Vanchi

Vanchinathan (1886 – 17 June 1911), popularly known as Vanchi, was an Indian independence activist. He assassinated Robert Ashe, then district collector of Tirunelveli district, on 17 June 1911 at the Maniyachchi railway station. Ashe was considered to have encouraged discrimination against Indians, suppressed independence activism, and ordered the use of violence to quell the same. Vanchinathan committed suicide immediately afterwards while trying to evade arrest. The assassination of Ashe was a significant event in the Indian independence movement in South India and marked a trend in the rise of revolutionary movements against British rule. Early and personal life Vanchinathan was born in 1886 in a poor Hindu family in Sengottai, Travancore, British India (presently in Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu). His parents Ragupathy Iyer and Rukmani named him Shankaran. He married Ponnamma and the couple had a daughter who died as an infant.

Indian freedom activism Vanchinathan participated in activities against the British rule in India. He was trained in arms by V. V. S. Aiyar, who sought violent means to defeat the British. Nilakanta Brahmachari was a compatriot of Subramania Bharati and worked as a sub-editor in the newspaper India. After the Tinnevely riot of 1908, Brahmachari recruited youth to join his organisation called "Bharatha Matha Sangam" and worked on various methods to protest against the British rule. During the Tinnevely riots of 1908, he issued the order for the police to quell the riots by violence. He followed a policy of discrimination and Indians were barred at Coutrallam when the British accessed it. In response to his actions, the revolutionary faction of Brahmachari decided to assassinate him, and 25-year old Vanchinathan was chosen for the task. Vanchinathan took a pistol hidden in his coat and shot Ashe at point blank range twice, killing him. Vanchinathan's father refused to collect the body as he considered his act as against Brahminism. A letter was found in his pocket, in which he accused the British of destroying the Sanatana Dharma, claimed to have committed the assassination on his own accord and that he had done his part to drive the British out of the country.

Legacy

The assassination of Ashe was one of the significant events in the Indian independence movement in South India. It marked the rise of revolutionary movement which supported the use of arms as against the moderate movement propagated by Mahatma Gandhi and others. Ashe was the first and last British high ranking official to be assassinated in South India during the rule of the British. In 2010, the Government of Tamil Nadu announced that a memorial will be built at his birthplace in Sengottai, and the memorial was inaugurated in 2013. Many streets and localities in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have been named after him.

In the Tamil film Kappalottiya Thamizhan (1961) based on the life of Chidambaram Pillai, Balaji played the role of Vanchinathan and various events involving Vanjinathan, including the assassination event, are showcased.