|
The Long Trek© This is the 14th century at the
banks of river Godavari in the city of Nashik in Maharashtra. In the serene settings
is the temple of Thrayambakeswar, an incarnation of Shiva and a number of Dikshit
families live here, in the service of the temple.
It is the time of the Muslim
rulers in the country and there are several wars and forcible conversions. So the
Dikshits flee Nashik and trek south.
Thus they came and landed in the courts
of the Vijayanagar Kings, noted among them being Krishnadevaraya.
After a time seeking fresh pastures
some of the families went south again, to the seat of the Pallava Kings, the famed city
of Kancheepuram, 50 kilometers from Madras.
Kancheepuram is today famed for
Silk Sarees but in those days it was the capital city of the Pallava Kings and a
city of thousand temples and the seat of great learning.
One noted member of these families
was Swaminatha Dikshitar who was held in great esteem by the King that he was permitted
to travel in a palanquin. He was also known as Rathnaketa Dikshitar because of the
diamond studded ketayam (shield) presented by the King in recognition of his scholastic
abilities.
One of the families settled at
a village called Adayapalam and in this family was born the great savant
Appayya Diskshitar
Appayya Dikshitar married the daughter of Rathnaketa Dikshitar.
Appayya Dikshitar's nephew was
Nilakanta Dikshitar who was also a great scholar and was in the service of King
Thirumalai Nayak who ruled Madurai in the 17th century. Nilakanta was the chief advisor
of the King and when he wanted to retire from active service the King presented
him the village Palamadai near Tirunelveli and a large number of villages around it.
Nilakanta Dikshitar invited his
relatives and other families to come and settle in these southern villages. The
descendants of Swaminatha Dikshitar settled in a village Mela (Lower) Cheval.
All these families were maintaining
culture which was influenced by their sojourn through the Telugu speaking lands
also. By marrying only within families they maintained their culture; they were called
Vadadesa Vadamas, meaning people who have come from the North. The Vadadesa differentiated
them from the Brahmins who migrated from the Cauvery Delta who were called aptly
Choladesa Vadamas.
The Nilakanta Dikshita family
spread to several branches in the several villages in Tirunelveli, particularly
on the banks of River Tamiraparani. Noted among them are Paalamadai, Patthamadai,
Gopalasamudram, Kodaganallur etc.
Till about 50 years the purity
of this family was maintained. Marriages took place only among families in villages
that could be reached in a day's travel by bullock cart. There used to be runners
who carried messages among villages.
Today things are different. People
no longer look to sub-divisions in the caste and marriages are made based on other
values.
My father belonged to the family
of Swaminatha Dikshit (the Mela Cheval group, known as Thoopilars as they hailed
from Thoopil, near Kancheepuram) on his father's side and Nilakanta Dikshit on his
mother's side (the Kodaganallur sakha or branch. My wife's grandmother was from
Paalamadai and a direct descendant of Nilakanta Dikshit.
Even today the family wears a
gopi (a 'U' mark on the forehead and the body) using the gopi chandan, a clay available
in the river bed of Godavari near Nashik. Even though we have become quite modern
with times many practices during religious functions reflect the journey our ancestors
made and the resultant cultural change.
For example though our women
wear Mangalsuthra of gold, the deity used for the puja on Varalakshmi Vritham wears
black beads like the Maharashtrians and Andhra people. The nine yards sari worn
by very old ladies also resemble the Andhra practice to a great extent. |
Click here to send me, Sandy, your comments, if any. Thanks
Note: Before you click that Send button on your email software, please replace the '_at_' with an @. I have been spammed enough by providing the unmunged email id on this page.