Unswerving faith in heritage

July 12, 2010 02:47 am | Updated 02:47 am IST - Coimbatore

Rajesh Govindarajulu, Member, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Coimbatore. Photo:M. Periasamy

Rajesh Govindarajulu, Member, Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), Coimbatore. Photo:M. Periasamy

A centre and a school for entrepreneurship, that too as a common effort. A tree temple, a museum, a Sanathana Dharma library, a world class jewellery and gemmological institute, and all these in Coimbatore region itself. Restoration of the Noyyal is another major dream. In addition, he wants a major plan initiative for regional development and to bring back “daring leadership” which Coimbatore is known to have in the olden days.

This is the wish list of Rajesh Govindarajulu, the scion of the P.A. Raju Chettiar family, the pioneer in gold jewellery industry in Coimbatore. Some consider Chettiar as the Henry Ford of the jewellery trade and industry in 20th century India.

An MBA from Bharathiar University, Mr. Govindarajulu is wedded to heritage and culture. He is the author of Sri Renuka Vijayam and Tales Under the Wisdom Tree and a number of short essay biographies. One who has visited 83 of the 106 “Divya desams” (Vaishanavite pilgrim centres), he has written about a number of them. Recently, he has done a translation of Thirukkural which is available on the iphone Apple.

Apart from writing country studies to promote tourism, transport and hospitality sector in Thanjavur and Rameswaram areas, he has edited “Enterprise” and “Axiom” magazines at the college-level. He has also classified temples on the basis of architecture, theology, concepts and interests. He was a research assistant for Mr. Randor Guy in exploring “Coimbatore and the world of cinema.”

The 42-year–old history and heritage lover tells to The Hindu about his love for heritage, what he learnt from his forefathers, his dreams for Coimbatore and how to promote tourism industry and economy through the temples. “Though I joined the family business (gold jewellery) immediately after my studies, even before the age of 30, I was virtually frustrated in the financial world.”

“Though I did want to give something to the society, by then I knew I will not be able to give anything substantially in terms of money.”

Mr. Govindarajulu is brutally frank in admitting that he joined the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) because “joining other organisations would be very costly.” After all, this was the only organisation which had a subscription of just Rs.200 per annum.”

A former National Governing Council member of INTACH, he is also a member of the World Telugu Federation and Tamil Nadu History Congress, apart from a number of other organisations.

From the early days, he had a passion for mythology, Sananthana Dharma, history, and heritage. “I used to read Amarchitra Katha, a priceless collection.”

He is proud to say even when he was in 6th and 7th standard he had such a love for history that he had read Nilakanta Sastry, Mogul History and also Kalki's Sivakamiyin Sabatham and Ponniyin Selvan. Then he wanted to become a historian and an archaeologist.

“Ours was almost a 30-member family of four generations and I had seen my great grandfather Raju Chettiar. The joint family system taught me whatever I know.”

Explaining his initiation to ancient scriptures, he points out that it was his grandmother, a voracious reader, who exposed him to Thulakaveri Puranam.

Mr. Govindarajulu considers T.A. Baskara Iyer, his teacher at GRG Matriculation Higher Secondary School, as the major source of inspiration, especially for his love for history, mythology, value system and ethics. “I had excellent teachers who taught me Ancient India and also Medieval India.”

“Besides, as I spoke Telugu at home, Tamil in the surroundings and studied Hindi and English at school, I was exposed to linguistic pluralism. I tried several times to find a good tutor to learn Sanskrit and German also. Even now, I would love to learn both.” Coimbatore region is cosmopolitan in nature and for example, its Udmalpet Taluk is the haven for all the four southern languages.

His connection with INTACH was extremely beneficial as he got tutored through INTACH communication and started learning not only about man-made heritage but also natural heritage. “We conducted a number of events including heritage treasure hunt, heritage quiz contest and heritage cooker contest, and I edited Kongunadu Patrika.”

It was only during those days, he learnt the value of conservation of water and greenery.

“Slowly my interest in animals and natural food also developed.” He points out that it was the top brass of Siruthuli like S.V. Balasubramanian and Vanitha Mohan who told him “we need young people. Hence, come with your ideas.” Thus, was born “Pudhuvellam,” a fest to celebrate Aadi Perukku in August 2003.

Mr. Govindarajulu contends that preservation of environment is meant more for the poor. It helps hygiene and their social well-being.

He has very high regard for temples because they were not only social places of congregation but also acted as shelters during famine and floods. Even kings had their coronation in temples. “Actually a sort of food-for-work programme was implemented those days by employing sculptors in temples and these temples gave an identity to the cities where the people lived.”

“I used to collect sthalapuranams and at the age of 11, I started writing about my visits.” He considers South India a treasure house of temples, especially art, culture and also sculpture. And Tamil Nadu could be considered the “Temple State of the world”, he asserts.

History and heritage promote tourism and generate substantial employment as well. Of the 700-odd world heritage sites, 20 are in India. “You can start even a theme restaurant.” Tourism could be a very big rejuvenator of economy.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.