Sunday, January 18, 2009

Madhavan KK and Dakshayani

In the State of Cochin, at the time of Maharaja rule, one of the rajahs had forbidden any meeting of the untouchables, on “his land”. The waters were mentioned, so, a member of Pulaya Community in Mulavukad island (aka Bolghatty) assembled a flotilla of rafts in the back waters around Bolghatty and convened a meeting. The hero here was Kallachamuri Krishnaadi Asan. The first ever graduate from Pulaya community was his grand niece Dakshayani (she was an MP I guess). Dakshayani’s brother, K K Madhavan (master ) was a lawyer, MP and editor. When Madhavan Master was admitted in the Sudheendra Hospital at Chittoor Road, Ernakulam, KR was on an official visit to Kerala. Mr. Narayanan, then President of India, indeed paid a visit to the hospital. Guess they were friends.

Like most of the sons of Bolghatty, KK Madhavan had moved to the mainland Ernakulam, probably lived somewhere in Kaloor. In the Elamakkara area there is a lane named after "KK Madhavan Master""

Dakshayani's children were educated in Delhi. One is/was in the airforce, and another joined the Indian administrave service (IAS).

14 comments:

  1. i think you got some facts wrong..... but you seem to have so much of history.... i could help you with getting some facts straight.

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  2. In the State of Cochin, at the time of Maharaja rule, one of the rajahs had forbidden any meeting of the praja congress (precusor of Indian NationalCongress), on “his land”. The waters were mentioned, so, a member of Pulaya Community in Mulavukad island (aka Bolghatty) assembled a flotilla of rafts in the back waters around Bolghatty and convened a meeting. The hero here was Kallachanmuri Krishnaadi Asan.Kallachanmuri Krishnedi Asan and his family embraced Christianity and his baptised nae was John.John (Kallachanmuri Krishnaadi Asan ) was one of the contractors of Wellington Island .Kallachanmuri or Nallacahnmuri was also called Sastampadikal by a branch of the family.Kallachanmuri Krishnaadi Asan was the last titular head "AYEKARA EJAMAN" bestowed on the family by the Cochin maharajas.*
    * this is another piece of history which has to looked into. How did a "PULYA " family held large tracts of land and were well versed in sanskrit.The family lost lands due to intercine family feuds.The family held large tracts of land in Alwaye and N.Parur.

    The first ever graduate from Pulaya community was his grand niece Dakshayani ,member of the constituent Assembley and MP of the first parliament 1952 along with her husband Mr.R.Velaqyudhan . Dakshayani’s brother, K K Madhavan (master ) was a freedom fighter,lawyer, MP and editor(Veekshanam paper). When Madhavan Master was admitted in the Sudheendra Hospital at Chittoor Road, Ernakulam, KR was on an official visit to Kerala. Mr. Narayanan, then President of India, indeed paid a visit to the hospital. (Guess they were friends.) They were related by marriage , his brother-in-law Shri.R.Velayudhan was the uncle of Shri.K.R.Narayanan.

    Like most of the sons of Bolghatty, KK Madhavan had moved to the mainland Ernakulam, probably lived in Mamangalam,Edappaly.In the Elamakkara area there is a lane named after "KK Madhavan Master""
    Dakshayani's children were educated in Delhi. One was a major in army, and another joined the Indian administrate service (IA&AS)retiring as a member of CAT Delhi.The youngest is the present Indian Ambassador to Tanzania.

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  3. sorry its "Krishnedi " not Krishnaadi

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    1. Thank you jawahar for adding facts to my story, or correcting my errors. My father was fan of Madhavan master, and I had met Mr. Madhavan twice. He was a polite man. Also straight. My father said, if Madhvan was a crook, he would have been a Minister.
      I remember meeting one relation of Madhavan master, Buggy or Baghirath.

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    2. Dear Mr.Lona Toppil,
      Thank you for yr post.... following typo in my post which m correcting
      quote
      'In the State of Cochin, at the time of Maharaja rule, one of the rajahs had forbidden any meeting of the praja congress (precursor of Indian NationalCongress), on “his land”. since " waters" not mentioned, a member of Pulaya Community in Mulavukad island (aka Bolghatty) assembled a flotilla of rafts in the back waters around Bolghatty and convened a meeting. The hero here was Kallachanmuri Krishnedi Asan.Kallachanmuri Krishnedi Asan and his family embraced Christianity and his baptised nae was John.John (Kallachanmuri Krishnaadi Asan ) was one of the contractors of Wellington Island .Kallachanmuri or Nallachanmuri was also called Chartampadi or Sastampadikal by a branch of the family.Kallachanmuri Krishnaadi Asan was the last titular head "AYEKARA EJAMAN" bestowed on the family by the Cochin maharajas.*
      unquote.John elder brother Kurians children were KK Joseph,KK Francis, KK Mary KK Madhavan master n his sister Dakshayani. KK Joseph elder brother of KKM n KKDakshayani deigned not let his younger siblings embrace Christianity...he had the foresight to let his siblings get the advantage from the forthcoming constitution of free India..KK Madhavan mother Mrs ANNA Kurian came from a landed family of ellangunthpuzha ..Bhagirath is the youngest son of Dakshayani .
      Your father was right ..KKM refused to be s part of the kerala congress partys idea of putting thru a coalition govt in the state though he stood to become a minister in the govt..His two children are KMVeena of MPEDA N KMKarmchandran of the agri dept.

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  4. Greetings to Veena and Karmachandran.
    Also Buggy (pet name)
    Hey Buggy, eons ago, I met you at a house in West Patel Nagar.
    I think KKM's son, Karmachandran, lives some where near Kaloor, where there is a road named after Madhavan Master is found.
    Greetings to all my fellow Bolghattians.( those who do not live in Boghatty should know that, real name of the island is Mulavukad.

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  5. Buggy is now Secretary General of Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC)..Karmachandran is jt.dir with dept of agriculture. Yes he lives on KKM road.

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  6. There is a pocket road off SRM road in Krishnedi Asans name. Believe this was done by cochin corporation a decade ago.A souvenir was released during the function, the cochin corp might have it in the archival section

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  7. Hi,I am KMKarmachandrans/o KKMadhavan.The original house-name of the family seems to be Saasthaampadikkal. The first man to migrate to Mulavukadu was Kuruppachan (about 5 generations back).The Saasthaampadikkal family members came to Mulavukad with their stone deities probably having some connection with ancientBuddhism (hence the name).Kuruppachan was the real Aikkara Yajmaan and was widely respected all over Bolghatty-Mulavukad areas.His son was Paanghi.Not much details about Paanghi available.Paanghi's son was Chaathan.He was also a prominent person.He used to wear clean white dress along with a 'Thalappaavu '/cap which created envy of authorities. He was the leader or 'mooppan' of granite stone wokers of coastal lands.They lived enblock in Kallachammuri parambu(Land locality).Chaathan was travelling on a contry boat along Cochin backwaters. A group of soldiers of Paaliyathachan (Head ofCochin armed forces) were travelling in the opposite direction.They asked 'who are you'?.Chaathan replied that his name was Chaathan. The soldier beheaded Chaathan with one flick of the sword that too without any notice or provocation. It is not clear whether the head was recovered from water or not. Kallachammuri Kunjhan andKallachammuri Krishnaadi(Krishnedi/ Ishnaadi in short forms) were sons of Chaathan.The raised the Chaathan incident as an issue and gathered some benefits.One such achievement was getting some land from the Cochin Government for construction of Subrahmanya temple at Ponnarimangalam. Later the temple was constructed and its full charge was conferred to Chaanjchan(Later MLC).Kallachammuri Kunjhan and his wife Thayyithara Maani produced 5 offsprings(children).They were Kunjhikkannan (later JOSEPH),Kunjhanbava (later FRANCIS),Mary(original name not known),KKDakshayani(later Dakshayani Velayudhhan) and KKMadhavan.Among them Dakshayani and Madhavan progressed well in education They received monthly scholarships worth Rs Five per month. At that time one bagful rice costed only Rs One only.So they became economically independent. Father Kunjhan later became a'sanyaasi' capable reciting some MANTHRAS and MANTHRAVAADAMS .He died when Madhavan was six months old. Kunjhan never embraced Christianity.After death he was given the hypothetical name of KURIEN for the purpose of aadhaaram transactions by Kunjhikkannan(mentioning his own name as Kallachammuri Kurien Joseph).Madhavan and Dakshayani were away from home studying outside Kerala when other members of their family embraced christianity(CSI).Mrs Mayo Robbins and her troups came to Mulavukad and stayed in Krishnaadi's house for about one week and persuaded the family to throw their deities to ponds. They tried to give Dakshaysni and Madhavan some suitable christian names even in their absence,but Dakshayani and Madhavan rejected these when they came to know about it. Mother Maani nurtured her children well.At the end of her life she too embraced christianity under the influence of elder children. By this time Dakshayani and Madhavan emerged as prominent figures in politics.But they never questioned theirmother's right to choose the religion of her choice. The mother continued to live with her Hindu son and daughter. The Hindu son as well as daughter permitted to bury the body of the mother after her death to rest in peace. The name mother Maani recieved was Anna. She used to wear a costly golden christian ornament known as MEKKAMOTHIRAM which were fitted on the upper part of her ears after piercing the ears. Mary's son MPJRajan snapped a photograph during the fag end of life of Anna,which was kept in our house.Madhavan Master's wife Thevi alias Devi actually persuaded Madhavan Master to worship his mothers photograph every day when he was leaving home for his duties because she was much worried about Madhavan's negation of god .

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  8. DakshayaniKK ( later Dakshayani Velayudhan was the 1st graduate dalit woman from entire India.Ambedkar the 1st among men. Her husband R.Velayudhan (we called him Delhiyile Uncle) was the labour (welfare)officer in Tata company at Ernakulam. Their 1st son DrReghuthaman(alias DrOpeh) graduated MBBS from JIPMER medical college Pondichery.He was the duty doctor of smt Indira Gandhi Prime Minister when she was shot by Sikh terrorists. 2nd son was anIA&AS(INDIAN AUDITS AND ACCOUNTS SERVICE)officer and was expired about 2 years ago(KVPrahlaadan).The 3rd son is KVDhruvan(Hotel management)living at Ernakulam.The 4th one is an activist woman popularly known as Meera Velayudhan.5th is KVBhageerathan(Bhagi)who is an IFS(Indian Foreign Service)retired officer (former Ambassador to Tanzania?)now living in Delhi.Dr Reghuthaman Opeh R is living in Pondichery.

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  9. DETAILS OF NEXT GENERATION OF KALLACHAMMURI KUNJHAN'S SONS AND DAUGHTERS: Kunjhikkannan'sFamilly -Two daughters in his 1st marriage.Elder daughter was Clara who went to Madras((now Chennai) for job and married a Muslim person very liberal person of course whom we called FAMILY. She died in Chennai itself.My sister Veena visited her at chennai when she was sick .The 2nd daughter of Kunjhikkannan was Esther(nicknamed asChinna) who married Philip from North Kerala(Kunnamkulam?).Philip worked in KSEB at Kakkayam,while Esther practiced Homoeopathy.They had 3 children two boys and one girl. Clara had only one son.After coversion to christianity Kunjhikkannan (JosephKK) lost his wife (death)and he became very old and needed help.So he married another lady named Sicily.Together they sold tickets of lineboat service.After his death Sicily continued ticket-vending,hence the name of Sicily Jerry after her.They had one son almost of my same age:Shibi/Sibi.He is a pastor (Pentecost /yahovasakshi) at Kattakkada,Trivandrum.He was my playmate during childhood whenever we waited at the Sicily jetty for a boat.I thankfully remember the occasion when he came all the way from Trivandrum to visit my house at Mamangalam and invite for the marriage of his daughter. Grandfather KUNJHAN'S 2nd son Kunjhanbava (later KKFrancis had only one son. He is KFKurien (Mani) now living near Chottanikkara temple.He has two daughters both married. 2nd in the array (I think) wasKunjhan's 1st daughter Mary(original name not known. At an early age she was married to a very pious man whose name was Philip(Manianthara house,Ponnarimangalam,Mulavukad)who lived about 500 metres awayfrom Madhavan Master'residence.Philips original name is not known.He always carried a Bible and was very proficient in singing Christian mass song in the CSI church.God only knows whether he understood the meaning of the lines ofEnglish mass songs.They had six children.Among them M P Leucos was electrician in merchant navy ships.,MPJoseph Rajan (MPJRajan)was in the writer-staff of MalayalaManorama(very fond of reading books);Epsy was nurse in Hariyana/Ludhiyana. Lilly (unmarried) was a post-office savings agent (recently expired).MPFrancis was the 3rd son who was a good singer and electrician in his younger days and served in the marketing division ofPopularAutomobilesErnakulam and he later joined the Advocate General Office At Ernakulam and completed his service to become a pensioner (expired a few years ago).The youngest son of Mary was Kunjumon who expired prior to MPFrancis.The well known nickname of Francis was Shikhaan.

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  10. Sicily jerry may be read as SICILY JETTY 😊

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  11. Krishnaadi Asaan was the son of Kallachammuri Chaathan. Krishnaadi embraced christianity in later part of 1920s AD. Sir Robert Bristow landed in Cochin in 1920 AD. He took Krishnaadi Asaan in his boat to know the status of currents and undercurrents of water in KOCHIKKAAYAL.Krishnaadi became the labour contractor for the constuction of Wellington island. The elder sons of Kunjhan were the stone mason workers under Krishnaadi. The connection of Krishnaadi with the British persuaded Joseph (grand father of S Jawahar ), and Francis(Kunjan Bava ) to embrace christianity. On construction of Cochin port the British became very powerful in kerala. There was no information that India would get freedom. The world war 2 hadnot started at that time when they embraced christianity. Jawahar's statement claiming that his grantfather Joseph foresaw the chances of freedom of India is totally false. KKMadhavan and Dakshayani were granted scholarships of about Rs 5/- per month. The price of 100 kg bag of rice was ഒൺലിഴ്‌സ് 1/-at that time. This financial independence and and the self read knowledge prevented them from conversion. The real name of Krishnaadi Asaan after conversion was KCJohn= Kallachammuri Chathan John. However he couldnot change the name of his father CHAATHAN and elder brother Kunjhan because Chathan and Kunjhan were already dead by that time. 😊

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  12. KKMadhavan and Dakshayani KK received scholarships from their schools.

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