Right of Temple Entry - Softcover

Most of the earlier chapters appeared in serial form in 1929 in “Revolt” the weekly English journal published by Comrade E.V. Ramaswamy of Erode. Before the whole series could be published, the journal ceased to exist early in 1930. Much water has flowed beneath the bridge since that time and when some friends asked the writer to republish those articles in book form, he was a little diffident about it. So much learning and research had gathered round the subject during the interval as to have necessitated a recasting of the whole matter in order to have some semblance of scholarship about it. On the other hand, there was never any pretence or profession of learning when these articles came to be published; it was intended, as was stated in the opening article, mainly for laymen. The writer has adhered to the original idea and therefore this is merely a reprint with slight alterations, amendments and additions, wherever they were deemed absolutely necessary. The writer thanks Comrade E.V. Ramaswamy for permission to reprint and for encouragement given to the writer to do it. The writer acknowledges his indebtedness to several scholars and histories who have dealt with this and other PREFACE xii Preface cognate matters at great length, notably to Messrs. K. Subramonia Pillay, M.A., M.L., P.T. Srinivasa Iyengar M.A., L.T., S. Srinivasa Iyengar B.A., Paul Appaswamy M.A., Bar-at-Law., J.C. Gosh M.A., B.L., P.R. Ganapathy Iyer,B.A., B.L., V. Nagamiah B.A., and ever so many others. The writer was not able to get at a copy of the Despatch of 1841 of the Board of Directors in England to the East India Company and the connected proceedings by which the British Government came to give up its control over Hindu temples. But a very good idea of what led to such divestment can be had from the extract taken from “A History of Missions in India” by Julius Richter D.D., (Indische Missione-geschichte) and quoted as Appendix A, at the end of this volume. It merely confirms the present writer’s inferences dealt at length in the body of this book. My thanks are due to all my friends who have assisted me in various ways to bring out this book, especially to Mr. M.D. Daniel B.A., the Proprietor of the Alexandra Press, Nagercoil, for correcting the proofs, which proved something of a nuisance to the writer with his inexperience in these matters and with his moffusil professional practice. The temples situated on the West Coast have to be viewed from a slightly different angle even though some general observations contained in this book might be applicable to them also. The writer hopes to cure some defects and many errors which are found in the book in a future edition.

P. Chidambaram Pillay, popularly known as P.C. Pillai, was born on February 7, 1887 in the Nagercoil town of the Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. His father Palaniya Pillai was a popular merchant in Trivandrum. P.C. Pillai was a brilliant student right from his school days. He obtained his B.A. degree at an early age. He joined as a lecturer in Maharaja Women’s College in Trivandrum in 1909. Later he obtained his B.L. degree and started his practice simultaneously in the Nagercoil district court and Trivandrum High Court. He was the most popular among the leading advocates of his time. He was offered twice the post of a judge by the government, but he refused the offers because of his deep involvement in serving for the upliftment of the society. P.C.Pillai was closely associated with V.O. Chidambaram Pillay. They often met and exchanged their views. His association with Periyar E.V. Ramasamy in the Self Respect Movement was commendable and he acted as Periyar’s legal advisor. He has delivered speeches in hundreds of Self Respect Conferences. He started the Trivandrum Bank and the South Travancore Traders’ Association. He was a member of the Travancore Assembly and served as the Municipal Chairman of the Nagercoil Municipality. He served as either a President or Consultant for almost all associations formed for the welfare of the Travancore Tamilians. He was instrumental in organizing the Mass Movement for a separate district for the Tamilians in the then Travancore State. Later on, this movement resulted in the annexure of Kanyakumari to Tamil Nadu. P.C. Pillai was well-versed in Tamil, Malayalam and English, and was a good writer and orator in all the three languages. He has authored several books in Tamil and English including The Aryans and Dravidians. He published a Tamil weekly Tamilan for many years, in spite of financial loss. In this magazine, he wrote a serial article “Tamil Maagaanam” which was the foundation for the “Thiruthamilar Iyakkam”. His research articles on social reformation were published in leading magazines of his days, like Revolt, Kudiyarasu, and Thiruvithancore Abimani. He published a collection of these articles under the title Right of Temple Entry. This book was banned those days in the Travancore region by the then Diwan Sir C.P. Ramasamy Iyer. He was the founder President of The Saiva Siddhanta Nool Padhippu Kazhagam and served in this capacity until his death in 1951.