V Shankariah Naidu - Zamin of chennapa naicken palayam , TN

ZAMIN OF CHENNAPPA NAICKEN PALAYAM

The illustrious House of the great Komarappa Naidu of the South Arcot District traces its ancestry to Tapakala Krishnappa Naidu, the ruler of the Ginji Fort under the agis of the now Forgotten Empire of Vijayanagar. This ruler of Ginji constructed many new temples and renovated the old and time-honoured temple of Tirukoilur. We find inscriptions bearing the name of Tupakula Krishnappa in several temples of the South Arcot District.

Komarappa Naidu belonged to the Kshatriya Balija caste; and his caste men, who had been warriors till the advent of the Muhammadans, took up trade as their profession thereafter. It can be seen from the existing records that as early as 1752 Komarappa Naidu was carrying on his trade, which mainly consisted in the export of Indian goods to foreign countries in his ships and the import of precious stones, horses, elephants and the products of other countries. He owned sixteen ships and in a few years he made enor mous profits.He constructed the Komarappa Naickenpettai, a suburb of Tiruvendi puram in 1780 to attract weavers from other parts of the country. He rend ered substantial pecuniary help to the weavers and thus enabled them to pur chase the looms and other necessaryappliances. The East India Company, which had just settled in India for carrying on trade between India and England, sought the help of the famous over seas merchant, Komarappa Naidu and established commercial relations with him which remained cordial throughout.

Komarappa Naidu, who had been religiously disposed from his boyhood, left his entire business in the hands of his son Sankariah Naidu, shortly after the latter came of age and spent the remaining years of his life in religious study. It was during this, his age of retirement, that he built many new teruples and gave a fresh lease of life. to the old ones in the district. The pious Komarappa used to feed large numbers of Brahmins and pandits daily and more so on festive occasions. He breathed his last in peace in 1819 at the age of eighty-five. We find the image of Komarappa carved on the stone pillars in the Mantapams of the Tiruvendipuram and Tirupapuliyur temples. A monumental Shaivite temple has been erected over his remains in one of his gardens on the bank of the Gadilam river, in which Archana is daily performed. His wife, Mangam mal, has renovated the shrine Sri Dagaleswar Perumal at Tirukoilur, in a prominent part of which we find an inscription bearing her name.

Sankariah Naidu, who was sixty-five years of age at the time of his father's demise, had already risen to promi nence. He considerably improved the trade of the family, particularly that with the East India Company and con structed more ships. He acquired con siderable landed property in the South Arcot, Chinglepet and Tanjore districts. In 1809 he purchased the small Zamindari of Chennappa Naiken Poli em, a few miles to the west of Cudda lore, which also includes the village of Naduvirapattu.

To facilitate his export and import trade, he established ports at Cuddalore, Pondicherry, Porto-Novo and Karaikal. He had a big firm at Madras, on the grounds of which now stand the Madras Christian College, the Anderson Hall and the buildings of Messrs. Parry and Company. He constructed a num ber of choultries among which those at Chidambaram and Tirupapuliyur deserve special mention.

Sankariah Naidu married two wives. He had one son, Devanayagam Naidu by his first wife and four sons by his second wife, Ramaswami, Chendrase khara, Balakrishna and Chinna Deva nayagam. Sankariah Naidu died in 1826.Devanayagam, the eldest son, on the demise of his accomplished and educat ed wife, renounced the world and went on a pilgrimage to the sacred shrines throughout India. Srirangam was the last place of pilgrimage which he visit ed and it was here that he spent the rest of his short life in the spiritual atmosphere of Vedic recitals and religi ous observances. Like his famous grandfather Komarappa, Devanayagam was a saintly character, ever spending large sums of money on charitable and religious undertakings. He purchased seven houses in the seven präkārams of the Srirangam temple and presented them to poor and deserving Brahmins. Much to the grief of his father, he pass ed away in 1822 at Srirangam leaving a son named Komarappa. This Koma rappa, in loving memory of his pious father, had the whole Dhwaja Stham bham of the Srirangam temple lined with sheets of gold bearing inscriptions in several Oriental languages.

On the demise of Sankariah Naidu, the whole estate devolved on Rama swami, the eldest surviving son; but the latter died in 1829, when the pro perty was registered in the joint names of the next younger brother Chandra sekhara and his nephew Komarappa, the only son and heir of the deceas ed Devanayagam; and a division of the property was soon after effected. Komarappa, who was considered to be a spendthrift, was given only a com paratively small portion of the estate for his share; and all the members of the family came to an understanding that the whole estate should pass to those who had male children.

Chandrasekhara died issueless in 1837 and Balakrishna succeeded him. But Balakrishna, then the only surviv ing son of Sankariah Naidu, having also died issueless in 1849, there was a dispute as to the succession between Thayammal, the widow of the deceased, and one, Viraswami Naidu, who claim ed to have been adopted by Balakrishna. The Government ordered that the property should be managed by the Collector of the district during the pend ency of the suit. The suit lasted seven teen years and at last in 1866 the Privy Council overruled the decisions of the lower courts and, setting the adoption at nought, decreed the property in favour of the widow. In the confusion of affairs that arose on the sudden death of Balakrishna Naidu, the volu minous and important records relating to the trade of the family and the cor respondence with the East India Com pany were mostly lost and the available records were taken away by the Col lector. It is therefore difficult to write a more detailed history of this renown ed family. Certain properties acquired in other districts were not properly thanaged by the Collector and property worth thirty to forty lakhs of rupees was also lost to the family, in as much as the possessors of it became its mas ters. After the estate was handed over to Thayammal in pursuance of the de cision of the Privy Council, it remained in her hands for seven or eight years, during which period she wasted some ten lakhs of rupees by her extravagance. Komarappa Naidu, who had severed his interest in the family property by his division, did neither question its mismanagement nor attempt to recover the lost properties, which had been ac quired by the late Sankariah. Koma rappa died in 1855 leaving two minor sons, Devanayagam and Sankariah Naidu, the latter of whom is the present Zamindar. The minors were under the guardianship of their maternal uncle, who, along with Devanayagam, squandered a large portion of the Estate.

Mr. Sankariah Naidu was born in 1852 and after completing his element ary course of education at Cuddalore, went to Madras for the prosecution of his studies. While Mr. Sankariah Naidu was studying in the Zillah School, Cuddalore, the Headmaster Mr. Mc Car thy and his able assistant Mr. T. Chellappa Pillay took great interest in the educational progress of the boy. They plainly saw that his guardian and his elder brother Devanayagam were squandering the money of the estate ; and, fearing that there would arise a hindrance to the prosecution of Mr. Sankariah's studies, took a written undertaking from his guardian that the rent of the Zillah School, a sum of sixty rupees per mensem, should be given to minor Sankariah for the pro secution of his studies at Madras. It was Mr.:Chellappa Pillay that sent boy Sankariah to Madras along with his own brothers for the prosecution of his studies. He studied in the Pachai appa's High School there till the seven teenth year of his age.

In the mean time the numerouscreditors of his guardian and his elderbrother Devanayagam had obtaineddecrees against them and brought all the properties of the family for sale. Young Sankariah Naidu then had to file a minor's suit in the District Court of South Arcot for the partition of his father's estate against his guardian, his elder brother Devanayagam, and the judgment creditors. Mr. T. Chellappa Pillay, who had set up his practice as a lawyer all Cuddalore by that time, advocated the cause of Mr. Sankariah Naidu. But shortly after taking up the suit he join ed the Judicial service of the Travancore State and was posted as the District Judge of Alleppey and later on as the first Justice of the Chief Court of Travancore. While he was District Judge, he took leave from the Travan core Government and worked for Mr. Sankariah Naidu for about six months, with the special permission of the Dis trict Court at Cuddalore. The Court exonerated the minor's share from all liabilities; and when the creditors pre ferred an appeal to the High Court, the higher tribunal confirmed the decision.

At the request of Thayammal the property was taken over by the Court of Wards for its proper management; but Thayammal having changed her mind, put in a second petition to the Government for restoring the property to herself and she was given possession of it after the termination of the litiga tion in the Privy Council in 1866. Ten years later the Government granted her a permanent Istimrar sanad for the Muttah, the peishcush having been fixed at Rs. 3,991-5-3.

On the demise of Thayammal in 1890, Mr. Sankariah Naidu applied to the Government to have the estate regis tered in his name. His brother Deva nayagam, who had become an ascetic, consented to the registration and Mr. Sankariah Naidu was placed in com plete possession of the estate, which was registered in his name. His only elder brother Devanayagam breathed his last ten years later.After the demise of Sankariah Naidu I, the business of the family began to decline owing to the division of the family property and the incapacity of the members to manage it, and later on owing to the long-continued litigation.

Mr. Sankariah Naidu, the present Zamindar takes a keen interest in the local and district politics. In 1888 he was elected a member of the Cuddalore Municipal Council and later on as a member of the Cuddalore Taluk Board and the South Arcot District Board. He was an active worker in these capacities till the year 1912. He is a pious Hindu (as so characteristic of his family), and he has been an elected member of the District Devasthanam Committee of South Arcot for about wenty-seven years.

In 1889 he was appointed as horonaary Magistrate of the Cuddalore Bench Court and he served in this capacity for about sixteen years. He was Honorary Magistrate of the 1st and 2nd class Bench Courts from 1912 to 1917. He then resigned his office in favour of his eldest son Mr. Komarappa Sankariah Naidu.

He has been a non-official Visitor of the District Jail of South Arcot for over fifteen years and of the Agricul- tural and Research Institute, Coimba- tore, from the time when it founded. The services of this public- spirited gentleman have been availed of as the president of a number of educational institutions and popular associa- tions of the district. He has also been the Secretary of the National Indian Association and the Agricultural Asso- ciation of the District for over ten years. Mr. Sankariah Naidu deserves to be nominated to the Madras Legislative Council; and two successive Governors of Madras, their Excellencies Sir Murray Hammick and Lord Pentland have written to him informing him that his name would be considered as vacancies occur in the Legislative Council. It will not be a surprise for the public if he will shortly be raised to the Legislative Council.

Mr. Sankariah Naidu takes great care to follow the noble lead of his forefathers as regards public and private charity. He is ever ready to adequately support useful and philanthropic institu tions. His four sons and two daughters add to his family felicity. His eldest son Komarappa Sankariah Naidu being trained in the management of the Estate. His eldest daughter Janak Ammal has been given in marriage Mr. L. Venkatesam Naidu, B.A., the Forest Officer of the Bangana State, who belongs to a noble Zaminda family of Madras.