Indrum: Where are we today?
We live in a globalized world where any isolated entity is doomed to fail. We also live in an ever changing world where today’s trends are age-old customs tomorrow. To quote late British Prime Minister Harold Wilson, “He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” On one hand, the repercussions of the decline of our money lending business were felt at the social organization of our community in the subsequent years. Our family structures have collapsed, weeklong weddings are impractical, and our traditions are being questioned. On the other hand, our jobs decide our lifestyle and the cultures we come in contact with. And this, in turn, influences our everyday lives. The more exposure we have, the more knowledge we gain. While we learn to accept the good things we come in contact with, we also begin to question the established beliefs of our community. We have learned to balance tradition with modernity, superstition with science and religion with spirituality. Thus we can see that both the factors: transitioning of old identity and acceptance of new thoughts, bring change. This is slowly changing our identity. If the very essence of our identity ceases to exist, does that mean that we as a community will cease to exist?
Let us closely examine one aspect of our identity - we are still identified with money lending business, though most of us are not engaged in it today. But, if we look at the money lending business purely as a domain where Chettiars applied their business acumen to accumulate wealth and earn trust, then this is applicable to all forms of work and is not confined to money lending practices. In general, every individual earns money and builds
10
trust, this is not so unique to a Chettiar either.
Let us take a different perspective on this issue - Money lending in general could have been the most promising enterprise during those days. If being a chettiar equaled being a money lender, then, following the downfall of money lending practice, our ancestors just did not give up the fight and slump in defeat. Instead, they ventured into unknown industries like fertilizers, films, manufacturing, sugar, textile, pharmaceuticals, banking, etc. For this we need to credit our ancestors for their spirit of adventure and enterprise. It is these qualities like the ‘spirit of adventure and enterprise’ that should be transferred to the future generations, because that is our identity. Being driven out of Conjeeveram or Burma did not slow us down or stop us, we simply re-grouped and re-established ourselves.
This takes us to the most crucial question - what makes us a Chettiar? We believe the answer to this question holds the key to our survival as a community. In the past, our uniqueness resided in core components like our lifestyle, beliefs, philanthropy, business practices, characters and traditions. It is for the same reason that Thurston decided to document us as a separate community in his volumes a hundred years ago. But now the very essence has dissipated. We are no longer associated with the traditional business practices or lifestyles, nor do we engage in large scale philanthropy. What we are left with are our beliefs and characteristics.
We are seeing changes in lifestyle that are more subtle, but no less significant: weddings today are not restricted to palatial homes and can instead take place in wedding halls nor are they a week long celebrations; the
Thiruvadirai (function for unmarried girls) and Pudumai (function for bachelor boys) do not take place anymore. Nishimura Yoku writes that historically our community was opposed to inter-caste marriages since marrying an outsider implied flow of property to non-chettiar lineage and it was never the case with the purity of the caste! We are seeing cases of these nowadays.
So, the question is, how do we determine what is our identity? How do we continue to promote and preserve qualities unique to our community viz. philanthropy, festivals, traditional weddings, cuisine, religious beliefs, etc.? At this juncture we should also mention that Tamil language is crucial to preservation of our culture. A looming question that appears instantaneously is
- will these
components stand the test of time? Ultimately, it is left to history to judge us in the years to come. Moral qualities can keep this community alive forever. Acts of philanthropy will leave a lasting legacy. For instance, the temples built by us in Rangoon stands tall when the people who built it (Chettiars) are long gone. Our ancestors went about their everyday life and yet they were recognized for their contributions to society in the years that followed, were they not? So what are we contributing, that will be remembered by the future generations?
Endrendrum: Preserving our heritage
The biggest obstacle that the authors experienced when writing this report is the scarcity of information. Literally, it is a information vacuum as far as our heritage goes. Perhaps this could be a leading cause for ineffectiveness
in
parents’ transferring
information to their children about our community. To do an effective transfer, we will need to know who we
March 2012
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60