Category:Maravankudieruppu, India

A.	About Village :

The Maravankudieruppu Village, has been established by Thiru. Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar and four members of his family. There are more than 1200 Roman Catholic families and more than 5000 members are now living in the Village.

The Village Maravankudieruppu is within the Town area of Nagercoil Municipality. Nagercoil is the District head quarters of Kanyakumari District, the southern most tip of India.

B.	Community The Maravankudieruppu Village people are belonging to the Nadar Community.

C.	Religion The people of Maravankudieruppu are Roman Catholics. The present Church is dedicated to Our Lady of Snows and blessed in 1954. The Parish was established in 1984.

D. Tradition The people of Maravankudieruppu are based on tradition, upholding customs and usage.

E.	Annual Events i)	Every year a Feast is celebrated on August 5, called the feast of Our Lady of Snows. ii)	After the midnight Christmas and Easter Masses of every year the village people are taking procession from the Church to Cemetery and pay tributes to their beloved who are rested in. iii)	Asanam is celebrated on 1st Sunday in the month of June to commemorate the Marian devotion in the month of May. Asanam means all the village peoples join to sacrifice goats to God and cook them with rice and distribute the same to all the village peoples. iv)	The Annual Feast is also celebrated at all the Grottos (Kurusady) namely ; a)	Our Lady of Goodwill - situated on the main road in front of Matha Mahal. b)	Our Lady of Good Health. c)	St. Michael the Archangel d)	Our Lady of Assumption

ORIGIN Kamanaickenpatti Kamanaickenpatti is situated at 14 Km North East of Kovilpatti. Nadar and Naicker communities are living there. During 16th century (nearly 1600 AD) in Kayatharu nearly 45 families got baptized and followed the Catholic faith. After that, St. John De Britto a Jesuit priest baptized the people of Kamanaickenpatti and he built a Church at Kamanaickenpatti in 1685 AD. After 1688 AD Kamanaickenpatti developed into a permanent settlement to Jesuit Priests for their religious works. Rev. Fr. Joseph Constantine Beschi (Veerama Munivar) served as the 7th parish priest at the Kamanaickenpatti parish.

Name of Kamanaickenpatti The name of Kamanaickenpatti was derived from the name of a king. There were two brothers Ettapa Naicker and Kama Naicker who ruled these places during 1600 AD. One village was named as Kamanaickenpatti and the nearby village was named as Ettu Naickenpatti.

Migration Due to religious persecution (vedakalapanai) in the 17th century, (1700-29) Kamanaickenpatti was fully destroyed ; even now the destroyed place can be seen in the north side of the cemetery. During the persecution (Vedakalapanai) King Chegavera Ramakachil Ettapa Naicker laid a stone in 1665 AD to protect the Catholics from the enemies. The said laid stone is now erected in front of the said Church. The persecution against Christians was very severe, and there was no safety for them to survive. This made the people to think of migration to other places. Hence Thiru. Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar and four of his family members migrated to Maravan Thattu now called as Maravankudieruppu.

Maravan Thattu : At that time in Marava Thattu some thieves and robbers were staying there and the said Thiru. Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar and four members of his family fought with them and finally Thiru.Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar established and put up his habitat at Maravan Thattu, now called as Maravankudieruppu.

After Migration : Thiru. Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar and the member of his family had arrived at Maravankudieruppu in 1700. He married Perianachi @ Peria Nadachi, a woman from the neighbouring Kalasamirakki Kudieruppu and settled there. They had no children so they adopted three children of his brother and a relative’s child from Kamanaickenpatti and made them as their heirs. They are the origins of this village.

Maravankudieruppu : 1.	Thiru Swamiyadian Nadar with four members of his family established and possessed the entire area in Maravankudieruppu and near by locality. He was a tax payer to the Travancore Samasthanam. So he was called to attend the marriage of Swathi Thirumal Rama Varma and Panapillai Amma Srimathi Ayikutty Narayani Pillai Kochamma of the Thiruvattar Ammaveedu family in 1829. Mr. Samyadiyan also attended the function and presented 1001 pawns of Gold which was a big presentation in that period. So the king was pleased and honoured him by awarding him with one of the greater award “Thiru Mugam Parpu”. The meaning is Seeing the face of the King. The people who got this award can meet the king without prior an appointment. This can be found from the records of Thiruvancore Cochin Samasthanam available at Trivandrum. “Thirupappu” is the short name of “Thiru Mugam Parpu”. Thereafter from Thiru. Samiyadiyan Nadar was called as “Thiru. Samyadiyan Thiru Mugam Parpu Nadar” in short as Thiru. Samadiyan Thirupappu Nadar.

Evidence and facts : The main evidence of migration of Thiru. Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar from Kamanaickenpatti to Maravankudieruppu available as follows :- i.	When people of one custom and beliefs migrate from one place to another, they will take over their respective Gods with them. Similarly Thiru. Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar took over the wooden statue of Our Lady of Assumption from Kamanaickenpatti to Maravankudieruppu. Now the wooden statue is worshiped in the cemetery Chapel. ii. A unique drama named “Kallarai Vaassaappu” was staged in Kamanaickenpatti and also in Maravankudieruppu till 1965. This shows the similarity between both the places of Kamanaickenpatti and Maravankudieruppu. iii. The main evidence is the tomb that is sill preserved in the cemetery behind the chapel, which is the tomb of Thiru.Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar. There is a conventional program followed on every Easter and Christmas day, the Village people accompanied by bands and trumpets visit the cemetery to honor him by garlanding his tomb and the tomb of his family members following the midnight Holy mass. They also smear the cross of his tomb with coconut oil and milk to honor him. There is another tomb said to be, one of the heir in which the epitaph is written as Mr. Savarimuthu Nadan buried in 1768 AD. Now the epitaph stone is underneath the Cemetery Chapel.

Location of the Maravankudieruppu : Maravankudieruppu is part of Nagercoil Municipality, situated 3 km from Nagercoil, the administrative headquarter of Kanyakumari District in the Indian State of Tamilnadu. Originally Kanyakumari District was part of Kerala the erstwhile Travancore Kingdom till almost a decade after India’s Independence from Britain in 1947. In 1956, it was merged with Tamilnadu. In its earlier days, the town and its surroundings were known as Nanjilnadu. The Maravankudieruppu village is bordered on the West by Vattakarai Village, North by Pattakasalian Vilai and Kalai Nagar (Kalasamirakki Kudieruppu) East by Keela Maravankudieruppu and on the South by Vannanvilai. There is one water canal, which flows from pechiparai Dam, which divides the Maravankudieruppu village ; one side comes under Municipality and another side is in village panchayat. The village people are mainly agriculturists. Coconut growers and timber merchants.

Well (drinking water) Originally the villagers had to bring drinking water from the fountains situated at the southern side of the village. Hence the villagers dug a well for drinking water in the centre of the village in front of the second church. It was dug by the villagers nearly for 10 years at a depth of 85 feets namely from 1904 to 1914. The water is sweet and it fulfills the needs of the villagers and also neighbouring villagers.

RELIGIOUS PROFESSION

The Kottar Diocese detached from Quilon Diocese most of the Catholics are the followers of St.Thomas, the Apostle of Jesus Christ and St. Francis Xavier, the Jesuit Priest. The people in Maravankudieruppu have a different history. Catholics here were baptized by St. John De Britto from Kamanaikenpatti Parish.

First Church In olden days, there where only few Catholics who lived in small groups and were not able to build a Church. So they built a small Chapel called Grottos Kurusady, to fulfill there spiritual needs. Similarly in Maravankudieruppu too they had built a small chapel in cemetery and the chapel was dedicated to Our Lady of Assumption. The said Our Lady Statue was brought from Kamanaickenpatti.

The tomb of Thiru. Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar is behind the chapel. Till 1920 Holy mass was not celebrated, but prayers were conducted by a Layman (upathesiar). He was responsible for maintaining the church with the offerings and the excess will go to him as his maintenance. His duty was to light up the oil lamp (Punnai Oil) and conduct the prayer service. Lot of miracles happened to the people. Therefore the people suffering from illness used to sleep in night hours in the cemetery chapel for their recovery. As population grew steadily the chapel could not accommodate more peoples. So they decided to build another church.

Second Church The Second Church is in the centre of the village. Over 100 people are able to sit and pray. Inside the Church, the statues of Blessed Virgin Mary, (now on St. Nallamana Matha Curia) Infant Jesus and St. Joseph have been placed on the altar. In front of the Church there was a bell, which was not covering the distance. So they purchased a big bell, but the church was not strong enough to hold the bell. So they hang up the bell on the near by a Tamarind tree. Presently the bell is used in our present Church, namely, Thasnavis Madha Church.

From 1820 onwards the Second Church was used as a veranda school. The School was up to second standard and the teaching method was by writing on the sand. When the school namely St. Mary’s Primary School was built and shifted to Main Road in 1908, it was converted as Church. Hence the service from the cemetery Chapel was shifted to the Second Church.

Basically this was used as an Grotto (Kurusady). Mainly this is used for multipurpose of conducting various functions.

1.	Prayers and services in the evening 2.	Marian Month ( May) was celebrated very grandly. 3.	Village committee meetings.

From 1940 the Liturgy of Holy mass was celebrated by Rev.Fr. Richard. When the Holy mass celebration started, then onwards the feast was also celebrated on August. Once in a Month, the Holy mass is celebrated on Sundays at 7.00 A.M. After 1947-51 Rev.Fr.Ambrose celebrated the Holy Mass once in a week. From then marriage and other Sacraments were also held there. (Previously for Marriage and other Sacraments people had to go to St.Antony’s Church, Kurusady). When the population increased the second church was not adequate to conduct services. So they decided to build another church.

Third Church – Present Church. Third church was planned in three places. Finally it was decided to construct near the playground. As soon as the construction work started, the foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of Kottar Most Dr. Roch Agniswamy in 1945. For collecting funds the people above 18 years of age should give money, if not, they had to work during construction. For mobilizing huge funds, people of Maravankudieruppu sang “Thukka pattu” to other Catholic parishes and collected donations.

Another spectacular one is that the whole structure is supported by seven concrete arches and there is no pillars. The door frames are made from stone and designed at a height of 60 feet and no other Church near by Maravankudieruppu is built in this design. Originally the plan of the church tower was 150 feet. Then the tower of the Church was altered later at the final stage. Therefore the Church construction was partially completed and ordained for service. The church was dedicated to Our Lady of Snows.

On December 11, 1954 at 6.30 AM in the morning the Church was blessed and opened by His Excellence Most Rev. Dr. Roch Agniswamy the Bishop of Kottar in front of Rev. Fr.D.C. Antony the parish priest of Kurusady. During the Feasts, for hoisting the flag for 10 days, initially they used Areca Nut tree, then teak and now a concrete tower.

In earlier days Petromax lights and Candles were used in Churches. Later the Church was Electrified. In 1962 by signing “Thukka pattu” in 14 parishes and collected Rs. 440 to buy Amplifier and Speakers. Thereafter lightning arresters were purchased with the help of the donation. Mercury lights have been fixed. This light is having a glowing capacity of 2 Km’s surrounding the Maravankudieruppu.

SOCIAL AND RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS This parish is well known for its contributions to the social welfare. The below listed self-made establishments, stands self explanatory to it.

·	St. Marys Primary School ·	Bishop Arockiaswamy Hr.Sec. School ·	Matha Mahal ·	Community Hall - Mini Mandapam ·	Public Distribution System - Co-operative society (Govt). ·	Vincent De Paul Society-Free Clinic. ·	Youth Club ·	GYM - Youth Club ·	Matha Finance.

Youth Club : The youth Movement was founded in the year 1930 and in 1968 it is effectively formed as Youth Club to unite all the youths to the welfare of the Youngsters and the village. KURUSADY PARISH

Kurusady Parish comprised of Kurusady, Maravankudieruppu, East Ramaputhoor, West Ramanputhoor, Vattakarai, Thalavaipuram, Punnakkattuvilai, Konam and Vedhakkara kudieruppu and other 13 villages. The Administrative Committee of the Kurusady Parish have one President, one Treasurer. The President was called as Mordom. The First Mordom was Thiru Maria Arokiam Nadar (1880-1891) during this period only the present Kurusady Church foundation stone was laid in the year 1890. The second Mordom was Thiru Maria Gnanapragasam Nadar (1892-1910), the Third Mordom was Thiru. Mariantony Nadar (1910-1952). In this period the present Kurusady Church was blessed that is in 1911 and the Fourth and Last Mordom was Thiru.M.Antony Nadar (1959-1983). After that the Mordom system was abolished. All the said Mordom was descendants of Thiru. Swamiyadian Thirupappu Nadar of Maravankudieruppu only.