Moringa oleifera (drumstick or Murgangakaai) is what makes the Panchayat town of Aravakurichi famous today. A part of the Tiruchi district until the 1980s, Aravakurichi now comes under Karur district. In the pre-Independence years, it was the meeting point of the three major undivided districts of Tiruchi, Coimbatore and Madurai.
Through all the years of change that the town has undergone, one local landmark has retained its identity nearly intact. There are not many Aravakurichi residents who will be unable to direct the visitor to the quaintly named ‘Chairman Appa Illam’ on the Periya Theru (Big Street).
With the 13-roomed, 10,000 square feet structure opening out on to 3 streets, Chairman Appa Illam is obviously hard to ignore. But its survival since it was built in the early 19th century is also an endorsement of native engineering.
Early influence
The ‘Chairman’ refers to Kondalam Periya Sakkarai Rowther, the eldest of four sons born to the affluent landlord Kader Mohideen Rowther in the late 1800s. Periya Sakkarai was, like his father, the Chairman of the panchayat, and towards the end of the British rule, a member of the Justice Party.
Only two places had the Chairman as the head of Panchayat — Aravakurichi and Nangavaram.
Kader Mohideen’s wealth appears to have been boundless even by pre-Independence standards. To celebrate the coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra in England (in August 1902), he established a charitable trust in the following year through which the income from 100 acres of his land would be used to help needy Muslims. The eldest son from each succeeding generation would have to administer the trust.
He owned large tracts of land in nearly all the surrounding villages, making him an influential local leader.
“Periya Sakkarai Rowther was a largely self-taught scholar on many subjects such as Tamil and native medicine. He attended school in Aravakurichi, but other than him, everyone got educated in Tiruchi and Karur,” says S Kader Mohideen, his nephew, and a civil engineer by profession. “In these parts though, he is best remembered for bringing the bus service to Aravakurichi. For many years, his Mohamadiya Bus Transport (later franchised out to LG Balakrishnan and Brothers) was the main link to the big cities from here,” he adds.
Family sources say that Periya Sakkarai’s social and political influence as Panchayat Chairman extended to several villages in the vicinity of Aravakurichi, and he hosted many important officials such as Arthur Hope, the Governor of the Madras Presidency from 1940 to 1946.
Native architecture
As can be seen from the sprawling homestead, Periya Sakkarai had an avid interest in construction as well. “The two rooms on the southern side (left) and adjacent two rooms were built by the maternal grandfather of Periya Sakkarai Rowther, who later gifted the property to his grandson,” says Kader Mohideen. “The old house where the family spent its earlier years is on a different street,” he adds.
Among the many unusual features of the Chairman Appa Illam is a shallow tank in the main hall of the building, which functioned as a water-based cooler in its heyday.
Water would be piped in through underground drains, a rarity in those days, to fill the tank. A massive cloth pankha (fan) suspended from the ceiling would be manually operated throughout the day to circulate the cooled air from the tank.
Twelve stained glass windows were built into a dedicated structure above the main hall to bring in light and air throughout the daytime.
“It is hard to find such ventilation techniques being used these days,” says Kader Mohideen.
Chairman Appa Illam was built using local expertise, with some bespoke touches that seem quirky today, but obviously made sense in those orthodox times.
An upparigai (terrace) wing on top of the main entrance was built especially for the home’s womenfolk who wanted to see the processions on the street in a cocoon of privacy. Italian porcelain tiles decorate the walls of this wing, some of them, unusually for a Muslim home, carrying images of Hindu goddesses.
The doors, windows and internal staircases are all made of Burmese teak, while the stucco on the thick redbrick walls was originally ‘Mughal plaster’ — a combination of lime, eggs and kaddukkai (harde whole) powder – that gave them a glossy finish.
A new avatar
Periya Sakkarai spent his last years in Karur, where he passed away, in 1960, at the age of 70. At that time, Chairman Appa Illam, the home that he had built with such care, was occupied by his eldest son K P Mohamed Mohideen, from whom he had been estranged.
The imposing building fell into disrepair with the passing years, and changed several hands within the family, until it was bought by its current owner, (Mohamed Mohideen’s eldest son) M Khaja Mohideen, in 1987.
“We had to change the wiring and install new plumbing for the home before it became habitable,” says Khaja Mohideen, a businessman based out of Chennai. His 92-year-old mother Sabiha Ammal resides at Chairman Appa Illam these days.
“I didn’t actually plan to buy this house. The yard opposite was a shed where Periya Rowther’s buses would be parked, which I developed into a home,” says Khaja Mohideen.
“Once we got started on Chairman Appa Illam, the bill for painting the walls alone came up to several lakhs of rupees. But I felt it was my responsibility to keep the property in our family.”