The Event was organized by the Legal Centre for History of South India on 08th of January 2022 under the Suthanthira Thirunaal Amudha Peruvizha (STAP) program. The session started with a welcome address by the Vice-Chancellor Prof. (Dr) V.S. Elizabeth wherein Professor welcomed the gathering and highlighted the importance of this special talk.
Following this Mr. Hareesh Krishnan, II B.A., LL. B(Hons) introduced the Resource Person Mr. Sriram Sharma, who is a renowned theatre artist, writer and director. He has researched on the legendary queen Velu Nachiyar for 15 years.
The resource person started the session by speaking in English and then switched to Tamil, as he found to be a better medium to share his thoughts. He commenced his talk by saying that women are empowered in many fields, and their contribution in the society has increased and will increase with time. Hence recognizing their contribution and preserving their history is of paramount importance, that preservation must come from women rather than men, that is a real kind of empowerment. The history of Rani Velu Nachiyar asserts this kind of notion to the society, said Mr. Sriram Sharma. Sivagangai is the only province which has the history of victory against the Britishers. This was possible because of the selfless acts of Rani Velu Nachiyar, Udaiyal and Kuyili. The history of these three brave women can be said to be a perfect example of women's empowerment. Apart from the freedom struggle, Rani Velu Nachiyar was much oriented towards social justice. She sought help from people of different castes and religions. Hyder Ali was a muslim but she didn't hesitate to get help from him, just because he was a muslim. She proved that if we unite together forgetting all the differences, then freedom is easily achievable.
Mr. Sriram Sharma, shared his research experience where he was not able to find a single book or a library which had information about Rani Velu Nachiyar, and this prompted him to research on the first woman freedom fighter of India. He continued to say that even the information available on google was after 2004, stemming from his research. The reasons why the resources on Rani Velu Nachiyar are not available is because, it is difficult for the patriarchal society to accept the truth of women's victory over the Britishers, and the Britishers felt that it would be a dishonor for them to accept their defeat, and that is why they didn't record the history of Rani Velu Nachiyar.
After the resource person’s speech, we had two student researchers of TNNLU, Ms. Vaigai Ratna II B.A., LL. B(Hons) and Mr. Mehul Saravanan, II B.Com., LL. B(Hons) sharing their research experiences about Rani Velu Nachiyar and Veerapandia Kattabomman respectively. This was followed by a question-and-answer session. The resource person answered the questions on the reason why Rani Velu Nachiyar learned two European languages: English and French and any difference in the contribution to the freedom struggle by Rani Velu Nachiyar and Veerapandia Kattabomman. Mr. Sriram Sharma, answered that Rani Velu Nachiyar believed that the communication would be effective if she was able to communicate without an interpreter. As the English and the French were rivals, the help of French would be an effective force against the English. Then answering the second question, he said there was no difference between the two freedom fighters and their motive was only oriented towards freedom struggle without noticing and acknowledging the difference between them.
Later he addressed a question on the inclusion of the said untouchables in the freedom struggle movement. The resource person responded that the freedom struggle initiated and headed by Rani Velu Nachiyar was something ahead of caste and religion, representing the true spirit of unity. The people of that time were united, because they were facing a grave violation of the right to breathe, so they didn't have time to think of caste or religion. All they wanted was to fight against their common threat: East India Company.
After the Q&A the Vice Chancellor shared her views on the freedom fighters and on the session. She opined that there are a lot of personalities who are only known to a few people, but have made a huge contribution. Rani Velu Nachiyar, Veerapandia Kattabomman and Savitribai Phule are among those unsung heroes whose birth anniversary, interestingly falls on 3rd January. Just because everyone praises and researches on a few people, it is not that all researchers follow those norms. It is the duty of the students of history to research on such heroes who are not well recognized. In such a manner, Mr. Sriram Sharma, has made his contribution in bringing to light the selfless contribution of Rani Velu Nachiyar.
The history of Rani Velu Nachiyar shows that she is multilingual, and it is fascinating to note that she viewed language as an important means of communication, and learnt many languages to speak directly without an interpreter. She didn't consider Urdu as a Muslim language and considered it necessary and so she learnt it. The Varnashrama dharma was put forth in the south by the Brahmins who came towards the South, but Rani Velu Nachiyar broke that Varnashrama dharma and other kinds of discrimination. She is a role model that we can aspire to in terms of women's empowerment and leadership.
The event concluded with a Vote of Thanks by Ms. Nithya Sowmya IV B.A., LL.B(Hons) who thanked all the people behind this successful event.
