Pankajam allathu Paarpana Kodumai – A Dravidian play from 1930

After being exposed to hundreds of Dravidian anti-Brahmin cultural productions I have been sufficiently numbed to be able to open any book or video and approach the contents in a cold manner.

However, even I was taken aback and disturbed by an early Dravidian book named “Pankajam allathu Paarpana Kodumai ” , பங்கஜம் அல்லது பார்ப்பனக் கொடுமை (Pankajam the/or Brahmin atrocity). This book was published in 1930 by Kudiarasu Publications, Erode which was run by Mr E.V.Ramasamy Periyar.

Also see: Iraniyan alladu Inayattra Veeran a Dravidian play from 1934

Here is an analysis of the play.

Kudiarasu – the propaganda vehicle

The book was published by Kudiarasu Press, it is useful to know a bit about it. Kudiarasu was a weekly magazine started by Mr E.V.Ramasamy Periyar on May 2 1925. It had a string of highly zealous and hard working writers who would take notes of Periyar’s speeches and write articles sometimes under his name and sometimes on their own. In issue after issue, the magazine poured scorn and venom on the Tamizh Brahmin community, its culture, spread canards and fear, used fictional conversations to portray a false reality. It boasted a circulation of 13,000 in 1929 [1], it was roughly the same as the nationalist paper Swadesa Mitran which is said to have been 17,000 in 1925 [2]. However the actual circulation of Kudiarasu does not capture its real reach. In every town and reaching into remote villages the paper would reach and be read out by a Self Respect Movement member to the villagers. [3] The magazine in my view having read almost all publicly available issues was a primary force to instill anti-Brahmin attitude into the minds of the Tamil people. They truly understood the power of the press and the need for a propaganda army to take to the uneducated masses.

The book Pankajam, was published in 1930 by this Kudiarasu Press. The cover indicates that in the first run about 2000 copies were printed by a printer in Kanchipuram. The author of this book is a certain Iyengarkulam S Latchumanar (Iyengarkulam is the name of a village near Kanchipuram).

Pankajam allathu Paarpana Kodumai – the play

The author Iyenkarkulam S Latchumanar (Lakshman) wrote this book as a play. Much in the same manner as the later Iraniyan Allathu Inayattra Veeran which was released in 1934.To a mostly illiterate audience plays offer much more effective means to to take the anti-brahmin message. The dialogs appear to be authentic and sensational accounts of what the Tamil Brahmins speak among themselves. The rustic onlooker cannot tell that what he is witnessing is not actual brahmins conversing but Dravidians acting and inventing these roles and dialogs.

The play is not written in an amateur manner but has all the structural elements as a Bernard Shaw play would. It has acts, actors, the locations laid out. The dialogs assigned. All packaged in a book format with a code, printer, preface and so on. The author seems to be fully aware of the vileness and hence uses softening language up front in preparation of what is to come. He quotes Mahakavi Bharathi in the same manner many do today. Bharathi when quoted absolves the person who is about to make a hate speech of all culpability.

The play in 12 acts

The play is set in 12 acts – each of these acts contain the vilest dialogs and plots that the Tamil Brahmin characters are assigned to speak. A masterful exercise in Freudian projection. Projection is a technique where you let out your vilest thoughts through the voice of someone else. Or you accuse the person on the other side of the wicked things that you actually do and think.

The story

There lived a Tamil Brahmin man named Padmagireesa Iyer who was an astrologer brahmin ( Panjaanga Paapaan) . He had a daughter named Pankajam, who was by nature very haughty and arrogant. In order to meet her marriage expense he tried to exploit the non Brahmin in his area by doing various rituals. In addition he would take his daughter to various non Brahmin houses and get them to give her dresses and ornaments. He had a relative Kailasam Iyer who was a personal assistant to a wealthy Naatukottai Chettiar man. They hatch a plot to exploit his generosity by working on his likes and dislikes. Since the Nattukottai Chettiar couple did not have a girl child they liked them. Padmagirieesa Iyer took his daughter and managed to dupe the Chettiar into donating 6 acres of land. The Brahmins tricks of acting as agents of city lawyers and exploiting poor Non Brahmins are exposed. Then they get her married to a Brahmin groom who demanded 2000 dowry, he managed to study ICS. At the marriage of the couple they beat up a poor Non Brahmin who entered and ate some of the wedding food. After marriage the husband goes to a border area for a job and then returns as a Collector to the same town. Pankajam is the defacto Collector her arrogant ways now out in the open. They mistreat and abuse a qualified Mudaliar boy who had come for a job. The now westernized husband now smokes a cigarette and orders a tumbler of brandy – the Collector couple vow never to allow Non Brahmins in the district to progress. Curtains.

As you can see there isn’t much of a plot here. That would require actual playwright skills like Shakespeare and Chekov. The real purpose is to use these situations to spread the vilest anti Brahmin propaganda amongst the masses.

For instance in Act 1:

Pankajam was an arrogant girl.

Well that seems tame. So many plays feature arrogant women. But look at how this arrogance is portrayed in the dialog.

Place: Agraharam house

பங்கஜம்:சூத்திரச்சி எந்நோத்துக்குடி வர்ரது; நோக்கென்ன கண்ணிலே கொழுப்பாடி மேயாது; என்னாஆஆ தின்பாளே பண்ணியாட்டமா!
(லக்ஷ்மி பையில் இரண்டு பாத்திரம் எடுத்துக்கொண்டு ஒதுங்கி வருகிறாள்)
இந்த சூத்திரச்சிக்கு என்ன கண்ணைக்கூட தெரிய மாட்டேன்ரதே; இயூச்சிண்டுன்னாபோரா.

Hey Sudra-chi – endi cant you look where you are going. do you have lard in your eyes. you eat like aaa aaa like a pig. (The servant maid takes two vessels and goes on the side) Pankajam – this Sudrachi cant even see – she is touching me and moving along.

This continues for page after page , dialog after dialog. You can now see that the non existent plot is not important these vicious dialogs are. Now imagine if you are Non Brahmin Tamil in a village who hears this play. You are bound to develop a deep resentment towards Brahmins without question. That leads us directly to the ideological base of contemporary Tamil Non Brahmin society and its receptiveness for anti brahmin content.

Act 2 : All castes insulted and exploited

In Act 2 – a skit is shown where the Brahmin Padmagireesa Iyer deals with a number of villagers and tries to extract money from them for this or that ritual. Once again, nothing much plot wise, but the dialogs are key.

The actors are Natesan – the barber. A poor caste.

Then a Naidu, Mudaliar, Reddiar, Konar, Gounder, Nayakar, PIllai – presumably representing the Non-Brahmin Elite Vanguard of the anti-Brahmin movement.

The act shows how the Brahmin deals with the caste groups differently. Speaking sweetly with the money castes – abusing the Barber and then when speaking with a fellow brahmin abuses all of them as Shudra Paya.

An example of a visceral dialog when the Brahmin dismisses the love the Poor Natesan shows by bringing meager offerings instead of lots of money. He abuses him as Kammunati, Get out.. tries to milk the rich Non Brahmin Elites (Dravidians) for money for various events like annual death ceremony, birth of a new child etc. Finally when all the “Shudra Boys” have left another Brahmin shows up “they mock all the non brahmins and say lets wash the places they sat with cowdung.” You can see how clever this is – in one step creating a Non Brahmin group as that set of people subjected to this injustice. Of course, the lack of logic that life cycle events by definition are are and hence is NOT a site of exploitation unlike day to day farm agristic slavery that the real oppressed endured. You get a new baby once every 2 years – hence you cant be oppressed every day, by definition. The only reason was to deprive some poor brahmins of their income by use of ceaseless propaganda.

Exploiting the Naatukottai Nagarathar Chettiars

A remarkable and persistent theme in this play is the focus on Nattukottai Nagarathar exploitation by Tamil Brahmins. In Acts 5 onwards , the Brahmins guile fully tricks the generous and innocent Chettiar into parting with not just money but land. The principal agent here is Kailasam Iyer the personal assistant of the Chettiar.

The Chetti and Chettichi dont have a girl child hence they love girls, that too from “Nammava” B community. Use that..

Thats why I have brought along Pankajam – the 12 yr old girl.

using the same trick our friend Ganapathi Iyer managed to get a ton of land and money from the Chetti.

The Act goes on and on – as a string of Brahmins come and go collecting various donations. The Brahmins abuse others and among themselves plot to cheat the wealthy Nagarathar Chetty. Now the masterful piece is here : A Non Brahmin audience bystander who himself wants some of that donation goodies may wonder : How is it that the Nagarathar Chetty – who is presumably an insider to the Non Brahmin Volksgemeinschaft not donating to other Non Brahmins. That is covered brilliantly.

ஆனா நான் இங்கே வர்ர வாளை விரட்டி அடிச்சுண்டுதான் இருக்கேன்; இரண் டாவது வந்துதே அந்த தரித்திரத்துக்கு மாசம் 1 ரூபா கொடுக்கச்சொல்லி செட்டி 10 நாளாகுது. இன் னும் கொடுக்காமையே விரட்டி அடிச்சுண்டு வர்ரேன். 10 தடவை இப்படி அடிச்சாக்கே தானா நின்று போகுதுங்கோ கழுதைகொ.

Kailasam Iyer : Chetty is good man he is reading Kudiarasu Dravidian (magazines) and donating to others. But I am here I am preventing and driving out any Shudra. The chetty asked me to give 1 rupee per month to that Daridiram (non Brahmin) but I drive him out , if I drive him out 10 times, he will stop coming to get money on his own accord.

This is uncommon intelligence by I.S. Latchumanaar. It is the brahmin agent or the brahmin peon or the brahmin clerk who is acting as a gatekeeper and preventing the Chettiar patron from helping the non Brahmins. In one sweep, all agency is removed from the Chettiar and pinned on the Brahmin. I have noticed that the highly dubious and improbably Kasi Episode also involved a Chettiar Mutt. In my view, it appears that Chettiars of that time period were somewhat indifferent and uncommitted to the Anti Brahminism, perhaps due to their sponsorship of Temples and Vedic schools and so on. This could have been attempts to bring them around. And boy! was it a success.

In Act 5 brahmin registrar aids and abets stealing Dalit lands

The scene shifts to a Govt Registrar office where land documents are made. Having drafted the land donation from the Nattukottai Chettiar nobleman his assistant Kailasam Iyer gets the land registered. In the office, the sub-registrar is clearly identified as an Iyengar Tamil Brahmin.

சப்ரி:- இந்தப் பறப்பயல் வந்திருக்கானோ அன்னோ?
நரசி :- ஒ; வந்திருக்கான்.
(மண்ணாங்கட்டியை அழைக்க எழுந்திருக்கிறார்)

To show that Brahmins in govt offices openly refer to oppressed with the worst slurs.

Sub Registrar : Has that :para payal come ?

Narasimman: Yes he has ..(rises to call Mannankatti)

These dialogs are highly incendiary as the Tamil word Parapayal (Paraya Boy) is a offensive slur. The play written by S. Lakshmanar a Non Brahmin makes the Brahmin character use in nonchalantly.

Land dispossessed

In the scene in the Registrar office – a scene is shown where the Dalit is deprived of his land by a hurried and deceptive process. His thumb impression is obtained on a hurriedly drafted paper by Tamil Brahmins. This is once again a masterful uncommon inteligence by author S. Lakshmanan – to show that it is the Brahmins who are responsible for the landlessness of Dalits and that the lands the Brahmins hold are Dalits. Which means the non Brahmin elites are innocent and the land they hold are legitimate and outside of Dalit claims.

மண்:- சாமி; ஆடி அரவட்டையிலே கஞ்சிக்கில்லாதபோயி நம்ப ஐயரண்டே 2 பதக்கு நெல்லுவாங்கி காச்சிக் குடிச்சிட்டோம் சாமி! அதுக்கு வட்டியும் முதலும் 25 ரூபா ஆவுதுங்கொ சாமி!

சப்ரி:- இந்தப் பத்திரத்துக்கு ஆறணா ஆறது பீசு.
நரசி:- ஆ, ஆ, இதோ இருக்கு (எடுத்து வைக்கிறார்) (சப் ரிஜிஸ்டார் பெட்டியில் எடுத்துப் போடுகிறார்)
சப்ரி:- சரி, (பத்திரத்தின் மீது எழுகவேண்டியதை எழுது கிறார். பின்பு கோவிந்தன் கையில் பத்திரத்தைக் கொடுத்து)டேகோவிந்தா! ஜாக்கிரதை எட்ட இருந்து விரல்குறி வாங்கிண்டுவா, தொட்டுண்டு வந்து சோப் போரெ; கர்மம், கர்மம்;

In Aadi, when I didnt have anything for my stomach I brought some grain and cooked and ate it. The loan now stands at Rs 25. The Brahmin Narasimmachari thereby takes the land of the Parayar.

Important is the tone : Danger stand away from him and get the fingerprint.. slaps the wrist of the scared Parayar.. insults throws him out after taking the paper. Merciless and crude. Two other Iyengars supply the Witness for the property transfer. Tamil insults ..

Any person who reads this will develop a hatred for the Brahmin characters in the play. Once again remember these are official cultural productions of the elitest of the Non-Brahmins not some riff raff.

This goes on and on .. various specific named communities are insulted, abused, and mistreated. After cheating the Nattukottai Chettiar of land – Panjakam gets married. In the wedding we see a Non Brahmin Aasaari thrashed up by Brahmins because he ate the food. The insults in Tamil supply the real impact.

‘”வல்லார ஒழிப்பிள்ளை, தடியாம்பிள்ளை, ஆசாரித் தாழி மகன், கம்மாளத் தாழிஒழி, வாய்மேல் உதை வயித் தைப்பார்த்து உதை” என்று பல தவறான சொற்களைப் பலபேர் கோபத்துடன் கூறுகிறார்கள்.”ஐயோ! ஐயோ” வென்று ஆச்சாரி வெளியே ஓடிவருகிறார். பார்ப்பனர் தொடர்ந்துவந்து மடக்கிமடக்கி அடிக்கின்றனர். புரட் டிப் புரட்டி உதைக்கின்றனர். ஆச்சாரி ‘பசி சாமி சாப் பிட்டு ரெண்டுநாள் ஆகிறது சாமி” என்று கத்திக்கத்தி கடைசியாகத் தப்பித்துக்கொண்டு ஓடிவிடுகிறார். ஒரு பிராமணர் துரத்தி ஓடுகிறார் )

This is too vulgar for me to translate – but these are the peak expletives in Tamil – have to do it.

Vallara Ozhi, Aachaari Taazhi, Taazhi Ozhi, Kammala Taazhi.. (consider them variants of mother-f…) smash his mouth, beat him on his stomach. Saying that the Tamil Brahmins chase the Aachaari (artisan caste) out of the dining hall. The poor Aachari wails — “swamy, have mercy I havent eaten for 2 days ” yet they beat him and he ran away.

Back to the Nattukottai Nagarathar choultry in Vada Thillai (Kasi / Varanasi)

After the wedding of Pankajam is completed, the bride and grooms father go on a pilgrimage. They end up at a choultry – a religious motel of sorts, established and run by the same wealthy Chettiars in Varanasi. Immediately this reminded me of the famous “Kasi Sambavam or the Kasi incident” that is given as the origin story of Periyar’s Anti-Brahminism. The Brahmins eat their full , rub their stomachs. A character named Sathakeerthi Iyer – clearly a play on Sathyamurthy Iyer of Congress is in the same mutt at that time. He explains to other Brahmins how to defeat the Shudra political power. Just like elephants are use to capture other elephants, he explains how he mixes with Non Brahmins and has many Non Brahmin friends. They will attack the Dravidians by becoming his slaves. In that way, the Brahmins will keep their interests.

There are other acts where a Brahmin woman Rukmini complains how she was touched in a bus.

Rukmini: Dad, there are Shudras everywhere now. I got on a bus they are everywhere. A Thulukkan (slur for Muslim) sat next to me and he was wearing a scent, he was touching. Then a Christian was touching against me while sitting. I was waiting for the bus journey to end.

The play ends with Pankajam’s ICS husband who has now changed his name to western A.R.G. Paul ICS (A. Rajagopal). The play shows how Selvaraj Mudaliar an innocent and qualified candidate was prevented from getting a job. The couple then vow to never allow Non Brahmins to ever rise in the district as long as they are there.

Pankajam : (alone in excitement) As long as I am in this district I will see to it that not a single Shudra will progress.

Shudra is transitively –> Non Brahmin –> Dravidian as per their definition.

The End.

The curtains close. The play ends.

The relevance today

One may wonder why is this play relevant today. These are primary cultural productions of the Dravidian movement. In 2024, the Dravidian ideology is not just strong in Tamilnadu but even the Congress Party has adopted the talking points and techniques of the Dravidian ideology [6]. It would be a different matter if Tamil Non Brahmin elite society which has ruled for nearly 100 years would have evolved a more cogent, logical, modern and compassionate view of social justice and abandoned such hateful production. However that has not happened. A mere scan of Tamil cultural productions in YouTube, Twitter, Insta, reveals a doubling down on vulgar hate videos, spreading canards, half lies, full lies against Brahmins. Dravidian Tamil literary and cultural productions of anti-Brahmin are not balanced out by other modern and academic works. Hence these are uncontested. In my Twitter journey itself many BJP or NTK people too seem to have such strong influences from their elders who would have transmitted these within their networks.

The argument of the Dravidian interpreters for Non Tamils cannot claim that these productions were a throwback to a different age when Tamil Brahmins dominated all the other castes. We are seeing it now. We are seeing the police power exercised against examination of the ideology even today. Kudiarasu and later Viduthalai were unceasing in creating the anti Brahmin material. That ideological base is the justification Tamil non Brahmin upper caste society uses for the cancellation of Tamil Brahmin individuals and all cultural elements they touch. Kovai K Ayyamuthu who was the editor for Kudiarasu for a couple of years says that the very purpose of Kudiarasu was to annihilate the Tamil Brahmins. Hence like a person who wanted to catch rats would chase it around the house, destroying the sofas, the walls, cupboards, the doors in an mad rage to catch the rat. Finally unable to find it would raze down the entire house [4]. Even if you we cringe at the rat analogy , the point made by Kovai K Ayyamuthu is totally on dot. There is no cultural element that isn’t tainted by Tamil Brahmins or its very slightly expanded version Brahmin-ism. This extends into glorious Tamil productions of the past, Parimelazhagar’s hoary classical ness (1000 yr) can be cancelled by anyone who writes a exposition of Tirukkural in 2024. Kamba Ramayanam is obscene its antiquity can be overridden by Ravana-Kaaviam, while you are at it take Periyapuranam with you. The temples are obscene and sites of oppression. There is nothing redeeming about anything Tamil because the entire span of civilization is tainted by my forebears. See Silapathikaram.. how can a Dravidian self respecter like it? Look at Madalan Marayon how he controls the king Senkuttuvan. This cancelling process goes on and on and on further and further into new territory gaining new ground. Uncontested. Until the Tamil are left with nothing by shame of their past. I am NOT a Dravidian but I am certainly a Tamil hence I need to guard that. Hence an examination of Dravidian literature is an absolute necessity. I hope all Tamils regardless of caste sit up straight and take notice. Is this art yours? If yes, let the world know it is yours.

References

[1] Naan Kanda Periyar , Kovai K Ayyamuthu, Tamizhagam Publishers 1957, p 26

[2] G. Subramaniya Iyer: The First Editor And Founder Of ‘The Hindu’- Through The Eyes Of The Indian Intelligentsia. R. Raveenthar1 , Dr. G. Rengaraju2

[3] Om Prakash Kashyap at Forward Press https://www.forwardpress.in/2022/01/periyars-powerful-journalism/

[4] Kovai Ayyamuthu “Naan Kanda Periyar” 1957 pp 17 “குடி அரசு பத்திரிகையின் ஓரே நோக்கம் பார்ப்ப வர்களை ஒழித்துக் கட்டுவதுதான். எலி பிடிக்கப் போனவன் எ எந்தெந்த இடத்திலும் பொருளிலும் இருந்ததோதையெல்லாம் அழித்தொழித்துக் கடைசியில்,வீடிருந்தால்தானே எனியிருக்கும் வீட் டையே ஒழுத்துவிட்டாள் எலி இராதல்ல என்று தன் வீட்டையே எரித்துச் சாம்பலாக்கிய கதைபோல கரும் பார்ப்பனுக்கும், பார்ப்பளியத்துக்கும் எங் கெய்கே, எவ்வெவற்றில் வளர்ச்சிக்கும் செல்வாகிற்கும் இடமிருப்பதாகஎருகியுரோ அவற்றையெல்லாம் தவிடுபொடியாக்குவடுதன கீச்சயித்துவிட்டார். சாடு யிலே,அடங்கிலே, சாத்திரத்திலே,கோயிலிலே,குளத் இளே, புராணத்திலே, இதிகாசத்திளே மதத்தியே கடவுள் என்ற எண்ணத்திலே, எங்கெங்கு பார்ப்பளம் நுழைந்துள்ளானே

[5] Pankajam Allathu Paarpana Kodumai, Iyengarkulam S Latchumanar, Kudiarasu Publications 1930. Available online at Tamil Digital Library

[6] “In attempt to rebuild Congress turns to Dravidian ideology”. Times of India April 6 2023 Link