KonganpaDai, Palghat district festival

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KonganpaDai, Palghat district festival

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The Western ghat mountains of Southern India split near

Palghat, Kerala producing a natural gap. For ages, this gap

served as the conduit for trade between Tamil Nadu and

Kerala. The rulers always ensured the safety of the merchants

along this route and did not hesitate to undertake war

expeditions against waylayers. The KonganpaDai festival,

celebrated in ChithUr of Palghat district, has its origins

traceable to one such war of 1592 A.D. An ill-informed

Madurai Nayak king started the war against Chithur. The

fact that the folks of Chithur were not responsible for the

robbery crime propelled them to join forces and defeat the

Madurai army. An ancient palm leaf manuscript, published

for the first time, reveals the King's proclamatons

for the war. This research essay explains the prevailing

circumstances, war events and contemporary festivities

in commemoration of the sixteenth century war.

 

The author of the essay covering aspects of history and

anthropology is Thiru. K. Arunachala Kavundar (1906-2000)

who got his M.A. degree under the supervision of the

great U. V. Swaminathaiyar, the editor of sangam texts.

 

I published this in 1993, but the work and photographs

were taken in mid-1970s. The entire booklet is placed

as downloadable JPEG files in

s_india/messages

 

Cover page:

S_India/message/9

 

Preface:

S_India/message/10

 

All the pages:

S_India/message/11

through

S_India/message/31

 

Plaghat gap area map:

S_India/message/32

 

Photographs of the festival:

S_India/message/33

S_India/message/34

S_India/message/35

S_India/message/36

 

Happy reading,

N. Ganesan

 

PS: The book is in Tamil.