Pasumpon Ukrapandi Thevar Muthuramalinga Thevar, the second in command of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, was not just a freedom fighter, politician, statesman with foresight, a staunch sanatani and a nationalist, but was also a ‘siddha’ who lived a life of a ‘siddha purusha’ with austerity and indeed practiced the siddha way of living.
Thevar’s father, Ukrapandi Thevar was a lieutenant of the ruler of Ramanathapuram and lived a sort of a ‘princely life’ with a harem of his own, owning over 30 villages throughout the princely state. As Thevar desisted his father’s kind of life style, there ensued a father-son duel.
Kuppuswamy Iyer, Advocate, who was looking after the legal affairs of Thevar’s family in the Temple Town of Madurai referred Thevar to Srinivasa Iyengar, a famous Advocate in the then Madras Presidency.
Iyengar was a Congress member, as many Advocates then were. (Later Iyengar told Gandhi on his face that he would not die a natural death). Iyengar assured the young Thevar, over 18 at that time in 1927, that the case was winnable but would take time to file it in the Madras High Court as there was going to be a three-day Congress session in the Madras city.
Iyengar persuaded Thevar to stay and participate in the session and assist some of the leaders from outside the state as Thevar could speak English. Young Thevar readily agreed. There were no hotels or resorts to stay and leaders and other participants of a Congress session stayed in the houses of party members, sympathisers, supporters etc. in every place where conclaves were held.
Destiny, perhaps, decided that Thevar was to assist Subhas Chandra Bose for those 3-day Congress session in Madras. It was that ‘love at first sight’ that Thevar, later, along with Shenbaga Raman Pillai, (who coined “Jai Hind” popularized by Subhas Bose) became the second in command of Bose, who introduced Thevar to his mother as her “last son”.
Thevar was attracted by the ideas of Nationalism of Subhas, drawn along the lines of Bal Gangadhar Tilak rather than Gopal Krishna Gokhale, the political guru of Gandhi.
Though Srinivasa Iyengar is said to be the ‘political guru’ of Thevar, it was Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Rajaji, who introduced Thevar to electoral politics. Congress had decided to boycott the 1930 general elections. But in 1937 the party realized boycott was a mistake and had fielded candidates in the provincial elections. Nominations were filed throughout the country by the Congress but for one constituency: Ramanathapuram in the then Madras Presidency.
Rajaji, in charge Madras Presidency, was at loss to understand why none came forward to contest this seat. The reason was that the ‘Raja’ of Ramanathapuram was contesting and that Thevar’s father Ukrapandi Thevar had vowed to behead anyone who dared to contest against the Raja.
Rajaji or perhaps Destiny through Rajaji decided that Muthuramalinga Thevar should contest Ramanathapuram. Thevar was said to have told Rajaji “you want me to take on this mountain” (euphemism for Raja of Ramanathapuram). Pat came Rajaji’s reply “a chisel would break a mountain”. Sardar Patel, on Rajaji’s telegram that Thevar could alone contest, paid the deposit money for Thevar through telegram money order, as it existed then, and in a telegraphic message to Thevar urged him to go and file nomination papers as there was little time left.
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Thevar won that historic election at a young age of 29 and later it became a thorn in the flesh of Nehru, for, Thevar’s questions were barbs for Nehru who declared that Subhas Bose “died” in an air crash. Thevar repudiated it. He narrated in parliament how he could just evade Nehru’s surveillance by his ‘intelligence’ bureau to meet “Netaji at the Tri-Junction” that India-Burma-Nepal junction (at Mizoram if my geographical knowledge is correct).
The Statesman newspaper had elaborately published Thevar’s press conference in Calcutta, then. His speeches on external affairs, economy, defence etc. made Nehru fuming inside parliament, as they were sharpest criticism of the functioning of the government under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Thevar had refused to agree with Rajaji to contest the first general election of free India in 1952 as a Congress candidate. Rajaji’s reasoning was that like “Congress-socialists”, forward block members were also “Congress members”. Thevar refused to budge. Rajaji told him it was wrong, for, it was Rajaji who had introduced Thevar in the North as “Lion of South India”. But this lion had joined hands with the “Royal Tiger of Bengal” Subhas Bose. For, it was Rajaji who introduced Thevar to electoral politics first in 1937.
Thevar was compelled to assume the charge of President of Forward Block though Thevar repeatedly said that “Netaji is alive and that he should be first accorded a Hero’s welcome in the independent country”. But legal requirement would have it that the President had to sign the forms for candidates contesting elections and Thevar agreed only to that extent. His draft on policies of the party reflected in the election manifesto was a mindboggling one. Since 1952 he questioned the establishment, taken as a challenge to Nehru who wanted to silence him. By then Rajaji had drifted away from Nehru and formed Swatantra Party. He wanted an alliance with Thevar in the 1962 general elections. On hearing this, Thevar went to meet Rajaji as he deemed it was the respectful way of honoring his ‘Acharya’ rather than calling Rajaji to his doorsteps.
Coincidentally, Thevar’s last joint-public meeting was with Rajajai, as his first one was. With his Acharya, who introduced him to electoral politics in 1937. For, Thevar’s health started deteriorating as he could not practice properly the Siddha way of life.
One important aspect in that way of life is to control one’s senses. One should rule over one’s senses, senses should not rule One. In that way of life, it is important to control sperm cells which have to be released also without the help of anyone/anything. For, controlling and keeping it inside the body would be fatal as they become poisonous slowly. For which, practicing hatha yoga was resorted to. By hatha yoga, one could lift up the body in the air. Walk on waters. Interestingly, in the 19th-20th centuries there were two such men of such great quality: Swami Vivekananda (Senior to Muthuramalinga Thevar) and Muthuramalinga Thevar himself.
Coincidentally, Thevar’s first public speech was on Vivekananda. And Thevar, the quintessential son of ‘Bharat Mata’, was born in Ramanathapuram, a ‘princely state’, the ruler of which had sent Vivekananda to America for the World Parliament of Religions (The famous Chicago address), after which Vivekananda returned straight to Rameswaram to first meet the ruler of the princely state.
But for Thevar his controlled sperm cells said to have become poisonous. He refused to get it surgically removed, telling, that the body given by God should be taken away the way He wanted to take it. Thevar succumbed to his fate on 30 October 1963 at a young age of 55, on his birth day. This day is celebrated both in some parts of Bengal and Southern Tamil Nadu. There is a bio-pic on Netaji titled the “Forgotten Hero”. Thevar’s is the case of “An Unsung Hero”, who, today is sought to be bracketed in the disgusting caste politics of Tamil Nadu which polity would have been different had he lived long. Perhaps Destiny takes away such Great Souls from us too early.
