A novel that captures the reconversion of Catholic fishermen to Hinduism

The Hindu

19-06-2025

A Vinayagar temple in front of a church, especially in the southern coast of Tamil Nadu where the entire fishermen community converted to Catholicism centuries ago, is a rare sight. The Siddhi Vinayagar Temple, facing Our Lady of Lourdes Church at Idinthakarai in Tirunelveli district, is only a few decades old. Behind it lies a tumultuous history that led to the reconversion of a significant section of the fishermen to Hinduism in the 1960s. It is a story vividly told in the novel Alaivaikaraiyil by Rajam Krishnan, whose centenary is celebrated this year. Alaivaikaraiyil is the fictionalised name for Idinthakarai.
'At least 200 of us become Hindus and join the larger population outside. There is an organisation called the Hindu Parishad. They are ready to offer us all help. After all, we were Hindus in the past. St. Xavier converted us to Christianity,' says Benjamin, one of the characters. He says this while convincing his friends and relatives who faced police brutality for refusing to sell shark fins to contractors appointed by the church.
Taxes paid to the church
As Rajam Krishnan says in the preface, the Idinthakarai fishermen had been paying taxes and offering shark fins to the church ever since their conversion to Christianity. 'In 1965-66, a section of fishermen, realising the value of fins, refused to part with them. This angered the church and some priests, who excommunicated the protesting fishermen. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) brought them back to Hinduism,' she writes.
A vivid scene in the novel captures the confrontation between the fishermen and the church contractor. Blood oozes from Jebamalayan's hands. Irudhayam Mama (uncle) lies curled up on the sand. 'Aatha' (the mother of the novel's hero Mariyan) is shouting. Samsalamma is cursing someone. Siluvai Moduthavam is holding a club and vows to root out those who were against the church.
'I suffered heavy losses this year. Ask them to give me at least half the fins from the catch. I have paid ₹4,000 for this contract,' contractor Periya Sayubu pleads with Benjamin, a friend of Mariyan. 'Did we ask you to bid for the contract? Even at last year's auction, we made our stand clear...,' Benjamin retorts, collecting the bag of fins from Issac.
Reading the novel, written in the fishermen's dialect of southern Tamil Nadu, is no easy task for an outsider. Yet Rajam Krishnan, an outsider herself, delved deep into the daily lives of the fishermen. Until the arrival of Joe D'Cruz, who won the Sahitya Akademi Award for Korkai, Alaivaikaraiyil remained the only authentic work on the lives of the region's fishermen.
Standing near the Vinayagar temple — now attached to the Murugan temple in Tiruchendur — is Anbu. His father Soosai Anthony was one of the fishermen who resisted the church's diktat in real life protests in 1966. 'The local parish priest and the Bishop excommunicated them, a decision that led to a clash, and the police ravaged our village. My father was tied to a post and beaten. I still remember my mother rushing to the spot and seeing him vomit blood,' recalls Anbu. His father resembles Mariyan's father Irudhyaraj in the novel, who is kept in a secret room in the church and tortured by the police.
It was while hiding from the police that Benjamin established contact with the VHP. According to the novel, the fishermen made the final attempt to negotiate with the Bishop through Paul Samy, the former priest of Alaivaikaraiyil, beloved by the villagers. But the Bishop remained firm. The village split into two factions. For months, the police camped there, and only those with police-coupons could move freely.
'Our number dwindling'
'Around 300 families converted to Hinduism as the last resort. But our number is dwindling because we depend on others for our livelihood. Marriages often result in either the bride or the bridegroom going back to Christianity. We are firm in our desire to remain Hindus. But we can survive only with support for the education of our children,' says Anbu.
A huge kodimaram (flagpole) of the church stands before the Vinayagar temple, emblematic of the enduring power of the church as an institution. As the novel explains, the VHP made arrangements to support the livelihood of the converted families. Women also earned an income by making beedis. 'We visit temples and our favourite is the Murugan temple in Tiruchendur. My father's soul will not forgive the traitors. He insisted that his body be taken around the village before burial, and we fulfilled his wish,' adds Anbu.
Today, Idinthakarai has undergone changes. Once the nerve centre of the agitation against the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant, the church stands as a symbol of this complex history. But Mariyan's father in the novel speaks for both Christians and Hindus, when asked about his identity after the conversion: 'Even now, I utter the word, Jesus, when I hear the church bell. They go to Hindu temples, chant the names of Ganapathy, and sing in praise of Murugan. They visit Tiruchendur. They burn camphor. But none of this has become part of my blood. As far as I know, only the sea is certain. When the police beat us in the priest's room, he was praying. For whom?'