Chidbhavanandar etc.,

[S Krishna]

N.Ganesan writes:
> His original name was Chinnu.
>Brilliant student, aim was to become an ICS. Earlier, his
>relative S. G. Sengodayan became the first nonbrahmin ICS.
>He started Ramakrishna Mission in Ooty, Gandhiji visited
>him. For harijans, the aalaya pravesam was done there, ....
>(Someone mentioned in Indology once about Chidbhavanadar's gita
>before and said he liked it, or something like that.)


  A tangential point here :  S.G.Sengodaiyan(the S&G standing for Selva
Gounder) was NOT the first non-Brahmin ICS officer. The very first ICS
officer from the South was himself a non-Brahmin, namely Pulicat
Ratnavel Mudaliar( who was the 5th or the 6th Indian ~1875).
Susequently, you had people like V .Venugopal Chetty, actively involved
in Justice Party politics and V.Ramakrishniah, who had passed the
examination in 1920, all of whom were directly (or indirectly) involved
in Justicite politics. If I remember, D.A.Washbrook says that
Sengodaiyan was the first GOUNDER to pass the ICS, who passed the exam
sometime in the 30s.

  Of course all this overlooks the contribution of the Nairs, (In the
40s there used to be a joke/complaint about the ICS suffering from
"Menon-gitis"( in view of the numbers of officers with the name MEnon)
who are also non-Brahmin.

> Chidbhavanandar's elder brother's son, is the latest
>Bharata Ratnam. (Note Sri S. Krishna :-) :-)

 Noted! Once my knowledge of classical  Tamil improves to the level
where I can attempt classical Tamil poetry, I will remember to write a
verse praising you and your genealogy, the same way in which the poetess
auvaiyAr praised the cEra king nEduman2 aJci or iruGkOvEL was praised by
kapilar:-)....in lieu, can I be appointed "court poet"
and a bag of gold coins be mailed immedeatly to me with the appointment
letter?:-),:-)


>We Tamils have *five* Bharat Ratnas, two nobel laureates,
>don't foget Ramanujan, FRS - the mathematician.

 Does this figure of 5 include MGR, who was a malayALi? Sure, I realise
that he got people to write a book attesting to the fact that
he was "centamizh" ( because the Nairs migrated from Tanjavur to
Kerala)  but the mainstream hardly believes this tale......

  But then, what use are all these Bharat Ratnas and what have you
when tamilians cannot rule in their own land? mu ka is of telugu
descent, jayalalita is a kannaDigA, rajnikAnth is mahArAstrian
and MGR was a malayALI! As ChO rAmasvAmi once remarked, "The curse
of kaNNAkI has come true!":-),:-)
(This was meant to be a joke and not taken seriously).

  N.Ganesan makes another point below on which I would like to comment
in the next post.

  I apologize for any non-Indological content in this post.

REgards,
KRishna


>I will come to Origins of Bhakti later. There is a Padmapuranam quote
>that Bhakti was born in the tamil country and went northward.
>In all the stories that S. Krishna writes, Tamil stories are
>the *earliest*. Like folk tales being grouped, is there any typology
>and comparative bhakti stories. Any referencses?)
>


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