Tamil Nadu: Ettayapuram Raja fights to restore ancestral legacy; calls out historical inaccuracy of ‘Ettapan’ slur

CHENNAI: Chandra Chaitanya, the titular 42nd Raja of the Ettayapuram Samasthanam, has launched a passionate campaign to correct what he calls a “deeply painful historical inaccuracy” surrounding his ancestral name, Ettapan.

For decades, the term has carried a negative connotation — largely due to its portrayal in the iconic Tamil film ‘Veerapandiya Kattabomman’, where the character of Ettapan was depicted as a traitor who betrayed Kattabomman to the British. Raja Chandra Chaitanya insists this portrayal is far from the truth and has unfairly maligned the Ettayapuram royal family and its people.

“This slur has wounded our sentiments for generations”, Chandra Chaitanya said. “If it were historically accurate, we could accept it as part of our past. But when it is completely false, how long can we continue to carry this burden?”

#WATCH | Chennai, Tamil Nadu | 42nd Raja of the Ettayapuram, Raja Chandra Chaitanya says, “It is my duty to remove the slur attached to ‘Ettapan’, my ancestral name. This has an origin from Tamil film Veerapandiya Kattabomman, where the character of Ettapan was depicted as a… pic.twitter.com/AZ75Cjb23t

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The stigma, he notes, has gone so far as to seep into textbooks. Upon learning of this, Chandra Chaitanya personally approached Tamil Nadu’s Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, who assured him that corrective measures were being taken to prevent the recurrence of such errors in future editions.

Despite these assurances, Chaitanya believes public awareness is still lacking. To address this, he, along with the people of Ettayapuram and surrounding villages, has organised a demonstration aimed at educating the public on the true history of the Ettayapuram Samasthanam.

He points out that far from betraying the freedom struggle, Ettayapuram played a pioneering role in resisting colonial power. “Our armies, led by Alagumutthu Kon, were among the first to challenge the East India Company”, he said, recalling how soldiers from Ettayapuram were executed by cannon fire for their defiance. “We lost our palaces, we lived in exile and yet we returned to reclaim our land. Our history is one of resistance, not betrayal”.

Beyond political resistance, the Ettayapuram Samasthanam has left a rich cultural legacy. Chandra Chaitanya proudly cites how the royal court nurtured legends such as poet Subramania Bharathi, who received his title Bharathi from Chaitanya’s great-great-grandfather, and how Muthuswami Dikshitar, one of the trinity of Carnatic music, spent his final days under their patronage. Contributions such as the publication of Sangita Sampradaya Pradarshini and the fostering of poets like Umaru Pulavar further cement Ettayapuram’s place in India’s artistic heritage.

“It is a painful irony”, Chaitanya remarked. “Despite generations of contributions to freedom, literature, and music, we are remembered for a single falsehood that cinema turned into public memory”.

The demonstration, he emphasises, is not one of anger but of awareness. “We want people to know the truth. Too often, slurs and misrepresentations slip into everyday rhetoric–by politicians, film personalities, even common speech. This must stop. It is not fair for future generations to live under the shadow of an inaccuracy.”

As the titular 42nd Raja, Chandra Chaitanya sees it as his duty to ensure that the stigma ends with his generation. “Our effort is to restore dignity to the name of Ettayapuram. With today’s access to archives, fact-checking, and public awareness, we believe the truth will prevail.”

The demonstration is set to mark a turning point in Ettayapuram’s fight to reclaim its history — one where heritage and honour outweigh fiction and misrepresentation. (ANI)