Vanchi

Vanchinathan (1886 – 17 June 1911), popularly known as Vanchi, was an Indian independence activist. He assassinated Robert Ashe, then district collector of Tirunelveli district, on 17 June 1911 at the Maniyachchi railway station. Ashe was considered to have encouraged discrimination against Indians, suppressed independence activism, and ordered the use of violence to quell the same. Vanchinathan committed suicide immediately afterwards while trying to evade arrest. The assassination of Ashe was a significant event in the Indian independence movement in South India and marked a trend in the rise of revolutionary movements against British rule. == Early and personal life == Vanchinathan was born in 1886 in a poor Hindu family in Sengottai, Travancore, British India (presently in Tenkasi district of Tamil Nadu). His parents Raghupathy Iyer and Rukmani named him Shankaran. He did his schooling in Sengottai before completing his bachelor's degree. He started his career as an accountant in a Hindu temple before he landed a government job in the Travancore forest department. He married Ponnamma and the couple had a daughter who died as an infant.

== Indian freedom activism == Vanchinathan participated in activities against the British rule in India. He was trained in arms by V. V. S. Aiyar, who sought violent means to defeat the British. Nilakanta Brahmachari was a compatriot of Subramania Bharati and worked as a sub-editor in the newspaper India. After the Tinnevely riot of 1908, Brahmachari recruited youth to join his organisation called "Bharatha Matha Sangam" and worked on various methods to protest against the British rule. Vanchinathan's brother-in-law Shankara Krishna Iyer was part of the group headed by Brahmachari and introduced Vanchinathan to him.