NAGAPATTINAM: What made Mahatma Gandhi dedicate his life for the uplift of Dalits? Historians say it was his visit to Porayar in 1915.
On May 1, 1915, Gandhiji visited Porayar in the district and stayed there for a few days. The events that led the Mahatma to visit this tiny town located in a remote corner of the country, are quite interesting.
When Gandhiji was in South Africa, R B Chetty, a native of Porayar and a flourishing businessman at Durban, became his close friend. Chetty used to tell Gandhi often that he must pay a visit to Porayar when he returned to India.
When Gandhiji started his satyagraha against racial discrimination in South Africa, Valliamma, a 15-year-old girl, daughter of an immigrant labourer from Thillaiyadi village near Porayar, joined him in the agitation. She was imprisoned and lost her life in the jail exactly on her 16th birthday.
These two instances made Gandhi visit Porayar soon after his return. Gandhiji stayed at Chetty’s house at the Kumaran Koil Street and paid a visit to the ancestral home of Thillaiyadi Valliammai and the house of one Selvam, a migrant labourer from Thillaiyadi, who also lost his life at Durban.
During his stay at Porayar and the subsequent visit to Thillaiyadi, Gandhiji witnessed the extreme poverty and the miserable lifestyle of the Dalits and the agricultural labourers.
Professor Maria Lazar, a historian and former head, department of commerce, TBML College, Porayar, says the living conditions of the Dalits in the area created a profound impact on Gandhiji. Verbal accounts of Gandhiji’s Porayar visit state that he spent his stay at R B Chetty’s home reflecting deeply on the issue.
“Probably, it was at Porayar, Gandhiji decided to dedicate himself for the uplift of Harijans,” says Lazar.
Today, the historic house at Porayar, where Gandhiji stayed, bears a tablet ‘Gandhi Thankiya Illam’. In 1969, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi handed over the tablet to Rathinavelu, grandson of R B Chetty, during his visit to Thillaiyadi.
In a tribute to Gandhi, Nehru once said: “Wherever he trod became hallowed land, wherever he sat became a temple”.