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ARTICLE
LIFE SKETCH OF V.T.BHATTATHIRIPPAD

            V.T.Battathiripad was born on 26^th of March 1896 in Mezhathoor Village of old Ponnani Taluk.  His full name is Vellithiruthi Thazhathillath Raman Bhattathirippad.  V.T.Bhattathirippad’s Tharavadu had a close relationship with legendary Tharavadu of Vemanchery Mana, which was the house of Argnihothri of Parayipetta Panthirukulam. His mother, Sreedevi Antharganam, was a member of Kaippilli Illam which was the home of Sri.Sankaracharya, the Hindu saint.  V.T.Bhattathirippad was the heir of the rich tradition of these two great men such as Sankaracharya and Agnihothri.  It was a great surprise that this man who possessed this great and rich tradition, broke away the poonool and gave leadership for the revolt against his own society following the path of his great ancestors a result of his activity he was dismissed from the society and “Bhrashtt” was forcefully bestowed upon him. His great ancestor “Agnihothri” had also undergone this situation when he pleaded for the right of the marriage of the matured girls. So he was called as ‘bhrashttan’ by the senior members of the society. Another ancestor of V.T, Sankaracharya, a great Hindu saint had to suffer a lot from the society when his mother passed away.  As he was the only one son of his mother and being a hermit he was not allowed to do the funeral rituals of his mother.  But he performed it.  Against his disobedience the senior members of the society boycotted the function, like that V.T.Bhattathirippad also had conducted the funeral of his father all by himself.

            Even if his father was a strict Brahmin he could not stick on this strictness in preserving the family wealth.  The family stewards and other relatives used this wealth senselessly and the tharavadu was about to decline when V.T.Bhattathirippad was born.  As usual Brahmin boys when he was seven years old.  The Upayana was conducted when he was a year old.  The Veda studies were in the hose of a guru where he had to stay for a longtime.  After the studies of Veda he assisted in Perunthalmanna Pathakkara Mana and in Puthukuruchi Mana nearby Elemkulam.   The words received by the teacher of Guru are to be re-recited by the disciple in ascending and descending order with the help of jesters and body language.  It was the teaching method only a few Sanskrit words will be byhearted by the disciple.  Actually it was a futile effort.  The spelling or the meaning of the words recited by the disciple was not taught.  Even the letters were not taught this is only a qualification to become the priest in temple.  V.T. also became and assistant of priest in Mundamukal in Sastham Kovil in Shornoor when he was seventeen.

            He started this career with a lot of doubts and fears but he could adjust with the situation very soon.  The young priest could attract the attention of everyone he was leading a satisfied and facilities life as a priest in the temple unexpectedly an inciadent look place in his life and it became a turning point.  One day after complete the work in the temple V.T. was resting in a corner of the temple.  Then a small girl who was a member of Thiya family approached V.T. and requested him to clear a doubt in Mathematics.  It was a simple arithmetic but V.T. could not solve it as he was illiterated in another subject.  This made V.T. very sad and looks a strong decision to be the disciple of that girl tomorrow itself.

            On the very next day he approached the girl and expressed his wish she gave him a state in which fifty-one Malayalam letters were written.  When the world was sleeping he started to recite and write down those letters in his words.  “It was something like sharing fire to the heep of dried leaves”.  He wrote those letters with shivering hands. He began to read the newspaper pieces which was used to cover the sugarcandy for the ‘Panappayasam’.  The paper was not clear as the melted sugar candy spreaded here and there.  In that damaged paper he came to see the figure of a wild animal with a raised head under that figure a Malayalam sentence was written “Manmark Kuda”.  He recited it together as a sentence.  It was the first sentence read by Mr.V.T.Bhattathiripad.  His joy was limitless.  He knew the mystery of happiness hidden in the letters.  A new world of letters was unveiled and revealed before him.  He was very grateful to the Thia girl who shared the flames of letters to him.

            After his regular duty in temple he used the rest of his time in learning he could understand the new meaning and new forms of life when he learned to read.  He read whatever he so on the roadside.  When he began to read, he had a strong decide to obtain knowledge.  Then he came to known about the Yogakshema Sabha and the journal under etc.  Supervision he had a burning desire to read the news paper.  So he wrote a letter to the editor of the newspaper without knowing the formatting of the letter writing. In the letter he expressed his sincere desire to read the newspaper.  He had never thought of accepting that letter.

            But even if he had no hope on his letter the authorities of Yogakshema Sabha respond to his letter.  It was the first letter which he got by the mail.  He began to read Yogakshema Sabha to know the communal news and Keralapathrika to know the general news.  The national movement and the movement related to community became the inspiration of his thoughts.  Later in his life V.T. became the chief editor of this journal of Yogakshema Sabha which helped him to introduce the world of letter.  The newspaper reading helped V.T. to no more and more about the world V.T. was encouraged by the news of reformation happening in the outer world after learning to read and write in Malayalam he had a wish to learn English with the help of a Railway Employee he did an attempt to learn English.  It continued for some months.

            The name of V.T’s wife was V.T.Sreedevi they had two sons, but the eldest son died in the childhood itself and the youngest son is V.T.Vasudevan who followed the path of his father later in his life.

            It was on 12^th of February 1982.  The famous reformer of the Brahmins Mr.V.T.Bhattathiripad passed away.  It was the end of an age of great reformer according to the Sahodaran Ayyappan has quoted the people who plead study from V.T. to know the right path.  The people like V.T. are the real founders who put their full efforts to unify the Hindus and try for the Nationalism.

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