Veerapandiya Kattabomman

Reign     2 February 1790 – 16 October 1799
Full name     Veemaraja Jagaveera Pandiya Kattabomman (Karuthaiah)
Born     3 January 1760
Birthplace     Panchalankurichi,Tamil Nadu
Died     16 October 1799
Place of death     Kayathar,Tamil Nadu
Cause of Death - Refused to give tax to the British
Source of Death - Hanged

Brothers
1.  Dalavai Kumarasami  (Sevathaiah)
2. Duraisingam. ’ (Oomaithurai)

 Kattabomman refused to pay his dues and for a long time refused to meet Jackson Durai, the Collector of the East India Company. Finally, he met Jackson at Ramalinga Vilasam, the palace of Sethupathi of Ramanathapuram. The meeting turned violent and ended in a skirmish in which the Deputy Commandant of the Company’s forces, Clarke was slain. Kattabomman and his men fought their way to freedom and safety, but Thanapathi Pillai, Kattabomman’s secretary was taken prisoner.

Kattabomman refused to meet the Collector and a fight broke out. Under Major Bannerman, the army stood at all the four entrances of Panchalankurichi’s fort. At the southern end, Lieutenant Collins was on the attack. When the fort’s southern doors opened, Kattabomman and his forces audaciously attacked the corps stationed at the back of his fort, and slew their commander Lt. Collins.

Veerapandiya Kattabomman hid in so many places including Thirumayam, Virachilai and finally stayed at Kolarpatti at Rajagopala Naicker’s house where the forces surrounded the house. Kattabomman and his aides fled from there and took refuge in the Thirukalambur forests close to Pudukkottai. Bannerman ordered the Raja of Pudukkottai to arrest Kattabomman. Accordingly, Kattabomman was captured and on October 16, 1799 the case was taken up (nearly three weeks after his arrest near Pudukkottai).
After a summary trial, Kattabomman was hanged unceremoniously on a Tamarind tree in Kayathar (near Thirunelveli).

Is Ettappam (Venkateshwara Ettappa Maharaja. ) a traitor :

              It is said that kings of Ettapayapuram were called so (ETTAPPAN) because of the fact that one of the Kings, named Nalama Nayak, accepted himself as a father to eight oprhaned siblings of another king who he defeated in the war.

From the early 1780’s the Ettayapuram family were good friends with the British and obtained much preferential treatment thus alienating them from the other warring/rebellious poligars. They were later accused by these poligars, especially Kattabomman of frequently offering information and troop support to the British. The Ettapap nayak in this discussion was named Venkateshwara Ettappa Maharaja.

              The History of Tinnevelly by Rev R Caldwell is a fine book covering all these events and the Poligar history if one needs the details. It quotes on Major Bannerman’s letter to the Secretary of the British Government.

“I have received a letter from Mr Lushington (Collector Tinnevelly) that he has received a letter from the Tondaiman (Pudukottai Poligar who was also aligned with the British) informing him that he had succeeded in his exertions to seize the person of Kattabomma Nayka”, and desiring to be furnished with orders respecting the disposal of that rebellious Poligar.

            Thus it becomes clear that the Pudukottai people were the ones who located and captured Kattabomman, not the Ettayapan Nayak or his people, as rumored.

It seems that Ma.Po.Si (Ma.Po.Sivanyanam) who wrote the dialogues for the film had some misunderstanding with the Ettappan family.

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar :


The Assassination of Julius Caesar 44 B.C.

In 44 B.C. the Roman Republic was at its height of its power. Gaul, Greece, Spain, and even Egypt were under Rome's control. The Senate gave the title of "dictator for life" to the man who had won Rome its victories, Gaius Julius Caesar. But immediately, a plot to assassinate Caesar was hatched. A "dictator for life" was a threat to the senate, and to the ideals of the republic which had started 450 years earlier when the Romans had gotten rid of another dictator, the cruel King Tarquin. The Roman senators did not want to return to the time of dictators or kings. Besides, Julius Caesar had made many enemies in Rome.

There were more than sixty conspirators [people who planned the crime together]. Many had been Caesar's close friends. Their reasons for joining the plot were many. Some were personal. They felt Caesar had disrespected them or their families. Others were ideological [beliefs, ideas of what is right and wrong]. The idea of a dictator for life was against every democratic idea of the Republic. And everyone knew that under Caesar's dictatorship, their opportunities for financial [money, wealth] gain and political power would vanish. The power of the Senate would be lost.

The assassination of Julius Caesar was on March 15, the Ides of March.

The conspirators decided to strike on March 15 (the Ides of March) when the Senate was to meet Caesar in a hall next to the theater of Pompey.

On the night before his death, a friend had asked, "What sort of death was the best?" To which Caesar replied: "That which is unexpected."

The following morning Caesar's wife, Calpurnia implored [begged] her husband to cancel the meeting of the Senate, because in a dream she had seen him streaming with blood. He decided to cancel the senate meeting.

Early on the Ides of March the conspirators assembled in the hall next to the senate to await Caesar. When he did not come, they grew anxious, and sent Brutus to fetch him. Brutus, "his devoted friend," urged him to come and succeeded in persuading him to change his mind.

Caesar entered the hall, and a senator distracted him in conversation. Then Caesar seated himself on his gilded [covered with gold leaf] chair. A senator named Cimber came forward and petitioned [asked] Caesar to bring back his brother, who had been banished [sent out of the city as a punishment for a crime]. When Caesar rejected his request, the senator seized hold of his purple robe. It was the signal for the attack.

Casca, who was close to Caesar, aimed a blow with his dagger at his throat, but missed it. Cimber then seized Caesar's hand, but Caesar sprang from his chair and threw Casca to the ground. The other assassins then closed in on him. Cassius wounded him in the face, and when Brutus struck him in the thigh, Caesar cried out: "You too, my child?" He then fell dead. Altogether he received twenty-three wounds.