Thursday, February 7, 2013

My mother's family

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu, and his brother, Govindaswamy Naidu, were born in a small hamlet in the village areas near Satyavedu on the central route between Tirupati and Chennai. My maternal grandfather ran a small primary school in his village, and also had some meagre income from farming. Muniswamy Naidu and Govindaswamy Naidu settled at Nungambakkam, at 8, Village Road, and established a school - "Sri Rajarajeshwari High School", teaching in English Medium, in those days.

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu
at an Independence Day function of the Sri Rajarajeshwari High School
at 4, Ramanaicken Street, Nungambakkam, Chennai (probably 1968-69)
From left, my sister, my grandfather, an invited guest, one of the teachers, 
and Kuchela Uncle, my mother's brother

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu and maternal grandmother, Hymavathy Naidu (aka Akkiya or Akkayya) had six children - three sons and three daughters.
(1) Sharda Bhushan nee Indumati, (2) M. Kuchela Naidu, (3) M. Gopinath Naidu, (4) M. Bhaskar Rao, (5) Saraswathy Purushottam and (6) Shyamala Nagaraj Naidu.

My maternal great grandfather, father of my maternal grandmother, was Dr. Varada Venkata Ramanuja Naidu, in the civil services of British India, in south Andhra Pradesh areas of erstwhile Madras State. My maternal grandmother, Hymavathi Naidu was the eldest. She had more than 10 brothers and sisters. My mother, Indumati, nee Sharada, was eldest born to Muniswamy Naidu and Hymavathi.

Dr. Varada Venkata Ramanuja Naidu
My maternal-maternal great grand-father

My maternal grandmother,  Hymavathi Naidu

My maternal grandfather, Muniswamy Naidu and
my maternal grandmother, Hymavathi Naidu at Chennai

Varada Venkata Ramanuja Naidu (Seated Centre) 
Rupavati (Amani) (Seated Left) 
Krishnamurthy (Kupchanya) (Seated 2nd Left) 
Sundar Rao (Chinnanya) (Seated 2nd Right) 
Kalavati (Pedda Papa) (Seated Right) 

Nityananda Rao (Chitti) (Standing Left) 
Bhaktavatsala Rao (Buchchi) (Standing Right) 
Hari Prasad (Thamba) (Seated Ground Left) 
Rajini (Chinna Papa) (Seated Centre) 
Padmanabha Rao (Babu) (Seated Ground Right)
[My maternal grandmother - Hymavathi (Akkya) is missing in this photograph. She was the eldest.]


Shree Varadaraja Venkataramana at the temple at Gurpur, near Mangalore, Karnataka
[From - http://www.facebook.com/S.V.V.T.Gurpur]

4 comments:

Melissa Pather said...

Hello

Did anyone from your mother's family immigrate to South Africa in 1910-1911?
My grand father was Krishnappa Naidu and I am trying to trace back my roots, will you be able to assist me?

Zillah: North Arcot
Thanna: Polur
Village: Mathumangalam (Think the spelling is incorrect in South African records)

Hope to hear from you soon.

Regards
Melissa

shteller... said...

Dear Melissa Naidoo - Let me first try and reply to the geographical part of your enquiry. Mathimangalam is a village with 718 families and 2843 persons according to the previous census. This village is in the Polur Taluk of the Tiruvannamalai District in the State of Tamil Nadu.

North Arcot was a district in northern Tamil Nadu under the Madras Presidency in 1900s. In the year 1989, the district was divided into Tiruvannamalai and Vellore districts.

shteller... said...

The link to the map is http://villagemap.in/tamil-nadu/tiruvannamalai/polur/442100.html for Mathimangalam Village, Polur Taluk, Tiruvannamalai District (formerly North Arcot) in northern Tamil Nadu

shteller... said...

There was an earlier movement of Naidus from northern Tamil Nadu to South Africa. This was in 1906. Several Naidus in that movement came from Polur Taluk of North Arcot District. Of this group, there were 15 Naidus from Mathimangalam village in Polur Taluk. One must remember, that in those times, the Balija Naidus, Gajula Balija Naidus and Kapu Naidus in North Arcot took on or were known in the Tamil-ruled Kingdoms as Naidu, Naik, Naiken or Naicken. I think that the next big movement was in 1911 from Tamil Nadu to South Africa.