Born: September 17, 1879
Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
Died: December 24, 1973
Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation: Trader, Social Worker
Spouse: Nagammal, Maniammai
Life and beliefs
MGR with EVREVR's given name was Ramaswami. He was from a prominent Naicker caste, a community that descended from the Nayak rulers of Mysore. Hence he is called E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in Tamil.
EVR was an atheist, noted for his anti-theistic statement, "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." In 1956, he took a procession of Rama's picture garlanded with slippers near Dharmapuri and destroyed the portrait in public. EVR's most popular writing is The Ramayana: A True Reading (1959), on the Ramayana, a Hindu epic.
MGR paying respects to Periyar's mortal remainsThough he was born in an affluent Telugu origin family, he fought against the untouchability practiced by upper castes, specifically targeting Brahmins, the rituals of Hinduism, and the caste system. He later opposed Mohandas K. Gandhi and the Indian National Congress preferring the Justice Party.
His Early life
Periyar was the son of a merchant Venkata, who was a devout Hindu of the Vaishnavite school of thought. His mother was Chinna Thayammal alais Muthammal; he had one elder brother named Krishnaswamy and two sisters named Kannamma and Ponnuthoy. Periyar studied for 5 years and 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. Periyar was married to Nagammal. He became the father of a female child which soon died and he had no more children. After being reprimanded by his father, Periyar left his house for Kasi.
Pilgrimage to Kaasi
He went on a pilgrimage to Varanasi to worship in the famous Siva temple Kashi Vishwanath in 1904. He wanted to enter a free-lunch place but finding that it was meant only for Brahmins he disguised himself as a one. But it was discovered that he was not a Brahmin and he was removed from the place. Later he learnt that the free-lunch place was built with the donation of a Dravidian merchant. He saw the discrimination against non-Brahmins. He had pictured Kasi as a place where all Hindus would be treated equally. This humiliation was the turning point in Periyar's life and after that made a deep wound in the heart of Periyar and it inflamed intense hatred towards the caste system and Hindu religion itself. On returning to Erode his father delegated all his trade rights to this second son and renamed his major commercial concern under the title: "E.V. Ramasamy Mandi".
A Freedom Fighter as a Congress Party Leader
EVR, the freedom fighter fought for India's freedom till 1930[5] and after that he fought against India's freedom. However his critics dispute this and say his role was magnified. On 15-8-1947, when India became free of British domination, he grieved the coming of Indian Independence by wearing black armband and waving black flag.
A Committed Rationalist and Rebel
Periyar was a religious man upto the age of 28 and he was a manager (dharmakartha) of a temple for a considerable time. After that he became an atheist and followed western philosopher Nietzsche and claimed that God is dead. The Tamil public started a great following and he became the Messiah for all the agnostic and atheistic masses. He educated the public and the low-caste masses around India started following his teachings. His conflict with the Brahmins in Congress Party made him an anti-brahmin activist. He was able to have some learned articulate politicians like Annadurai and Karunanidhi as his chief followers.
Leader of Justice Party: 1939-1944
Justice Party was a rich man's party and had no grass roots support or proper leaders. Before the World War II they were able to seize power of Madras for a short period. People opted for Congress Party and voted out the Justice Party from the power. As it was nearing its demise they wanted a charismatic rich leader. Periyar was their choice and what a choice it was. Soon the Justice Party was leading the way for social equality and reform.
Leader of Dravidar Kazhagam
Periyar was more bent on social reform and he changed the name of the Justice Party into Dravidar Kazhagam. He avoided parliamentary democracy and started social reforms. His followers who wanted politics split with him on his marriage issue and started Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Anti-Hindi
Hindi imposition 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 2. The teaching of Hindi was withdrawn in 1940 by the British governor.
EVR and Kula Kalvi Thittam/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.
EVR's ideas on Modern Tamil Alphabet
He instituted Tamil alphabet reforms and his reasons are as follows:
In writings and publications of 70 or 80 years ago, the vowel 'ee' (i:), indicated today as ' ¼ ', was a cursive and looped representation of the short form, ' ¬ ' (i). In stone inscriptions of 400 or 500 years ago, many Tamil letters are found in other shapes. The older and the more divine a language and its letters are said to be, they, in truth, need reform.
Just as some compound characters have separate signs to indicate their length as in ' æè ' , ' îæ ' (ka: , ke:), why should not other compound characters like ' æ¨ ' , ' æ© ' , ' Æ ' , ' Ô ' (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.
Tamil alphabet looks primitive! How many loops! How many dashes! How many upward turns! How many downward turns! Such cumbersome orthography in the present day! Do we need so many letters today? Why do we need 216 letters? The Englishman does wonders and has only 26 letters. And he turns the whole world round with just 26 letters.
Criticism
He declared Indian independence as a day of slavery and declared it as a day of mourning. He fought for the separation of Tamil areas of India and Sri Lanka and for the human rights of the oppressed Tamil diaspora. He backed colonial rule and attempted to forge an alliance with both Ambedkar and Jinnah.
Periyar created the oldest anti-Brahmin movement in India. Tamil Brahmins (Iyers and Iyengars) were frequently held responsible by Periyarites for direct or indirect oppression of lower-caste people on the canard of "Brahmin oppression" and resulted in innumerable hate attacks on Brahmins and started a wave of ethnic cleansing, resulting in forced mass-migration of the Brahmin population.[14]Periyar repeatedly called for "Brahmin killing"s and burning down Brahmin homes. Later, in regards to a DK member's attempt to assassinate Rajagopalachari, he "expressed his abhorrence of violence as a means of settling political differences".The canard of "Brahmin oppression" rationalized conspiracy theories and pointed to Brahmins as enemies against whom the radical movements pitted themselves. The legacy of the anti-Brahmanism of the self-respect movement was taken over by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.Growing anti-Brahmanism in Chennai provided a rationale for polarization of the lower castes in the DMK movement. Eventually, the virulent anti-Brahmanism subsided somewhat with the replacement of the DMK party by the AIADMK
EVR's followers have broken temple icons, cut sacred threads and tufts from brahmin priests, and have often portrayed Brahmins in the most derogatory manner in their meetings and magazines (see http://www.viduthalai.com and http://www.unmaionline.com - both in Tamil language).
Gandhi did not like his views as he wanted to bring in reforms gradually and spoke of inclusion, not exclusion and hate; Periyar bolted away from the freedom movement.
Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
Died: December 24, 1973
Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation: Trader, Social Worker
Spouse: Nagammal, Maniammai
Life and beliefs
MGR with EVREVR's given name was Ramaswami. He was from a prominent Naicker caste, a community that descended from the Nayak rulers of Mysore. Hence he is called E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in Tamil.
EVR was an atheist, noted for his anti-theistic statement, "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." In 1956, he took a procession of Rama's picture garlanded with slippers near Dharmapuri and destroyed the portrait in public. EVR's most popular writing is The Ramayana: A True Reading (1959), on the Ramayana, a Hindu epic.
MGR paying respects to Periyar's mortal remainsThough he was born in an affluent Telugu origin family, he fought against the untouchability practiced by upper castes, specifically targeting Brahmins, the rituals of Hinduism, and the caste system. He later opposed Mohandas K. Gandhi and the Indian National Congress preferring the Justice Party.
His Early life
Periyar was the son of a merchant Venkata, who was a devout Hindu of the Vaishnavite school of thought. His mother was Chinna Thayammal alais Muthammal; he had one elder brother named Krishnaswamy and two sisters named Kannamma and Ponnuthoy. Periyar studied for 5 years and 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. Periyar was married to Nagammal. He became the father of a female child which soon died and he had no more children. After being reprimanded by his father, Periyar left his house for Kasi.
Pilgrimage to Kaasi
He went on a pilgrimage to Varanasi to worship in the famous Siva temple Kashi Vishwanath in 1904. He wanted to enter a free-lunch place but finding that it was meant only for Brahmins he disguised himself as a one. But it was discovered that he was not a Brahmin and he was removed from the place. Later he learnt that the free-lunch place was built with the donation of a Dravidian merchant. He saw the discrimination against non-Brahmins. He had pictured Kasi as a place where all Hindus would be treated equally. This humiliation was the turning point in Periyar's life and after that made a deep wound in the heart of Periyar and it inflamed intense hatred towards the caste system and Hindu religion itself. On returning to Erode his father delegated all his trade rights to this second son and renamed his major commercial concern under the title: "E.V. Ramasamy Mandi".
A Freedom Fighter as a Congress Party Leader
EVR, the freedom fighter fought for India's freedom till 1930[5] and after that he fought against India's freedom. However his critics dispute this and say his role was magnified. On 15-8-1947, when India became free of British domination, he grieved the coming of Indian Independence by wearing black armband and waving black flag.
A Committed Rationalist and Rebel
Periyar was a religious man upto the age of 28 and he was a manager (dharmakartha) of a temple for a considerable time. After that he became an atheist and followed western philosopher Nietzsche and claimed that God is dead. The Tamil public started a great following and he became the Messiah for all the agnostic and atheistic masses. He educated the public and the low-caste masses around India started following his teachings. His conflict with the Brahmins in Congress Party made him an anti-brahmin activist. He was able to have some learned articulate politicians like Annadurai and Karunanidhi as his chief followers.
Leader of Justice Party: 1939-1944
Justice Party was a rich man's party and had no grass roots support or proper leaders. Before the World War II they were able to seize power of Madras for a short period. People opted for Congress Party and voted out the Justice Party from the power. As it was nearing its demise they wanted a charismatic rich leader. Periyar was their choice and what a choice it was. Soon the Justice Party was leading the way for social equality and reform.
Leader of Dravidar Kazhagam
Periyar was more bent on social reform and he changed the name of the Justice Party into Dravidar Kazhagam. He avoided parliamentary democracy and started social reforms. His followers who wanted politics split with him on his marriage issue and started Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Anti-Hindi
Hindi imposition 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 2. The teaching of Hindi was withdrawn in 1940 by the British governor.
EVR and Kula Kalvi Thittam/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.
EVR's ideas on Modern Tamil Alphabet
He instituted Tamil alphabet reforms and his reasons are as follows:
In writings and publications of 70 or 80 years ago, the vowel 'ee' (i:), indicated today as ' ¼ ', was a cursive and looped representation of the short form, ' ¬ ' (i). In stone inscriptions of 400 or 500 years ago, many Tamil letters are found in other shapes. The older and the more divine a language and its letters are said to be, they, in truth, need reform.
Just as some compound characters have separate signs to indicate their length as in ' æè ' , ' îæ ' (ka: , ke:), why should not other compound characters like ' æ¨ ' , ' æ© ' , ' Æ ' , ' Ô ' (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.
Tamil alphabet looks primitive! How many loops! How many dashes! How many upward turns! How many downward turns! Such cumbersome orthography in the present day! Do we need so many letters today? Why do we need 216 letters? The Englishman does wonders and has only 26 letters. And he turns the whole world round with just 26 letters.
Criticism
He declared Indian independence as a day of slavery and declared it as a day of mourning. He fought for the separation of Tamil areas of India and Sri Lanka and for the human rights of the oppressed Tamil diaspora. He backed colonial rule and attempted to forge an alliance with both Ambedkar and Jinnah.
Periyar created the oldest anti-Brahmin movement in India. Tamil Brahmins (Iyers and Iyengars) were frequently held responsible by Periyarites for direct or indirect oppression of lower-caste people on the canard of "Brahmin oppression" and resulted in innumerable hate attacks on Brahmins and started a wave of ethnic cleansing, resulting in forced mass-migration of the Brahmin population.[14]Periyar repeatedly called for "Brahmin killing"s and burning down Brahmin homes. Later, in regards to a DK member's attempt to assassinate Rajagopalachari, he "expressed his abhorrence of violence as a means of settling political differences".The canard of "Brahmin oppression" rationalized conspiracy theories and pointed to Brahmins as enemies against whom the radical movements pitted themselves. The legacy of the anti-Brahmanism of the self-respect movement was taken over by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.Growing anti-Brahmanism in Chennai provided a rationale for polarization of the lower castes in the DMK movement. Eventually, the virulent anti-Brahmanism subsided somewhat with the replacement of the DMK party by the AIADMK
EVR's followers have broken temple icons, cut sacred threads and tufts from brahmin priests, and have often portrayed Brahmins in the most derogatory manner in their meetings and magazines (see http://www.viduthalai.com and http://www.unmaionline.com - both in Tamil language).
Gandhi did not like his views as he wanted to bring in reforms gradually and spoke of inclusion, not exclusion and hate; Periyar bolted away from the freedom movement.
Notable followers
Bharatidasan
Sathyaraj
K.Veeramani, leader of Dravidar Kazhagam after Periyar.
Kavignar Inkulab, rationalist Tamil poet.
Poondi Kumaraswamy, engineer and hydroglogist.
Periyar Thasan
S.Vallatharasu
Dr. Karunanidhi
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