page_title: Vedaranyam March
section_title: Commencement of the march
hierarchical_section_title: Vedaranyam March / The march / Commencement of the march
caption_attribution_description: English: Pillars kept near Tiruchirappalli junction railway station in remembrance of Vedaranyam Satyagraha started from the spot on 13.April.1930 under the leadership of C.Rajagopalachari along with 100 of his followers on foot.
context_page_description: The Vedaranyam March was a framework of the nonviolent civil disobedience movement in British India. Modeled on the lines of Dandi March, which was led by Mahatma Gandhi on the western coast of India the month before, it was organised to protest the salt tax imposed by the British Raj in the colonial India.
  C.Rajagopalachari, a close associate of Gandhi, led the march which had close to 150 volunteers, most of whom belonged to the Indian National Congress. It began at Trichinopoly on 13 April 1930 and proceeded for about 150 mi towards the east before culminating at Vedaranyam, a small coastal town in the then Tanjore District. By collecting salt directly from the sea the marchers broke the salt law. As a part of the march, Rajagopalachari created awareness among the people by highlighting the importance of khādī as well as social issues like caste discrimination. The campaign came to an end on 28 April 1930 when the participants were arrested by the police. Its leader Rajagopalachari was imprisoned for six months. The march along with the ones at Dandi and Dharasana drew worldwide attention to the Indian independence movement.
context_section_description: The 98 volunteers assembled at Rajan's house in Trichinopoly on 12 April 1930, while Rajaji reached the venue on the previous day from Tuticorin. All of them stayed at Rajan's Bungalow in Tiruchirappalli Cantonment. At about 5 a.m. on the next day morning, Rajaji, who was 51 at the time, began the march along with the volunteers and headed for Vedaranyam. The marchers sang the hymn "Ragupathi Raagava Rajaram" and a Tamil song which was composed by Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai for the march.
  Right from the beginning of the march, the volunteers faced many disruptions. When they reached Koviladi, a small village on the banks of Kaveri, they were denied accommodation at a famous inn. However, they found alternative accommodation on the banks of the river, while Rajaji stayed at a private house. Rajaji also had a code of conduct for the volunteers under which consumption of coffee and tobacco products, and smoking were prohibited.
  As the marchers proceeded towards Tanjore District, its "astute and energetic" Collector J. A. Thorne (ICS) found ways to prevent them from proceeding further. Using newspapers, leaflets (printed in Tamil), town-criers and press, Thorne informed the would-be hosts that anyone offering food or shelter to the marchers was liable to six-months of imprisonment and fine. When Rajagopalachari came to know about the collector's order, he said that he could understand the mindset of his own people better than a British ICS officer could and remarked, "Thorne and thistles cannot stem this tide of freedom." Panthulu Iyer, an ex-member of the Legislative Council and a resident of Kumbakonam, ignored Thorne's order and provided accommodation for the marchers for two days and arranged a grand dinner for them at his house. He was arrested and sentenced to six months of imprisonment. A few government servants who welcomed the marchers at Semmangudi lost their jobs.
  On 25 April, the marchers reached Tiruthuraipoondi and had planned to stay at a choultry which was managed by Ramachandra Naidu, a close associate of Pillai. Despite the collector's warning, Naidu provided accommodation to the marchers at his choultry. His actions led to him being arrested by the police the following day. The arrest of Iyer and Naidu created fear among the people. Pillai, however, convinced the people that they could provide food without getting caught by the police. As a result, food packets were found tied to the branches of roadside trees, and when the group rested on the banks of Kaveri there were indicators where huge food containers were buried. The British policemen, who were deployed to suppress the marchers, suffered from starvation when local residents refused them food and water. The Indian staff who were employed by the British stopped performing their daily activities, while barbers and washermen refused to serve the government employees.
  During the march, Rajagopalachari and the marchers highlighted the importance of Civil Disobedience Movement as well as khadi and social issues like caste discrimination. They socialised with the untouchables and refrained from entering the temples in which the former were denied entry. They also swept the streets of the villages and spoke up for the unity of Hindus and Muslims.
caption: A remembrance to mark the spot in Tiruchirappalli Cantonment, from where the march had begun.
exif: {"Image Make": "Motorola", "Image Model": "Moto G (4)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "athene_f-user 6.0.1 MPJ24.139-63 64 release-keys", "Image DateTime": "2016:12:28 19:44:17", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "242", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "GPS GPSMapDatum": "WGS-84", "Image GPSInfo": "3226", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "3358", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "22685", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/14", "EXIF FNumber": "2", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "2000", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2016:12:28 19:44:17", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2016:12:28 19:44:17", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "383/100", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "-1", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "2", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "117/25", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2592", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "4608", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3196", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft"}