One Hundred Tamils of the 20th Century
V.O. Chidambaram Pillai (VOC)வ. உ. சிதம்பரம் பிள்ளை (வ. உ.சி)Kappalottiya Tamilan: கப்பலோட்டிய தமிழன்1872 - 1936
[see also Kappal Oddiya Thamilan: The Overseas Exploits of the Thamils & the Tragedy of Sri Lanka]
"V.O.C. showed the way for organized effort and sacrifice. He finished his major political work by 1908, but died in late 1936, the passion for freedom still raging in his mind till the last moment. He was known as "Chekkiluththa Chemmal" - a great man who pulled the oil press in jail for the sake of his people. He was an erudite scholar in Tamil, a prolific writer, a fiery speaker a trade union leader of unique calibre and a dauntless freedom fighter. His life is a story of resistance, strife, struggle, suffering and sacrifice for the cause to which he was committed.."
[Please also see discussion re 'what do the initials V.O.C. stand for?]
V.O.Chidambarampillai (VOC) was born on 5 September 1872 in Ottapidaram, Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu (the same District which a hundred years earlier given birth to Veerapandiya Kattabomman).
Chidambarampillai was the eldest son of Ulaganathan Pillai and Paramayi Ammai. His early education was in Tuticorin. He passed a pleadership examination in 1894 and this enabled him to practise law at the local sub-magistrate's court. He then went on to practise at the nearby port town of Tuticorin.
The partition of Bengal in 1905, the rise of militancy evidenced by Swadeshi (boycott of foreign goods) movement, saw Chidambarampillai taking a direct interest in the political struggle. These were the years before the arrival of Gandhi on the Indian political landscape.
Chidambarapillai supported Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the militant wing of the Indian National Congress. He participated in the 1907 Surat Congress together with Subramania Bharati. He was one of the earliest to start the 'Dharmasangha Nesavuchalai' for hand-loom industry and the 'Swadeshi Stores' for the sale of India made things to the people. He played a lead role in many institutions, like the "National Godown," "Madras Agro-Industrial Society Ltd.," and "The Desabimana Sangam".
Commerce between Tuticorin and Colombo was the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISN) and its Tuticorin agents, A. & F. Harvey.
Inspired by the Swadeshi movement, V.O.C. mobilised the support of local merchants, and launched the first indigenous Indian shipping enterprise, the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, thus earning for himself the name - "Kappalottiya Tamilan கப்பலோட்டிய தமிழன்".
The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company was registered on the 12th of November 1906. He purchased two steamships, S.S. Gallia and S.S. Lawoe for the company and commenced regular services between Tuticorin and Colombo against the opposition of the British traders and the Imperial Government.
His efforts to widen the base of the Swadeshi movement, by mobilising the workers of the Coral Mills (also managed by A. & F. Harvey) brought him into increasing conflict with the British Raj. On 12 March1908, he was arrested on charges of sedition and for two days, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin witnessed unprecedented violence, quelled only by the stationing of a punitive police force. But newspapers had taken note of VOC. Aurobindo Ghosh, acclaimed him in Bande Mataram (March 27, 1908) -
" Well Done, Chidambaram! A true feeling of comradeship is the salt of political life; it binds men together and is the cement of all associated action. When a political leader is prepared to suffer for the sake of his followers, when a man, famous and adored by the public, is ready to remain in jail rather than leave his friends and fellow-workers behind, it is a. sign that political life in India is becoming a reality. Srijut Chidambaram Pillai has shown throughout the Tuticorin affair a loftiness of character, a practical energy united with high moral idealism which show that he is a true Nationalist. His refusal to accept release on bail if his fellow-workers were left behind, is one more count in the reckoning. Nationalism is or ought to be not merely a political creed but a religious aspiration and a moral attitude. Its business is to build up Indian character by educating it to heroic self-sacrifice and magnificent ambitions, to restore the tone of nobility which it has lost and bring back the ideals of the ancient Aryan gentleman. The qualities of courage, frankness, love and justice are the stuff of which a Nationalist should be made. All honour to Chidambaram Pillai for having shown us the first complete example of an Aryan reborn, and all honour to Madras which has produced such a man."
Apart from the Madras press, even the Amrita Bazaar Patrika from Kolkata (Calcutta) carried reports of his prosecution every day. Funds were raised for his defence not only in India but also by the Tamils in South Africa. Bharathy gave evidence in the case which had been instituted against him. V.O.C. was confined in the Central Prison, Coimabtore from 9 July 1908 to 1 December 1910.
The Court imposed a sentence of two life imprisonments (in effect 40 years). The sentence was perhaps a reflection of the fear that the British had for VOC and the need to contain the rebellion and secure that others would not follow in Chidambarampillai's footsteps.
In 1911, Tirunelveli District Collector Ashe was assasinated by Vanchinathan, a youth trained by V.V.S.Aiyar who had at that time had sought refuge in French Pondicherry. The British response was brutal and a witch hunt followed. And the Swadeshi movement petered out with many of its activists languishing in jail.
VOC in prison, was left to fend for himself. His wife, Meenakshi Ammal, followed him from the Tirunelveli sub jail to the Coimbatore and Kannur central jails, where he spent his term and almost single-handedly organised his appeals.
Sivaji Ganesan as VOC in prison in the film Kappalottiya Thamizhan
Chidambarampillai was not treated as a 'political prisoner'. The sentence that was imposed on him was not 'simple imprisonment'. He was treated as a convict sentenced to life imprisonment and required to do hard labour. He was "yoked to the oil press like an animal and made to work it in the cruel hot sun..." writes, historian and Tamil scholar, R. A. Padmanabhan. Sivaji Ganesan's portrayal of VOC in the film Kappalottiya Thamizhan reflected that agony and that pain.
"Among the 300 films which was Sivaji's favourite? Pat came the answer from Sivaji, 'Kappalottiya Thamizhan''. Enacting a doctor, an engineer and others are not very difficult. But to portray a person, a revered freedom fighter, whom people had met, seen and moved with, is a different proposition. So when the late Panthulu asked me to enact the role, I first hesitated. Then I decided to meet the challenge. I got all the material on V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and studied it. 'On seeing the film, I cried, not because my performance was moving but because it hit me with new impact - the sacrifice VOC and others had made for the country. When VOC's son Subramaniam said that he saw his father come alive on the screen, I considered it the highest award.'' Sivaji Ganesan on his Role in Kappalottiya Tamilan
Subramania Bharati was moved to write his வ.உ.சி.க்கு வாழ்த்து.
வேளாளன் சிறைபுகுந்தான் தமிழகத்தார் மன்னனென மீண்டான் என்றே கேளாத கதைவிரைவிற் கேட்பாய் நீ வருந்தலைஎன் கேண்மைக்கோவே! தாளாண்மை சிறினுகொலோ யாம்புரிவேம் நீஇறைக்குத் தவங்கள் ஆற்றி, வேளாண்மை நின் துணைவர் பெறுகெனவே வாழ்த்துதிநீ வாழ்தி! வாழ்தி!
The Prison Cell that V.O.C. occupied in Central Prison Coimbatore"yoked to the oil press like an animal.."
In prison VOC continued a clandestine correspondence, maintaining a stream of petitions going into legal niceties. When he stepped out of prison in late December 1912, after a high court appeal had reduced his prison sentence, the huge crowds present on his arrest were conspicuously absent. His feelings may have been similar to those of Aurobindo in 1909 - feelings which Aurobindo expressed in in the famous Uttarpara speech, soon after his own release from prison:
"It is I, this time who have spent one year in seclusion, and now that I come out I find all changed. One who always sat by my side (Tilak) and was associated in my work is a prisoner in Burma; another is in the north rotting in detention... I looked around for those to whom I had been accustomed to look for counsel and inspiration. I did not find them. There was more than that. When I went to jail the whole country was alive with the cry of Bande Mataram... when I came out of jail I listened for that cry, but there was instead a silence. a hush had fallen on the country and men seemed bewildered... No man seemed to know which way to move, and from all sides came the question, 'What shall we do next? What is there that we can do?' I too did not know which way to move, I too did not know what was next to be done."
VOC was not permitted to remain in his native Tirunelveli district and he moved to Chennai with his wife and two young sons. Having been convicted for sedition, he had lost his pleadership status and he was unable to earn his livelihood by practising the law. The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company had collapsed. It was liquidated in 1911. He and his family had lost all their wealth and property in his legal defence.
After his release in 1912 he completed his autobiography which he had started writing in prison. It was in Tamil in a verse form. He wrote a commentary on Thirukural and edited the Tamil work of grammar, Tolkappiam. He authored a few novels in Tamil. His translation of some of James Allen's books earned him an indisputable reputation of being an erudite Tamil scholar. His Tamil works like "Meyyaram" and "Meyyarivu" reflect a creative mind, restless for uninhibited expression. V.O.C. attended the Calcutta Congress in 1920.V.O.C. showed the way for organized effort and sacrifice. Today when anybody utters the name of VOC, immediately comes to mind is his achievement as the first Indian to launch a ship service.
"The moment anybody utters the name of VOC, immediately comes to mind is his achievement as the first Indian to launch a ship service between Tuticorin and Colombo through Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in the interest of the Nation's economy, and that too, against the British Rule. His main aim was to serve the country for attaining Independence from the British and he had all the leadership qualities in him that require achieving things in macro level. He gained the patronage from leading merchants and industrialists in Tirunelveli for establishing a Swadeshi Merchant Shipping Organization, which was unveiled on 16th October 1906. From then on, the company developed from strength to strength and laid its name strongly in the minds of everyone in Indian and foreign countries as well." Chennai School of Ship Management
"The nation will always remember V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, whose 130th birth anniversary was on 5 September 2001, principally for the pioneering role he played in building India's swadeshi shipping industry." VOC - the Doyen of Swadeshi Shipping - S.Dorairaj, 2001
On the 5th September, 1972, on the occasion of VOC's birth centenary the Indian Posts & Telegraphs department issued a special postage stamp. The citation read
"...His courage and determination to run the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company against the stern opposition of the British traders and the Imperial Governmentwon the proud acclaim of one and all..."
VOC finished his major political work by 1908, but died in late 1936, the passion for freedom still raging in his mind till the last moment. He was known as "Chekkiluththa Chemmal" - a great man who pulled the oil press in jail for the sake of his people. He was an erudite scholar in Tamil, a prolific writer, a fiery speaker a trade union leader of unique calibre and a dauntless freedom fighter. His life is a story of resistance, strife, struggle, suffering and sacrifice for the cause to which he was committed. In accordance with his wishes, VOC was taken to the Congress Office at Tuticorin, where he died on the 18th November, 1936.
V.O. Chidambaram Pillai (VOC)வ. உ. சிதம்பரம் பிள்ளை (வ. உ.சி)Kappalottiya Tamilan: கப்பலோட்டிய தமிழன்1872 - 1936
[see also Kappal Oddiya Thamilan: The Overseas Exploits of the Thamils & the Tragedy of Sri Lanka]
"V.O.C. showed the way for organized effort and sacrifice. He finished his major political work by 1908, but died in late 1936, the passion for freedom still raging in his mind till the last moment. He was known as "Chekkiluththa Chemmal" - a great man who pulled the oil press in jail for the sake of his people. He was an erudite scholar in Tamil, a prolific writer, a fiery speaker a trade union leader of unique calibre and a dauntless freedom fighter. His life is a story of resistance, strife, struggle, suffering and sacrifice for the cause to which he was committed.."
[Please also see discussion re 'what do the initials V.O.C. stand for?]
V.O.Chidambarampillai (VOC) was born on 5 September 1872 in Ottapidaram, Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu (the same District which a hundred years earlier given birth to Veerapandiya Kattabomman).
Chidambarampillai was the eldest son of Ulaganathan Pillai and Paramayi Ammai. His early education was in Tuticorin. He passed a pleadership examination in 1894 and this enabled him to practise law at the local sub-magistrate's court. He then went on to practise at the nearby port town of Tuticorin.
The partition of Bengal in 1905, the rise of militancy evidenced by Swadeshi (boycott of foreign goods) movement, saw Chidambarampillai taking a direct interest in the political struggle. These were the years before the arrival of Gandhi on the Indian political landscape.
Chidambarapillai supported Bal Gangadhar Tilak and the militant wing of the Indian National Congress. He participated in the 1907 Surat Congress together with Subramania Bharati. He was one of the earliest to start the 'Dharmasangha Nesavuchalai' for hand-loom industry and the 'Swadeshi Stores' for the sale of India made things to the people. He played a lead role in many institutions, like the "National Godown," "Madras Agro-Industrial Society Ltd.," and "The Desabimana Sangam".
Commerce between Tuticorin and Colombo was the monopoly of the British India Steam Navigation Company (BISN) and its Tuticorin agents, A. & F. Harvey.
Inspired by the Swadeshi movement, V.O.C. mobilised the support of local merchants, and launched the first indigenous Indian shipping enterprise, the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, thus earning for himself the name - "Kappalottiya Tamilan கப்பலோட்டிய தமிழன்".
The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company was registered on the 12th of November 1906. He purchased two steamships, S.S. Gallia and S.S. Lawoe for the company and commenced regular services between Tuticorin and Colombo against the opposition of the British traders and the Imperial Government.
His efforts to widen the base of the Swadeshi movement, by mobilising the workers of the Coral Mills (also managed by A. & F. Harvey) brought him into increasing conflict with the British Raj. On 12 March1908, he was arrested on charges of sedition and for two days, Tirunelveli and Tuticorin witnessed unprecedented violence, quelled only by the stationing of a punitive police force. But newspapers had taken note of VOC. Aurobindo Ghosh, acclaimed him in Bande Mataram (March 27, 1908) -
" Well Done, Chidambaram! A true feeling of comradeship is the salt of political life; it binds men together and is the cement of all associated action. When a political leader is prepared to suffer for the sake of his followers, when a man, famous and adored by the public, is ready to remain in jail rather than leave his friends and fellow-workers behind, it is a. sign that political life in India is becoming a reality. Srijut Chidambaram Pillai has shown throughout the Tuticorin affair a loftiness of character, a practical energy united with high moral idealism which show that he is a true Nationalist. His refusal to accept release on bail if his fellow-workers were left behind, is one more count in the reckoning. Nationalism is or ought to be not merely a political creed but a religious aspiration and a moral attitude. Its business is to build up Indian character by educating it to heroic self-sacrifice and magnificent ambitions, to restore the tone of nobility which it has lost and bring back the ideals of the ancient Aryan gentleman. The qualities of courage, frankness, love and justice are the stuff of which a Nationalist should be made. All honour to Chidambaram Pillai for having shown us the first complete example of an Aryan reborn, and all honour to Madras which has produced such a man."
Apart from the Madras press, even the Amrita Bazaar Patrika from Kolkata (Calcutta) carried reports of his prosecution every day. Funds were raised for his defence not only in India but also by the Tamils in South Africa. Bharathy gave evidence in the case which had been instituted against him. V.O.C. was confined in the Central Prison, Coimabtore from 9 July 1908 to 1 December 1910.
The Court imposed a sentence of two life imprisonments (in effect 40 years). The sentence was perhaps a reflection of the fear that the British had for VOC and the need to contain the rebellion and secure that others would not follow in Chidambarampillai's footsteps.
In 1911, Tirunelveli District Collector Ashe was assasinated by Vanchinathan, a youth trained by V.V.S.Aiyar who had at that time had sought refuge in French Pondicherry. The British response was brutal and a witch hunt followed. And the Swadeshi movement petered out with many of its activists languishing in jail.
VOC in prison, was left to fend for himself. His wife, Meenakshi Ammal, followed him from the Tirunelveli sub jail to the Coimbatore and Kannur central jails, where he spent his term and almost single-handedly organised his appeals.
Sivaji Ganesan as VOC in prison in the film Kappalottiya Thamizhan
Chidambarampillai was not treated as a 'political prisoner'. The sentence that was imposed on him was not 'simple imprisonment'. He was treated as a convict sentenced to life imprisonment and required to do hard labour. He was "yoked to the oil press like an animal and made to work it in the cruel hot sun..." writes, historian and Tamil scholar, R. A. Padmanabhan. Sivaji Ganesan's portrayal of VOC in the film Kappalottiya Thamizhan reflected that agony and that pain.
"Among the 300 films which was Sivaji's favourite? Pat came the answer from Sivaji, 'Kappalottiya Thamizhan''. Enacting a doctor, an engineer and others are not very difficult. But to portray a person, a revered freedom fighter, whom people had met, seen and moved with, is a different proposition. So when the late Panthulu asked me to enact the role, I first hesitated. Then I decided to meet the challenge. I got all the material on V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and studied it. 'On seeing the film, I cried, not because my performance was moving but because it hit me with new impact - the sacrifice VOC and others had made for the country. When VOC's son Subramaniam said that he saw his father come alive on the screen, I considered it the highest award.'' Sivaji Ganesan on his Role in Kappalottiya Tamilan
Subramania Bharati was moved to write his வ.உ.சி.க்கு வாழ்த்து.
வேளாளன் சிறைபுகுந்தான் தமிழகத்தார் மன்னனென மீண்டான் என்றே கேளாத கதைவிரைவிற் கேட்பாய் நீ வருந்தலைஎன் கேண்மைக்கோவே! தாளாண்மை சிறினுகொலோ யாம்புரிவேம் நீஇறைக்குத் தவங்கள் ஆற்றி, வேளாண்மை நின் துணைவர் பெறுகெனவே வாழ்த்துதிநீ வாழ்தி! வாழ்தி!
The Prison Cell that V.O.C. occupied in Central Prison Coimbatore"yoked to the oil press like an animal.."
In prison VOC continued a clandestine correspondence, maintaining a stream of petitions going into legal niceties. When he stepped out of prison in late December 1912, after a high court appeal had reduced his prison sentence, the huge crowds present on his arrest were conspicuously absent. His feelings may have been similar to those of Aurobindo in 1909 - feelings which Aurobindo expressed in in the famous Uttarpara speech, soon after his own release from prison:
"It is I, this time who have spent one year in seclusion, and now that I come out I find all changed. One who always sat by my side (Tilak) and was associated in my work is a prisoner in Burma; another is in the north rotting in detention... I looked around for those to whom I had been accustomed to look for counsel and inspiration. I did not find them. There was more than that. When I went to jail the whole country was alive with the cry of Bande Mataram... when I came out of jail I listened for that cry, but there was instead a silence. a hush had fallen on the country and men seemed bewildered... No man seemed to know which way to move, and from all sides came the question, 'What shall we do next? What is there that we can do?' I too did not know which way to move, I too did not know what was next to be done."
VOC was not permitted to remain in his native Tirunelveli district and he moved to Chennai with his wife and two young sons. Having been convicted for sedition, he had lost his pleadership status and he was unable to earn his livelihood by practising the law. The Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company had collapsed. It was liquidated in 1911. He and his family had lost all their wealth and property in his legal defence.
After his release in 1912 he completed his autobiography which he had started writing in prison. It was in Tamil in a verse form. He wrote a commentary on Thirukural and edited the Tamil work of grammar, Tolkappiam. He authored a few novels in Tamil. His translation of some of James Allen's books earned him an indisputable reputation of being an erudite Tamil scholar. His Tamil works like "Meyyaram" and "Meyyarivu" reflect a creative mind, restless for uninhibited expression. V.O.C. attended the Calcutta Congress in 1920.V.O.C. showed the way for organized effort and sacrifice. Today when anybody utters the name of VOC, immediately comes to mind is his achievement as the first Indian to launch a ship service.
"The moment anybody utters the name of VOC, immediately comes to mind is his achievement as the first Indian to launch a ship service between Tuticorin and Colombo through Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company in the interest of the Nation's economy, and that too, against the British Rule. His main aim was to serve the country for attaining Independence from the British and he had all the leadership qualities in him that require achieving things in macro level. He gained the patronage from leading merchants and industrialists in Tirunelveli for establishing a Swadeshi Merchant Shipping Organization, which was unveiled on 16th October 1906. From then on, the company developed from strength to strength and laid its name strongly in the minds of everyone in Indian and foreign countries as well." Chennai School of Ship Management
"The nation will always remember V. O. Chidambaram Pillai, whose 130th birth anniversary was on 5 September 2001, principally for the pioneering role he played in building India's swadeshi shipping industry." VOC - the Doyen of Swadeshi Shipping - S.Dorairaj, 2001
On the 5th September, 1972, on the occasion of VOC's birth centenary the Indian Posts & Telegraphs department issued a special postage stamp. The citation read
"...His courage and determination to run the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company against the stern opposition of the British traders and the Imperial Governmentwon the proud acclaim of one and all..."
VOC finished his major political work by 1908, but died in late 1936, the passion for freedom still raging in his mind till the last moment. He was known as "Chekkiluththa Chemmal" - a great man who pulled the oil press in jail for the sake of his people. He was an erudite scholar in Tamil, a prolific writer, a fiery speaker a trade union leader of unique calibre and a dauntless freedom fighter. His life is a story of resistance, strife, struggle, suffering and sacrifice for the cause to which he was committed. In accordance with his wishes, VOC was taken to the Congress Office at Tuticorin, where he died on the 18th November, 1936.
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