Church activities & moral life of Thangasamy Nadar
Munnar CSI Church
Thangasamy Nadar was a man of righteousness and was an active member of the Church of South India taking part in various church activities in spite of his busy business commitments. He was one of the big contributors for Indian Missionary Society (IMS) and other organizations from the region. He had the fear of God and used to respect and accommodate the gospel workers of those days whenever they came to Munnar. Most of his relatives and others brought by him to Munnar had embraced Christianity and got baptized, followed by their employer, Mr.Thangasamy Nadar. For instance, Samiar changed as Samuel, Pillaiar changed as Joseph, a Madasamy as David, another Madasamy as Edwin Jeyaraj, Palanisamy as Ponnusamy and so on. God was with him and he had a miraculous escape once from a bus accident, and also one of his faithful dogs, named ‘Mani’ protected him once from a wild elephant. (Photo: CSI Church in Munnar)
The church in Thenmallay Estate was situated in a remote isolated area, but closer to his main shop. So, he felt that it was his moral responsibility to provide protection to the church and the employees of the shop were advised by him to take care of the church which was frequented by the wild elephants and was targeted by miscreants. Mr. Appadurai, a teacher (He was also the maternal uncle of Mrs. Rosekani Pauldurai and Mr. Amose Rajamani) from Gundumallay Estate, which was nearly 3 miles away, was conducting Church Services there on Sundays. Since there were no proper transport facilities available in the region in those days, he had to cover the distance only by walk in the hills. Further, he was in his late fifties or early sixties, doing this noble work in an honorary capacity. As such, Thangasamy Nadar had high regard for him and instructed his employees to provide lunch and other requirements for him from the shop on Sundays after the Service. Also, the other church members who attended the Church, were provided light refreshments from the shop, as there was no canteen or any dwelling unit closer by, as advised by him. Thangasamy Nadar could not attend the Church on Sundays regularly as he was away from the home town and from the Estate for most of the days. But he was one of the rarest persons who practically lived a life according to the Ten Commandments given by God, without its least violation. Also, he loved his neighbors and enemies as preached by Jesus to His disciples. He had a very good devotional life. He used to read Bible regularly. He used to advise his children to help the poor.
Thangasamy Nadar and dacoit Thangiah
During 50s/60s, there lived a dacoit namely Thangiah, a Tamilian hailing from Sankarankoil, was employed as an estate worker in the High Ranges. When he was a poor laborer, he drew his provisions from the shop of Thangasamy Nadar in Munnar Town on credit. Thangasamy Nadar had compassion on him and gave him provisions from his shop though he had debit balance in his account, considering the penury of Thangiah. Thangiah then became a dreaded dacoit who was on the radar of the Kerala and the Tamil Nadu police personnel. He committed frequent robberies threatening his victims by showing his revolver or knives. He had stolen a revolver which belonged to a businessman in Yellapatty Estate, namely Reddiar. During that period, only two businessmen i.e. Reddiar and Thangasamy Nadar were issued licences by the Govt. of Kerala for the purpose of self-protection.
One day, one Keppanan, an employee of a shop of Thangasamy Nadar in Thenmallay Estate and his wife were on their way by foot from Munnar to Bodinaickanur via Top Station/Kurangani. They were waylaid by dacoit Thangiah and his accomplice. Keppanan had hidden his wife's jewels in a small bag. When Thangiah asked Keppanan to hand over the jewels to him, the latter pleaded for mercy telling the former that he was merely an employee of Thangasamy Nadar's shop. On hearing the name of Thangasamy Nadar, the dacoit spared Keppanan and restored the jewel bag to him. Dacoit Thangiah was later killed by the Tamil Nadu police in an encounter when he refused to surrender to the police.