Pillai, Chidambaram : V.O.C. Pillai (1872-1936) nationalist pleader of Tuticorin who galvanised the local merchants to launch the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (q.v.) in late 1906, which began to run steamers between Tuticorin & Colombo giving the British shipping company a run for its money. By then he was one of Tilak’s staunchest lieutenants in the South. After at the 1907 Surat Congress Session which he had attended, Tilak chose him to represent Madras Presidency at the future Congresses. As his steam company grew from strength to strength, he led a major strike of the labourers in the European-owned Coral Mills of Tuticorin. Swadeshi meetings led to widespread nationalist mobilisation in Madras. On 9th March, 1908, he delivered a speech in Tirunelveli (q.v.) asking people to boycott everything foreign & assuring them that in three months they would obtain Swaraj. The Octopus turned its Eye him & Pillai, Subramania Shiva & seven other colleagues were seized on 12th March on the charge of distributing among students a pamphlet describing a secret organisation of the Russians. In Tamil Nadu, the Brits wrecked the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Co. leading to the formation the Bhārata-Matha Association & uprisings in Tuticorin & Tirunelveli in which, Govt. claimed, furniture & records in its buildings were set on fire. Reports of these happenings appeared in Tilak’s Maratha & Sri Aurobindo’s Bande Mataram. Later he obeyed Tilak’s arrangement to work with Annie Besant’s Home Rule League. In 1920, when Tilak floated his new party in 1920, he nominated Pillai as a Secretary. After Gandhi took over the Congress at Calcutta, Pillai resigned from the Congress & back home took part in the labour movement, the non-Brahmin movement & the social reform movements in Tamil Nadu. [Vide R. Venkatachalapathy, V.O.C. Pillai, Tilak’s Southern Lieutenant, Open Page, The Hindu; R.C. Majumdar’s History of the Freedom Movement…, Vol.2, p.315-16]
... "The campaign of repression proceeds merrily Page 202 in Madras," reported the Bande Mataram on 26 March 1908. "Srijuts Chidambaram Pillai and Subramaniya Shiva are to be prosecuted for sedition (we notice, by the way, that Srijut Pillai was not allowed to see his Vakils in jail, a typical piece of bureaucratic 'justice'), the Tuticorin lawyers are being bound down to keep the... listened to his friends and escaped to French India. Otherwise, Page 198 given his predilection to face the music, he would have met with the same fate as his compatriots V. O. Chidambaram Pillai (V. O. C.), Subrahmanya Siva 1 and so many others. To the jolly tune of 'white man's justice' the Indians were made to dance the macabre dance of death. Anglo-Indian ferocity was let loose... menace to the despotic control of the labour market by British capital has been taken by the bureaucrats as a blow aimed at British rule.... The people seem to have found worthy leaders in Sits. Chidambaram Pillai and Subramaniya Siva and have so far held their own in the struggle. We await further developments with 1 'The Next Step,' an article dated 31 March 1908. Page 201 ...
... man, famous and adored by the public, is ready to remain in jail rather than leave his friends and fellow-workers behind, it is a sign that political life in India is becoming a reality. Srijut Chidambaram Pillai has shown throughout the Tuticorin affair a loftiness of character, a practical energy united with high moral idealism which show that he is a true Nationalist. His refusal to accept release... bring back the Page 975 ideals of the ancient Aryan gentleman. The qualities of courage, frankness, love and justice are the stuff of which a Nationalist should be made. All honour to Chidambaram Pillai for having shown us the first complete example of an Aryan reborn, and all honour to Madras which has produced such a man. ... Two Book Two Bande Mataram under the Editorship of Sri Aurobindo with Speeches Delivered during the Same Period 6.Feb-3.May.1908 Bande Mataram Well Done, Chidambaram! 27-March-1908 A true feeling of comradeship is the salt of political life; it binds men together and is the cement of all associated action. When a political leader is prepared to suffer ...
... How the Riot Was Made 24-March-1908 The statement of the Public Prosecutor that the cause of the Tinnevelly riots was that Mr. Chidambaram Pillai was remanded to custody and that Mr. Pillai had himself quelled a disturbance which was likely to take place at Tuticorin station, is only additional and independent evidence to support a self-evident fact. The best... In the moral struggle where determination, unity and self-sacrifice on the one side can outweigh organized power and the prestige of authority on the other, the people hold the winning cards. Mr. Pillai and his helpers fought the good fight at Tuticorin in this knowledge and restrained all violence while they encouraged the people to assert their manhood and test their Page 962 unity by ...
... of the leading figures in the agitation and revolt against the British was V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. The Impact in the South and V. O. Chidambaram Pillai V. O. Chidambaram Pillai was born in Ottappidaram, now in Tuticorin district, on 5 September 1872, to an eminent lawyer Vulaganathan Pillai and Paramyee. After completing schooling in Ottapidaram and Tirunelveli, he worked... had of VOC and their need to contain the rebellion and be sure that others would not follow in Chidambaram Pillai's footsteps. But newspapers had taken note of VOC and his activities. Sri Aurobindo's nationalist newspaper Bande Mataram acclaimed him (27 March 1908) with 'Well Done, Chidambaram'. Apart from the Madras press, Anand Bazaar Patrika from Kolkata (Calcutta) carried reports... life in India is becoming a reality. Srijut Chidambaram Pillai has shown throughout the Tuticorin affair a loftiness of character, a practical energy united with high moral idealism which show that he is a true Nationalist. His refusal to accept release on bail if his fellow-workers were left behind, is one more count in the reckoning. Nationalism is or ought to be not merely a political creed but a ...
... Bande Mataram Speech at Panti's Math 03-April-1908 Aurobindo Ghose proposed the second resolution, which was to express sympathy for Chidambaram Pillai and other leaders of the Tinnevelly riot at Madras and thanking them for the bravery they have shown in defending the cause of Swadeshi. He hinted at the oppression of the European merchants ...
... between loyalty to his country and the hope of her resurgence on the one hand and loyalty to the bureaucracy and the destruction of his people and his motherland on the other. When Srijut Chidambaram Pillai set himself to the task of Page 981 establishing a Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company between Tuticorin and Colombo, he was taking a step which meant the beginning of the end for the... look to the Nationalists of Madras to see that this is done. The British jails are not large enough to hold the whole population of Tinnevelly district; let every man follow the noble example of Chidambaram Pillai and, for the rest, let God decide. ...
... Lahore; Bharati, 15 Broadway, Madras; Dr Moonje, Nagpur:] CELEBRATE PAL DEMONSTRATION NINTH. HELP PURSE. WIRE AMOUNT. [4] [Telegrams from Ghose, Harrison Road, Calcutta, to Chidambaram Pillai, Tuticorin and Ramaswami Iyer, Tanjore:] CELEBRATE DEMONSTRATION NINTH. HELP PURSE. WIRE AMOUNT. [5] [Telegram from Ghose, Harrison Road, Calcutta, to Monoranjan Guha, Giridih:] ...
... 2) Sankarakrishna Iyer, a young farmer 3) Madathukadai Chidambaram Pillai (no relation of VOC), a green-grocer 4) Muthukumarasami Pillai, a pot vendor in his forties 5) Subbaiah Pillai, a lawyer's clerk 6) Jagannatha Ayyangar, a young cook 7) Harihara Iyer, a young merchant 8) Bapu Pillai, a farmer 9) V. Desikachari, a merchant ... not to reason why. He hated Indians Page 64 who dared to ask him why and the man he hated most in the town famed for pearl fishing was the celebrated patriot V. O. Chidambaram Pillai. On 17 June 1911, Ashe was travelling by train in a first-class compartment and when it stopped at Maniyachi, a railway junction, a young man made his way into the compartment. Suddenly... 10) Vembu Iyer, a cook 11) Savadi Arunachalam Pillai, a farmer Page 65 12) Alagappa Pillai, a teenaged farmer... 13) 'Vande Matharam' Subramania Iyer, a schoolmaster 14) Pichumani Iyer, a cook Altogether, the list included a motley crowd of men mostly in their twenties from different professions and castes but all of them had something in common ...
... had come and they kept arriving from all over the country. Among them were Ashwini Kumar Dutt from Bengal, G. S. Khaparde and Dr. Munje from the Central Provinces, Lala Lajpat Rai from Punjab, Chidambaram Pillai from the South 1 —in fact, all the leaders worth their salt. And, of course, Tilak from Maharashtra, who had reached Surat a day earlier, on the 23 rd . The happenings from December 24... everyone's heart good to see them all sit down together to their meals irrespective of caste or religion. "One day as I sat down to my meal," relates Barin, "I saw seated side by side Tilak, Chidambaram Pillai, Haidar Page 412 Reza, Aurobindo and so many others ..." from every part of the country. In the Extremists' view, "Democracy and equality between the rich and the poor ...
... Such is the content which I put into this date of India's liberation; whether or how far or how soon this connection will be fulfilled, depends upon this new and free India. VO Chidambaram Pillai serialised Tilak's biography in the 1930s in a Colombo Tamil magazine. Here is a look at the relationship between the two men in the light of the new sources and correspondence between them.... Page 128 A Special relationship: Bal Gangadhar Tilak and VOC The 1914 Letter VO Chidambaram Pillai (1872–1936), or VOC, was known contemporaneously as the ‘Tilak of the South'. Not surprising considering that he was Bal Gangadhar Tilak's (1856–1920) staunchest lieutenant in... the senior leader C Vijayaraghavachari's support for the Bombay special Congress session (August 1919), he specifically stated: "I have fully explained my position to Mr Rajagopalachary and Mr Chidambaram Pillai and they will be able to give you further explanations..." Tilak invited some Congress luminaries after the Bombay special session to Pune and VOC was among the invitees to discuss the ...
... a novel enterprise of considerable magnitude and it has suffered more than others from competition supported by official sympathy. To Nationalists it will be sufficient to recall the name of Chidambaram Pillai, condemned to a long term of imprisonment on the strength of police reports, and the plucky struggle made by the Company against overwhelming odds. The Company represents an output of patriotic ...
... many leaders of all-India calibre —world-class, I ought to say—during the Swadeshi days, such as the Mahratta Bal Gangadhar Tilak, the Punjabis Lala Lajpat Rai and Ajit Singh and the Tamilian Chidambaram Pillai. Bengal had a galaxy of them. But that Sri Aurobindo was the driving force behind the movement remains an undisputable fact. His "habit in action was not to devise beforehand and plan but to ...
... revolver. Vanchi was a married Brahmin from Shencottah who shot dead Ashe, the Collector of Tinnelvelly on 17 June 1911. Then he committed suicide. The savage treatment meted out to patriots like Chidambaram Pillai had entered the soul of Indian youth like a hot iron. However, it was poor Bharati who bore the brunt of the colonial rulers' ire. "Endless were the mischiefs played by the policemen," Bharati ...
... southern Province too witnessed Nationalist and revolutionary activity on a truly portentous scale. In his article on "The Tuticorin Victory', Sri Aurobindo paid a well-merited tribute to V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, Subramania Siva and Padmanabha Iyengar: Page 299 The Tuticorin leaders must be given the whole credit for the unequalled skill and courage with which the fight was conducted... may arrive at a consciousness of ordered strength. 26 Again, a fortnight later, Sri Aurobindo wrote on the death-grapple between the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (floated by V.O. Chidambaram Pillai) and the British Steam Navigation Company, and it was in the course of this article that the following ominous passage occurred: The persecution of Swadeshism which is now reaching the... concluded the article on this note of defiance and faith: "The British jails are not large enough to hold the whole population of Tinnevelly district; let every man follow the noble example of Chidambaram Pillai and, for the rest, let God decide." On 7 April, Sri Aurobindo had occasion to comment again on Bepin Pal and on "The New Ideal" placed by him before the nation in a series of speeches ...
... street. He composed many of his songs in Appa’s house. With V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, Chakkarai Chettiar, Jayarama Naidu, Raghunatha Rao and several teachers, lawyers and writers, they formed the first group of nationalist Tamils. Appa and the Mandayam brothers, Tirumalachari and Srinivasachari, contributed generously in starting Pillai’s Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company and in launching Tirumalachari’s... India, the five earth-elements are represented at the following kshetra (s), pilgrim centres: Water at Jambukeshwara or Tiruvanaikkaval, Fire at Arunachalam or Tiruvannamalai, Ether at Chidambaram, Earth at Kancheepuram, and Air at Kaalahasti. [12] This title was awarded to him by Raja Krishna Tarka Panchanana on 2 nd June 1900, for winning that year’s ...
... him. And so, carrying fate in his hands, Sri Aurobindo went to Surat.* * Some of the Bengal Nationalists wanted to avoid Surat, and hold a separate Congress at Nagpur, Moonje and Chidambaram Pillai supported the proposal. But Tilak wired: "For God's sake, no split." Sri Aurobindo acquiesced, and so they went to Surat. C.C. Dutt has recorded that, along with Barin, a few boys also went... Aurobindo the teacher, the poet, the man of imagination and reverie, of intuition and spiritual poise - Tilak * The Nationalist contingent from Madras was quite strong and included V.O. Chidambaram Pillai, V. Chakkarai Chetti, Subramania Bharati the poet and S. Doraiswami Aiyar. Page 269 the lawyer, the mathematician, the man of intellect and erudition, of incisive logic and ...
... 122ff; Polydaon and Hitler, 127; development of Perseus-Andromeda myth, 127-28; union of Power and Pity, 129, 147 Phenomenon of Man, The, 443ff Phillips, Stephen, 32 Pillai, V.O. Chidambaram, 235, 266fn, 299, 300 Pinto "Udar", 579, 739 Piper, Raymond R, 20, 515 Plato, 48, 418, 441 Plotinus, 441 Poddar, Arabinda, 26fh Prasad, Narayan ...
... not lead us anywhere. In that age of supermen - for among the Nationalists there were personalities like Tilak, Lajpat Rai, Ajit Singh, Bepin Pal, Aswini Kumar Dutt, Subramania Bharati, Chidambaram Pillai - Sri Aurobindo somehow indisputably steamed foremost, for it was more than human ability that sustained him, it was more than political leadership that he gave his people. As the historian ...
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