| by A. Kandappah
( August 07, 2012, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian ) With my interest in places of worship and religious sites that has taken me within and outside the country in the past 35 years, I was always keen to see and visit the Tamil village of Udappu (Udappuwa in Sinhala). This settlement is serenely nestled between Chilaw and Puttalam – some 65 miles from Colombo to the West. The opportunity came when my brother and his wife graciously offered to drive me there one Sunday morning a few days ago when I came for a brief holiday. The well-laid road from Colombo to Udappu – on the Chilaw-Puttalam road – posed few problems to the holiday motorist. We reached the village in about 2 hours from Colombo. The road to the village from the Negombo Road stretched to about 5 miles. We were somewhat slowed down by road construction work.
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" The cultural fidelity of the Hindus of Udappu annually celebrating the memory of Draupathi – the common wife of the Pandavas – is inspiring. The community has survived the hostile and marauding presence of the Portugese colonialists, the Dutch who followed and then the British." |
The history of how a community of Hindu fishing folk came to live in the village clearly engages more than one interpretation. The stories of their arrival - replete with adventure, romance, fear, persecution and nocturnal flight - much wrapped in mystery lending room for different interpretations. One said it was a community of villagers that had left their home in deep Tamilnadu , arguably, nearly half a millennia ago to protect the honour of a comely lass against an unwelcome suitor possessed of much armed and monarchial power. There is also the suggestion the original inhabitants came from the Akka –Thangatchi Madam in Rameshwaram in some form of escapade to reach the Kalpitiya area and thence eventually reaching their present home.
The cultural fidelity of the Hindus of Udappu annually celebrating the memory of Draupathi – the common wife of the Pandavas – is inspiring. The community has survived the hostile and marauding presence of the Portugese colonialists, the Dutch who followed and then the British. The tragic events of 1958, 1977, 1983 and many more - where punishment on Tamil settlements in the South was a sad feature - happily seems to have spared the village. Udappu’s isolation from the mainland may well have been yet another reason.
The encouraging saga will go down as poignant reminder of an ancient people zealously protecting their cultural hallmarks against debilitating odds. It is claimed the forefathers of these folk came of a clan owing allegiance to the traditions of the great Hindu epic – the Mahabaratha. The 18-day festival that falls during the Hindu month of Avani (between later half of July and first half of August) is focused on the Kurukkal (the High Priest of the Temple) bringing to his daily audience ancient tales from the Mahabaratha – that was the norm of teaching in ancient India. It is traditions such as this that emigrating Tamils kept alive the stories from their ancient Hindu epics from generation to generation leaving traces wherever they went – Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Mauritius, Fiji, the West Indies and many other. This was long before the invention of mechanized printing and the tremendous growth of educational tools in the recent past. The saga of the people of this village steadfastly protecting their cultural wealth despite understandable incursions is a fascinating study that will engage the interest of the discerning reader in contemporary society.
In our endeavour to learn more of the village and people, we enquired if there was anyone in authority from whom we might learn of their proud history. There was the obliging Sunderarajan – who, we are told, is a member of the Committee than runs the Temple who took time and patience to answer our many enquiring questions. He was joined by an assistant - Vaithyanathan who works in the Kovil office. It was a matter of satisfaction to learn from them nearly 20,000 Hindus are permanently resident in the village – 8,000 of whom exercising franchise rights. The people of the village are not entirely free from neighbouring influences. Their Tamil, though more of the Indian variety, contains traces of Sinhala and Islamic influence of the adjoining Chilaw and Puttalam Districts. The village is home to 2 schools with a large number of children studying upto High School levels with nearly 40 teachers in attendance. I was keen to know if the government or prominent politicians of the area take immediate interest in their affairs. I did not get far too convincing a reply except to be told Deputy Minister Neomal Perera does take some interest. I was told that MP Azwer too advocated their cause years agon when he was involved in the politics of nearby Puttalam. I noticed in the Plaque commemorating the opening of the cultural centre the names of my friends the late Minister Chandrasekeram and then MP Radhakrishnan of the UPLF. There was also reference to our friend Minister Muthu Sivalingam of the CWC. I am told they were of considerable help in the completion of the new Temple and Gopuram structure recently – the budget of which has exceeded several millions of rupees. It was good to know this was funded by Hindu devotees and well-wishers from many parts of the country. In terms of Parliamentary representation the latter mentioned MPs belong to political parties with their base in the hill country. One would have thought 8,000 entrenched votes would have been of some definite interest to MPs of the Chilaw District in their own electoral configurations – that can in turn attract various forms of regular development to Udappu. The village, at any rate, is far from a backwater fiefdom of one or the other local Don - as far as we can see. The main occupation of the villagers appear to be fishing and prawn cultivation - with some having found employment in Garment factories in the nearby Mundal area. There was not much evidence of the young from the village entering the professions or the higher level of government services – a lacuna that needs to be addressed. There is the need for a better-equipped school that can take children to University education. A State hospital and a Police Station under an SI are in place to serve the people of the village.
At a time when the country is groping to find racial unity, Udappu appears to have all it takes to prove to the country and the world Tamils can live happily, peacefully and in some degree of prosperity among the larger Sinhala community around them. The lesson of Udappu can be utilized by civil society, the State and indeed the international community to highlight different communities of varying cultural and religious persuasions can co-exist in friendship and amity after three decades of blood-letting. The government should do more to bring smiles to the relatively sizeable population in the village in providing much more in terms of investment and infra-structural development referred to earlier.
The Indian High Commission, organizations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad in Delhi and the Indian academic community are likely to take interest in the historical and cultural content of Udappu if regular and wider publicity is offered to this remarkable concentration of a people of some antiquity. Udappu can prove to be a good example of peaceful co-existence between the majority Sinhala and Tamil communities at a time when the government of President Rajapakse is high on rhetoric to bring the two communities together. A high profile visit from President Mahinda Rajapakse to Udappu at a time such as this will certainly serve the cause of peace and national amity. Such a visit can also enhance the President’s global image in the realm of reconciliation.
(The Writer was former Secy-General of the Sri Lanka - India Council)
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