‘Campbellabad’ might seem an unusual name for a village in Tuticorin district. A green arch welcomes visitors at the entrance, where there is a school, a panchayat office, a post office and a healthcare centre. Behind them are playgrounds and a beautiful mosque, painted white.
At the village square near the playground is a small stone with inscription which says the square was inaugurated by then Tinnevely (Tirunelveli) collector A C Woodhouse. But there is something about Campbellabad, which is not so typical of the region—the buildings are all aligned with clinical precision, resembling a military cantonment. The settlement was named after A Y G Campbell, chief secretary of Madras Presidency (1925 – 1935).
But why was a village on the banks of River Thamirabarani named after an official of Madras Presidency? That’s an interesting story. Flooding was not new to Thamirabarani, the only perennial river of Tamil Nadu. The flood in 1921 ravaged Tirunelveli town and countryside and caused widespread damage across the banks.
Among those affected was Jegaveeramangalam, a Muslim settlement of the time. “The local rulers needed trained hands to take care of horses imported from Arabia for the cavalry and so the Arab horse traders settled here. Islam came with them,” says Haji Udhumal, panchayat president of Campbellabad.
Over the centuries, the traders turned to agriculture and the settlement was named Jegaveeramangalam, named after Jegaveera Naicker, the Poliger king o.