The First Protestant Christian Of Travancore Kingdom: Part final.

The First Protestant Christian of  Travancore Kingdom:    Part final :

Vethamanicakm's management of of the Mylaudy  LMS  Mission :   The death of Gnanamuthu the Head of Vethamanickam's family, caused Vethamanickam,  deep sorrow.  However he quickly recovered from the melancholy and with the timely and sincere help of his other family members , Vethamanickam managed all the affairs of the Mission in an effective  manner. His son Devasagayam , his son-in -law Pakianathan, his nephew Masillamani etc helped  Vethamanickam in this regard. The eldest son-in -law of Vethamanickam,  Packianathan rendered eminent service to  the Mission and he served as the manager of the secular affairs of the Mission in a successful  manner.

Bishop Middleton's visit to the Mylaudy Protestant Mission , March 1816;    By the effective initiatives taken in British Parliament in 1813 by M r. Wilberforce and others , Revd. Dr. Middleton was appointed as the Bishop to India in the same year. After visiting Tranquebar, Tanjore, Trichinopoly, and Tinnevelley  Dr. Middleton  extended his tour to the Churches of Travancore.  The British Resident Col Munro issued orders to Vethamanicakm to go and meet Bishop Middleton along with the  leading members of the Mylaudy Church , at the Aramboly Pass and escort him and provide him all the information about the Mylaudy Protestant [L.M.S]Mission.  Accordingly Vethamanicakm,  met Bishop Dr.Middleton at Aramboly Pass , in March , 1816 ; and as instructed by Col. Munro Judge Everett acted as interpreter. Vethamanickam intorduced  his delegates to the Bishop Middleton ,and the bishop  held conversation with them on various topics including Mylaudy Mission  affairs.

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Bishop  Dr. Middleton was  much pleased by the reception given by the Mylaudy Christians  and he wrote in a subsequent letter that he was " much satisfied with everything he saw and heard of this Infant Mission"  He also spoke to the British Resident  Col Munro in high  appreciating terms about Mylaudy Vethamanickam.

The arrival Mr Charles Mead in December 1817  and Vethamanickam :  Revd Charles Mead landed at Colachel in South Travancore, in December 1817.  Vethamanickam and and his friends went to Colachel and welcomed Mr Mead and brought him to Mylaudy.  Mr. Charles Mead took charge of the Mylaudy LMS  Mission from Vethamanickam.  Mr. Mead lived in the cottage Bungalow of Mr.Ringeltaube for a short period of time; and  after getting all the needed information about the Christians of the Mylaudy Mission  LMS Cogregations    and Mission Property from Vethamanickam , Mr. Mead  reported about his arrival to the British Resident Col. Munro.

Granary at Mylaudy: As a  great visionary  Mr. Mead understood  the necessity for the erection of a central Paddy  Granary  at Mylaudy , to store  the produce from the extensive paddy fields  of Thamaraculam etc and so he applied for the permission and got the permission for the same ,through the British Resident.  In 1818 the spacious granary was finished with the cellar and downstairs  to store up paddy and the upstairs to be used as a dwelling house for the Missionary when he was on tour  as a Traveler's Bungalow for European visitors. The most important objective  of this Granary at Mylaudy was to help  the poor  Christians in every possible way.  C. M.  Agur writes "The early Missionaries treated the poor people belonging to the first congregations of the Mylaudy Misssion with special consideration because of the services of their fathers to the early Missionaries and as the Endowment had historical connections with them, and they also in their turn were grateful  for the peculiar  privileges they enjoyed ".[  C.M . Agur, C.H.T.Page.677].

Vethamanickam was a Social Reformer  : Vethamanickam was not only a great spiritualist but  also he was great social thinker and activist. He wisely used his connections  with the Missionaries and British Residents and opportunities to fight against all types of social evils. During those days there was an extra governmental organisation called the "National Council of the Pidagaikars" that exercised more authority over the people of  Southern District, than the Government itself.  One of the primary aims of this Council was to supervise all the individuals  whether they  follow their caste laws , customs , manners or not  and whether any caste adopted the costume , food , speech , and general habits of other class or castes. If the Council discovered  any individual trespassed or violated his caste rules and limits , it used to take the law in its hands and  brought him or her to judgement and carried everything with a bigoted mentality. Vethamanickam really played a positive role to bring these evil traditions which violated basic human dignity and rights , to the notice of the british Resident  Col Munro and through him he abolished and dismissed this anti social , "National Council of the Padagaikars" of  Nanjil Nadu.

Cruel Taxes and Vethamanickam:  Vethamanickam  with great presence of mind decided to use the benevolence and support of the kind British Resident and Ringeltaube  and  to present their plea to the Government  through  Ringeltaube  to get exemption from the cruel tax  burdens and  suppression . Vethamanickam motivated Rigeltaube to free the people from Cruel Taxes like Poll Tax, and also convinced Ringeltaube that it was his duty to endeavor and  abolish this inhuman taxes {Agur, CHT. P. 574] and to seek relief for the sake of the poor Christians at least who had every reason to be treated just like their fellow subjects in  matters such as  taxes.Thus we see that the humble representation made by Vethamanickam to Ringeltaube brought great relief  not only to Christians abut also to all the heathens of backward communities[ CHT ,p. 576]

On this account poorer caste people  regarded Vethamanickam as their friend and Mr, Ringeltaube as their great benefactor[CHT p.576]. In the same way Vethamanickam and Ringeltaube played deciding roles to abolish the "Sunday Ooliam services" [CHT P 577] .Vethmanickam's  influence on Ringeltaube played a vital role to introduce  many reforms  in Travancore .  Mr. Ringeltaube had no occasion to complain of his faithful  Assistant   Vethamanickam{CHT, p. 578],

The Head Quarters shifted from Mylaudy to Nagercoil in April, 1818:  As soon as  Col .Munro handed over the circuit house at Nagercoil to Mr. mead; Mr. Mead immediately shifted  the Head -Quarters to Nagercoil from Mylaudy in April  1818.  After  having settled at Nagercoil,Mead immediately purchased 8  pieces of land with multipurpose vision . Mead purchased 2 acres of land  for settling christian families which he intended to bring from Mylaudy and Tanjore.

                                                                           

Vethamanickam and Mr. Mead :  Even after having handed over the official charge over to Mr. Mead in December 1817, Vethamanickam received the same respect and attention from the people.  He worked with  Mr. Mead for  9 years until he became very old and did  lend a helping hand to Mr. Mead to establish new Churches , educational institutions etc in South Travancore.

The remarkable Vethamanickam Passed away : Unfortunately Vethamanickam was afflicted and affected with a boil on the knee,and he could not recover from that affliction , in January1827 and died and his mortal body was buried in his own land at Mylaudy by the side of the Puthanar Canal and you can see his historical tomb even today at Mylaudy.

Vethamanickam's Descendants  Today : Today the great Mylaudy Maha Rasan Vethamanickam's descendants are doing  remarkably well in various fields like education , medicine,  music,govt services, teaching , private sector ,  UNO, ,finance, administration , etc .  During the past centuries ,the great Christian Poet John Palmer , Poet and Writer Devaram Munshi , Writer   Rev C. Masillamani , the great church Historian C. M. Agur , B.A[The Office manager of the British Resident , ], the England educated the great geologist  Ezra Masillamani{Brother of Agur], Padma Sri. Handel Manuel and so many others of Vethamanickam's family  members have done remarkably well in their respective fields to the envy of many others..

Today many of  Vethamanickam's  descendants have shifted from Mylaudy to various other places and some of them have even migrated to other countries. In view of the shortage of time and space I will high  light one or two personalities for general information :

The sixth generation descendant of Vethamanickam, Dr. Vijaykumar Moses , MBBS, MD, MBA[USA], MPA, son of  Mr. H.D. Moses , Nagercoil,  is one of the prominent and outstanding descendants of Maharasan Vethamanickam , Dr. Vijayakumar is an internationally acclaimed Medical Doctor and Researcher and he was privileged to work at United Nations as medical Doctor[UNICEF] , Dr Vijayakumar  Moses  retired as the Chief  of Young Child Survival Development [YCSD], UNICEF, Cairo , Egypt  in May 2013.

Dr. Vijayakumar   Moses has a brilliant and  enviable track record of medical service in some of the world famous Medical Institutions  both in India and abroad. To cite a few ,  he had the rare privilege to work as a Rockefeller Foundation Fellow scholar and  he established Tubal Sterilization Surveillance System across the United States.  He served as  Medical Epidemiologist, at the  Center  for Disease Control , USA[April 1980 to April 1982]. He worked as the Chief Executive Officer  and Project Director at Aga Khan Health Service,India  from April 1989 to September 1995. Dr. Vijaykumar Moses  also worked as State Programme Coordinator  for United  Nations Population Fund [UNFPA] from Jauary 1999 to January 2001., He also served as  Program Specialist ,Health and Nutrition and  Acting Representative for  United Nations Children Fund [UNICEf ] and so on an so forth.  At present he is working as  Director, Immunization Technical Support Unit [ITSU] at  the Public Health Foundation of India,[PHFI, New Delhi ,since August 2013..

A Few more  outstanding relatives of Mylaudy Vethamanickam,  Dr. Prabhahar  D  Moses. MBBS, MD, MRCP[UK]. FRCP[UK]:   Dr. Prabhahar D Moses  son of Mr. H.D. Moses , Nagercoil  is another remarkable  descendant of Mylaudy MahaRasan Vethamanickam  . He worked  in the prestigious Christian Medical College , Vellore  as the head of the Department of Child Health from 2001 to 2005.   He also served as the Executive Committee Member  of the CMC  from 2008 to 2009 ..  Then he worked as   Associate Medical Superintendent from 2009 to 2012.  He served the Chritian Medical College  and the general public with great dedication as a Doctor . Many of his articles have been published in many accredited  international medical journals and  his writings have been included as chapters  in the  Paediatric Text books of Medical Colleges.
In this connection it is imperative and pertinent to mention about another outstanding descendant of Mylaudy Maharasan Vethamickam by name  Dr. Isaac Christian Moses, M.B.B.S, M.D, son of Mr. Arthur Devadhas Moses . Dr Isaac Christian Moses[ A paternal cousin of . Dr.D. Moses ] is serving as the Dean of the prestigious  Stanley Medical College , Chennai since 16th June , 2015. Like this  many illustrious descendants of Mahararasan Vethamonickam   have reached unique and remarkable positions and  places in life .

Conclusion  :    The  extraordinary  Mylaudy Maha Rasan Vethamanickam is no more with us . In the beginning it was called as  the Mylaudy  LMS  Mission and later it was called as the Protestant Church in Travancre.  It is mentioned in the famous book ,"A Hundred Years In Travancore , 1806-1906 compiled by Rev.I. H.  HACKER,  London Missionary Society :  "It was there he [Ringeltaube] met with the Travancore pilgrim Vethamanickam , the real founder of the Protestant Church in Travancore"[London,1908, page20]. . The Protestant church in  Kanyakumari had been growing   like a fertile Teak  tree  over the years  and  underwent  some notable changes . In  1959  it's name has been changed   as Kanyakumari CSI Diocese. It said that The Kanyakumari CSI Dicese  is the richest  and numerically the biggest  Diocese among all other CSI Dioceses. Even though the history of  the great  Mylaudy Vethamanickam  is forgotten to some extent still he  lives in the  LMS/CSI  related  Churches , Schools, the Mission Properties  and  in the social , religious ,educational  and cultural renaissance and history of  Kanyakuari district and  Tamil Nadu , Kerala and India  .  Let me conclude this Post with a  meaningful  and  fitting  sentence of the great Church Historian  Mr C.B. Firth , "Maharasan Vethamanickam was a remarkable  person "[ An Introduction to Indian Church history " By C.B. Firth].

P. BABU MANOHARAN,M.A,.[Rights reserved . This Article will be altered or modified if needed later]...