A number of bankers and merchants added to the lustre of Coimbatore. The economic openings created by them brought in immense wealth and prosperity. It is time to recall the contributions of such pioneering families. The ' Kulur Family ' from the old Pettai area was one such family. Fortunately the records pertaining to their contribution are well preserved, thanks to the Kulur family member Ravindran ( son of K.B.Ramanathan & Vasavambal ) and his wife Suganthi.
A number of bankers and merchants added to the lustre of Coimbatore. The economic openings created by them brought in immense wealth and prosperity. It is time to recall the contributions of such pioneering families. The ' Kulur Family ' from the old Pettai area was one such family. Fortunately the records pertaining to their contribution are well preserved, thanks to the Kulur family member Ravindran ( son of K.B.Ramanathan & Vasavambal ) and his wife Suganthi.
" Kulur is our family name and we have been living in Coimbatore for hundreds of years. Our Kula Deivam is Angala Parameswari Amman and she resides in Ikkarai Boluvampatti. We must have migrated from the Telugu speaking parts of the country during the reign of the monarchs of Vijayanagar " , smiled Ravindran while showing an old family photo taken by C.S.Guruswami Pillai more than one hundred years ago. The name of the photographer is found in fine print. Ravindran lives in the well maintained C.S.R Lay Out in Ramanathapuram. This area is named after C.S.Rathinasabapathy Mudaliar but it had once belonged to the famous cotton merchant Chennimalai Krishna Chetty long ago. One can see the huge mansion of this great merchant and his horse stables even today. He had gifted a huge diamond necklace to his wife those days and it was the first big one of its kind in Coimbatore.
The Kulur Family tree begins with Baluswamy Chettiar. He had been blessed with Venkataraman and Muniappan. Venkataraman in turn had three sons - Narayanan, Balaguru and Ramaswamy. Mangalambal, Chinnikrishnan ( adopted by Narayanan ) , Subramaniam, Padmabhan, Lakshminarayanan and Sambasivam were the children of Kulur Ramaswamy. The family were living in Vysial Street which used also be known as Komati Veedhi. The people of the Komati community pray to Goddess Vasavi Kannika Parameswari. This Goddess happens to be an incarnation of Goddess Parvathi and she lived in Penugonda known as Vasavi Penugonda ( Andhra Pradesh ) during the early parts of the eleventh century. The community members follow the gothram system and the Kulur Family belong to the Grandhasila gothram. Families from 102 gothrams had immolated themselves at a time when the local ruler Vimaladitya was trying to marry Goddess Vasavi through coercion. A couple from the Grandhasila gothram had been part of the 102 gothram families who stood up against the tyranny of the ruler. Raja Raja Narendra, the son of Vimaladitya assuaged the community by initiating the establishment of a shrine for Goddess Vasavi in the Nagareswaraswamy Temple at Penugonda ( West Godavari District ). His son is the famous Kulottunga Chola who ruled the huge Chola Empire for 50 years.
Kulur Lakshminarayanan Chettiar had three sons and they were Balaraman, Dhandayudham and Manickkam. Kulur Balaraman had three sons - Rajagopal, Ramanathan and Krishnan. Ravindran is the son of Ramanathan and his grandson ( son of his son Ashwin ) Pratyussh is the ninth generation on record. Kulur Lakshminarayanan Chettiar had been a multi faceted businessman. His business was known as Kulur Lakshminarayana Chetty Sons Group company at one stage. A nice photo of his was printed on the business envelopes used by the firm K.Lutchmeenarayana Chettiyar Sons and the address was ' Jewellery '. Yes, the firm was in the business of precious stones, gold , silver , jewellery etc., and were also commission agents. They were also in the Maligai business ( General Merchants ). The family used to own a number of properties in Coimbatore. They used to finance a number of business and industrial ventures during the early parts of the twentieth century. Farmers, mill owners, industrialists and traders were among their clients. The family had participated quite well in the economic development of the Coimbatore region. They were known for their gold bullion business.
Kulur Lutchmeenarayana Chettiyar Sons was the first jewellery shop in Vysial Street and they were leading bullion merchants for decades. Kulur Balaraman Chettiar was first married to Visalakshi , the daughter of the famous Elli Chetty of Salem. Balaraman Chettiar co founded the Coimbatore Arya Vysya Nagai Vyabarigal Mahasabhai along with P.A.Raju Chettiar and his brother P.A.Ramaswamy Chettiar. This organization was founded in order to do charity and also conduct Shivarathri prayers in the Perur Patteeswarar Temple, Adi Velli Prayers in a number of Amman Temples and the Vasavi Jayanthi in the Vasavi Kannika Parameswari Temple on Vysial Street.
The iconic jeweler P.A.Raju Chettiar used to work with a jewellery kit on a day to day basis. It was box which used to contain a weighing scale, weights, alloy metal , tools , gold, ornaments, precious stones and some cash. Most of the beginners used to sit on a ' Thinnai ' and sell their goods. They used to take their ' box shop ' home later. P.A . Raju Chettiar used to leave his box shop in the custody of K.L. Balaraman Chettiar for sometime. K.B.Rajagopal , the first son of Balaraman Chettiar was a popular citizen. He was busy with Prince Studio, TOMCO agency and the business of jewellery. He was very close to businessman and movie producer S.Kuppuraj who happened to be a son in law of P.A.Raju Chettiar. The third son K.B.Krishnan was associated with LMW and he used to visit the collaborator Reiter at Switzerland quite often.K.B. Ramanathan was a Director in Coimbatore Cotton Mills.
Kulur Dhandaydham Chettiar was a banker, jeweller and an Honourary Magistrate. His slot was later taken up by R.Venkataswamy Naidu ( Founder of Madras Aluminium Company & South India Viscose ) during the later days. His son D.Nagaraj was a Director in a few mills. Viswanathan, the son of Nagaraj had founded Chain Dry Cleaners and it used to be a popular firm for years. The family of Manickkam Chettiar was involved in a number of ventures - Balaji Rice Mundy, Manickkam Printers and Kiruba Jewellery Mart.
K.M.Krishna of the Kulur Family was known for his social networking, generosity and a humane approach. He used to go out of his way to do good deeds. K.M.Krishna was a Committee Member of the Coimbatore Cosmopolitan Club. He was associated with the Shuttle Association for many years and had acted in the interest of the sport.
The Kulur family continues to host an event at the Perur Vasavi Choultry on the day of the ' Rishabha Vahana Naal ' of the Panguni Uthiram Festival ( Perur Patteeswarar Temple ). A ' Vindhu Bhojanam ' is offered by them to the devotees and it has been happening for more than 100 years.
Recently , the Kulur Family got together in order to celebrate the wedding of Bala Nardhana Lakshmi ( daughter of Kulur Srinivasan and Prabulla ) with Guturi Kishor Babu at Coimbatore. The close knit family continues to uphold the tradition of the elders. Family business has enriched our country to a big extent.