How VO Chidambaram Pillai got the title of “Sekkizhutha Chemmal”

An oil press taken out by VO Chidambaram Pillai in Coimbatore Jail. | Photo credit: FILE PHOTO

VO Chidambaram Pillai, fondly known as VOC and Sekkizhutha Chemmal (“the big man who pulled out the oil press”), might otherwise be remembered by the lesser title of Kayiru Thiritha Chemmal (“the big man who spun the coir”). This change came about thanks to the “kind approach” of a British jailer named Mitchell. Seeing the VOC’s hands bleeding from the hard work of separating coir and spinning rope in the Coimbatore jail, Mitchell advised him to work at an oil press instead. The VOC accepted the suggestion and pulled out the oil press, a task normally performed by bulls. “Though it earned him the title of Sekkizhutha Chemmal, words do not express the physical pain he endured during that period,” writes Kurusamy Mayilvaganan in Kelatha Kathai (The Unheard Story).

A helping hand

The fellow prisoners could not bear the sight of the VOC pulling the oil press under the scorching sun, they were deeply moved. “When the British officers were not around, they joined him in pulling the press. They asked him to rest under a tree and eat sesame seed balls and insisted that he pull the press only when the deputy jailer was present,” Mr. Mayilvaganan writes. His book records the 1,449 days the VOC spent in prison.

VOC was arrested on 12 March 1908 and released on 24 December 1912. He was lodged in Palayamkottai, Coimbatore and Kannanoor jails during these four years. He was sentenced to double transportation for life and exile on charges of sedition. The Director of Crime, Madras, in a telegram to the Director of Criminal Intelligence, stated: “Tinnelvelly sedition cases. In the first case, Subramani Siva was sentenced to ten years’ transportation and Chidambaram Pillai to life transportation; in the second case, Chidambaram Pillai was again sentenced to life transportation.” The sentence was subsequently reduced to four years.

Narrating a Nightmare: Kelatha Kathai recounts what Chidambaram Pillai suffered in prison. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

The name Kelatha Kathai is derived from a word in the poem Velalan Siraipugunthan by poet Subramania Bharathiar. The poem was secretly sent to Bharathiar through Parali Su. Nellaiappar, a close friend of both Bharathiar and the VOC, who gained access to the prison in disguise. At the request of Nellaiappara, VOC wrote his autobiography Va.U.Chi Suyacharithai and composed it as ten poems in Coimbatore. The second part, a long single poetic version, was written at the request of TS Chokkalingam, the editor of Gandhi and Bharatham. But for Chokkalingam, the world would not know about the VOC’s life in prison.

The autobiography is an authentic record of his prison experience and Mr. Mayilvaganan has rendered it in everyday Tamil. He notes that the arrival of freedom fighter Subramania Siva in Thoothukudi and his meeting with the VOC on 3 February 1908 ignited the political atmosphere of the port city. The book records the events of that day. What most affected the VOC during his imprisonment was the collapse of the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company, which he had started in 1906 to challenge the economic power of the British Empire.

A call to shareholders

“Brothers, I am in jail now. I don’t know what tomorrow holds for me. Therefore, the love and care you have for me should also extend to our shipping company. Do not think that it was established to generate monetary profit for shareholders, but as a temple of our sweet Bharat Mata and Dharma. Work with patriotism,” the VOC wrote to its Palayamkottai shareholders. The VOC continued to fight for the rights of their fellow prisoners. His communication with the outside world was maintained through Hindu, who was smuggled into the jail along with Swadesamitran and Amrita Bazar Patrika. When the sentences of some prisoners, including Sankaranarayana Pillai, convicted for their involvement in the Tirunelveli riots were commuted, prison officials withheld the information and continued to detain them. The VOC sent a letter to The Hindu through his brother-in-law Pitchai Pillai and its publication led to their release. However, he was also troubled by the smuggling of newspapers and letters. Prison officials insisted that the VOC, instead of sweepers, dispose of the sand stored in the urinal container in the cell. he refused. Ramaiah Gounder was caught that night, bringing a Hindu, refreshments and letters.

The author also addresses the claim that the VOC remained “casteist” and insisted that only a vegetarian cook prepare its food. He recalls a conversation between the VOC and a cook disguised as a vegetarian. “He never hid his caste. In his speech at the Salem Conference in 1927, he openly stated it, but made it clear that he would not approve of one caste suppressing others,” says Mr. Mayilvaganan.

Acknowledgment note

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, who wrote a thank-you note for the book, says that tears well up when he reads the passage describing the VOC’s intake of the prisoners’ coarse clothes. “His sacrifice is evident when we compare the prison garb given by the VOC to the elegant dress and thalaippagai he once wore,” he writes.

Published – 23 Jan 2026 06:16 IST