When Tirunelveli erupted like a volcano in March 1908

People cutting across class, caste and religion plunged into the spontaneous uprising

There is a scene in Kappalotiya Tamilan, the film portraying the life of freedom figther V.O. Chidambaram Pillai (VOC), in which an advocate would refuse to engage a barber because he raised the slogan Vande Mataram. But in reality, it was the barber, who stopped the work in the middle and the pro-British lawyer had to be escorted out of the district to complete his shaving.

“It happened [in Tirunelveli] 114 years ago in March 1908 after VOC was arrested for eulogising freedom fighter Bipin Chandra and calling upon people to boycott foreign goods. The incident exemplifies how society as a whole threw itself in the struggle against British rule,” said A.R. Venkatachalapathy, Professor, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS).

It was a spontaneous uprising. People cutting across class, caste and religion plunged into it. Even, butchers stopped selling meat to their European customers and they were forced to import meat from Colombo.

According to the Sedition (Rowlatt) Committee Report, 1918, the protest was marked by wholesale and deliberate destruction of government property in open defiance of the constituted authority.

“Every public building in Tinnevelly [Tirunelveli] town, except the Sub-Registrar’s office, was attacked. The furniture and records of these buildings were set on fire as well as portions of the buildings themselves; the Municipal office was gutted. Twenty-seven persons were convicted and sentenced for participation in the riot,” says the report.

In India, Tirunelveli always remained one of the fearsome turfs for the British. The Poligars, including Poolithevan, Veerapandiya Kattabomman and his brother Oomaithurai, defended their soil to death. A similar spirit was exhibited by leaders of the district in the 20th century. VOC sought to destabilise the financial might of the British by launching the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company (SSNC). The district came under British control only after the struggle, VOC and his navigation company were crushed. March 13, 1908 remains an indelible day in the freedom struggle.

But there is nothing today in Tirunelveli or Thoothukudi to remind the people of the events that shook the country and the British.