The 259th birth anniversary of Veerapandiya Kattabomman was celebrated at Panchalankurichi, his birth place, in Ottapidaram taluk on Wednesday.
Kattabomman fought against the British in the latter part of the 18th century. Scores of people from various places thronged Panchalankurichi. Special prayers and pujas were organised at the temple of Veerasakka Devi Amman, Kattabomman’s ancestral deity, by Veerasakka Devi Amman Temple Committee.
The committee members then took out a procession from the temple to Kattabomman Memorial Fort at Panchalankurichi, where they garlanded his statue.
The freedom fighter’s descendants and members of his clan also paid respects to the statue. Veemaraja (78), alias Jegaveerapandia Subramaniya Kattabommudurai, a direct descendant of Kattabomman, distributed sweets to those who had gathered there.
C. Mallusamy, joint secretary of the temple committee, said after celebrating the freedom fighter’s birth anniversary at Panchalankurichi, many people would also garland Kattabomman’s statue erected in Madurai.
Ilasai Manian, secretary, Raghunathan Library, Barathi Research Centre, Ettayapuram, said the State government should volunteer to organise a programme on this occasion to sensitise the younger generation to the significant contribution of Kattabomman to the freedom movement.
The weapons used by the soldiers of British East India Company were being maintained at the government museum in Chennai. They should be shifted to the new memorial at Kayathar to attract more tourists, he stressed.
