EV Ramasami

EV Ramasami

EV Ramasami ( Erode Venkata Ramasami Naicker ; also Ramasamy , Ramaswamy ; Tamil ஈ. வெ. ராமசாமி Ī. Ve. Rāmacāmi [ ˈraːməsaːmi ]; * September 17, 1879 in Erode ; † December 24, 1973 in Vellore ), called Periyar ( பெரியார் Periyār [ ˈPeɾijaːr ] 'the great') was a politician and activist from the Indian state of Tamil Nadu . He was one of the pioneers of the Dravidian movement , which emerged in Tamil Nadu at the beginning of the 20th century and postulated an independent identity for the Tamils as " Dravids " in contrast to the " Aryans " of northern India.

Ramasami represented a radical social reformist and nationalist ideology: he opposed the influence of the Brahmins and called for a general abolition of the caste system . He also called for the abolition of Hinduism and, moreover, rejected religion as such. Based on the contrast between a “Dravidian” and “Aryan” culture, he rejected all “Aryan” influences and called for an independent state, Dravida Nadu , for the “Dravids” of South India .

After the first political activities in the Congress Party Ramasami led from 1927, the self-respect movement (Self-Respect Movement) to, from 1944, the organization Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) emerged. Ramasami and his organizations did not take part in elections, but concentrated on political agitation and propaganda activities. From the DK, however, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) party emerged in 1949 , which later brought the Dravidian movement to power in Tamil Nadu and today, together with the DMK spin-off AIADMK, shapes Tamil Nadu politics.

Life

Origin and early years (1879–1920)

Ramasami was born on September 17, 1879 in Erode , a city in the north of today's Indian state Tamil Nadu , as the son of Venkata Naicker and Chinna Thayammal alias Muthammal. His father was a wealthy trader and an Orthodox Vishnuit Hindu . The family was of Canarian descent and belonged to the Balija Naidu, a socially better off Shudra caste. The name affix Naicker , which indicated belonging to this caste, was later dropped by Ramasami as a sign of his rejection of the caste system. Ramasami is generally known by the name Periyar ("the great "), a name of honor he was given in 1938.

The young Ramasami had only a basic education. At the age of ten his father took him out of school because he used to socialize with boys from low castes. From then on, Ramasami took part in his father's business. According to traditional Hindu custom, Ramasami married young: in 1898 he married Nagammal, then 13 years old. A daughter was born to the couple in 1900, but she died at the age of five months. It was to remain Ramasami's only child.

At the age of 25, Ramasami, who had amassed a considerable fortune as a trader, became a sadhu (wandering ascetic). During his pilgrimages, he visited the holy city of Varanasi (Benares), among other places . There he made negative experiences with the Brahmin priesthood, which in his eyes exploited the masses, and so he returned to Erode alienated from the Hindu religion. The first signs of a rejection of Hindu traditions soon appeared, for example when he encouraged his young widowed niece to remarry. Nevertheless, Ramasami came to terms with the Hindu establishment and was, among other things, chairman of a local temple administration committee.

First political activities in the Congress Party (1920–1927)

E. V. Ramasami in the early years of the self-respect movement

After the first local political activities in his hometown of Erode, Ramasami joined the Indian National Congress under the influence of C. Rajagopalachari in 1920 , which at that time stood for the independence of India under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi . As a line faithful followers Congress he wore demonstratively Khadi -Clothes, advocated the prohibition and stepped up cooperation with the British. He soon rose to be one of the most important non-Brahmin congressional politicians in Tamil Nadu. In the Congress Party, Ramasami vehemently advocated the rights of the lower castes: In 1924 he became known when he took part in a Satyagraha (civil disobedience) campaign initiated by Gandhi in favor of untouchables in Vaikom , a small town in what is now the state of Kerala , and for several Was imprisoned for months. His entry earned him the nickname "Hero of Vaikom".

Differences soon became apparent between the Brahmin-dominated Congress Party and Ramasami. In 1925, Ramasami protested in the so-called Gurukulam controversy against the separate feeding of Brahmanic and non-Brahmanic students in a traditional school ( gurukulam ) in the city of Kallidaikurichi run by the Congress . In the same year, at a party conference in Kanchipuram , he called for quotas for non-Brahmans in the legislature and in the civil service. It showed him how difficult it would be to advance the rights of non-Brahmans in the Congress Party. In 1927 there was a dispute between Ramasami and Mahatma Gandhi when he publicly advocated the orthodox caste system as the basis of society on a trip to South India. The differences seemed so insurmountable for Ramasami that he decided to withdraw from the Congress party.

Self-esteem movement and Justice Party (1927–1944)

Front page of Ramasami's magazine Kudi Arasu from 1926

After leaving the Congress Party 1927 Ramasami focused on the self-esteem movement (Self-Respect Movement / Suyamariathai Iyakkam), chaired he had already taken over a year earlier. The self-respect movement was a social reform movement with the stated aim of giving non-Brahmans a feeling of “self-respect” on the basis of their Dravidian identity and to fight against the postulated social superiority of the Brahmins. The self-esteem movement was not involved in party politics, but acted with public campaigns and propaganda activities. During his time in the self-esteem movement, Ramasami represented an increasingly radical ideology and began to formulate the opposition between Aryans and Dravids as well as his rejection of orthodox Hinduism. Ramasami used the magazine Kudi Arasu (“People's Rule”), which he had founded in 1924, as a mouthpiece , and from 1935 the magazine Viduthalai (“Liberation”). In 1931 Ramasami embarked on an eleven-month trip, during which he visited several European countries. In the Soviet Union he came into contact with socialist ideas, which he later incorporated into his writings.

In 1937, Ramasami took part in the anti-Hindi protests that followed the decision of the newly elected congressional government of Madras Province to make the North Indian language Hindi a compulsory subject in schools. While the Congress Party propagated Hindi as an all-Indian lingua franca , Ramasami saw Hindi as an Aryan language and its introduction as a Brahmin-North Indian conspiracy against Tamil. As a driving force behind the anti-Hindi protests, Ramasami was sentenced to prison. In connection with the anti-Hindi protests in 1938 he first raised the demand for an independent Dravid state: Analogous to the founding of Pakistan , which was demanded by the Muslim League at the time , the Dravids were to get their own state, Dravida Nadu (“Dravidian Land”).

E. V. Ramasami with Muhammad Ali Jinnah and BR Ambedkar (1940)

Ramasami had turned to the Justice Party as early as 1935 . The Justice Party, founded in 1917, was supported by non-Brahmans, most of whom came from better-off landowning and merchant castes. The Justice Party provided the government of the province of Madras from 1920 to 1926 and again from 1930 to 1937 . Like the self-respect movement, the Justice Party advocated a decidedly anti-Brahmin program and propagated the Dravidian identity of the non-Brahmans, but its ideology was far less radical. While the self-esteem movement also enjoyed support among the lower classes, the Justice Party, which primarily advocated the interests of the elite non-Brahmins, failed to build a mass base. After suffering a crushing defeat by the Congress Party in the provincial parliamentary elections in 1937, the Justice Party hoped to benefit from Ramasami's popularity and offered him the party chairmanship. In 1938, Ramasami, who was still in custody for his involvement in the anti-Hindi protests, was elected chairman of the Justice Party.

Founding of the DK and spin-off of the DMK (1944–1949)

Against party resistance, Ramasami succeeded in bringing the Justice Party under his control and reshaping it according to his ideas. In 1944 he pushed through that the self-respect movement and the Justice Party united under the organization Dravidar Kazhagam (DK). The DK decided not to take part in elections, and called for an independent Dravida Nadu. She adopted a black flag with a red circle as her symbol, which should symbolize the sad state of the oppressed Dravids and the hope for an independent Dravida Nadu. Members should wear black shirts as a sign of identification. With the founding of the DK, Ramasami had succeeded in transforming the old Justice Party into a powerful mass organization.

C. N. Annadurai and E. V. Ramasami

The second man in the DK was the up-and-coming CN Annadurai , who had already risen to become general secretary in the Justice Party under Ramasami's leadership. But soon conflicts arose between Ramasami and Annadurai, who, unlike Ramasami, spoke out in favor of participating in elections. When EV Ramasami declared Indian Independence Day a day of mourning in 1947 because he feared the dominance of Brahmins and Northern Indians in independent India, Annadurai publicly opposed him because he recognized that the unpopular rejection of independence would deprive the DK of the majority ability. Ultimately, it came to a break because of Ramasami's increasingly authoritarian leadership style. After his first wife Nagammal died in 1933, Ramasami married his secretary Maniammai in 1949 and declared her to be his successor. Thereupon Annadurai left the DK and founded his own party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Annadurai justified his move with the fact that Ramasami had violated the principle of equality in marriage, which he himself always advocated, by marrying Maniammai, who was more than 40 years his junior.

Political activities in the later years of life (1949–1973)

After the DMK split off, Ramasami stuck to his principle of not participating in elections and continued his propaganda activities. Although the DK did not take part in elections, Ramasami got involved in party politics by campaigning for candidates from political parties. In the first parliamentary election in Madras after independence in 1952, he supported the Communist Party of India , on the one hand to oppose the congress party and on the other hand to hinder the rise of the DMK. But after the low-caste and from humble background K. Kamaraj had replaced the conservative Brahmin C. Rajagopalachari at the head of the Congress Party in Madras in 1954, Ramasami changed his attitude towards the Congress Party and turned to Kamaraj. In the federal elections in 1957 and 1962, Ramasami supported the Congress party, which emerged victorious from both elections, and campaigned against the DMK, which nonetheless rose to become the strongest opposition force. Even after Kamaraj, who moved to New Delhi as chairman of the All-India Congress Party , was replaced in Madras by the hapless M. Bhaktavatsalam in 1963 , and massive protests broke out in 1965 against the plans of the Congress-led central government to make Hindi the only official language of India , held Ramasami to the Congress Party. But when the DMK won the state elections in Madras in 1967 and Annadurai became head of government, Ramasami was reconciled with Annadurai and agreed to support the DMK. After Annadurai's death, he transferred his support to his successor M. Karunanidhi , to whom he remained loyal even after the break-off of Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (ADMK) under MG Ramachandran in 1972.

Ramasami died on December 24, 1973 at the age of 94 in the Christian hospital in Vellore . The next day he was buried in Madras ( Chennai ). After Ramasami's death, his wife Maniammai took over the leadership of the DK.

ideology

Ramasami's ideology is based on three pillars: rejection of the caste system, criticism of Hinduism and Dravidian or Tamil nationalism. The core of Ramasami's ideology is the rejection of the Brahmin caste, i.e. anti-Brahmanism. Virtually all of the positions held by Ramasami can be traced back to his anti-Brahmanism and always remain closely linked to it.

Anti-Brahmanism and Rejection of the Caste System

For Ramasami, the Brahmins , who, according to the normative Varna model, have the highest position in the caste system, form a socially dominant group that uses the caste system they have created to exploit the great mass of non-Brahmans. This dominance is to be broken, the caste system to be smashed as a tool of brahmanic oppression. Ramasami's anti-brahmanic attitude culminates in the traditional saying "If you have the choice of killing a brahmin or a serpent, spare the serpent".

Ramasami may have been particularly radical in his attitudes, or at least his rhetoric, but the rejection of the postulated supremacy of the Brahmins was not only of central importance for him, but for the entire early period of the Dravidian Movement: the conflict between non-Brahmins and Brahmins was in the the dominant factor in the politics of the state of Madras in the first half of the 20th century. The background to this was the social change during the British colonial era : the Brahmins, who made up only three percent of the population of the state at the time, used the opportunities offered by the British education system and were thus able to achieve a dominant position in administration and politics. At the same time, urbanization undermined the position of the previously socially influential land-owning castes, which, according to the Varna model, belong to the lowest level of the Shudras . Among them, dissatisfaction with the supremacy of the Brahmins gave rise to anti-Brahmanism and the concept of a "non-Brahmanic" identity.

For Ramasami the anti-Brahmanisms led to the radical demand for a general abolition of the caste system and untouchability . In his agitation against the caste system, three demands emerge: the introduction of quotas for non-Brahmans, the right for untouchables to visit the temple and the admission of untouchables as temple priests.

Dravidian nationalism and separatism

Ramasami represented a Dravidian nationalism based on the contrast between a “ Dravidian ” or Tamil and “ Aryan ” culture. The terms "Aryan" and "Dravidian" were coined after the existence of the Indo-European and the Dravidian language families had been discovered in the late 18th and early 19th centuries (the former includes most of the languages ​​of Europe as well as those of northern India, the latter Tamil and the remaining languages ​​of South India). From these findings of comparative linguistics it was concluded that Indo-European tribes, who called themselves “Aryans”, immigrated to India from outside and subjugated the native “Dravids”. Racially reinterpreted, these theories in Europe ultimately led to the Aryan ideology of the National Socialists . But in India, too, the constructs “Aryans” and “Dravids” have been adopted in discourses that create identity. The representatives of the Dravidian movement like Ramasami adopted a "Dravidian" identity. The “Dravidian” culture was seen as independent compared to the “Aryan”, the “Dravids” with reference to the Aryan immigration theory as the indigenous population of India and the “Aryans” as foreigners who had come from outside.

Cover of E. V. Ramasami's magazine Kudi Arasu from 1939 with an editorial with the title "Down with Hindi!"

Ramasami's Dravidian nationalism manifested itself in a rejection of everything that he regarded as “Aryan” influences: He regarded Hinduism as an “Aryan” religion, and the influence of the Indian central government was for him “Aryan” politics. He rejected Sanskrit as a cult language in the temples as well as Hindi as Indian national language. Above all, however, Ramasami identified the Brahmins as the bearers of the “Aryan” culture, consequently only non-Brahmans could be real “Dravids” or Tamils ​​for him. He hardly distinguished between the terms “Tamile” and “Dravide” - the latter also includes speakers of Telugu , Kannada and Malayalam , who as a rule did not identify with the Dravidian nationalism, which was essentially limited to the Tamil-speaking areas.

As a consequence of his Dravidian nationalism, Ramasami developed a separatist position. In 1938 he first formulated the demand for an independent Dravida Nadu state . Analogous to the founding of Pakistan , which was demanded by the Indian Muslims at that time , the "Dravids" should get their own state. Ramasami rejected Indian independence before 1947, however, because an independent India, in his opinion, would be dominated either by Brahmins or by Northern Indians. The Indian Independence Day and Republic Day said Ramasami to days of mourning.

Relationship to the Tamil language

In contrast to the later actors of the Dravidian movement, who made language the most important identification feature, glorified the greatness of ancient Tamil literature and culture, and almost deified Tamil, Ramasami did not attach any particular value to language. In some cases he even expressed himself downright negatively about Tamil, which for him was an "uncivilized" language that stood in the way of progress and should therefore be replaced by English. He also rejected the old Tamil literature, with the exception of the ethical and moral didactic poem Tirukkural , as an expression of a primitive social order. Nevertheless, Ramasami is revered today in the context of Tamil linguistic nationalism, mainly because of his anti-Hindi activities, largely ignoring his critical positions as a fighter for the "cause of Tamil".

As early as 1935, Ramasami proposed a reform of the Tamil script in which a number of syllable characters were to be replaced by more regular forms. The reform was officially adopted by the Tamil Nadu state government in 1978 and is now widely accepted.

Criticism of Religion and Atheism

Ramasami's anti-Brahmanism and Dravidian nationalism led him to regard Hinduism as a religion introduced by the Brahmins or from the “Aryan” culture area. Moreover, for him, Hinduism was the basis for the existence of the caste system and a tool for maintaining Brahmin dominance. In an interview, Ramasami put his view of Hinduism as follows: “Hinduism is not a religion. It was founded by a small group for their own power interests and is based on ignorance, illiteracy and the exploitation of the people. "

More moderate forces in the Dravidian Movement shared Ramasami's rejection of Brahmin Hinduism, but advocated a reform of Hinduism and turned to Tamil neo-Shaivism, which was based on an allegedly pre-Aryan monotheistic Shaivism as the original "religion of the Tamils". For Ramasami, however, anti-Brahmanism led to a general rejection of Hinduism and religion as such. He formulated this attitude unequivocally in his well-known saying "There is no God, there is no God, there is absolutely no God". Ramasami did not call himself an atheist , but a rationalist . Above all, he criticized the Hindu concept of God and ritualism as irrational. As an alternative to Hindu rites, Ramasami tried to introduce non-religious ceremonies such as the so-called " self-respect marriages" .

In his criticism of Hinduism, Ramasami dealt strongly with the epics Mahabharata and Ramayana as well as the Puranas , but hardly with religious-philosophical texts such as the Upanishads or the Bhagavad Gita . Rather, he tried to ridicule the gods and portray Hindu mythology negatively. Above all, the Ramayana , the story of Rama worshiped as god , attacked Ramasami again and again sharply and interpreted it under the auspices of the Dravidian ideology as a description of a battle between the "Aryans" led by Rama and the "Dravids" represented by the demons under Ravana . This reinterpretation went so far that Ravana was glorified as the real hero of Ramayana and Rama was demoted to the villain.

Ramasami's criticism of religion was aimed primarily at Hinduism. His attitude towards other religions, on the other hand, was contradictory. While he initially expressed himself positively about Islam and Christianity and portrayed them as rational and egalitarian, he later sharply criticized the Christian concept of the Son of Man and the virgin birth . The Buddhism against Ramasami was set benevolent, because this did not constitute a religion for him, but a rationalist and egalitarian philosophy. Ramasami had great sympathy for the Dalit Buddhism founded by BR Ambedkar , which propagated the emancipation of the casteless by converting to Buddhism. But he refused to convert himself.

Afterlife

Political legacy

Event of the PMK party on the occasion of the anniversary of E. V. Ramasami's birthday

Ramasami was one of the spiritual fathers of the Dravidian movement and prepared the way for the so-called Dravidian parties to come to power in the state of Tamil Nadu. The DK founded by Ramasami still exists today and has been headed by K. Veeramani since the death of Ramasami's wife Maniammai . The DMK party, which emerged from the DK under CN Annadurai , soon gathered a large following and won the 1967 parliamentary elections in Tamil Nadu for the first time. In 1972, under MG Ramachandran, the ADMK party (later renamed AIADMK ) split off from the DMK and replaced it in 1977 as the ruling party. To this day, DMK and AIADMK alternate in power in Tamil Nadu. Smaller Dravidian parties that were able to achieve certain electoral successes are the MDMK , which split off from the DMK in 1994, and the DMDK, founded in 2005 .

The DMK and AIADMK deviated from many radical positions by Ramasami in order to gain a majority: The DMK party gave up its demand for secession as early as 1962. From the uncompromising rejection of religion, CN Annadurai and the DMK moved in the 1960s to a general rationalism and secularism . Today, M. Karunanidhi , who has been chairman of the DMK since 1969, still describes himself as an atheist, but MG Ramachandran, like his successor as AIADMK leader, J. Jayalalithaa , has renounced criticism of religion and has often staged temple visits with publicity. The caste question has also receded into the background. Instead of a general abolition of the caste system, equal opportunities for all castes and the promotion of the lower castes have been demanded since the 1960s. In the tradition of Ramasami, Annadurai continued to speak out against “Brahmanism” as an attitude, but not against individual Brahmins, and opened the Brahmins to the DMK. The AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa was even a Brahman herself.

Despite all the changes in position, the Dravidian parties still see themselves in the Ramasami tradition. Karunanidhi said in 2010 that DMK was the "heir to the ideals of Periyar [Ramasamis] and Anna [durai] s". When AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa returned to the office of Chief Minister in May 2015 after a temporary impeachment on corruption charges, her first official act was the statues MG Ramachandrans, CN Annadurais and EV Ramasamis. The MDMK and DMDK also refer to Ramasami's legacy: his portrait is prominently placed on the websites of both parties.

Outside of Tamil Nadu, Ramasami's commitment against untouchability and the caste system has been recognized by the Dalit movement. For example, the Dalit politician Mayawati , chief minister of the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), organized a Periyar festival in 1995. In 2002 the BSP had to withdraw plans to erect a statue of Ramasami in Lucknow after protests by its Hindu nationalist coalition partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Appreciations and controversies

Statue of E. V. Ramasamis in Thanjavur, hung with wreaths of flowers

Ramasami is revered in Tamil Nadu as an icon of the Dravidian movement. There are statues of him in practically all cities of Tamil Nadu, which are regularly wreathed with flowers on the occasion of the anniversary of his birthday. Various institutions have been named after Ramasami, including Periyar University in the city of Salem , and Poonamallee High Road, one of Chennai's main streets, was officially renamed EVR Periyar Salai . Ramasami's birthplace in Erode has been converted into a memorial. The all-Indian government also paid tribute to Ramasami in 1979 with a stamp with his portrait. In 2007 the life of Ramasami was filmed under the title Periyar . Director Gnana Rajasekaran's film won the National Film Award in the “Best Tamil Film” category.

Even so, Ramasami is still a controversial figure. The events that took place in the temple city of Srirangam in 2006 are exemplary : A statue of Ramasami, which was to be erected in a prominent place in front of the main entrance of the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, was vandalized by alleged activists of the Hindu Makkal organization Katchi damaged. Ramasami sympathizers riots against Hindu sites in various places in Tamil Nadu.

literature

• Anita Diehl: EV Ramaswami Naicker-Periyar. A Study of the Influence of a Personality in Contemporary South India. Scandinavian University Books, Lund 1977.
• Bala Jeyaraman: Periyar. A Political Biography of EV Ramasamy. New Delhi: Rupa Publications 2013.
• Paula Richman: EV Ramasami's Reading of the Rāmāyaṇa. In: Paula Richman (ed.): Many Rāmāyaṇas. The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia. Oxford University Press, Delhi 1992, pp. 175-201.
• E. Sa. Visswanathan: The Political Career of EV Ramasami Naicker. A Study in the Politics of Tamilnadu, 1920-1949 . Madras: Ravi & Vasanth, 1983.

Web links

Commons : EV Ramasami  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Anita Diehl: EV Ramaswami Naicker-Periyar. A Study of the Influence of a Personality in Contemporary South India, Lund: Scandinavian University Books, 1977, p. 19.
2. ^ Marguerite Ross Barnett: The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India, Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976, p. 54, note 2.
3. ↑ Barnett 1976, p. 36.
4. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 19.
5. ↑ E. Sat Visswanathan: The Political Career of EV Ramasami Naicker. A Study in the Politics of Tamilnadu, 1920-1949, Madras: Ravi & Vasanth, 1983, pp. 38-39.
6. ↑ Visswanathan 1983, pp. 42-45.
7. ↑ Visswanathan 1983, pp. 45-55.
8. ↑ Visswanathan 1983, pp. 55-62.
9. ↑ Visswanathan 1983, pp. 63-65.
10. ↑ Visswanathan 1983, pp. 71-73.
11. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 27.
12. ↑ Visswanathan 1983, pp. 73-77.
13. ^ Eugene F. Irschick: Politics and Social Conflict in South India. The Non-Brahman Movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916-1929 , Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969, pp. 334 f.
14. ↑ Nambi K. Arooran: Tamil renaissance and Dravidian nationalism , Madurai: Koodal, 1980, p 177 f.
15. ^ Marguerite Ross Barnett: The Politics of Cultural Nationalism in South India. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1976, p. 53.
16. ↑ On the Justice Party see Robert L. Hardgrave Jr .: "The Dravidian Movement". In: Essays in the Political Sociology of South India. New Delhi, Usha Publications: 1979, pp. 15-24.
17. ↑ Jakob Rösel: The shape and emergence of Tamil nationalism. Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1997, pp. 55-57.
18. ↑ Hardgrave 1979, pp. 27-28.
19. ↑ Barnett 1976, pp. 76-77.
20. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 28.
21. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 28 f.
22. ↑ Visswanathan 1983, pp. 337-338.
23. ↑ Bala Jeyaraman: Periyar. A Political Biography of EV Ramasamy, New Delhi: Rupa Publications 2013, pp. 76–86.
24. ↑ Jeyaraman 2013, pp. 87-92.
25. ↑ Jeyaraman 2013, pp. 94-96.
26. ↑ Jeyaraman 2013, p. 97.
27. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 40.
28. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 41.
29. ↑ Barnett 1976, p. 15.
30. ↑ Barnett 1979, p. 16 f.
31. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 62.
32. ↑ Michael Bergunder: "Contested past. Anti-Brahmin and Hindu-nationalist reconstructions of the early Indian religious history", in: Michael Bergunder and Rahul Peter Das (eds.): "Arier" and "Draviden". Constructions of the past as a basis for perceptions of oneself and others in South Asia, Halle: Verlag der Franckesche Stiftungen zu Halle, 2002, pp. 135-138 ( doi: 10.11588 / xabooks.379.539 ).
33. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 70.
34. ↑ Irschick 1969, p. 275 f.
35. ↑ Barnett 1976, p. 53.
36. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 74.
37. ↑ Dagmar Hellmann-Rajanayagam: Tamil. Language as a political symbol, Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1984, pp. 52–55.
38. ↑ Hellmann-Rajayanagam 1984, pp. 69-72.
39. ↑ Sumathi Ramaswamy: Passions of the Tongue. Language Devotion in Tamil India, 1891-1970, Berkley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1997, pp. 233-242.
40. ↑ Arooran 1980, pp. 167-168.
41. ^ "Hinduism is not a religion. It is founded by a small group for their own power interest and built on the ignorance, illiteracy and exploiting of the people." Diehl 1977, p. 41.
42. ↑ Bergunder 2002, pp. 153–157.
43. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 50.
44. ↑ Hellmann-Rajanayagam 1984, p. 97 f.
45. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 47 f.
46. ↑ Diehl 1977, p. 46.
47. ↑ cf. Paula Richman: "EV Ramasami's Reading of the Rāmāyaṇa", in: Paula Richman (Ed.): Many Rāmāyaṇas. The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia, Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1992, pp. 175–201.
48. ↑ Hellmann-Rajanayagam 1984, p. 105 f.
49. ↑ Hellmann-Rajanayagam 1984, pp. 101 ff.
50. ↑ Hellmann-Rajayanagam 1984, p. 112 f.
51. ^ The Hindu : DMK is the true Dravidian movement, says Karunanidhi , June 6, 2010.
52. ↑ The Hindu, Jayalalithaa to pay floral tributes to statues on May 22 , May 19, 2015.
53. ↑ cf. mdmk.org.in , dmdkparty.com ( Memento of the original from January 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed January 22, 2016. 
54. ↑ Christophe Jaffrelot: India's Silent Revolution. The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India, London: Hurst, 2003, p. 415.
55. ↑ The Times of India : No Periyar statue will be installed in state: CM, August 2, 2002.
56. ↑ Hellmann-Rajanayagam 1984, p. 129.
57. ^ The Indian Express: Tamil Nadu tense after more instances of vandalism , September 9, 2006.

This article was added to the list of excellent articles on January 27, 2011 in this version .