Women Historians of Tamil Nadu
During the period of more than sixty years that have elapsed since Dr. Minakshi‘s work was prepared, several new copper plates and stone inscriptions have been discovered in the different parts of the country, throwing fresh light on the various aspects of the subject and expressing appreciation for their good work. Dr. C. Minakshi had joined the Department of Indian History and Archaeology at Madras University under Professor K.A. Nilakanta Sastri and took up research on “The Administration and Social Life Under the Pallavas” (Published in 1938) The historical sculptures of the Vaikuntha Perumal temple at Kanchi were the focus of her study, and after visiting the temple scores of times, she personally scraped away the lime plaster coating that lay encrusted on the figures in the panels with a wire brush and water carefully and delicately. In it, Dr. Minakshi has attempted a systematic review and estimate of the administrative and social data gathered from contemporary inscriptions and literature, though every reader of the book may not accept all the interpretations offered for the posed to view the fine lineaments and features of the figures depicted. All these pan- de were considered by the early historians and scholars of South Indian history to be mythological. has authored four books, namely Feudatories of South India, Palu-Vettaralyars, Studies in the History of the Sangam Age, Studies in Chola History, and over sixty research papers.
A perceptive scholar as she was, Dr.C. Minakshi felt instinctively that they were all petrified chapters of Pallava history and proceeded to study them panel by panel. In the light of the then-available historical details about them, R. Gopalan’s basic material helped her to steer her course through the somewhat uncharted sea of the history of this famous dynasty. In her book on Feudatories of South India, she has made an attempt to present a connected history of some of the important feudatories who ruled over small areas from 800 to 1070 AD as subordinates of the Chalukyas, the Pallavas, the Pandyas, the Rashtrakutas, the Gangas, and the Cholas.
In this work, the study is restricted to the following feudatory dynasties: (1) the Banas, (2) the Nolambas, (3) the Vaidumbas, (4) the Muttaraiyars, (5) the Kodumbalur Velirs, and (6) the Paluvettaraiyars. Most of them flourished for about 300 years, roughly 700 AD She had recourse to the study of the volumes comprising the Indian Antiquary series, the South Indian inscriptions, the Epigraphical Reports (Madras, Mysore, and Travancore), etc., for the understanding of the famous epigraphical records extant in the temples: Epigraphica Indica series for building up her knowledge of all the copper plate grants such as Kasakudi, Velurpalayam, Hirabadagalli, Bahur, Udayendram, Anbil, Kuram and Kendur, etc., and Gopinatha Rao’s “The Hindu Iconography” as well as Krishna Sastri, OC Gangoly and Bhattasali for her knowledge of South Indian iconography and Acharya’s “Silpasastra”, Manasara, Raa’s “Pallava Architecture” and Langhurst’s “Pallava Architecture“, etc, for equipping her knowledge of Pallava art and Dr. Balambals‘s book Studies in the History of Sangam Age have two parts. The first part of the work deals with the home life of the Tamils, the flora of the Sangam age, the Chera-Chola relationship, the status of women, crime and punishment, and agriculture in the Sangam period. The second part is meant for the comparative study made with the use of Arthasastra and early Tamil literature, which has resulted in Saptanga theory and state in the Sangam age, economic concepts of Kautilya and Valluvar, legal principles in Arthasastra and Tirukkural, and the institution of prostitution. Dr. V Balambal, formerly a Professor of History in the University of Madras and now a Principal of a College in Chennai Her book Studies in Chola History deals with some great women of the Chola dynasty, the nomenclature used in Chola temples, the importance of chola royalty and their divine honors, the portrait sculptures of the Chola royal family, some art forms during their period, their religion’s endeavors, the administration of the Rajarajesvaram, the significance of temple grants, Sabha’s control over lands, the role played by Brahmins and the feudatories, the promotion of agriculture and irrigation, and crime and punishment during the Chola period. Most of the published and unpublished epigraphs, copper plates, coins, contemporary literary works, and other published works have been consulted, along with photographs, and many facts about their history, architecture, iconography, and administration are detailed. An attempt has been made to trace some of the earlier features and date many of the temple structures on the basis of their architectural features and available literary evidence. Some of the temples in the neighborhood of Madurai have been similarly studied. The city, its old forts, and its palaces are covered. An attempt has been made to trace the layout of Tirumala Nayaka’s palace.
Dr. Saroja Sundarajan book on Madras Presidency in pre-Gandhian Era: A Historical Perspective, 1884–1915 bears the stamp of a seasoned researcher and provides a fascinating, hitherto unattempted, account of a momentous period, an epoch less epoch, in the history of Madras Presidency. A dispassionate review of the Colonial administration of the Presidency during the thirty-one years (1884–1915), which witnessed the reigns of eight governors, mentions their strengths and weaknesses, describes them warts and all, and never fails to give the devils their due. Using archival materials, including the private papers of Governor Ampthill and the personal collections of Viceroys and Secretaries of State for India, the author draws her logical conclusions about the rules and the ruled, about the power hungry and the rebellious, and presents them in a lucid, persuasive style. Three chapters of the book deal with the six sessions of the Indian National Congress held at Madras in 1887, 1894, 1899, 1903, and 1914, not only to highlight the contribution of the Southern Presidency to the National Movement but also to assess the volume. Dr. (Mrs.) A.J.Thinakaran‘s doctoral work on “The Second Pandyan Empire” is not only the most comprehensive but also the most valuable from the point of view of research. Political history is taken as the principal theme, yet the social, economic, and cultural trends of the times have been adequately highlighted. The coins, maps, inscriptions, and synchronistic chart, as given in the work, add to its value. The work “Madurai through the Ages” by the lateDr. D. Devikunjari was her doctoral thesis submitted to Madras University. She was an eminent scholar who served as special officer in the Archaeological Survey of India before death snatched her away. In preparing her thesis, she did extensive fieldwork in the Madurai temple. Her erudition and hard work are evident in every page of her treatise. The Madurai temple has been studied in a fairly detailed manner, fully illustrating the impact of the great party on the elite and the public. These chapters also make, inter alia short references to the sessions that preceded and succeeded the six congresses held at Madras Finally, the book becomes an eloquent plea for greater recognition of the sole played by the leaders and people of the erstwhile Madras Presidency struggle for independence, as the subject has not received adequate justice in the hands of earlier historians. truly commencing from 1890 The period is undoubtedly one of great rain and ms,atvolving and prsitacal conditions The sid place no stable structure had yet ben buit The village which was the center of all economic life was being disrupted and as self the Indian Dr. Sarada has in this work prencntod these and other aspects of thc coonomic conditions of the Madras Presidency in an objactive manner. She has made use of all Sources and materials, examined their relative importance and trustworthiness and fully documented her narrative. Of particular interest are her chapters regarding trade, transport, and prices. Her account of the influence of the economic policy of the state on famine policy, irrigation, and generally on the economic conditions of the people throws a flood of light on the theoretical foundations of such a policy. The conclusions which she arrives at follow from the facts which have been set forth and are marked by objectivity and impartiality Her book, March to Freedom in Madras Presidency 1916–1947, sheds fresh light on the Presidency’s contribution to the epic struggle for freedom. A connected account of the national movement in the Madras Presidency had long been a desideratum. This is perhaps the first attempt at giving a cogent, comprehensive, and well-documented narrative in English of the Presidency’s role in the Indian National Movement. The book fulfills the author’s aim by proving that Madras was not “benighted” but “enlightened.” She describes the active and significant role that the formerly composite Madras Presidency played in the struggle for freedom with conviction and clarity. Her work is a kind of historical research in the South that commands respect because of the painstaking research it involved for fresh materials and the balanced judgment it expressed on all controversial issues. Dr. A. Sarada Raju‘s book on Economic Conditions in the Madras Presidency 1800–1950 came out a time when a full and detailed economic history of India of the nineteenth century, embracing all aspects of the economic life of the people, Dr. Dharma Kumar‘s book Land and Caste in South India has confined her study to the nineteenth century, when British rule consolidated, since little information is available on the British period. She had chosen the area of the Madras Presidency since it had yet to be written. It is a study of the economic conditions of the Madras Presidency in the second half of the nineteenth century.
Raiyatwari, a system of collecting land revenue that is held to have hastened the decline of the old village community, was operated here. The rates were also higher than elsewhere, and the proportion of land-less people to the total population is greater here today than in any other part of India. Held individuals responsible for payment. This led to the destruction of the old village communities. They brought changes to the law, which made it possible to sell land. The peasants were forced to sell land for non-payment of taxes of to pay the money – lenders. According to her, landless agricultural laborers were not wholly created during the British period, as there was a sizable group of laborers at the lowest rung, both economically and socially, of the village hierarchy. She is also uncertain if this group’s position has deteriorated, as the facts are so uncertain as causal relationship can hardly be established. Of the two parts of this work, the first deals with the agrarian situation in South India at the outset of British rule and some of the institutional changes brought about by the new administration. First, the actual agrarian structure in the early years of the nineteenth century is analysed; from this analysis alone, the presumption arises that even as early as 1800, there must have been a demand for a labour force outside the family of the cultivator. The traditional institutional forms of this labour are next described, as well as the connection of these institutions with the caste structure. On the basis of this In Dr. Dharma Kumar’s book Colonialism, Property, and the State, she examines diverse issues that have been important in history writing in India, such as the nature of the Colonial state, changes in land distribution, the invisible sector, and the extent of taxation in Mughal and British India. She says, “This volume brings together several essays, mainly historical, written over the past three decades or so. Some of these essays have not been published before. Some of the papers have been stimulated by conferences. When, such as the two papers on invisibles in the South Indian economy in the first half of the nineteenth century and on the back of polarization in land ownership in Madras Presidency, are offshoots of my writing are not of general interest, though all scholars will recognize that chance dictated what they wrote on certain occasions, rather than an intellectual master plan” connection, the number of agricultural workers in 1800 has been deduced from the caste structure at the end of the nineteenth century as shown by the censuses. The second part of the work is concerned with the main economic factors that may have contributed to the growth of landlessness during the nineteenth century. She concludes that the British rule and the flooding of India with foreign manufactures destroyed domestic industries and so drove the artisans onto the land. The British introduced in certain areas a system under which land revenue was assessed at high rates and was payable in cash, and which Dr. D. Janaki‘s book Socio-Economic Conditions of Tribal Women in South India contains nine chapters depicting the various Customs, Culture, Marriage Systems, Religious Ceremonies, Educational Systems, Economic Development and Social position of tribal women. The Government’s role in developing the tribal women has been widely described in this book, especially its efforts after independence has been highlighted. They have been provided with many pack- ages such as free housing, free education, free hostels and scholarships. Not surprisingly, the educational status of tribal women has also increased during the five-year plans. The diffused aspects of the environment and tribal life are nevertheless so well interwork. Her second book on Trade, Ideology and Urbanization focuses on two major periods of Urbanization in South India – the early historical period (300 BC -AD 300) and the early medieval period (AD 600 – 1300) – prior to the rise of the Vijayanagara empire. The First phase of Urbanizations in attributed to Mauryan expansion and external trade. This phase is marked by a lack of enduring structures. The second phase of Urban development in the early medieval period is perceived as process, from agrarian expansion to urban growth, which is centered on the brahmadeya and temple institutions. The temple cities of this period continued to dominate the urban landscape of South India even after Vijaynagara and Colonial rule introduced new forms of Urbanism and Vaisnava Iconography in the Tamil Country” was Dr. R. Champakalakshmi‘s doctoral work from the University of Madras, where she also lectured on Ancient History and Archaeology, Later, she joined the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi and retired as Professor of Ancient History parallel structures in City formations. The author discusses Urbanism not merely in terms of economy and demography but also as a function of Chola imperialism and Bhakti ideology. The study is confined to the Vaishnava sect in the Tamil speaking region of South India and to the time span of 300 BC to AD 1300. However, it is broad in its sweep of observation and analysis on social groups and religious systems. The basic Vaishnava concepts and beliefs, the major and minor forms and avataras of Vishnu, the principal and secondary goddesses and deities of the Vaishnava pantheon as well as syncretic terms are all examined in depth in the course of tracing the development of the iconography. Prof. R. Champakalakshmi has edited along with Prof. S. Gopal the book entitled Tradition, Dissent and Ideology in honour of Prof. Romila Thapar. Organized around the themes of tradition, dissent and ideology, which are in many ways central to Romila Thapar’s concerns, this collection of essays covers a time span from the Vedic age to the Nehruvian era of Indian history and ranges across cultural regions from ancient Mesopotamia to Sri Lanka.
Dr. Nandita C. Krishna‘s book The Art and Iconography of Vishnu Narayana is based on her doctoral work submitted to other technical literature and, very interestingly, from early Tamil and allied literature as well, and tried to prove how certain allied works lend themselves to the most at the University of Bombay. She had chosen one of the noblest themes and dealt with it at length and in an original way. She had gone off the beaten track and had probed into the theme from the point of view of world religion, legend and myth, tradition, and belief. She has compared the concepts of Narayana and Vishnu in India, going into the very source of etymology here in India itself, and analogy with similar and like concepts in other parts of Western Asia and even in Scandinavia and Central America, infecting every part of the world. Her approach was refreshing. It may be that one may not accept every theory of hers, but her cogent argument and brilliant exposition compels attention. She has not only dealt with the theme but has also gone into the derivation of a plausible interpretation in such contexts. Besides, she has authored several other books like The Arts and Crafts of Tamilnadu (Mapin Publications, Ahmedabad), Manuscript Paintings of the Sarasvati Mahal Library (Sarasvati Mahal Library, Tanjore), Madras Chennai (CP Ramswami Aiyar Foundation, Chennai), co-authored “Ganesha” with her mother Shakunthala Jagannathan (Vakils, Feffer and Simons Ltd), edited Shakti and Kanchi (both CP Ramaswami Aiyar Foundation) and very recently her book on Balaji – Venkateshwara (Vakils, Feffer and Simons (PIT Dr. V. Suryakumari‘s books Temples in Andhra Desa (Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi), “Echoes from the Past: Quit India Movement (Mother Teresa University Publication, 1992), and “Women’s Studies: – an Academic Discipline (Gyan Publishing House, New Delhi, 1993) are good contributions from her. Her colleague, Dr. PN Premalatha, has also co-authored a book in words. She has carefully gone into the derivation of Narayana and Vishnu and described at length the attributes, the major ones like sankha, chakra, gada, and padma, as well as minor attributes like the saruga bow and the sword nandaka that has been named by her as Khadgapurusha, the personified sword, which is such a prominent one in the Seshasayi panel of the Gupta period from Deogarh, as well as the Srivatsa mark. She has also discussed at length the mount and the couch of Vishnu, Garuda, and Seshanaga in a very interesting way. Dr. Nanditha has traced all these concepts from the earliest sources in India, from the Vedic texts, from the Epics, Itihasas, and the Puranas, and from Tamil on “India Pengal Pandaya Kalam Muthai 1947 Varai” in 1997, which is useful. Undoubtedly, these women historians of Tamil Nadu have set high standards for not only women but also for their male colleagues and successive generations of research scholars to emulate. Thus, this address is a tribute to these great women.