Part 1 -Roots of a Palghat Brahmin Boy

Hugely impressed by ROOTS, Alex Haley's landmark book in 1977, that traced the ancestry of an Afro American to Africa that spanned over 3 centuries, me and my father set out to trace our roots. Since hardly any written material existed, 1/n

we had to depend on the memory of some of the old timers in the family. My own grandfather lived upto 93 and then there were couple of his distant cousins who lived more than him.

It took us about a year and a half to find out our lineage on the paternal side. 2/n

The lineage goes something like this

Rajan(Ramaswamy)>Venkateswaran 1 (father) --> Krishnan 1 (grandfather) --> Venkateswaran 2(fathers grandfather) --> Krishnan 2 (grandfathers grandfather) --> Venkateswaran 3 ( grandfathers great grandfather)

That is 6 Generations 3/n

You would have noticed that the sons take after the grandfathers name, except in my case. But that is because I am not the eldest in the family.

I do have a brother who is 8 years older to me, Krishnan, who retied as a Senior Executive with Indian Overseas Bank. 4/n

And Male Progeny was limited to one till our generation. Lineage miraculously sustaining.

We are tamil speaking Palghat Brahmins, though I consider myself to be more of a malayali than tamilian.Most Palghat Brahmins had migrated from the Thanjavur District of Tamil Nadu, 5/n

about 350 kilometers away generations ago. They settled in droves, replicated the agraharams of Thanjavur District, and brought with them the rich tamil culture based on piety, knowledge and festivities. 6/n

One of the most adaptable of the communities,they took to Palghat like a duck would to water and enriched the local culture while imbibing all the good qualities of the equally rich malayali culture. People like me are blessed to be the beneficiaries of both cultures. 7/n

Over the last two generations, the tamil brahmin community of palghat has migrated first to Bombay and from there to mainly US. Today you can see more Palghat Brahmins in Chembur, Mattunga, Dadar in Mumbai and in the various cities of United States of America than in Palghat. 8/n

Coming back to my family history, Venkateswaran 3 found the going tough in Mayiladuthurai in the erstwhile Thanjavur District on the eastern coast of Tamil Nadu. He came by road in mid 1800's (our estimate is that it should have been around 1820) with his family and 9/n

settled on the banks of the Gayathri river in Kollengode , 20 kms from Palghat town.

He was an expert Brick Maker. For setting up a Brick Kiln, you need the right soil, lots of water and wood. All the three were available in Kollengode, 10/n

which is on the banks of Gayathri river with its fertile soil and close to the mountains that provided the wood. In fact he took a house in Pudugramam (New Village). That is where his son Krishnan 2 also stayed. He led an uneventful life. 11/n

Since he lacked his father skills in making bricks, he bought arable land and started cultivating paddy.

Only exciting thing to happen to him was he tripping over what apparently was a stone on the banks of river Gayathri just beneath the Pudugramam while going for a bath 12/n

When he tried to find out what caused him to trip, he found out it was a Ganapathy idol in stone.He took the initiative to install the diety on the river bank & later a small temple was built. Temple still exists & is patronized by many who come to take bath in the river.13/n

The place where people take bath near the temple is still called Krishnan Kadavu,after him.

His son Venkateswaran 2 (Venkateswaran Paatta) was an agriculturalist after his father.He moved his family away from Pudugramam,purchased a house in Perumal Kovil Gramam (PK Village) 14/n

about 4 kilometers away. The significance of this move was that the family moved away from the Banks of the river. Venkateswaran Paatta (Paatta means grand father)died young, he was about 50 years old when he died of an incurable disease. 15/n

There are rumours that he was afflicted with leprosy, but there is a black veil over his disease, which is understandable. This, however, could not be verified.

His dying at an early age put all the burden of the family on my Grandfather, Krishnan 1 or Krishna Iyer. 16/n

He was very young and immature to take up the responsibility of a large family that included him and his 3 sisters. A very carefree character, he was good at networking and was the livewire in the village. Not very devout, he was the quintessential organizer. 17/n

He was also renowned for his selfless service to the Village members and extremely honest. Struggling to make both ends meet, he survived on a small job he held in the Co-operative store as a Clerk (he was known as Store Krishna Iyer), 18/n

augmented by the income he got from the agricultural land in the base of the mountains 7 kms away. The land was leased out as 'paattam' to the 'kudiyan', who ultimately took advantage of the Land Reforms Act and got complete possession of it. 19/n

After 1970s, he lived on the meagre income he got as lease from the tiller, and the money sent by my father. He also maintained 2-3 cows, whose milk Grandmother sold to the nearby houses. He immersed himself in temple acitivities, essentially as an organizer. 20/n

By 1980s most of the youngsters from the village had migrated, but they trusted my Grandfather. During the Car Festival in the temple, they will send donations only to him and no one else. 21/n

My enduring image is of him sitting on the verandah writing post cards in his lovely handwriting to the migrant birds from the village living in Mumbai or Chennai. He married the daughter of a Magistrate The and she never made him forget that. She was dominant 22/n

My GF Krishna Iyer had one son, my father Venkateswaran, and one daughter. He had the forethought to see that the next generation cannot survive without Education. He put all his hopes on his son, borrowed money and educated my father, who was brilliant in his studies. 23/n

Presiding Deity of the Village is Sree Lakshminarayana Perumal.Temple owned lot of property which were usurped by Govt.

House in PK Village did not have electricity till my father graduated & got married in 1954.

.........To be Continued in Part 2 of the Thread 24/n