Tambrahms: Where to find them?

My earlier blogs on Delhi’s Madrasis, Chembur Mama and The Dilemma of Chembur Mami were mostly based on my observations and some imaginary situations. The characters belonged to the generic group called Madrasis which even today continues to serve as the collective noun of South Indians living away from Madras. It was merely coincidental that these characters also happened to be identifiable as Tambrahms, a contraction for Tamil speaking brahmins primarily living in Tamil Nadu though many have now migrated to other States and countries.

I did not realize that if one wanted to know about Tambrahms, Tamil Nadu is not the place to go to look for them. That State has only a few of them left residing there and in some inconsequential sense.

 The place where they have migrated in significant number and counted is the adjoining State of Kerala. Thus within the Tambrahms, there is a distinct sub- group hailing from Palakkadu called Palakkadu Brahmins (PB), who have distinguished themselves  with great success in fields like  business, corporate management, IT   government service, fine arts, etc,. Though the late T.N.Seshan, a Palakkadu Brahmin himself once said in a light-hearted and self - deprecatory comment that the Palakkadu Brahmins excelled as “cooks, crooks and civil servants”.

The PBs are scattered all over in India and abroad that a writer once wrote that they are “neither here nor there or everywhere”.  The old story that the first humans to set foot atop Mt.  Everest and the Moon were greeted by a Nair from Kerala offering them tea from his stall already established there raises the doubt whether the Nairs followed the Palakkadu Brahmins or vice versa to immigrate to far off lands. However, wherever the PBs have gone, they have shown a strong instinct for holding on to their traditions and also adopting the most modern development in technology. Poojas like Bhagavati Seva and Saastha Preethi with sumptuous Saddhya are the hallmarks of their social life whether  Mumbai or Melbourne, Delhi or Dallas. The conversational gambit when one PB meets another for the first time, “Naan Palakkad Akkum” is the passport for the acceptability of membership of the community.

A good amount of reading* is available about when and why the  Brahmins migrated from adjoining Tamil Nadu to Kerala and especially to Palakkadu. There is also insightful writing on the Agraharams they established in a cluster of 18 villages in Palakkadu, the most famous being Kalpathy.

It is typical of them to speak Tamil with a Malayalam accent and intonation which only reinforces their roots in Tamil Nadu as regards language, culture, and traditions. But some of the words in their dialect would mean differently to the Tamils. For instance, Vellam in Tamil is jaggery or flood depending on the context of its use while they use it to refer to water.  The word for magnifying the intensity or degree of anything for the PB is Bhayangaram but it is used in Tamil to describe something as dreadful.

Their abiding interest in classical Carnatic music is extraordinary.  The doyen among them, the late Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhaghavathar has left a great legacy of musicians after him. Some great vidhwans like Palakkadu Mani Iyer (mridangam), T.N.Krishnan (Violin), and K J Yesudas (Vocal) are household names.

The quintessential Palakkadu Brahmin (PB) is the  middle-aged, stocky, baldish,  veshti folded at the knee and with no upper garment. Punctilious to the core, he exhibits a no non- sense image saying precisely what he wants to be said and with no embellishments or finery of speech.  It is often mistaken by others for low degree arrogance.  But inside that exterior, there is the person of disciplined and healthy life and respect for traditions.

A leading Carnatic musician once mentioned to me the following anecdote. He was booked for a concert to commence at 6.00 P.M. in a temple in Palakkadu but owing to some logistics problem he and his accompanist artistes could reach the site only about 15 minutes before the scheduled time. Fearing some reactions from the organizers, he politely declined the hospitality of refreshments. , telling them that he would be happy if some warm milk is provided, say an hour after the concert began. The concert commenced and he warmed up to begin the alapana in raag  Kalyani , when a stocky person appeared from nowhere and in a commanding voice said “Bhaghavathare! Niruthum (Stop)”  The singer was mortally frightened and thought he might probably have struck a false note or so and that this man,  as a connoisseur, had observed and wanted to point out. He immediately stopped singing. The man came to the stage and  gave the singer the milk saying  “Paal Kettire, Indarum” (You wanted milk Is it not? Take it!) It was exactly one hour after the concert began.!

Palakkadu Iyers, wherever and whatever they are, do the community proud  

*The Saga of Kalpathy - The Story of Palghat Iyers , M. K Das

The Brahmins of Palakkad - The Palakkad Iyers . K.V.Narayanamuthy 

Agraharams - Wikipedia