Reminiscences-Kaithavana Family by Raju- continued
Introduction
Hi,
I am the proud father of Stan(Stanley) who mooted the idea of bringing the Kaithavana family together on the web. A very great idea , being marvelously executed. It is an enormous task considering the huge size of Kaithavana family branched through out the globe.
The recent history of Kaithavana Family begins with Mr. Yohannan John,(Kochoonju) an enterprising business man of his time whom I shall refer Great Grand Pa ( GGP). GGP was staying on a plot of land on the bank of River Pampa adjacent to the Kozhencherry bridge on the Kozhencherry- Keezhukara road. The area was predominantly inhabited by Brahmins in fact it was KaithaMANA which later became Kaithavana. Child marriage was prevalent those days and GGP was married to Mariamma of Meprathu family, Kuriannor. The Meprathu family are still there around the Valley of a beautiful hill known as Kunnokkali in Kuriannoor. I spent my childhood days with my mother’s Cheria Vadakkedathu Family in Kuriannoor and my primary schooling in the Padinjattel School. A medium sized tributary of river Pampa hailing from north is passing through this area . This THODU, the lush greenery and the exotic vegetation around was my passion and fascination. During one of regular bathing in the crystal clear spring waters of this Thodu, I was attacked by a group of children of the area. Suddenly a half clothed head turbaned with a vakkathy in his hand came to my rescue. He was a member of the Meprathu family and knew me as the grand son of GGP’s wife or my Valliammachy whom we shall refer hereafter as GGM.I was not grown enough to know about all the strings of our family relations.
Coming back to GGP he was doing a very successful wholesale business in Kozhencherry market – a chief business center of Central Travencore on those days. He traded on pepper, copra and corn or rice. Also it is said that he had store houses in Alleppy where the commodity was sold out. He had a young trusted accountant and assistant known as Puliyilethu Kuttychettan. Kuttychettan always followed GGP as his shadow. GGP never divulged or entrusted his business even to his sons, but Kuttychettan also called him like all his sons as APPAN-meaning “father”.
An early Nasrani Bus Owner
As the business was thriving, GGP bought a private bus with permit in the 1920s or earlier. Those days the bus engines were powered by gas obtained from burning of coal and hence these buses were called “Kari gas vandies|” . Our bus operated between Kozhencherry and Kallissery . Very few men knew driving and these rare species were treated like kings. GGP’s bus was named as “Yohannan John” and its driver was from a family very close to the Maramon convention area and I am withholding his whereabouts though his ancestral home is still there
Grand Pa’s eldest son-Chalumkal Appachen – was looking after the bus. Chalumkal appachen(Avrachen) passed matriculation around this time from Kozhencherry high school . As soon as he passed out(those days there were very very few matriculates) he was offered a govt. job but refused because he was too much fascinated by the running of the bus. Chalumkal Appachen attempted secret driving classes on the bus , abandoned it as he suffered a serious chest collision with the steering. Later on the bus met with a serious accident at Manackachirra near Thiruvella when three or four people died in the accident. So disappointed by this serious accident-( remember there were no insurance companies operating those days) GGP quit his bus operation incurring huge loss in terms of money .
But his other businesses went on very well
Koravilengadu and Nasrani History
Almost all Nasrani family histories I have read , invariably contains a reference to an exodus to the south from Koravilangadu. This is deemed as a convenient starting point to family histories when the past is unknown. I shall refrain from that practice and like to explain the probable historical reason for the Koravilengadu connection.The Mangalore treaty between Tippu Sultan and east India Company ended in 1734. Tippu’s army invaded Malabar and many Christians along with many a royal houses in Malabar escaped and sought asylum in Travencore. Mariappalli, Ennakkdadu, Mavelikkara, Aranmula, Prayikkara and Nedumpuram are the names of some those royal houses in Kolathiri that settled in Travancore . These places were known by those royal houses later on. At the time of settlement of Christians by Ramayyan Dalawa ( Diwan of Travencore) ,family names were coined for the Christians who came along with these royal houses, suffixing the names of trees or their stumps like palamood , plamood, Mamood, Pulimood , alumood, Mulamood, Plamthottathil, Thengumthottathil, Eettichuvattil etc. These Christians were settled mostly in an around Mavelikkara. The Puthiyakavu Syrian Christian in Mavelikkara is located in the land donated to them by the Ennakadu Royal family. At the same time the Christians in an around Tarisappalli (Chengannur) continued with their Semitic prefix “UR” like Kottur, Vettathur, poovathur etc. with their family names, or family names ending with UR are those of families who were already there and they do not have a story of exodus from Koravilengadu.
Kaithavana Family – Beyond Kozhencherry
The Kaithavana family hailed from Chengannur and had two family names,Mamood and Mandur. That means it possessed both the Semitic “UR”and the asylum seekers’ tree suffixed names. Since the known history clearly showed that GGP’s is from Thiruvan Vandoor, the abode of native Syrian Christians ,the Semitic Ur is more fitting. (I mean the family name Mandur). An exodus from Kuravilengadu is not at all heard by any one. The name Mamood could be a later evolution. Besides that, the native Syrian Christians were well established in business and had a flair for that. The Malabar Christians were more connected with the Konkan culture and were not proficient in poetry and literature. The Kaithavana family members were known for their deep interest in poetry and ability for extempore – speeches . They also relished on good food and visitors were always fed lavishly without any reservation. At GGP’s time I remember having plenty of natives and visitors being feasted . These are all suggestive of a family that was not a transplanted from the north of Calicut following some upheaval there or otherwise told nomads from Koravilengadu.
GGp’s father was Mamoottil Chackochen who passed away at a very young age. His mother had to live up with a lot of persecution and harassment at the hands of her in laws. That was the rule of the day in Nasrani families and one could guess her predicament when husband was no more. When the property was divided, she and the children were sent out empty handed with no share at all. No where to go , she decided to seek refuge at her father’s sister’s house -Kizhakkel at Kozhencherri. GGP was only two years of age at that time. There was no one to give him formal education, but he gathered on line practical knowledge by hard work and observations.He developed his own life’s philosophy.Rejected , abandoned and cheated by his own kith and kin at Mamottil house, he identified his life’s mission worked for that untiringly.. In his sojourn towards that goal- a well knit and prosperous family for his generations – he was cheated by many, he had hair breadth escapes.He scaled tall cliffs and traversed over treacherous precipices.No formal education , but became an accomplished Arithmetician by toggling his own invented abacus.
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GGP’s Second Generation
Our second generation of fore fathers and parents were all born in Kozhencherry. They were chronologically
1.Kunju Rahel (Elanthur Amma) , wife of Koruthu Sir, Vellapallil, Pulimthitta, Elanthur.
2. Kunjavarachen ( Chalumkal appachen)
3. Unnikunju (Mandoorunnichayen)
4. Kunjeliamma ( Keekozhur Amma – Mattackal , Uthimoodu )
5. Pappachen
6. Kunjamma ( Koithodathu Amma) wife of Kunjukunju-Koithodathu , Ranni
7.Kubjukunju and
8. Ponnachen ( Ponne).
The naming of children is very conspicuous for the suffixing or prefixing the word “kunju” which is essentially an expression of great affection and love. Pappachen is not rhymed with”kunju”, perhaps irresistibly and strikingly he resembled one of GGP’s brothers Pappachen as pointed out by Appuykuttychayen. Any way the names were rhymed and explicitly soaked in love and smacked off a sense of modernity in shaping them.All the children were born in Kozhencherry before GGP moved out to his California- that is Ranni. Family history of this second generation will be delivered in an organised fashion later on.
GGP moves to his California , for ever
There were many factors that finally wrought out GGP’s decision to say goodbye to Kozhencherry and settle down in Ranni, in the Tharavadu House imaged in our home page by Nyson. This exodus was about 82 years ago and the entire family moved to Ranni in our Kari Gas Vandi.I called this historical event as GGP’s exodus to his own California as it excited and sparked my imagination of caravans of white folks from Europe moving out into virgin California to settle down there. GGP was always wistful about a strong and closely knit family that he missed. A very shrude man , he always believed that ownership of landed property stabilised families. His face is strongly embedded in my memory. It was full of ideas and determination. He had shaped his own life’s philosophy and worked for that. All that I heard of him always reflected in his facial expressions.GGP was very liberal about lending money to help out people and in the process got cheated by many. It is told that he was very particular about getting the money back on the promised date and if not, he would remind the debtor three more times.That was the end of it . Never afraid of calling a spade a spade, he would contemptuously call him a bastard and forgot him and the money for ever.A very close friend and a contemporary settler, now his descendants a very prominent family in our place, borrowed some amount of Poovarahan ( equivqlent to 950 British Rupee those days) and defaulted three times. He called him a “Thandhakku Pirakkathone” and severed all his connections with him. I heard GGM always telling that that amount could buy another 15 acres of land those days. GGP never compromised his convictions and this perhaps was the reason why he never allowed any of his children having any connection with the rest of his blood relations during his life time. An awakening to look for the lost tribe of Kaithavana was dawned on us only after he left the scene. At the same time he sustained his family well supplemented financially and emotionally so that they never felt there existed a vacuum in the expanse of the family umbrella.It was full and complete in itself and the generations until recently never felt the need to look beyond our family horizon to fill a fictitious vacuum.
Factors Behind the Migration to Ranni
There was a client from Mannamaruthy, Ranni who used to buy goods from him and sell in his retails shop in Mannamaruthy. This family also is from Kozhencherry but settled much earlier there. They are named Madathi Parambil. As matters stood he had to go in search of his dealers and to reach their house he had to scale a huge and evenly slanting hill that stretched from Ranni- Manimala road in the west to Chethackal in the east. The hill was called Padiyannickal Kunnu. The agricultural possibilities coupled with his intention to stabilise the family with enough landed property rather than the business of the day which was full of vicissitudes, Padiyannikkunnu seized his mind. The property belonged to a family in his ancestral Chengannur near Thiruvan vandoor and the deal was there very shortly. Soon GGP realised that he was cheated and the land had some legal entanglement. He still had all his assets and business intact in Kozhencherry and Padiyannikkunnu was bought paying liquid cash. There ensued a court case and he was legally advised to occupy the land physically. Fearless as he was the entire family moved out in its own Kari Gas vandi to conquer what was theirs . I was told that the Tharavadu was already 65 year old when GGP victoriously occupied the house , eighty plus years ago, which later became the central point of our history in Ranni. I and my third generation were all born and brought in Padiyannikkunnu and which to met was what palace of Blenheim to Churchill. The total personality of GGP to me is that of unknown great man and inspire me to indulge into the art of uniting pleasure with truth by calling imagination with the help of reason – that is poetry. Let me conclude this day by;-
Millions there on the starry firmament,
And they are not alone and the only ones,
So with great men on earth, not they the only ones,
Great a million walked and died unnoticed,
Selfless they were , made life pleasant
And left a legacy for all to follow .
The moment that grew on minds
History is born no matter what form,
Or whether matters to others.
