Former IAS Officer M. Rajendran’s historic novel Kala Pani (Black Water), which depicts the defeat and exile of 72 individuals — together with Vengai Periya Udayanna Devar, ruler of Sivaganga, and Duraisamy, son of Chinna Marudu — after the Kalayakoil conflict, has received the Sahitya Akademi award for 2022.
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“I would rather treat the award as a recognition of the valour and sacrifice of our ancestors. Now the award will draw the attention of the country towards the freedom movement that started in Tamil Nadu 56 years before the Sepoy Mutiny or the First War of Independence,” mentioned M. Rajendran.
People have been deported to an unknown island referred to as Kala Pani, additionally known as Theevanthira Thandanai. “It was worse than the death sentence,” Mr. Rajendran mentioned.
The full title of the novel is Kala Pani, the story of the King, referring to the king who was first exiled.
Recalling historian Ok. Rajaiyan’s argument that writing of India’s conflict of Independence ought to start from the South, Mr. Rajendran mentioned the nation was not conscious of the Marudu Brothers and different freedom fighters of Tamil Nadu.
Former IAS Officer M. Rajendran
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“They created the South Indian Confederacy against the British. I hope the novel and its translation into other Indian languages will shed light on them,” mentioned Mr. Rajendran, who visited Penang and Sumatra to see for himself the jails the place Periya Udayanna Devar and others have been lodged.
The battle between the British and Marudu Brothers passed off within the forests of Kalayarkoil for six months in 1801. After the defeat, the brothers have been hanged at Tirupattur, south Tamil Nadu, on October 24, 1801. The novel, printed by Agani publishers in 2020, begins with the exile of the 72 individuals within the ship on February 11, 1802. They reached Penang after 62 days.
Three individuals ended their lives even earlier than the ship reached Penang. Three folks misplaced their minds and bumped into the forest. Periya Udayanna Devar was separated from others and despatched to Sumatra, the place he lived for simply 4 months. In 1820, 11 individuals together with Duraisamy, returned to India.
Colonel James Welsh, the British Officer, who led the conflict towards the Marudu Brothers had recalled his assembly with Duraisamy in Penang in his Military Reminiscences. It was Welsh who tightened the chains of Duraisamy earlier than his exile. He met him once more in 1818.
“I received a sudden visit from a miserable decrepit old man. I demanded his name …he uttered the word “Dora Swamy”. It got here like a dagger to my coronary heart,” recalled Welsh.
Duraisamy additionally couldn’t attain Sivaganga. He died of a abdomen sickness in Madurai in 1823.