KOZHIKODE: Palorammal Theyyon is not a familiar name in the freedom struggle stories of Malabar we read. The man who destroyed the wooden bridge of Ulliyeri in 1942 as a part of Quit India struggle was a warrior on multiple fronts.
Along with the British, he had another mighty enemy to fight: Caste. Now, Students of Government Boys HSS, Koyilandy, are reviving the memories of the great warrior.
They have now completed a documentary, Oru Dalithante Samara Smriti, produced by the media club of the school along with the NSS unit. “He was a sidelined figure. It was only a few years back Theyyon had started receiving freedom fighter’s pension,” says media club coordinator Sajid Ekkatoor, who scripted and directed the documentary.
Theyyon was fondly called Padachon (the Creator or god) in his native Ulliyeri for his first fight against the caste system. His parents named him Gopalan but the upper caste people objected to giving him a God’s name to a Dalit boy. The parents were forced to change the name to Theyyon but later as a mark of protest he himself prefixed ‘Padachon’ along with his name.
Theyyon along with his uncle Arimbamala Tholooran destroyed the bridge in response to the call of Gandhiji to fight the British. The case was the first registered in the Quit India freedom struggle period in Malabar. Theyyon became a Congress member when he was 12.
“Caste people will not allow lower castes to wear white dhoti then. Congress leaders K. Kelappan, C.K. Govindan Nair among others used to visit our place to mobilise freedom fighters,” the 86-year old reminisces. Students K. Amarnath, B Abhirami, Ashwanth S. Babu and B.S. Arathi are part of the crew. Excise minister T.P. Ramakrishnan will release the documentary on August 15.
