Valivitta Thevar

Valivitta Thevar (1889-1927) was an Indian social reformer and teacher. He was the "kulaguru" of Keelathooval area in Ramnad District in the early twentieth century.

The people of Ramnad were forced to live in the Dark Ages by the British GovernmentFact|date=February 2007 who were scared of the fiery independent spirit and legendary valor of the legitimate ruling community of Ramanthapuram District. The Sethupathy rulers of Ramanathapuram (shortened as Ramnad) organized their territory into Kamuthi, Sivagangai, Thirumayam and Perunali and the brothers and brothers-in-law of the King were posted as Regional Commanders for Administrative control.

When the British were spreading their tentacles, it was Muthuramalinga Sethupathy who fought the fiercest battles with them. As usual, the British resorted to cunning and treacheryFact|date=February 2007 by buying out the sister of the King and by their betrayal managed to imprison the King in Tiruchirapally. Consequently,a prolonged rebellion ensued, with the regional commandants leading from many fronts. It was such a great challenge for the British that even though they managed to suppress the rebellions by barbaric, cruel and inhuman tacticsFact|date=February 2007, they thought of all possible means of continued repression of the ruling community. One of the repressive tactics was the Criminal Tribes Act. A criminal tribe, which has crossed many oceans to spread a culture of greed and barbarism, had the gall to call the legitimate rulers of India as criminal tribes. The ruling community of Ramanathapuram were comparable to the people of Corsica, the native island of Napoleon, in spirit and independence. The British naturally adopted similar repressions, as they did for Napoleon, to contain the spirit of a glorious community.

As a result of the two centuries of oppression and isolation from the main stream of Governance, the people of Ramanathapuram became economically and educationally backward. Education became the rarest possibility in this region.It needed the pioneering spirit of the few leaders, who happened to get the formal education despite the many odds against them.

Thooval Valivitta Thevar was one of them,who dedicated his life to the education of the people of Ramanathapuram. He lived for thirty eight years and twenty years of his life he single-mindedly devoted to the educational development of the children of Ramanathapuram. His devotion and dedication earned him the titles of Kulaguru and Vamshaguru of the region and after his period, the mantle was carried on by his son Thooval Narayana Thevar for another sixty years from 1935 to 1995, until he moved on to Madras (Chennai of today) around that time.

Thooval Valivitta Thevar was born in KeelaSakkulam,near Kamuthi,to SiraiMeetta Thevar. They are descendants of AdhiNarayana Thevar, who was their important ancestor, whose name was given to successive generations and in vogue still today,in the considerable number of persons carrying the name in the village contemporarily. Valivitta Kilavan is their KulaDeivam. The temple is located on the road to Kamuthi from Mudukulathur. Their ancestral lands are inherited through generations to this day by their descendants.

Historically the names have relations with the AdhiNarayana Sethupathy and Kilavan Sethupathy of those times.Kilavan Sethupathy was remembered as the legend and Saviour deity of the Sethupathy clan for his ingenuity in defeating the Maratha Army, which laid siege to Ramanathapuram. Muthuramalinga Thevar, the prominent political leader often referred them as their relatives. He was a part of the Sethupathi family,with thousands of acres inheritance.

Valivitta Thevar in his childhood was showing good accomplishment in athletics and he was noticed by a visiting educationist, who took him along and educated him to become a teacher as per the existing educational system of those times. He became teacher in the Christian Missionaries School in Paramakudi. When he married Umayakkal,the daughter of Chinnu Thevar in Keelathooval, he shifted to the Government School in Kothanda Raman Pattinam (K.R.Pattinam), near Keelathooval. Here he continued to teach till his last days.

Not only the formal education, but he taught the students in performing arts,like drama(Alli Arasani Kathai) and music also and conducted performances in Paramakudi town to popular acclaim.He noticed the non-availability of medical and astrological facilities and trained himself in Siddha (a branch of Ayurveda) tradition of medicine and Astrology and served his folks as their doctor and astrologer. His services spread the popularity of the ancient sciences of Siddha and Astrology and many of his students took to studying and practicing these sciences