Marrying outside their caste is a sin here

Families ostracized for marrying outside caste, violating village orders Shanmughasundaram.j@timesgroup.com Tiruvannamalai Several families, including retired government employees, in Hasanampettai panchayat near Cheyyar in Tiruvannamalai district have been ostracised by village elders for marrying outside their caste and not abiding by their diktat. Marrying outside their community (Senguntha Mudaliyar) is an offence in the village. Many youngsters, who have married girls of other castes, have faced the wrath of the village elders, and have ended up being ostracised along with their families. The village elders (ooru nattamai) are also against persons approaching police and courts against their orders. Those who do so are also ostracised, and this included many government employees. “Over 99 percent of the families in the village are Senguntha Mudhaliyars. Even the panchayat president should follow the orders of the village elders. They have been running the Kangaroo Court and calling the shot in each and every activity in the panchayat,” a government official in the village administrative office told TOI. The village elders had ostracised several families after the sons married women belonging to other sub-class of Mudhaliyar community, said S Chozhan, who was sitting in his deserted tea shop. Until four years ago, he was running a mini tiffin-cum-tea shop and making good business.But things had changed after his son married a girl belonging to the “Agamudai Mudhaliyar” community. “They (village elders) asked me to bring the community certificate of my daughter-in-law. After they learnt that she was not from our community, they asked me to shun away the relationship with my son and pay fine. I refused to do so,” said Chozhan, who was ostracised from the village. Since then, the villagers stopped coming to his shop. P A Ellappan, one of the victims, succumbed to the pressure of the Kangaroo Court and paid a fine of Rs 5000 and fell on the feet the “ooru nattamai” after his two sons married outside their community. “My father died six months ago. The village elders and their supporters ordered that we should not conduct our father’s funeral and said that my brother-in-law should do the final rites. Since we objected to this, the neighbours and the villagers did not attend my father’s funeral fearing the Kangaroo Court,” said E Dhandapani, a government teacher. Retired forest ranger Manickam and retired government school teacher P A Sampath have also been facing the wrath of village elders after they voiced against the “Kangaroo Court. “If anyone approaches the court or deny to follow their diktats, they will humiliate the family. Many left the village unable to withstand the humiliation,” said Manickam, who was outcasted after he refused to obey the “Nattamai” orders over a trivial issue in 2011.