In heart of delta, a village of Tamil teachers and scholars

In a typical Tamil Nadu village, it is common to see outsiders asking just for the ‘Vaathiayar Veedu’ (teacher’s house) and also directed to it without any hitch.
Retired and working teachers at the Ilankaadu village
Retired and working teachers at the Ilankaadu village

TIRUCHY: In a typical Tamil Nadu village, it is common to see outsiders asking just for the ‘Vaathiayar Veedu’ (teacher’s house) and also directed to it without any hitch. But in pastoral Ilankaadu, which has earned the sobriquet ‘Teacher Village’, asking for the ‘teacher’s house’ would not take the visitor anywhere. With 1,900 voters, the village situated on the banks of the river Cauvery has about 100 teachers, working either in government or private schools and colleges.

More importantly, majority of them are Tamil teachers. Situated about 12 kilometers from Kallanai, the Grand Anicut and surrounded by irrigation canals, Ilankaadu, in Thanjavur district, appears like a green carpet throughout the year. Besides paddy cultivation, another activity that happens all through the year is the public learning of Tamil. The reason behind the villagers’ overwhelming passion over Tamil language and them becoming teachers dates back to 1881 when ‘Nattramizh Sangam’ was established at the village.

Tamil scholar Pandithurai Devar arrived at Ilankaadu for the inaugural of the Sangam 138 years ago and since then, the villagers have been learning Tamil almost every day. Scholars like UV Saminatha Iyer, Maraimalai Adigal, Somasundara Barathiyar and many others have spoken at the village. Until 15 years ago, Tamil classes and speeches were being held every evening. 

a child at a household library and
a child at a household library and

Tamil, a way of life
Nalla Chinnaiyan, a government school teacher, aptly put it, “In those days, while mothers were feeding their babies, simultaneously their ears heard the speeches of Tamil scholars at Nattramizh Sangam. So, most of the people here grew up with Tamil.” Chinnaiyan works as a Physical Education teacher at a government school in Vallam. “When I joined the school a decade ago, there was no Tamil teacher at that time. I took Tamil classes then,” recalled Chinnaiyan, who did M Phil in Tamil though his UG was in Physical Education.

Similarly, retired headmaster G Ponnambalam (79), who is presently the president of Nattramizh Sangam, studied MA History but out of interest, took Tamil classes when he was working in a government school. Nattramizh Sangam is located near a Shiva temple at the village but does not organize events frequently as it did years ago.

Teachers everywhere
From 83-year-old retiree T Kuzhanthaivelan to 33-year-old M Chinnadurai, there are too many teachers, including women, in Ilankaadu. The village’s most famous son of the soil is the late organic farming pioneer and environmental crusader G Nammalvar, popular all over Tamil Nadu and outside of it. Also, this is the ancestral village of Tiruchy Siva, Rajya Sabha MP. 

Another reason for the many Tamil teachers in the village is the Karanthai Tamil Sangam, presently Tamilavel Umamaheswaranar Karanthai Arts College, and Rajah’s college at Thiruvaiyaru offering Tamil Pulavar course in Thanjavur district. Naturally many youngsters joined those colleges and graduated in Tamil. Villagers said that until a few years ago, Karanthai College was like their home as at least 50 persons from Ilankaadu studied there every year. Retired Tamil teacher Muthuveeru alias Barathi Nesan said, “Interestingly, two natives of the village became MLAs to represent Thiruvaiyaru assembly segment decades ago, G Murugaiyan and G Ilangovan. Both were teachers earlier. They resigned their jobs to become MLAs.”

A letter of appreciation written
by UV Swaminatha Iyer | Express

He further said “The villagers were addicted to Murugaiyan’s Tamil literary speeches. Similarly, if Ilangovan, though he was a Maths teacher, started speaking on Silappathikaram, a Tamil epic, the people would be all ears. Inspired by the literary speeches at the Sangam, many youngsters came forward to study Tamil at our village. That is why our village is called as ‘Land of Pulavars’.”

Among the three sons of late S Thirunavukkarasu, who ran a small tea stall at the village, two sons – T Arumugam and T Singaravelu became government teachers while the youngest son T Senthil Kumar has gone into business. However, all three daughters-in-law are teachers. T Arumugam, who teaches Tamil at Thiruverumbur government Arts College, is the current secretary of Nattramizh Sangam. Apart from teaching, the extent of awareness on education among the villagers has landed many in good positions.

For instance, 94-year-old K Appar Nattar, who had discontinued his education after third standard, was keen on educating his three children. His elder son A Selvam, 53, had completed PhD in IIT-Madras. One of his two daughters is an MD, practicing medicine in USA. Besides, there are engineers and advocates at the village. Also, there are some persons who have taken up agriculture at the village even after graduating in Tamil. Not surprisingly, the declining of job opportunities for Tamil teachers has worried the villagers.

Declining opportunities
Village youth Chinnadurai, who teaches in a private college in Tiruchy, said, “As job opportunities for Tamil graduates have been shrinking, the number of persons opting to study Tamil is also declining at our village. Consequently, youngsters study different courses now including engineering. Despite this, still, there are few youngsters from our village studying Tamil now.”

As the Nattaramizh Sangam events are open to all the people, including Dalits, at least six teachers from the community have become teachers. While a couple of them work in government schools, others work in private institutions. Most importantly, the houses of these teachers have a library. Those household libraries consist of mainly Tamil books. They train their wards and grandchildren in Tamil literature. Many children read Tamil literary works fluently and recite Thriukkural couplets and other poems by rote. 

T Arumugam, secretary of Nattramizh Sangam, said: “Over a period of time, most of the teachers from our village, including me, have settled in towns and cities for work and are also considering their children’s studies. Apart from teachers, a few farmers too have rented houses in Tiruchy and Thanjavur and enroll their wards in schools and colleges.

Only some of the teachers presently live at the village. This is the main reason behind not conducting Tamil classes and other literary activities on daily basis.”However, the office-bearers are planning to conduct at least one event every month regularly on the full moon day, in order to revive the activities. They are also planning to hold small events now and then, with the help of retired Tamil teachers, by reading out poems from Tamil epics like Thirukkural and also taking Tamil grammar classes to the benefit of village children. 

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