Kizhavenmani

Kizhavenmani (also spelt Keel-Venmani} is a village in Nagapattinam district of Tamil Nadu state in India. The Village made headlines in 1967 when 44 dalit labourers were burnt alive by local feudal lords after being locked in a hut.

Location

The village is about 25 km from the district headquartered town of Nagapattinam.

Incident

This village being is a very fertile river Cauvery Delta is known for its agrarian economy. But the lands were controlled by powerful feudal lords while the laborers were poor dalits. In 1967, the agricultural labourers of Tanjore (Thanjavur) District formed a union as encouraged by Communist leaders in order to get better working conditions and higher wages. To mark their union the dalit workers hoisted the red flags in their villages irking their landlords. The landlords formed their separate union with yellow flags and started laying off people belonging to the Communist unions, leading to some tensions and finally a large scale boycott by all laborers. The negotiations broke because the landlords refused to accept the labour's requirement of additional half a portion of rice. During these talks two labourers from Kizhavenmani were whipped by the landlords and that led to the final incident.

On Dec 25, 1968 the landlords army entered the village with armed weapons and started firing at the boycotting and protesting agricultural labourers. The labourers retaliated strongly leading to a large scale riot. Women and children ran helter skelter and took shelter in a hut at the end of the village belonging to one Ramiah. In that small hut of 8ft x 5 ft, 48 people managed to pack in to avert from the violence. The landlord's army who came to the hut door locked it from outside and set it on fire. In that live fire some 6 of them rushed out, of which two were thrown back into the fire. By the time Police came and opened the hut 44 people were burnt, 14 women and 22 children included. The doctor from Nagapattinam foumd it very difficult to identify the dead bodies.

Aftermath

The incident shocked the entire leading to further protests and violence and finally one of the landlord was murdered but several convicted for 10 years imprisonment. But the mainstream press coverage was inadequate.

Every year a Kizhavenmani memorial day is observed.

* The Incident became the main background subject in the Sahitya Akademy winning novel "Kurudhippunal", by Indira Parthasarathy.

* Kizhavenmani massacre was also the main subject in the Tamil Movie Aravindhan starring Sarath Kumar, Parthiban and Nagma.

* A documentary film, "Ramiahvin Kudisai" (The Hut of Ramiah), was launched in 2006 in Chennai recounting the incident by the survivors.

Links

* [http://www.flonnet.com/fl2301/stories/20060127001608400.htm Article in Frontline Magazine]