Marthandams of Vijayanarayanam

This history of the Marthandam family of Vijayanarayanam in Tirunelveli district of Tamil Nadu is a typical chronicle of the land holding elite in the erstwhile Madras Presidency of British India. This brief work is, however, not an attempt at writing the history of the Marthandam family. This is only an organized effort to trace the genealogy of the family from the time of Sivanthi Manna Marthandam (1648) when the Sir name Marthandam was bestowed upon this Family. Tradition has it that the patriarch of the family, Sivanthi Mannan, was conferred the honorific, Marthandam, by the then King of Travancore after he helped the sovereign quell a rebellion in the kingdom.

According to tradition a powerful group of people known as 'ettu veetu pillaimar', inimical to the then king of Travancore, Marthanda Varma, seized the throne in the later half of the seventeenth century forcing the ruler to flee his capital, Padmanabhapuram. Marthanda Varma is said to have taken refuge with Sivanthi Mannan in Vijayanarayanam which was then under the Travancore Kingdom. After a year or so Sivanthi Mannan is said to have helped Marthanda Varma raise a large army. The King then marched on his capital Padmanabhapuram and with the help of loyalists in the kingdom put down the insurrection and recaptured the throne. At the request of the King, Sivanthi Mannan, along with his family members, witnessed the rethroning of Marthanda Varma at Padmanabhapuram. In recognition of the services rendered at such a crucial juncture the king bestowed his first name, Marthandam, upon Sivanthi Mannan and ordained that all his descendents carry the name Marthandam for all time to come in order to perpetuate the bond.

After the advent of the British, Vijayanarayanam and surrounding areas were ceded by the Maharaja to the Crown and became part of the Madras Presidency. The British, recognizing the importance of the family and the influence it wielded, granted in 1864, "Pallaku Maniam" (Palanquin allowance). A piece of wet land was gifted by the British India Government for the purpose and the income from it was to be used for maintaining the palanquin. The order was passed when Lord. Napier was the Governor of Madras. The palm-leaf order was filed in the Tirunelveli District Court I 1922 by Veerabahu Marthandam when he contested the Temple Committee elections.

Yet another historical fact deserves to be mentioned. Lord Napier, the then Governor of Madras, visited Vijayanarayanam at the invitation of Vadivazhagia Nambi Marthandam. The governor wanted to meet the well known Tamil literary figure and missionary of nineteenth century, Bishop Caldwell, who happened to be his class mate in Britain. Bishop Caldwell was then residing at the adjoining village, Idyankudi, and was a very good friend of Nambi Marthandam . It was then arranged that Nambi Marthandam will host the Governor and Bishop Caldwell will come down to Vijayanarayanam to meet him. The Governor and his entourage were accommodated in tents on the western side of the Vijayanarayanam tank. Lord Napier spent a day in Vijayanarayanam as a guest of Nimbi Marthandam before returning to Madras.

The Marthandam family's links with the temple of Lord Muruga in Tiruchendur are two centuries old. History has it that a gang of Dutch pirates ransacked the temple in search of gold. They are said to have carried away the idol of Lord Muruga thinking it was made of Gold. Upon setting sail they discovered the idol was not gold. They then dumped it in the sea and continued their journey. Fishermen from the adjoining villages, on learning about it, retrieved the idol from the sea. Through the night the fishermen marched on foot towards the temple with the idol in their possession. At the break of dawn prayers had to be offered to the deity. As the nearest chieftain happened to be Marthandam, the idol was brought to Vijayanarayanam, where puja was performed at sunrise and later the deity was taken to Tiruchendur. As Sanskrit for sunrise is 'Udayam', ever since the first puja done in Tiruchendur is 'udaya Marthandam Puja'. The practice continues till date. To further the bond, the then Marthandam gifted large tracts of land to the temple, the proceeds of which, were to be used for performing the 'Udaya Marthandam Puja' and the upkeep of the temple.

The Marthandam's have been devotee Hindus and have practiced 'Saiva Siddhantam' as ordained in the scriptures. They have also been ardent lovers of Tamil Literature. The sixth Marthandam, Sivanthi Manna Marthandam, had a daughter, Muthuammal, who was a noted Tamil literary figure of her times. She was a poetess who composed several Tamil works in praise of Lord Siva. This finds mention in a series brought out by 'Saiva Siddhantha Noorpathipu Kazhagam' of Tirunelveli on Tamil literary figures of nineteenth century. The mention figures on page 127 & 128 of volume 27. The title of the book is 'Tamil Pullavar Varisai' published by the above mentioned forum in 1966.

A striking feature of the Marthandam family over the generations has been that since the days of Sivanthi Manna Marthandam (1648) until the time of Vadivazhagia Nambi Marthandam (end of nineteenth century) there has been only one surviving male member in the family. For seven generations a lone male member carried the lineage. It is a peculiar feature of the family history that till date for nearly 350 years the Marthandam Family survived without having to adopt or foster a male child.

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This Family Tree Of The Marthandams has been updated up to 1997.

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This unusual feature, however, gives way towards the close of twentieth century when Vadivazhagiya Nambi Marthandam had sixteen children. Nine of them, including five sons, survived well into the twentieth century. These five were:

The first four Marthandams' were all land lord's based in Vijayanarayanam and were large scale farmers. They were all very learned in Tamil literature and Hindu religion. The last of them, Rao Bahadur Piravikka Nalla Marthandam, was undoubtedly the most well known of that generation of Marthandams. A close associate of E.V.Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) and the 'Mudaliar brothers', Ramasawamy Mudaliar and Dr.Lakshmanaswamy Mudaliar, Mr.P.V.Marthandam was the secretary of the justice party for several years. A leading political figure in the 1930's and 40's he was also a prominent lawyer of the Madras High Court.

A brief note on the descendents of the above mentioned five Marthandams', whose moorings were in the nineteenth century but led the family well into twentieth century, is given below. In the following account an attempt has been made to trace up to four generations the lineage of the family from the above mentioned five branches of the Marthandam family.

His daughter Sivagami was married to Sankara Narayanan. Who owned a fleet of ships.

His eldest son Veerababu Marthandam was born in April 1894. After completing his school studies in Tirunelveli he associated himself with the well known Hindu Mutt, 'Tiruvaduthurai Madam'. After some years he left for Rangoon (Yangon) in Burma where he worked as an Accounts Officer in the then Imperial Government. Subsequently he resigned the job and returned to India to join the freedom movement. A close associate of the former Governor General of India, C.Rajagopalachari, he plunged into the freedom movement and was jailed along with Rajaji. In recognition of his contribution to the national movement the Government of India honoured him with a 'Tamara Patra' in 1972. Amoung the first to own an automobile in the erstwhile district of Tirunelveli he died on November 21,1975. His wife, Shunmugathammal, was the District President of the Womens' Congress Wing and was the first lady in the southern districts of Madras Presidency to acquire a motor driving licence. Their son, V.S.Marthandam, was an internal auditor in Textools, Coimbatore, and after retirement settled in Madras and died on February 1991 leaving behind two daughters and son. The eldest daughter Nalini, earned her doctorate from the Madras University in Sociology and is currently with the Family Planning Association . The second daughter, Aruna, is serving as a professor of English literature in Meenakshi College, Madras. V.S.Marthandam's son, Srinath Marthandam, graduated in commerce and has ventured into business. He runs a well-known and successful super market, 'Harringtons', on Harrington Road in Madras. An accomplished businessman he also owns a large fleet of vehicles and runs a prosperous transportation company.

Veerabahu Marthandam's younger brother, Nambi Marthandam, entered Government Service but died in harness leaving behind two daughters and a son, Valli Marthandam, who lives in Tirunelveli District.

Veeabahu's youngest brother, Somasundra Marthandam, after completing law, entered the Madras Presidency Judicial Service and retired as District Judge. He lives in Madras. His only daughter Jayalakshmi, is married to Perumal, who retired as a Senior Engineer with H.M.T. She lives in Bangalore and has three sons and a daughter.

His elder son Saravana Marthandam studied law in Madras and was for a long period Public Prosecutor at Tirunelvely. A well known lawyer who had specialized in criminal jurisprudence he died in 1971 leaving behind four daughters and two sons. His elder son Ramasubramania Marthandam, a Mechanical Engineer by profession, served Larsen and Toubro with distinction for over two decades. During his tenure with the company he was posted in Europe, London and later in Singapore where he headed the operation of the firm in his branch. On retirement he settled in Bombay as a consultant. He died in 1995 leaving behind a daughter Kamala, who works with Jet Airways and a son, Ravi Marthandam, a computer engineer and is employed in USA.

Saravana Marthandam's Second son, Murugesa Marthandam, is a leading lawyer of Coimbatore and is a consultant for several companies. He has one son and two daughters. His only son, Saravana Marthandam, is an engineer. His elder daughter, Seethu, is an engineer with Tamil Nadu Electricity Board while the younger one ganthimathi is married to Ravi. The couple live in Bangalore.

His daughter Meenakshi is married to subramanian, who retired as A.G.M. in State Bank of India. The next daughter Gomathi is married to Ramalingam, a retired journalist. Gomathy retired as a Senior Teacher is Seva Sadan School Madras. She served the institution for over three decades.

The third daughter, Saraswathi is married to Shunmuga Perumal, who retired from Madura Coats and now heads several companies in Madurai.

The last daughter, Bhagawathi, is married to Shankar who is the owner of Imperial Studios in Tuticorin.

His eldest son, Nambi Marthandam was based in Vijayanarayanam and devoted his time to looking after the family lands. A staunch Gandhian, he was in public life for well over four decades and was a member of the Tirunelveli District Board. He died in 1962 leaving behind four daughters, Malliamal, Lakshmi, Parvathi and Avudiammal.

His younger brother, Capt.Dr.Rajagopala Marthandam entered the Indian Medical Services of British India Government after qualifying in medicine and ophthalmology from the Madras Medical College. He served the British India Army during the Second World War and was posted overseas for nearly three years. After the War he settled at Rajapalayam where he had a flourishing practice as a Physician as well as an ophthalmic surgeon. For nearly three decades he dominated the medical field in Rajapalayam where he now lives in retirement. He is the eldest surviving member of the Marthandam family. His only son, in Lakshmana Marthandam was in electrical business for some years and lives with his father. He has a son and a daughter. His son, Dr.Rajagopala Marthandam is a M.D. in General Medicine and is with the Tamil Nadu Medical Service. He is currently posted at Rajapalayam. Lakshmana Marthandam's daughter, Jayanthi is married to an engineer and lives in Madras.

L.K.Marthandam's third son, Jagadesa Marthandam, was a civil engineer by profession. For over three decades he served the Madras Corporation with distinction and retired as the Executive Engineer of Tamil Nadu Housing Board when it was initially formed. He died in 1987 leaving behind a son a daughter. His son, Dr.J.L.Marthandam, is a surgeon by profession, and a runs a very successful nursing home in Truvatrioor in Madras. His wife is a senior gynecologist attached to the Madras Corporation. The couple have a son and a daughter, both doctors. Jagathesa Marthandam's only daughter, Tilakavathi, is a retired senior school teacher and lives is Madras. Her husband Palanivel recently retired as Chief Engineer (Slum Clearance Board) to Tamil Nadu Government.

The last son of Lakshmana Kumaraswamy Marthandam, Shunmuga Marthandam entered the Indian Revenue Services (I.R.S.) and served the Government of India with distinction for over three decades. For nearly two decades he was posted in New Delhi and retired in 1973 as Collector of Customs and Central Excise, Madurai. Later he served on the board of several leading companies and now lives in retirement in Tirunelveli. He has three sons and two daughters. His eldest son, Dr.Subakumar Marthandam. Is a well known Orthopedic Surgeon of Madras. He is currently professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Ramachandra Medical College, Madras. He has two daughters, Saraswathi and Lakshmi. While Saraswathi is a Gynecologist, Lakshmi is a dental surgeon. Saraswathi is married to Dr.Gokul, an orthopedic surgeon. L.S.Marthandam's Second son, Nambi Marthandam is a journalist by profession. He has served several Indian newspapers in various capacities and also worked also in Hongkong for nearly three years with a leading British Newspaper, South China Morning Post. At present a free-lance writer he lives in Madras and is married to Dr.Gomathy, a Senior Dermatologist attached to kilpauk Medical College. The couple have a son, Shanmugam Marthandam, who is a final year engineering student.

The third son, Subramania Marthandam, a Textile engineer, is a businessman based in Madras and has a daughter, Vani.

He had two sons and one daughter. His elder son, Sivanthi Manna Marthandam, served Binny and Co., Madras, as an engineer and after retirement continued to live in Madras. He died leaving behind two daughters, Thangam, who is settled in Delhi and Seethalakshmi, a professor in Madras University residing in Shenoy Nagar in Madras.

His second son, Murugesa Marthandam, a Land Lord, died in leaving behind a daughter, Nallathai Ammal. She is married to Bhagiyam, Principal of V.O.C. College, Tuticorin.

His eldest son Shanmuga Nambi Marthandam, a banker by profession, retired as Manager of Indian Overseas Bank in Madras. His elder son, Sankara Marthandam, is a doctor and practices in Madras. His wife, Dr.Vaithegi, is a noted opthamologist of Madras. The couple have one son and a daughter studying in school. Shanmuga Nambi's second son, Kuthalinga Marthandam, is successful lawyer and practices at the Madras High Court. He is married to Rukmani Devi a house wife. The couple have a son.

P.N.Marthandam's second son, Vadivallakia Manna Marthandam is a distinguished lawyer of the Madras Bar and has specialized in Labour Law. For several years he was attached to the well known firm of solicitors, King and Partridge. He lives in Madras and is a legal consultant for several leading companies. He has a son and two daughters. His son piravi Marthandam is an engineer by profession and is currently employed in the United States. His elder daughter Seetha Lakshmi is married to Muthukumar. The second daughter Vijayalakshmi is a lawyer by profession.