Horizontal or Vertical - The Battle of the Namams, Part 2

                                        
    Somebody said that there were only 500,000 Iyengars, of whom 400,000 have emigrated outside!  Even with such small numbers they are very visible and can be heard very loudly. Like the I.I.T and I.I.M alumni they are good because only the brightest have admitted in the first instance – lot of vadama Brahmins were taken into the Iyengar fold. I can say this with confidence because my wife is vadama Brahmin! They are a vibrant community and have made a name for themselves.

     The first Iyengar I met as a young boy was Ranga Ramanjam Iyengar, a talented schoolteacher cum musician. He was a veena player of distinction and taught my cousin Pushpa. I remember him as a distinguished looking man wearing a jubbah and a veshti tucked between his legs. What frightened and fascinated us was the vertical namam on his forehead which gave him, to our eyes, a touch of the mysterious. My cousins and I used to hide behind some bushes and mumble “Attukum madukkum randu kombu - Iyengarukku moonu” (Goats and cows have two horns - Iyengars, three). In the late nineteen fifties, when he was in his sixties, he went to the U.S to teach in a college there. This was at a time when going to U.S was very rare. He also wrote a history of carnatic music where he interwove the old Tamil history with development of music – a book of rare insight.

     S.V.Purushottama Iyengar was a Sanskrit teacher in Madras Christian College School in the 40s. As a concession to the English tradition he wore a coat and tie and socks and shoes, and to maintain his Indian identity he wore a turban with gold lace, a veshti tucked between his legs and socks and shoes. He kept us on our toes with frequent tests. But his first love was English and he quoted Shakespeare at the drop of a hat. He was always chosen by the head master for school orations. Once he was asked to give the speech to welcome the governor of Madras, who was so impressed by S.V. that he called him an Indian Churchill. The horizontal version of S.V. was Natesa Iyer, our maths teacher. The dress was the same except for a horizontal vobodi namam applied thickly. Natesa Iyer was the antithesis of SV, and spoke only when needed. He patiently taught us maths and a few of us picked up the rudiments. He was in his elements as scouts master and sitting round the camp fire held us spell bound with stories. The vertical with his extrovert behaviour scored.  

    In the thirties of the last centuries, at the height of the empire, cricket as a sport was introduced to the natives and they were allowed to play with their rulers. The rulers enjoyed the game as they beat the natives easily. Into this scenario entered an Iyengar named M.J.Gopalan. His talents as an all rounder were discovered by his English boss. As a young boy I have watched M.J in his flannels, his kudumi (traditional Indian hair style similar to the present day hippies), his Iyengar namam emblazoned on his forehead, tearing down to bowl his fast medium pacers at the pale skins and shouting ‘Hoziatt’. A frightening sight indeed. When batting he belted away the English bowlers all over the field. I wished I was an Iyengar! The present day Iyengars talk of the Iyengar police inspector of late 40s and 50s, C.R.Rangachary. He has no doubt played in more tests and bowled to the legendary Bradman.

  Rangachari with Bradman

Give me M.J any time. The sight of young  M.J., with his kudimi flying all over, when in full swing was awesome sight. Besides, Rangachari was a poor batsman. More to the point, M.J was a double international- a very talented hockey player. Iyengars score hands down.

                        

Iyer lady                                                    Iyengar lady

    The Iyengar ladies, not to be outdone, got into the act. The nine yards Madisar nine yards sari was worn by the Brahmin Ladies with end draped on the right shoulders. A swift change to the left made the Iyengar ladies look different and left the right hand free for gesticulation when making a point! Meals were served with salt first instead of sweet. They invented a signature dish ‘Puliodorai’. This was only the traditional puli sadam spruced up. Today it is so famous that along with the vertical namam it has become a trade mark of Iyengars.

    We knew a Mrs R., the wife of a textile executive in Bangalore. Her husband was a quiet man but Mrs R. made up for that. An extraordinarily well-read lady, she could quote Jung and Freud, talk about astro physics and discuss any subject intelligently. She arranged brunch mornings at which she served masala dosais in such quick succession that we were amazed. She told us her secret - she had a big deep freeze and oven. This was in early 60s and we thought deep freezers were for only non vegetarian food! This was followed by the Mrs.R’s super speciality “Plus kadacha Puliodarai” (Star Rated Puliodarai). Mrs R. told us that in a competition this was rated the best dish. It was simply out of the world. The invitees had to take part in a highly intellectual discussion and anybody found wanting was not invited again. Her son was a top particle physicist in Caltech and she could talk on the latest trends. 

    From the sublime to the mundane, we come to the politicians. Here the Iyengars had some famous names but the Iyers matched them and had even more. We will mention only two Iyengars who left an everlasting mark. T.T.K.,the super finance minister who used all his knowledge and erudition to taxing tax payers at the highest level in the history of any country and in the process created a second economy which is still surviving. He managed to give an impression of being a friend of business! People who lived through that era still remember him. The other Iyengar was C.Rajagopalachari, an Iyengar of rare intellect and values. He could look far ahead and came out with radical solutions which were not always popular. He had the ear of Gandhi though many times they disagreed. When he retired from politics he went back to his old life without amassing any wealth. One wonders if Chanakya was an Iyengar! They both wore the caste marks at one time though it was an attenuated one with emphasis on the middle red line. This was probably easier to apply and equally effective. Even today we have some senor officials like the chief election commissioner and solicitor general wearing the vertical red line on the forehead. You see what the pace of modern life has done to Ramanujam’s handiwork.

 

                                                        Gandhi and Rajagopalachari

     
     The Iyengars from the start were a small, select, close community who married among themselves. They kept up their exclusivity till recent times. The better ones looked after those in need, a practice still followed by firms and organisations run by them. In the early stages this was possible and set the stage for their reputation as the leading Brahmin community. Nowhere is it more obvious than their custom of not marrying outside the community till recently. Times have changed with the problem of demographics and modern society. One hears that the barriers are breaking down even with traditional Hebbal and Melkote Iyengars. The traditional marriage in the old days stretched over four days with ladies in madisar saris draped over the left shoulders and decked in jewellery. The men were in the dhoti and angavastram with vertical mark on their forehead gleaming in all its glory. Sometimes the priests outnumbered the participants. The ceremonies were similar to Iyer marriages but I am told by my Iyengar friend that one could not miss the subtle differences. The function was topped off by the sadhi stating with salt and of course the famous puliodarai and ending with their famous sweet akkaaravadisal. They claim their dishes are for the brain and sure enough the sweet dish is loaded with moog dhal!

   Present day Iyengar marriages are alas a pale shadow of this. The maruthani which women used to put on their palms at a function before the marriage has been replaced by the north Indian mehendi and the function itself has been commercialised and lost its old world charm. Then north Indian intruder pulav and kurmah has found a place in the menu! The marriage feast is cooked by non Brahmin cooks-what a comedown! You see the Iyengar namams only during marriage ceremony. Though there is Carnatic concert by Iyengar musicians on the previous day there is a bolly wood or kollywood music. The bride and groom are sometimes both Iyengars. Well there you have it in a nutshell. But whomever an Iyengar marries the other party is soon made aware of lineage and superiority of the clan. When you look outside the clan the first choice is of course an Iyer. Then many times these days nature takes it course and love is the deciding factor. What would have been unthinkable a few years back is happening now. North Indians, film stars Muslims, Christians foreigners now marry Iyengars and even strict Iyengars families seem to be accepting it. Demand and supply and depleted numbers and modern society and values have made the situation inevitable.

    Vasundhara fell in love with her Raman, an Iyer, and married him in spite of objections from both families. Of course the marriage was conducted in the Iyengar way much to the disgust of Raman’s mother. Vasundhara and Raman settled in L.A and cut off connections with their families. It was a happy marriage with two children who did very well. Then one fine day Vasudhara told Raman that she was applying for a divorce. No amount of pleading by Raman, who was still love with her, worked and the divorce came through. Raman was very gracious and gave the house to Vasundhara and moved to a flat. He made a request to his wife to tell him what went wrong. Vasudhara told him that during the marriage ceremony when he was washing her feet in the ceremony he did not caress them. It was a slight she had not forgotten. Raman was so fond of her that he offered to clean the garden and in house every weekend and the offer was accepted. In return Vasundhara allowed Raman to sleep with her once in a way. Raman’s attempt at remarriage was rebuffed with the words ‘An Iyengar woman never forgets!’

    Mythili was shocked when her only son married a Palestinian Arab. They had been classmates at Oxford. Her husband said nothing could be done but Mythili took the first plane to England. She convinced her daughter in law about the superiority of vaishistaadvaida philosophy of Iyengars, got her to change her name from Sahheda to Susheela. A month later the marriage was conducted in Madras in the traditional Iyengar fashion. Everyone is happy.    

    Next we come to music, dance, and other cultural activities. One gets the impression that Iyengars dominate this field. Take Carnatic music for instance. Ariyakudi's name is bandied about. No doubt a great majestic singer, but then you have the melodious GNB. A Sudha Raghunathan is matched by Aruna Sairam. A T.M.Krishna is matched by Sanjay Subramaniam . And so we can go on. We tend to forget that Carnatic music and Bhatatnatyam was nurtured by the devedasi community and they were neither Iyers nor Iyengars. Rivalries were always there and sometimes lead to humorous exchanges. Once Papanasam Sivan, a great Iyer composer, an itinerant and short of money, had the bright idea of demanding royalty for singing his compositions and approached Ariyakudi. Iyengar is said to have told Sivan that he should pay him for singing and making them popular. In passing we should mention that one of the founders of Music Academy was T.T.Krishnamachari, the finance minster we wrote about. There is so much of hubris in these matters that one tends to forget that it is not the prerogative of one group. The melodious Unnikrishnan is a Malayalee. Things are changing today but even today people forget that Jesudas was taught by Chembai Vaidyanatha Bhagavathar

There is a similar situation in Bharat Natyam dance There are non Brahmins, Iyers, Iyengars and Christians dancers of great distinction.The Tanjore Quartet, non Brahmins, shaped the present day Bharata Natyam. Krishna Iyer made a dance form practised by Devadasis  acceptable. We have a Balasaraswati and a Rukmini Arundel who reintroduced us to the beauty majesty of Bharata natyam. A Sudha Rani and a Padma Subramaiam. Leela Samson enchants with her dance.The humourous part  is that this dance form is associated with Lord Siva, the Iyer God. The Chidambaram temple is dedicated Lord Nataraja, another namre for Siva.

    In yoga B.K.S Iyengar is a doyen and undisputed leader for the contributions made to make yoga known all over the world. The western medicine has thanks to B.K.S accepted the benefits of practising yoga. Here was e teacher who practised what he preached. There we have Iyers but nobody to beat B.K.S. and other Iyengars.

One interesting social study is the way Iyers and Iyengars adjusted  and survived during  the British rule. Both adopted the turban,namam,coat and tie, the veshti tucked between the legs and of course the polished shoes with socks. The adventurous took to drinking whisky, rum and gin with the Brits during social functions. In due course the afternoon gin and tonic and evening  whisky and soda became a house drink. Iyengars became real connoisseurs and made really good G and T. This holds good even today. If you want drink a top class G and T go to your Iyengar friend. The quinine  in Tonic water purified the gin. The practice among some Iyengars was to add sprig of basil to the whisky to purify it!  Real innovation. With the pace of modern life applying a proper Iyengar namam in all its glory was too time consuming. So we have modern day Iyengars either no namas or just a bright red vertical line on their foreheads. The women have now made up by wearing big vertical decorative red marks to make up!   Adaptation to western culinary ideas is shown by Iyengars taking to baking bread. Now a days the Iyengar bakeries are seen all over the cities. They make bread with a special Iyengar flavour, and once you get used to it you go back for it. Once when searching for an architect in Bangalore we were directed to the Jaynagar Iyengar bakery on first floor of which our architect had his office. Of course the architect was an Iyengar and was enjoying the aroma all day!

    Another surprising field where you find Iyengars is the police service. They are here in good numbers and have done well, a few of them ending heading C.B.I. At first sight rather unexpected but neverthless like Iyengar bakeries a reality! They were prepared to sacrifice their namam to get in and so you cannot make them out easily. It comes through only if you know them well or after they retire and reminisce and write memoirs or give advice on law on order and investigation. I suppose like all of us they have to make a career and this is a as good field as any. With scams galore in our country this is a good field to keep going as it never ends.

    In industry we have big names in both communities. It swings this way and that but at present in the south Iyengars probably have the edge. Both communities have taken to industry and commerce like ducks to water. Do we see a get together by marriage?

    In all fields like movies, journalism, government both communities have made great contributions and we have long lists of people who have made their mark. The old rivalry seems to have toned down while each keeps its identity without rancour. There are regrets however. Science and mathematics is a field where both Iyers and Iyengars took to like ducks to water. I would say it started with Srinivasa Ramanujam about whose achievements books are still being written. He set the trend for the interest maths and science. Ramanujam was discovered and given a job in the Madras Port Trust  by Narayana Iyer, the office manager. Narayana  Iyer ,himself a mathematician of merit, persuaded his boss Francis Spring to sponser Ramanujam for studies at Cambridge. He also sent the Ramanujam papers to the National Archives. A very magnanimous action by an Iyer to an Iyengar.  A decade after Ramaujam’s death the torch was again lit by C.V.Raman in experimental physics. This has been followed by Chandrasekar, who used mathematics to solve problems and recently another Iyer, Ramakrishnan.  All the three won Nobel Prize. Mathematics is excluded from Nobel awards and this explains how Ramanujam did not. One cannot however miss the fact of the preponderance of Iyers in the Nobel winners, a sore point with the verticals!  Mind you Chandrasekar made use of mathematics to predict events in astro physics.

     What started with the great Ramanujam’s vashita advaita philosophy and humanism to put Vaishnavism on a superior footing ended up with a distinct community who kept to themselves with an air of superiority as the original Brahmins did. This has succeeded as the original selection seems to have very rigorous. Overtime the number of Iyengars seems to have declined. A talented community they will find a way out and this already seen in more marriage outside the community. The Jews have survived and grown as have the Brahmins in spite of all the obstacles in their way. Like the baniyan tree they are built to survive and contribute to the society. In Tamil Nadu, in spite of Periyar and M.K the sanskritisation, as Srinivas called it, is spreading. Even decades ago the wily Iyengar Rajagoplachari had a measure of Periyar. It was said Periyar used to consult him on his personal problems.

    In my boyhood my favourite god was Vishnu and my regret was that he was not our top god. The sight of Vishnu relaxing on a bed of snake coils with Lakshmi massaging his legs was my idea of a good easy life. Leave Brahma to collect information and make Siva do all the work. Poor Siva dancing, creating and destroying all the time with no rest. In modern Management parlour – delegate and get the work done by others! 

All this started in Raghu’s house. Over the last few years, spread over nights with bottles of red wine as a mental stimulant and vocal lubricant the verticals and horizontal have been discussed threadbare with no one giving way. Urmilla suffered in silence. Vasanta was a good foil and try as he did Raghu could not trip her. She is one of the vadamas among the Iyers whose ancestors refused to accept the superiority of Vishnu!  I have a sneaking feeling that even today the idea of no Nobel laureates among Iyengars rankles. To compensate they concentrate on Iyengars in cricket!

 The End.

All photographs courtesy the Internet.

Comments

[Kamini]

Those wine-fueled discussions will never fade from my memory! It always boiled down to Iyengars and cricket! Looks like you have ignited an online version of the discussion here.
Lovely series, Appa.

[Sekar]

Well done! Over to Raghu for further elaboration on Iyengar management gurus.

[Prema]

Very nicely written with beautiful nuances - thanks for sharing Kamini

[Gowri]

"If you want drink a top class G and T go to your Iyengar friend." For this and many ohter nuggets of info, thanks!

[ad2259@columbia.edu]

love it thath! only you would write this :) informative and humorous, and my favourite part was the one about the food and drinks!

[Raji Muthukrishnan]

Extremely entertaining , amusing and informative. I enjoyed it, and learnt quite a few things.

[Raghu]

Another delightful piece, Thath!

Well, no Nobel Prizes perhaps, but apart from Ramanujam, there is also SRS Varadhan, who won the Abel Prize for mathematics in 2007. (OK, I agree that three Nobels still dominates ...)

I'm suprised you didn't mention tennis and the Krishnans, though that was balanced by omitting Srikkanth and Venkat, the only two cricket captains from TN.

Sekar: Iyengar management gurus?! Are there any?

[rajamani]

my first visit here and i started reading part two of the vertical vs horizontal thread.

what a pleasant surprise. one thing for certain...you will definitely hear from me often from now on..till all your blogs are consumed and digested :)

சுவையான சீடை

[Raja Ramakrishnan]

Thanks rajamani
ramakrishnan

[R.SUNDARAM]

My son , when he was making decisons about his field of study, used to say that in TIFR the Iyer you go the Iyengar you become,

[Raja Ramakrishnan]

good one. thanks
ramakrishnan

[Raji Srinivasan Bgl]

Being an Iyengar, I can relate to everything that you say! Especially, the air of superiority! The other distinguishing element was the 'no onions, no garlic' practice of the verticals, something that they were proud of!

[ramakrishnan]

Thanks.Srivasan. Most Iyers also shuned onion and garlic till tecently.
ramakrishnan

[d s raju]

Iyengars are epicureans (Bhogis) and Iyers are stoics (Yogis) and that perhaps is due to the very nature of their respective Gods the reclining Anantasayana and the strident Nataraja.

[ramakrishnan]

Thank you raju.You have put it in a nutshell
ramakrishnan