess and warrior bravery. The fixation is more
explicit in Mr.Sivaram�s account of the �Tamil military castes� (May
1 � July 1). The account cannot however be taken as an accurate
reading of Tamil history. It may be better understood as a charter,
providing historiographical legitimacy for the present-day
glorification of warrior-heroes who earn fame and honour through
gruesome deeds.
Crucial to his argument is the assertion that the pre-British
society was dominated by martial values and only subsequently �under
active British patronage the Vellala caste established its
dominance, and its culture became representative and hegemonic in
Tamil society� (May 15, p.18). Against this view, it may be pointed
out that centuries before the Bishop launched his so-called
pacification programme, the brahmans and their Vellala allies
initiated a process of agrarian expansion that not only brought
large tracts of land under cultivation, but its people under the
sway of brahmanical values (B.Stein, 1980; B.Beck, 1979). Kallar and
Maravar during the Chola times progressively converted their lands
to peasant agriculture and also adopted Vellala titles. This process
has been described as �Vellalization� or �brahmanization� and gave
rise to the Tamil proverb, �Kallar, Maravar and Agambediyar becoming
fat, turn into Vellalar�. The caste society as we know it today,
began to emerge from process in the tenth century, with its
left-hand and right-hand structural divisions.
It would then follow that the dominant values of the Tamil society
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries are typically caste
values that is, �hierarchy� and �consensus� � in opposition to
�conflict� (M.Moffat, An Untouchable Community in South India,
1979). In this context, the Kallar and Maravar who continued to
inhabit the remaining marginal or peripheral tracts at this time,
may be seen to represent a classical ethosthat was receding into
oblivion.
There is no doubt that the Kallar and Maravar remained an irritant
to the British Raj, as they had been to the Chola and Pandya
overlords. On the other hand because they existed outside the larger
caste society, neither a Kallan nor a Maravan could during the time
become a paradigmatic figure worthy of imitation by the vast
majority of the Tamils. In short, Mr.Sivaram has exaggerated their
influence on the Tamil society during that period.
Letter of Correspondent T.Vanniasingham [Canada]:
Maravar Militarism [Lanka Guardian, October 15, 1992, p.21]
Please permit me to say a few words about Mr.Sivaram�s essays on
Tamil military castes. In his account he is illegitimately
glorifying them. He seems to be implying that they were treated
unambiguously with awe and veneratio, at the time of their exploits.
Tamil literary documents of the period are not reliable on this
score.Poets and bards were hired-hands in the service of chiefs and
could be paid to praise and exaggerate their struggles and
victories. In any case there are other Tamil poems that portray the
Maravar as blood-thirsty savages, uncouth, undisciplined and lawless
who lived by robbing unarmed travellers. The Silapathikaram for
instance mentions them as practising �the glorious art of stripping
travellers of their wealth � for the brave Maravar virtue lies in
the heartlessness of plunder.�
There is no doubt that they established kingdoms of their own � and
at other times they were mercenaries in the pay of other kingdoms.
In fact there were many ruling castes in ancient Tamil society. The
Maravar were one such group. These many castes were always in
contention for power and the Maravar won, at times. They were not
overpowering and dominant all the time and over the entire
territory. In this respect, Mr.Diulweva�s claims (Lanka Guardian, 1
Sept.�92) were quite correct. In fact it is possible to show that
they were a �fierce maravar tribe � who prefer to die a glorious
death on the battle field to a village funeral pyre,� as the
Silapadikaram puts it, they lacked a theory of government and civil
society. For them a civil society is not something that people live
in but something that one robs and devours because the Maravar never
produce anything. Long before the British came to suppress them,
they had shown an inability to govern a civil society of many castes
for any extended period of time. Governance needs intelligence,
political wisdom, historical knowledge, forebearance and a capacity
for trust, all of which, if we are to judge by the descriptions in
the ancient Tamil texts, the Maravar conspicuously lack.
A readiness to kill and be killed, as we know only too well, is not
the way to create a civilized society.
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