Periyar

Periyar
File:Periyar1973.jpg Thanthai Periyar
Born	September 17, 1879 Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
Died	December 24, 1973 Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Social Worker
Spouse(s)	Nagammal, Maniammai
Website	http://www.periyar.org/

"Periyar" redirects here. For other uses, see Periyar (disambiguation).

Periyar E. V. Ramasamy[1] (Tamil: பெரியார் Kannada: ಪೆರಿಯಾರ್ ಈರೋಡ್ ವೆಂಕಟ ನಾಯಕ ರಾಮಸ್ವಾಮಿ) (September 17, 1879 – December 24, 1973), also known as Ramaswami, EVR, Thanthai Periyar, or Periyar, was a Dravidian social reformer and politician from India, who founded the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is considered an icon of rationalism.

Early Life

Periyar was born as Erode Venkata Ramasami Naicker on September 17th, 1879, in Erode, Tamil Nadu. His father was a merchant, a business man in the city and the family belonged to the Naicker caste, the upper stratum of the Sudras. His mother was Chinna Thayammal alais Muthammal; he had one elder brother named Krishnaswamy and two sisters named Kannamma and Ponnuthoy.

The Naikers were originally Naidu inhabitants of the Vijayanagar kingdom who migrated to Bellari and Mysore. Those who migrated to Mysore, now Karnataka state, came to be known as "Kannadiga Balijawars". It was later changed to "Naicker". He later came to be known as "Periyar" (equivalent to "Mahatma" in Sanskrit) meaning 'respected one' or an 'elder' in Tamil. He could speak three Dravidian languages: Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.

Periyar attended school for 5 years after which he joined his father's trade at the age of 12. He used to listen to Tamil Vaishnavite gurus who gave discourses in his house enjoying his father's hospitality. At that young age, he started questioning the contradictions and absurdities in the fables of Hindu deities spread by the Arya Race, for subjugating the Dravidian Race. As he grew up, he became convinced that some people used religion only as a mask to deceive innocent people. That was why he took it as one of the duties in his life to warn people against superstitions and priests.

His father arranged for his wedding when he was nineteen with Nagammai who was only thirteen, then. It was not altogether an arranged marriage because Periyar and Nagammai had known each other for some years and were actually in love with each other. Nagammai proved to be an ideal wife and cooperated, whole heartedly with her husband in all his later public activities and agitations. Two years after marriage, this couple got a girl child which lived only for five months, and thereafter they had no children.

File:P34ee3R.jpg

MGR paying respects to Periyar's mortal remains

Pilgrimage to Kasi

He went on a pilgrimage to Varanasi (Kasi) to worship in the famous Siva temple Kashi Vishwanath in 1904. This brought him on a pilgrimage to Benares where he was disappointed with his experiences in the "Holy City". Though Kasi has been acclaimed as the most "sacred town" by the Brahmins, the worst ugly scenes of immoral activities, prostitution, cheating, looting, begging crowds for alms, floating dead bodies on the River Ganges turned Periyar to abhor that place. His frustrations extended to functional Hinduism in general when he experience what he called Brahmanic exploitation.

Insult at Kasi Enlightens Periyar's Rationalism

There was one incident in Kasi which had an impact on his future work. At the worship site there were free meals offered to guests. To Periyar's shock, he could not get free meals easily at choultries which exclusively fed Brahmins forbidding other Hindu castes. Having starved severely for some days, Periyar found no other better way than to enter a choultry with the appearance of a Brahmin wearing a thread on his bare chest. But his moustache betrayed him. So the gate-keeper not only prevented his entry but also pushed him rudely to the street.

As his hunger grew for the past few days, Ramasamy was forced to compete with the street - dogs in eating the remnants of food in the leaves. While eating that food, he saw the letters carved on the front wall of the building. They revealed the truth that the choultry exclusively occupied by the highest caste Brahmins, had been built only by a wealthy Dravidian merchant from Tamil Nadu. Suddenly Periyar questioned to himself as to "why and how the Brahmins can obstruct the non-Brahmins from taking meals in the choultry although the choultry was built with the money of a non-Brahmin Dravidian Philanthropist; and Why the Brahmins behaved so mercilessly and fanatically as to push the communities of the Dravidian race even to starvation - death by adamantly enforcing their evil casteism?". He had pictured Kasi as a place where all Hindus would be treated equally. But, the shame inflicted by the Brahmins at Kasi upon him without the least mercy, made a deep wound in the heart of Periyar and thus inflamed intense opposition towards Indo-Aryan cultural imposition, casteism, and their creation of innumerable gods. Ramasami was a theist till his visit to Kasi, after which his views changed and he became an aethist.

Timeline of Ramaswamy's political struggle and ideology

Ramasami as a Freedom Fighter and Congress Party member 1919 - 1925

Periyar Ramaswamy joined the Indian National Congress in 1919 after quiting his business and resigning public posts including the chairmanship of Erode Municipality he held and wholeheartedly undertook the constructive program - spreading the use of Khadi, picketing toddy shops, boycotting the shops selling foreign cloth and eradication of untouchability. He courted imprisonment for picketing toddy shops in Erode in 1921. When his wife as well as his sister joined the agitation, it gained momentum, and the administration was forced to come to a compromise.He was arrested during the Non-Cooperation movement and the Temperance Movement and was jailed .He was elected the President of the Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu) Congress Committee in the 1922 Tirupur session and after his attempts for supporting reservation in government jobs and education was defeated in the Congress party. He quit the party in 1925.

Vaikom struggle - 1924-1925

Main article: Vaikom Satyagraha

Periyar Ramaswamy was involved in securing rights to entry into temples and access to temple roads for people of all castes in Vaikom in Kerala, which was part of the princely state of Travancore during 1924. Periyar was the President of the Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh) Congress Committee at that time led the agitation after many other leaders had been arrested. Periyar agreed and came to Vaikom in April 1924 and he was arrested but he was unrelenting and refused to leave to Vaikom and the satyagraha gained strength and Mahatma Gandhi, on an invitation from Rajaji, went to Vaikom and began talks with the Queen of Travancore where it was agreed that the police pickets would be removed and that the State police would do nothing to prevent the lower castes using the roads. Periyar refused to participate in the negotiations but he had to agree, reluctantly, to Gandhi's idea that the demand for all Hindus entering the temple be put off at least for the time being He played a role along with other great statesmen and national leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, C. Rajagopalachari, and Acharya Vinoba Bhave. Madras Presidency(Tamil Nadu) Congress passed a resolution umanimously praising Periyar's significant contribution to the Vaikom Satyagarha and hailing him as Vaikom Veerar(Vaikom Hero) in 1925 in the Kanchipuram Session.

Gurukulam

Even before he resigned his membership of the Congress, Periyar was convinced that communalism was deeprooted in Tamil Nadu and that the forward community members of the Congress showed only lip sympathy for backward classes. When Gandhiji started the Non-Cooperation Movement in 1920, he suggested that congressmen should avoid sending their children to schools which were under the supervision of the British rulers. Some new schools were started by individuals and some charitable institutions, for the benefit of the children who were not going to Government schools.

In a place called Cheranmadevi in Tirunelveli district, a residential school, also known as Gurukulam, was started with help from the Tamil Nadu Congress. It was manned by V.V.S. Iyer who was believed to be an ardent Congressman. The Tamil Nadu Congress was given an annual grant of ten thousand rupees to the school. For the year 1925, half of he grant for the school had already been given by the time Periyar became the Secretary. On receipt of complaint, Periyar found that brahmin children and Non-brahmin children were given food in separate places. He advised V.V.S. Iyer to treat all children alike and not instill communalism into them by putting them into separate groups. V.V.S. Iyer refused to listen to Periyar's advice, upon which the latter refused to release the other half of the grant. V.V.S. Iyer managed to get the amount through the joint secretary of the Congress, without the knowledge o Periyar. When Periyar came to know about what had happened, he addressed public meetings about it and created public awareness of what was happening in the Gurukulam. Prominent congressmen like Dr. Varadarajulu Naidu, Thiru V.Ka, S. Ramanathan and others condemned the sectarian attitutde of V.V.S. Iyer in runing a public institution. When Gandihiji's attention was drawn to what was happening in the school, he too did not succeed in the matter. Iyer was adamant and therefore the school was closed.

Reasons for leaving the Congress Party

When he joined the Congress in 1919, he believed that all the prominent people in that organization were enlightened and he hoped that with their co-operation, he could get rid of the evil of untouchability and that the backward and depressed class people could be enabled to have proper education and have their proper share in government appointments. Several times, Periyar had tried to get the a resolution regarding communal representation. Soon after his return from Vaikom, Periyar made the last and sixth attempt at getting the Tamil Nadu Congress pass the resolution regarding communal representation at a conference held in Kanchipuram in 1925. Thiru V.Ka was the President. Sensing opposition in the open session, Thiru V.K.a did not permit Periyar to propose the resolution. In utter disgust, Periyar got out of the Congress.

This happened just a few months before Periyar's failure in getting the resolution regarding communal representation discussed at the annual onference of the Tamil Nadu Congress in November 1925 at Kanchipuram. So by the time Periyar resigned from the Congress, he knew that in order to enable the backward community people to come up, they must be made to realize that they had the right to claim equality with the so called upper classes, and that, in fact, they had the right to claim proportionate representation in all public offices. These he made the major themes of his platform for the rest of his life. It should be said to the credit of Periyar that his repeated public meetings on the question of communal representation forced the government to pass G.O.No.1129 on December 15, 1928 by which brahmins, non-brahmins, Christians, Muslims and Depressed classes were assured of proportionate representation in public offices.

As an active member of the Congress and as a responsible office bearer, Periyar had observed and understood the subtle maneuvers of the Brahmins to use the Congress to fortify the interest of their community. He had given them ample evidence of his selflessness and zeal to carry out the constructive programs of the Congress. His capacity for self-sacrifice and leadership was recognized by the social sorkers in Kerala and he was requested to be in charge of the agitation at Vaikom after the top leaders had been arrested. Periyar's bonafides was never suspected by the brahmins in Tamil Nadu Congress. In fact, they were secretly afraid of his righteousness and his fervor for the eradication of communalism The brahmins were cleverly trying to continue their dominant position in Tamil Nadu, in the spheres of education and employment by using the Congress as a protective shield. Periyar had also noticed another sphere of brahminical domination in the Khadi Board administration. Soon after he joined the Congress, Periyar, in characteristic fashion, went all out to popularize Khadi. But by the time he became the Secretary of Tamil Nadu Congress, he relized that the Khadi Board was dominated by the brahmins. It appeared that the Board functioned for the benefit of that one community. He was getting ready to agitate against this, being within the fold of the Congress, but Gahandiji discouraged him from thinking of any agitation. The affiars of this Board also convinced Periyar that in order to get justice done to Non-brahmins in Tamil Nadu, he must leave the Congress and work from outside.

Self-Respect Movement: 1925-73

Periyar and his followers campaigned constantly to influence and pressurize the government to take measures to remove social inequality even while other nationalist leaders focused on the struggle for political independence. The Self Respect Movement was described from the beginning, as "dedicated to the goal of giving non-Brahmins a sense of pride based on their Dravidian past." In 1952 the Periyar Self Respect Movement Institution was registered with a list of objectives of the institution from which may be quoted:

1. "For the diffusion of useful knowledge of political education.
2. To allow people to live a life of freedom from slavery to anything against reason and self respect.
3. To do away with all kinds of needless customs, meaningless ceremonies and blind superstitious beliefs in society.
4. To put an end to the present social system in which caste, religion, community and traditional occupations based on the accident of birth, have chained the mass of the people and created superior and inferior classes... and to give people equal rights.
5. To completely eradicate Untouchability and to establish a united society based on brother/sisterhood.
6. To give equal rights to women.
7. To prevent child marriages and marriages based on law favorable to one sect, to conduct and encourage love marriages, widow marriages, inter caste and inter-religious marriages and to have the marriages registered under the Civil Law.
8. To establish and maintain Homes for orphans and widows and to run educational institutions.

Anti-Hindi Movement from 1937

Main article: Anti-Hindi agitations

The anti-Hindi movement in Tamil Nadu started in 1937 when the Congress Government of the Madras Presidency under Rajaji introduced Hindi in the school curriculum. Tamils opposed Hindi immediately and the Justice Party under Sir A. D. Panneerselvam and Periyar organized anti-Hindi protests in 1938 and were arrested and jailed by the Rajaji government. More than 1200 people, including women and children, were imprisoned in 1938, of which two, Thalamuthu and Natarasan, lost their lives. In 1939 the Rajaji government quit due to the decision of the Indian National Congress to protest India's participation in World War II. The teaching of Hindi was withdrawn in 1940 by the British governor.

Peryiar stated that if the North Indian quits, the Brahmin will remain silent. Then they will themselves bid god-bye to castes. The foremost duty today is rooting out Hindi because is was imposed with the motive of installing North Indian domination.

Justice Party: 1939-1944

Main article: Justice Party (India)

Before World War II, the Justice Party ruled Madras Province for a long period from 1920 to 1937 with many leaders List of Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu. Periyar was elected President when he was in jail for opposing Hindi in 1939

Dravidar Kazhagam

Main article: Dravidar Kazhagam

Ramaswami changed the name of the Justice Party to Dravidar Kazhagam (Party of the Dravidians) from a political party to a social movement. He avoided parliamentary democracy and started his campaigns on his own. He got married to a party worker who was only 28 when he was 71 years old. His followers who wanted politics split with him after this controversial marriage and started the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, popularly known as the DMK. The DMK was first led by C.N. Annadurai and after him by M. Karunanidhi. EVR and his dramatic anti-Brahman protests put new life into the party.The Dravidian Federation, and launched a Tamil "cultural offensive," including theatrical productions of a "reinterpreted" Ramayana-a version transposing hero and villain, in which the Sri Lankan demon king Ravana becomes a heroic "Dravidian of 'excellent character,' "and the Aryan prince Rama a conniving, "despicable character" . This and later political uses of drama capitalized on the strong literary focus among Tamils. Despite such attempts at mass propaganda, however, the party's membership continued to be drawn from the elite.

EVR and Kula Kalvi Thittam/Hereditary Education Policy

Main article: Hereditary Education Policy

Rajaji introduced a new education policy based on family vocation which its opponents dubbed Kula Kalvi Thittam (Hereditary Education Policy). As per this policy schools will work in the morning and students had to compulsorily learn the family vocation in the afternoon. A Carpenter’s son would learn Carpentry, a priest's son chanting hymns and a barber’s son hair cutting and shaving after school in the afternoon. EVR felt that the scheme was a clever device against Dalits and Other Backward Classes as their first generation was getting educated only then. EVR demanded its withdrawal and launched protests against the Kula Kalvi Thittam (Hereditary Education Policy) which he felt was caste-based and was aimed at maintaining caste hegemony. Rajaji quit in 1954 and Kamaraj scrapped it after becoming chief minister.

Praise of the Tamil Language

Periyar has place importance on the indigenous languages of the Dravidian peoples in the following passages:

The love of one's tongue is the foremost of all loves that are required of the people born in our land. He that has no love for his tongue has no love for his land. A nation functions on the basis for the love for one's language. So it is my prayer that Tamils love for their tongue should grow. I affirm again and again that love of the mother-tongue is a must for those born in Tamil Nadu. The Bengalis love Bengali. The Maharashtrians love for the Marathi language. The Andhras love the Telugu language. But the Tamils have no love for the Tamil-tongue. The Tamils will never progress unless they bestow love on their mother-tongue. If I love Tamil, it is not merely because it is the mother-tongue or the language of the Tamil Nadu State. Nor am I attached to Tamil by reason of its uniqueness or its antiquity. If I love Tamil, it is because I am aware of the advantages I expect through it an the measure of loss that will occur by the absence of it.

As I am aware of the disadvantages of another language being imposed on our country, I am intolerant of it and oppose it, I do not resist it merely because it is new or it belongs to another land. It is my opinion that the Tamil Language is capable of contributing to the progress and freedom of the people in all fields, and will be conductive to a life of dignity and reason. However, some may ask whether all such resources are available in Tamil. Even if all these qualities are not found, I am aware that Tamil has arts, customs, traditions, and an appropriate vocabulary, which can contribute to a greater advancement than most other languages in India. Therefore, any other language that is likely to cause disadvantage to Tamil is unwelcome.

Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada came from the same tongue that is, they are the offspring of the same mother. There is only one Dravidian tongue, and she is Tamil. And we call her by four different names. Because she is spoken in four different Dravidian states, she has four different names. It is only Tamil that is spoken in these four states. Writing in Tamil about the arts which are useful to the people in their life and which foster knowledge, talent and courage, and propagating them among the masses, thereby enlightening the people and enriching the language, this alone can be regarded as zeal for Tamil.

If you remove the words of North Indian origin (Sanskrit)from Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam you will be left with only Tamil. The Tamil spoken by the Andrhas and the Malayalees are far better than the Tamil spoken by the Brahmins. Our language will make our people unite under the banner of Tamil Nadu and Tamil language. It will make the Kannadigas, Andhras and the Malayalees vigilant. A time will come for unity. This will go on till there is an end to the North Indian domination. We shall reclaim an independent sovereign state for us.

Ideas on Tamil Alphabet Reform

Periyar's ideas on Tamil alphabet reforms and his reasons are as follows:

In writings and publications of 70 or 80 years ago, the vowel 'ஈ' (i), was a cursive and looped representation of the short form, 'இ' (I). In stone inscriptions of 400 or 500 years ago, many Tamil letters are found in other shapes. As a matter of necessity and advantage to cope with the printing technology, it is sensible now to change a few letters, reduce the number of letters, and alter a few signs. The older and the more divine a language and its letters are said to be, they, in truth, need reform.

Because of changes brought about by means of modern transport and international contact, and because of happenings that have attracted words and products from many countries, a number of foreign words and their pronunciations have been assimilated into Tamil quite easily.

Just as some compound characters have separate signs to indicate their length as in ' கா ' , ' கே ' (kA: , kE:), why should not other compound characters like ' கி ' , ' கீ ' , 'கு ' , ' கூ ' (kI, ki:,kU, ku:) (indicated integrally as of now), also have separate signs? This indeed requires consideration.

Changing the shape of letters, creating new symbols and adding new letters and similarly, dropping those that are redundant, are quite essential.The glory and excellence of a language and its script depend on how easily they can be understood or learnt and on nothing else.

Periyar and Brahmins

In 1920 when the Justice Party came to power Brahmins occupied about 70% of the high level posts in government and after reservation was introduced by the Justice Party reversed this trend and allowed non-brahmins to raise in the government in Madras Presidency. Periyar through in the Congress then supported the Justice Party and later joined opposed the domination of Brahmins who constituted only 3% of the Population over Government jobs,judicary and the Madras University.Now Hindu profession had evolved around caste system, particular castes did only particular professions and it was Varna based where the Brahmin was the highest in the order and learned the Vedas, the Kshatriya ruled the country, Vaishya trading, the Shudra did farming and artisan work, and the Dalit or Dalit did manual labor and was the lowest in the order. .Ramasami's self-respect movement espoused rationalism and atheism, and although Ramasami had Brahmin colleagues, the movement had currents of anti-Brahminism. Furthermore, Periyar states that "Our Dravidian movement does not exist against the Brahmins or the Banias (a North Indian merchant caste). If anyone thinks so, I would only pity him. But we will not tolerate the ways in which Brahminism and the Bandiaism is degrading Dravidanadu. Whatever support they may have from the government, neither myself nor my movement will be of cowardice.Religious Conversion

Periyar and his role in Islamization of Tamil nadu according to Periyar, "If people leave Hinduism they should follow some other religion. What religion should be recommended to people? Christianity was more like the Brahmin religion, so I recommended Islam to people. Because, in Christianity there are untouchable Christians, Nadar Christians, Vellala Christians and so on. So even in Christianity there is differences followed based on Varnashrama Dharma; so, in India, it is Hindu Christianity! If the Depressed Classes embraced Islam they would get social equality in a very short period"..One can also notice the fall out of this view of Periyar by observing the growth in Muslim population(converts) in the areas adjoining Erode, like Dharmapuri,krishnagiri,Ambur,Vaniyambadi etc from the late 60's.

Periyar - The Movie

Sathyaraj and Khushboo starred in a government-sponsored movie on E.V. Ramaswami. This movie was directed by Gnanashekaran. It was released in 2007.

Notable followers

• Bharatidasan
• K. Kamaraj, former Congress leader
• D.V. Davis, Pattukottai Davis, Master of Oriental languages and Educationist.
• C.N. Annadurai Founder of DMK and former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
• M. Karunanidhi, president of DMK and present Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu
• K.Veeramani, leader of Dravidar Kazhagam after E.V. Ramaswamy.
• Kavignar Inkulab, rationalist Tamil poet.
• S. Kumarasamy, Ex-Municipal Chairman, Kumbakonam
• Poondi Kumaraswamy hydrologist
• Thol. Thirumavalavan, leader of Dalit Panthers of India
• Mayavati, present Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh
• Kamal Hassan, A prominent actor in Indian cinema
• Sathyaraj, One of the prominent actors in Tamil Cinema

External links

• Periyar, official website of Thanthai Periyar.
• Website dedicated for Periyar
• Periyar's Movement, a timeline of Periyar's work.
• Periyar - One Hundred Tamils of 20th Century
• PERIYAR - Rationalist/Social Reformer
• The Revolutionary Sayings of Periyar
• Rationalist International
• `The economic interest... that was the contradiction' by K. Sivathamby.
• Fuzzy and Neutrosophic Analysis of Periyar's Views on Untouchability by W. B. Vasantha Kandasamy, Florentin Smarandache and K. Kandasamy.

References

• Arora, N.D. and S.S. Awasthy, (2007). Political Theory and Political Thought. Har-Anand Publications: New Delhi. ISBN 81-24-11164-2.
• Diehl, Anita, (1977). E. V. Ramaswami - Periyar: A study of the influence of a personality in contemporary South India. Scandinavian University Books: Sweden. ISBN 91-24-27645-6.
• Gopalakrishnan, G.P., (1991). Periyar: Father of the Tamil race. Emerald Publishers: Chennai.
• Kandasamy, W.B. Vasantha; Florentin Smarandache and K. Kandasamy (2005). Fuzzy and Neutrosopohc Analysis of Periyar's Views on Untouchability. Hexis: Phoenix. ISBN 19-31-2330-04.
• Mehta, Vrajendra Raj and Thomas Pantham, (2006). Political Ideas in Modern India: thematic explorations. Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks. ISBN 07-61-93420-0.
• Richman, Paula, (1991). "E.V. Ramasami's Reading of the Ramayana" in Paula Richman, ed., Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia. University of California Press: Berkeley. ISBN 05-20-07281-2.
• Thakurta, Paranjoy Guha and Shankar Raghuraman (2004). A Time of Coalitions: Divided We Stand. Sage Publications. New Delhi. ISBN 07-61-93237-2.
• Veeramani, Dr. K.(2005) Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R.. Third Edition. The Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution: Chennai.
• Veeramani, Dr. K.(1992) Periyar on Women's Rights. Emerald Publishers: Chennai.