The
curious thing about history is, it just occurs.
Indian
history particularly, appears to be one long occurrence in the course of
humanity with as many probabilities and improbabilities; ponderable and
imponderable; myths and realities, generously concocted so as to defy an
ordinary mind. This is also one such story that may belie belief but for the
fact that it is a fact of history.
Yesterday,
we happened to drive down to Bhavani, a town that sits on the confluence of two
major rivers of South India, the Cauvery and Bhavani. Right at the confluence
of both the rivers is the Sangameswara Temple, literally meaning “Lord of the
Confluence”. My mother was born in this town, at a mere walking distance from
the temple and my father joined school here. The story of their union in
marriage is 60 years old, but as full of life as these two mighty rivers to the
Tamil region!
So,
we were in the temple. As is customary, we prayed to the Lord first and then
proceeded to the mother’s sanctum. She is called Vedanayaki, meaning ‘the one
who is the soul of Vedas or the one who presides over the Vedas’. After our
prayers at her sanctum, as we completed the circumambulation of the inner
sanctum, we saw a stone inscription. Frankly, there are so many inscriptions in
every temple that one merely passes by them generally. We were about to do the
same when a name and date in the inscription caught our attention – William Garrow,
11-01-1804. Now, here is the story:
William
Garrow (1776-1815) was the Collector of Coimbatore District. Once he arrived at
Bhavani and was resting in the travelers’ bungalow (incidentally adjoining the
temple and even today looks every bit colonial!!). Sometime in the night, he
felt as though a young girl was in front of him, beckoning him to come out of
his room. Being curious and unable to think anything more, William came out of
his room. As he tried to follow the young girl, she disappeared into the temple
that adjoins the bungalow.
Even
as he tried to follow her, William Garrow was startled to find the whole roof
of the room which he just left came crashing down. A shocked and frozen William
Garrow could not even hazard to think of his fate had he stayed indoors. In the
course of the excitement that followed the collapse of the roof, the reminder
of the night passed and the priests of the temple arrived for “ushat Kala pooja”
(ritualistic pooja of the early morning). Finding the Collector at a loss, the
priests made three holes in the outer wall of the temple facing the deity and
asked him to see whether the girl who saved his life was inside [The present
wall was constructed much later. At the time of the incident, the wall was very
close to the ‘dwaja sthamba’ (flag post) from where one could see the sanctum.
Even
as William Garrow looked inside, he realized that the girl who appeared before
him in the night was Vedanayaki Thayar (mother), who was present in all her
glory inside the sanctum.
Not
just grateful, but William Garrow thereon became an ardent devotee of the
Mother. He presented an ivory palanquin for the mother on 11 January 1804 and
continued to visit the temple for seeking Her blessings.
This
story inscribed in the stone plaque took me to check on William Garrow. What I
found makes me say what I said in the beginning: The curious thing about
history is, it just occurs.
William
Garrow was born to Edward Garrow (1751-1820), who joined the East India Company
as a junior writer in 1769 at the age of 18. He later served as Mayor of Madras
in 1782. Edward Garrow, apart from marrying Sophia Dawson of England in Fort St
George, had many Indian women as his begums [Please read William Dalrymple’s
White Mughals[1].
It was common among white men to keep many begums, in the style of the Mughals
in India]. William Garrow was born to the native women and Edward Garrow. William
also had a sister, Myra. Edward and Sophia also had a son, George. Sophia and
George spent their life only in England whereas William followed his father and
served East India Company with distinction.
William
Garrow rose to be the Collector of Coimbatore and is distinguished as an able
administrator. His name figures as the first Collector to have sent English
shikaris to Nilgiris in 1812, paving way for the English to habitat Ootacamund[2].
It
is also interesting to note that while William’s father made his fortunes in
India, his uncle, Sir William Garrow (1760-1840), is credited to be one of the
most brilliant barristers in English history. In fact, it was Sir William Garrow
(the uncle) is credited with the Adversarial System of jurisprudence that many
countries follow today[3]. With the BBC TV
series Garrow’s Law and this book Sir William Garrow is about
to enter the nation’s consciousness for his ‘gifts to the world’ - as the
originator of the modern-day presumption of innocence, the right to universal
legal representation and access to justice in a criminal court, expert
crossexamination and early traces of human rights[4].
The
Sangameswara temple is also a treat to art/culture lovers with some
extraordinary and exquisite sculptures that reflect the architectural
traditions of Tamil Nadu.
[1] Dalrymple,
William. (2003). White Mughals: love and betrayal in eighteenth-century India.
New York: Viking.
[2] Vijaya Ramadas Mandala (Ed) (2019). Shooting
a Tiger: Big-Game Hunting and Conservation in Colonial India, New
Delhi: OUP.
[3] John Hostettler and Richard Braby (2009),
Sir
William Garrow: His Life, Times and Fight for Justice, London: Waterside Press Ltd.
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