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{{Infobox Celebrity | {{Infobox Celebrity | ||
| name = Periyar | | name = EVR better known as Periyar | ||
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'''E.V. Ramasami Naicker''' (], ] – ], ]), also known as '''E.V. Ramaswami''', '''EVR''', '''Thanthai Periyar''', or just '''Periyar''', was a Indian ], ], ], an ], and the founder of ] and the founder of the radical and sectarian denomination of the ] movement, innocuously called the ] in the ]n state of ]. | |||
'''Periyar E. V. Ramaswamy''' ({{lang-ta|பெரியார்}}) (], ] – ], ]),also known as '''Ramaswami''', '''EVR''', '''Thanthai Periyar''', or '''Periyar''', was an Indian ], who founded the ] and ].<ref>{{citebook|title=Political Ideas in Modern India: thematic explorations |author= Thomas Pantham, Vrajendra Raj Mehta, Vrajendra Raj Mehta,|year= 2006|publisher=Sage Publications|id=ISBN 0761934200|url= http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0761934200&id=KJejtAaonsEC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=%22Self-respect+movement%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=2MFf1OTrHpydPFBq6ZS4SdlaHjs}}</ref><ref>{{citebook|title=Political Theory and Political Thought |author= N.D. Arora/S.S. Awasthy|id=ISBN 8124111642|url= http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN8124111642&id=szBpnYfmH0cC&pg=PA425&lpg=PA425&dq=%22Self-respect+movement%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=zyuKCxtk4jFplHL8Y_JeaiDUb94}}</ref><ref>{{citebook|title=A Time of Coalitions: Divided We Stand |author= Shankar Raghuraman, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta|year=2004|publisher=Sage Publications|id=ISBN 0761932372|url= http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0761932372&id=pjzyK_gEBcwC&pg=PA230&lpg=PA230&ots=pqykUhg9K7&dq=%22Self-respect+movement%22+DMK+AIADMK&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=VCMFaNb_AqKtaMKP19ucfAnwBPU}}</ref> | |||
==Biography== | ==Biography== | ||
] | |||
Ramaswami was from a prominent Naicker caste, a community that descended from the ] Nayak rulers of Tamil Nadu. Hence he is sometimes called E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Ramaswami" was his given name and "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in ].He is refered as Periyar and a University was named after him by the Tamil Nadu Government.<ref> | |||
EVR's given name was Ramaswami. He was from a prominent Kannada Naicker caste, a community that descended from the Nayak rulers of Tamil Nadu. Hence he is called E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in ]. | |||
http://www.tnuniv.ac.in/periyar/About.htm </ref><ref>http://www.tn.gov.in/pressrelease/archives/pr2004/pr170904/pr170904.htm </ref>His mother tongue was Kannada.<ref>{{cite web|title=Periyar E.V. Ramasami|url=http://www.buddhiwadi.org/periyar.htm|publisher= buddhiwadi.org}}</ref> | |||
EVR was an atheist, noted for his antitheistic statement, "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." His atheistic attacks and blasphemous acts, however, were directed at ] alone. In 1956, he took a procession of ]'s picture garlanded with slippers near ] and destroyed the portrait in public, drawing widespread protests from Indians whose religious sentiments were hurt. EVR's most popular writing is ''The Ramayana: A True Reading'' (1959), on the ], a Hindu epic.<ref> | |||
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0006E12N4/ </ref> | http://www.amazon.com/Ramayana-reading-E-Ramaswami-Naicker/dp/B0006E12N4/sr=1-1/qid=1167891710/ref=sr_1_1/002-7042148-2641612?ie=UTF8&s=books </ref> | ||
] | ] | ||
Though he was born in an affluent ] origin ] family, he started a movement claiming to "fight untouchability" which he used as a podium to tout intensely ] ] and ] prejudices,specifically targeting ]s, the rituals of ], and ] views concerning the ] and the ]. | |||
== His |
== His Early Life == | ||
Periyar was the son of a merchant Venkata, who was a devout Hindu of the ] 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 ] gurus who gave discourses in his house enjoying his father's hospitality. Periyar was married to Nagammal a girl of just 13 in ]. 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 ].<ref> | |||
http://www.periyar.org/html/ap_bios_eng1.asp</ref> | http://www.periyar.org/html/ap_bios_eng1.asp</ref> | ||
== Pilgrimage to |
== Pilgrimage to Kaasi == | ||
He went on a pilgrimage to ] to worship in the famous Siva temple ] in ]. 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 ] and he was removed from the place.Later he learnt that the Free-lunch place was built with the donation of a Dravidian merchant.<ref> | |||
http://www.periyar.org/html/ap_bios_eng1.asp</ref> | http://www.periyar.org/html/ap_bios_eng1.asp</ref> | ||
He saw the discrimination against non |
He saw the discrimination against non brahmins. He had pictured ] as a place where all Hindus would be treated equally. This humililation 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<ref>http://snphilosophers2005.tripod.com/louis.pdf</ref> | ||
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" | |||
== Rationalism == | |||
== Timeline of Ramaswami's political struggle and ideology == | |||
Ramaswami was a believer till the age of 28 and managed (dharmakartha) a temple. He became an atheist and followed western philosopher ] and claimed that God is dead. His ] rhetoric was carefully camouflaged in atheism. This won him considerable following in Tamil Nadu. He portrayed the Brahmins as villains of the society. Soon political parties saw an advantage in his rhetoric and began imitating him. Except a few, the majority of the people who listened to him did not give up religion or idol worship. Even today, his followers clandestinely offer prayers in Hindu temples and to swamis. | |||
=== Ramasami as member of Congress Party 1919 - 1925 === | |||
Ramasami was a member of the Congress Party from 1919 onwards. He gave up many of his lucrative positions and properties at that time. However, he split from Congress because the Congress refused to support his demand for entry into temples for all castes. This was because the Congress party was dominated by orthodox Brahmins(who were at that time considered to be people of a higher caste in the society) in Tamilnadu at that time. | |||
Ramaswami's ''rationalism'' was focussed on deriding the ritualistic practices by the priests, who were all Brahmins, in ]. His rhetoric always steered clear of Christians and Muslims. | |||
The fact that Brahmins dominated the Congress Party from 1920's is shown by the fact that when the Congress Party formed the ministry in 1937 the chief minister was ], the Revenue Minister was ] and the labor minister was ]. All of them were Brahmins and had a long political life marked with major successes. Though it could be argued that most of them were chosen by each of their merits and not merely by their caste. | |||
== Affiliation with the ] == | |||
=== Vaikom struggle - 1924-1925=== | |||
Initially, he joined the Congress Party in their political activism against British occupation. | |||
Ramasami 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 Travancore during 1924.Periyar who was the President of the Madras Presidency (Tamil Nadu) Congress Committee at that time to lead 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.<ref> | |||
His critics dispute his contributions to the Congress party and say that his role was magnified as part of Dravidian nationalist propaganda.<ref> | |||
http://www.media-watch.org/articles/0499/65.html </ref><ref>http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr98/fe0798/PIBF0707983.html </ref><ref>http://www.atheist-community.org/library/articles/read.php?id=710</ref> | |||
http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr98/fe0798/PIBF0707981.html</ref>.<ref>http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2006/12/dravidiana-perversity-of-periyarana.html</ref>, | |||
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 ] in the Kanchipuram Session .<ref> | |||
His views on ] prompted him to change his political position and support the British occupation of South Asia, feeling that the invasionist scenario pseudoscience touted by the British (who viewed themselves as "Aryans" and so justified in their occupation of South Asia) was a valid reason.<ref> | |||
http://snphilosophers2005.tripod.com/louis.pdf </ref> | |||
http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19990331/iex31073p.html </ref>.] 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. | |||
== |
==Self-Respect Movement: 1925-39== | ||
Periyar and his followers campaigned constantly to influence and pressurise the government to take measures to remove social inequality even while other nationalist leaders focussed on the struggle for political independence. | |||
== Anti-Hindi == | |||
Hindi imposition in ] started in ] when the Congress Government of the Madras Presidency under (]) made ] a compulsory subject in schools. ] opposed ] imposition immediately and the Justice Party under Sir A. D. Panneerselvam and Periyar organized anti-Hindi imposition protests in 1938 and were arrested and jailed by the ] government. | |||
More than 1200 people, including women and children, were imprisoned in ], of which two, ] and ], lost their lives. In ] the Rajaji government quit and it was withdrawn in ] by the British governor. | |||
==]: 1939-1944 == | |||
=== Anti-Hindi Movement - 1937-1940 === | |||
Justice Party was a rich man's party and had no grassroots support or leadership. Before World War II, the Justice Party ruled Madras Province for a short period. People voted Congress Party into power soon after the War. It was then the Justice Party began looking for someone popular with the masses, Ramaswami was an obvious choice. And the popular slogan social was "social justice",as a euphemism for ] rhetoric. He targeted Rajaji, the Congress leader and a Brahmin. | |||
Hindi imposition in ] started in ] when the Congress Government of the Madras Presidency under (]) made ] a compulsory subject in schools. ] opposed ] imposition immediately and the Justice Party under Sir A. D. Panneerselvam and Ramasami organized anti-Hindi imposition protests in 1938 and were arrested and jailed by the ] government. More than 1200 people, including women and children, were imprisoned in ], of which two, ] and ], lost their lives. In ] the Rajagopalachari government quit and it was withdrawn in ] by the British governor. | |||
== |
== ] and propaganda == | ||
To give a local flavor, Ramaswami changed the name of the Justice Party to Dravidar Kazhagam (Party of the Dravidians). He pitched himself against the so-called "]s", who were the ]s again. He avoided parliamentary democracy and started his campaigns on his own. His followers who wanted politics split with him after his marriage to a very young woman and started the ], popularly known as the DMK. The DMK was first led by C.N. Annadurai and after him by M. Karunanidhi. | |||
Before World War II, the Justice Party ruled Madras Province for a long period from 1920 to 1937 with many leaders ]. As Gandhi revitalized the Congress Party with the common man message, People voted Congress Party into power from 1937 to 1967. As the Justice Party lost its power and began looking for someone popular with the masses, Ramasami was an obvious choice. And the popular slogan social was "social justice",as a euphemism for ] rhetoric. He targeted Rajagopalachari, the Congress leader and a Brahmin. However, largely due to the popularity of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress party remained in power till 1967. | |||
<ref>http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/Periyar.pdf </ref> | |||
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" ]-a version transposing hero and villain, in which the | |||
] demon king ] becomes a heroic "] 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.<ref>Sara Dickey,"The politics of adulation in South India", Journal of Asian Studies Vol 52 No 2 (1993) pages 340-372</ref> | |||
The logical culmination of Periyar's anti-Hindi, anti-north Dravidian non-Brahmanism was reached when the Justice Party became secessionist in nature, demanding an independent ] for the Dravidians. Thus, caste-region interaction in Tamil Nadu strengthened an exclusionary regional nationalism. Further, it also sought to delegitimize Brahmans not only from society but also from their regional identity. However, this exclusion did not last long. Once the regional claims were realized through formation of Madras (now Tamil Nadu) State and non-Brahman claims were translated into an extensive policy of reservations, Brahmans were incorporated as members into the Tamil society. Brahmans are accommodated as ideologues and legitimizers of the regional legacy of the Dravidian movement. | |||
=== ] 1944 - till death === | |||
Ramaswami changed the name of the Justice Party to Dravidar Kazhagam (Party of the Dravidians). He pitched himself against the so-called "]s", who included ]s among other sects. He avoided parliamentary democracy and started his campaigns on his own. Some of his followers split with him after him due to growing differences of opinion within the party and started the ], popularly known as the DMK. The DMK was first led by C.N. Annadurai and after him by M. Karunanidhi.<ref>http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/Periyar.pdf </ref> | |||
== Anti-Hindi Movement == | |||
Ramasami 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" ]-a version transposing hero and villain, in which the | |||
Hindi imposition in ] started in ] when the Congress Government of the Madras Presidency under ] introduced ] in the school curriculum. ] opposed ] 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 ] government. | |||
] demon king ] becomes a heroic "] 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.<ref>Sara Dickey,"The politics of adulation in South India", Journal of Asian Studies Vol 52 No 2 (1993) pages 340-372</ref> | |||
More than 1200 people, including women and children, were imprisoned in ], of which two, ] and ], lost their lives. In ] 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 ] by the British governor. | |||
== EVR and Kula Kalvi Thittam/Hereditary Education Policy == | |||
Later, the Justice Party became secessionist in nature, campaigning for an independent ] state. Once the regional autonomy was achieved through the formation of Madras (now Tamil Nadu) State and non-Brahman claims were translated into an extensive policy of reservations, Brahmans were incorporated as members into the Tamil society. Brahmans are accommodated as ideologues and legitimizers of the regional legacy of the Dravidian movement.<ref>http://www.democracy-asia.org/Suhas_Palshikar_Caste_&_Region.pdf</ref> | |||
Rajaji introduced a new education policy based on family vocation which its opponents dubbed ] (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 ]’s son would learn ], a ]'s son chanting ] and a ]’s son hair cutting and shaving after school in the afternoon.<ref>http://sify.com/news/politics/fullstory.php?id=13569138 </ref> EVR felt that the scheme was a clever device against Dalits and Other Backward Classes as their first generation was getting educated only then.<ref>http://www.tamilnation.org/hundredtamils/periyar.htm</ref> EVR demanded its withdrawal and launched protests against the ] (Hereditary Education Policy) which he felt was caste-based and was aimed at maintaining caste hegemony. Rajaji quit in 1954 and ] scrapped it after becoming chief minister.<ref>http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/Periyar.pdf</ref><ref> | |||
=== Split of DMK from Dravidar Kazhagam - 1949 === | |||
The ] was considered to be split from Dravidar kazhagam, by ]. The main reason for this was that he did not want to be involved in the Government and wanted to do only public service. The second reason was he married Maniammai a woman who was 40 years younger than him. | |||
The more practical and political ] and his followers chose this opportunity to break away and get involved in the new democratic system. Despite the fact that Ramasami chose not to support ] during any election, the ] came to power on its own following the economic turmoils of late 1960s and the promise of cheap rice which was the staple food of Tamil Nadu. | |||
=== Ramasami and Kula Kalvi Thittam/Hereditary Education Policy - 1952-1954=== | |||
Rajagopalachari introduced a new education policy based on family vocation which its opponents dubbed ] (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 ]'s son would learn ], a ]'s son chanting ]s and a ]'s son hair cutting and shaving after school in the afternoon.<ref>http://sify.com/news/politics/fullstory.php?id=13569138 </ref> Ramasami felt that the scheme was a clever device against Dalits and Other Backward Classes as their first generation was getting educated only then.<ref>http://www.tamilnation.org/hundredtamils/periyar.htm</ref> Ramasami demanded its withdrawal and launched protests against the ] (Hereditary Education Policy) which he felt was caste-based and was aimed at maintaining caste hegemony. Rajagopalachari quit in 1954 and ] scrapped it after becoming chief minister.<ref>http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/Periyar.pdf</ref><ref> | |||
http://www.periyar.org/html/dk_movement_eng.asp</ref> | http://www.periyar.org/html/dk_movement_eng.asp</ref> | ||
== EVR's ideas on Modern Tamil Alphabet == | |||
=== Ramasami supports Kamarajar of Congress Party - 1954-1963 === | |||
He instituted ] ] reforms and his reasons are as follows:<ref> | |||
Ramasami wrote two articles in his magazine Viduthalai (Freedom) in 1954 supporting Kamarasar and Congress Party which he had vehemently opposed. He did not support the ] party which was formed by ] his protege. | |||
These articles appeared under the headline 'Kamarasar Atharipu Ean?,' (Why supporting Kamarasar?) in Viduthalai on ], ] and ], ]. | |||
The reason for his support seems to be the fact that Kamarasar was a bachelor without issues and therefore has no ulterior selfish motives. Further he was a pure Tamilian and not of Brahminical descent. Kamarasar maintained a balanced view of all castes and was palatable to all walks of people. | |||
Ramasami consistently supported Kamarasar for all the years Kamarajar lead the Congress Party. | |||
===The final years - 1963-1973=== | |||
Both Congress Party in Tamilnadu and ] formed an alliance to contest the 1973 election against the ] which they won. The party ] became a fringe party as its ideals were considered too extreme by the majority of the people of Tamilnadu. | |||
The leader of ] ] was openly pro-Hindu and visited many temples even though he was once a major part of the ]. He had openly admitted that he is a God fearing person. | |||
The leader of ] ], the current chief minister of Tamilnadu, has toned down his opposition to ] in recent times. | |||
== Ramasami's ideas on modern Tamil alphabet == | |||
Ramasami instituted ] ] reforms and his reasons are as follows:<ref> | |||
http://www.uni-giessen.de/~gk1415/revolutionary.htm#9</ref> | http://www.uni-giessen.de/~gk1415/revolutionary.htm#9</ref> | ||
Line 100: | Line 87: | ||
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. | 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 ]== | ||
Periyar's self-respect movement was founded on a principle of intense ] racism, while nominally claiming to be a movement espousing "]" and "]".] Brahmins (]s and ]s) were frequently held responsible by followers of Periyar for direct or indirect oppression of lower-] people on the canard of "Brahmin oppression" and resulted in innumerable hate attacks on Brahmins and which amoung other reasons started a wave of forced mass-migration of the Brahmin population.<ref name="Rudolph">Lloyd I. Rudolph Urban Life and Populist Radicalism: Dravidian Politics in Madras The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3 (May, 1961), pp. 283-297</ref>. Periyar is alleged to have 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".<ref>Lloyd I. Rudolph and Suzanne Hoeber Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition: political development in India P78,University of Chicago Press 1969, ISBN:0226731375</ref>The canard of "Brahmin oppression" rationalized ] and pointed to Brahmins as enemies against whom the radical movements pitted themselves.<ref name="Rudolph"/> The legacy of the anti-Brahmanism of the self-respect movement was taken over by the later ] parties. Growing anti-Brahmanism in ] provided a rationale for polarization of the lower castes in the DMK movement.<ref> Singh, Yogendra,Modernization of Indian Tradition: (A Systemic Study of Social Change),Oriental Press 1974 page 167</ref> Eventually, the virulent anti-Brahmanism subsided somewhat with the replacement of the DMK party by the ]<ref>C. J. Fuller,The Renewal of the Priesthood: Modernity and Traditionalism in a South Indian Temple P117, Princeton University Press 2003 ISBN:0691116571</ref>.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). | |||
The ] was accompanied by growing anger towards the perceived historical oppression inflicted upon 'true' Dravidians by upper castes. | |||
== |
==Periyar and pseudohistory== | ||
Though Ramasami was Born and brought up in Tamil Nadu (ERODE), his mother tongue was Kannada. Ramasami was from a prominent Naicker caste, a community that descended from the Telugu Nayak rulers of Tamil Nadu. | |||
===Ramasami and ]=== | |||
Ramasami's self-respect movement espoused ] and ], and although Ramasami had Brahmin colleagues, the movement had currents of ].<ref>{{citation|title=Dalit Visions: The Anti-caste Movement and the Construction on an Indian Identity|author= Gail Omvedt|year=2006|publisher=Orient Longman|id=ISBN 8125028951|url= http://books.google.com/books?id=nvSapw8i6k8C&pg=PA95&dq=Anti-Brahmanism&ie=ISO-8859-1&output=html&sig=dvE4djhCdWEN3Siy24RioEdu-bs}}</ref> ] Brahmins (]s and ]s) were frequently held responsible by his followers for direct or indirect oppression of lower-] people; this, it has been argued, contributed to several clashes and a gradual migration of the upper castes.<ref name="Rudolph">Lloyd I. Rudolph Urban Life and Populist Radicalism: Dravidian Politics in Madras The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3 (May, 1961), pp. 283-297</ref> | |||
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".<ref>Lloyd I. Rudolph and Suzanne Hoeber Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition: political development in India P78,University of Chicago Press 1969, ISBN 0226731375</ref> The legacy of the anti-Brahmanism of the self-respect movement was taken over by the later ] parties. Eventually, the virulent anti-Brahmanism subsided somewhat with the replacement of the DMK party by the ].<ref>C. J. Fuller,The Renewal of the Priesthood: Modernity and Traditionalism in a South Indian Temple P117, Princeton University Press 2003 ISBN 0691116571</ref> | |||
==Ramasami and the narrative of invasion== | |||
{{Main|Aryan Invasion Theory (history and controversies)|Self-respect movement}} | {{Main|Aryan Invasion Theory (history and controversies)|Self-respect movement}} | ||
Over the course of the 19th century, British scholars such as ] propagated falsified invasionist scenarios of ] in India as part of a systematic and well-organized ] campaign to create sectarian divisions on the basis of racial perceptions contrasting the so-called upper-caste ]s and lower-caste ]. It also provided the ] (who saw themselves as pure-blooded ] Aryans), a justification for their colonization of South Asia (since "Brahmins did it too").In colonial India this propagandistic reconstruction of an epoch lying almost three to four thousand years in the past changed created a volume of ] literature, causing the brainwashed masses in the South into an "internalized past" through an act of "semioticization the Aryan migration"<ref name="Bergunder">Bergunder M, Contested Past: Anti-Brahmanical and Hindu nationalist reconstructions of Indian prehistory,Historiographia Linguistica, Volume 31, Number 1, 2004, pp. 59-104(46)</ref>. Periyar and his followers exploited this body of literature to advance the notion of a "Pure Dravidian Race", superior in every way to the "despicable" ] ]s, philosophies that historian Michael Bergunder compares to the ideas of ] in ]<ref name="Bergunder"/> | |||
A major aspect of this |
A major aspect of this ideology was the claim that the "Aryan" Brahmins started the ] immediately following the "Aryan Invasion" as a tool to exploit and oppress the "Dravidians", a debunked and largely pseudohistorical claim that was used by Periyarites to justify their villification of Brahmins, which frequently devloved into ] in general.<ref name="Bergunder"/>. Such propaganda swiftly became the bastion of Dravidian nationalist ideology, and was absorbed into numerous sectarian and ] movements. However, it was only the ] | ||
started |
started Periyar that provided a popular catalyst for a Tamil nationalism that ostensibly had a "secular" foundation. In the 1930s and ’40s there thus developed a Dravidian mass movement, which had among its declared goals the abolition of "] oppression" through the caste system and religion and the revival of Dravidian culture and society.The ] of a "venerable flourishing Dravidian civilization" (centuries prior to actual advanced Tamil civilizations such as the ] and during a period when mainstream archaeology conforms the total absense of any society in South India more advanced than the ]), unjustly "destroyed by the Aryan Brahmins", played a significant role in the Dravidian propaganda of this period. This act of turning the ] and invasionist scenario of the Aryan Migration became a ''leitmotif'' of the argument that formed part of Periyar's ]<ref name="Bergunder"/>. A reflection of Periyar's pseudohistorical propaganda was in his declaration: | ||
{{cquote|We do not need to explain how the Aryans entered and settled in the Dravidian | {{cquote|We do not need to explain how the Aryans entered and settled in the Dravidian | ||
country (tira¯vit»a na¯» t»u), and subjugated and oppressed the Dravidians. Nor do we need to explain how before the Aryans entered the Dravidian country, the Dravidian country had a civilization and arts of the highest rank …}}<ref name="Bergunder"/> | country (tira¯vit»a na¯» t»u), and subjugated and oppressed the Dravidians. Nor do we need to explain how before the Aryans entered the Dravidian country, the Dravidian country had a civilization and arts of the highest rank …}}<ref name="Bergunder"/> | ||
Tamil poets such as Bharati Dasan, who became the mouthpiece of the Periyarites |
Such claims rendered the Self-respect movement to swiftly degenerate into mass-hysteria, with Tamil poets such as Bharati Dasan, who became the mouthpiece of the Periyarites. He wrote poems that were similar in tone and polemic to ] propaganda films in Nazi Germany (such as ]) that were contemporary to that period. To him, Brahmins were "common ]" who came as common beggars to plunder the Dravidian land. A sample of his incendiary and racislist poetry goes: | ||
{{cquote|In order through false promises, through strife, // to rule fraudulently, they | {{cquote|In order through false promises, through strife, // to rule fraudulently, they | ||
fraudulently, they (Brahmins) came at»i.}}<ref name="Bergunder"/> | fraudulently, they (Brahmins) came at»i.}}<ref name="Bergunder"/> | ||
==Legacy== | |||
==Ramasami's influence== | |||
* 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 ] and ]. | |||
Influence of Ramasami's philosophies are evident in the political decisions and social impact of Tamilnadu. The political decision related to reservation, Hindi dominance agitation, woman liberation are attributed to his impact. ] in Tamilnadu is given a great relevance to Periyar. Cine Actors ], ], ] being believers of Ramasami's principle exhibited their anti-superstition propaganda onscreen. | |||
* EVR's comment on Tamil as a "language of barbarians" haunted him later in life. He was a strong proponent of embracing English as the global language and dropping Tamil from academics. To this day, his followers choose to ignore discussions on this topic. | |||
* Early in his political life, EVR had derided ] and an anachronism and a tool for Aryan aggrandisement. At a later point, he embraced it as the true guide and insisted it was a common guide for all religions. When prominent Muslims spoke out and commented that a man-made work, Tirukkural can never equal God-given verses (]), EVR and his rationalist thought observed silence. | |||
* In recent years, ] and ] movements such as ] have adopted Periyarite rhetoric into their propaganda. Other ], ] and ] groups such as ] and ] have combined Periyarite rhetoric with ] ] to portray ]s as "Black-descended" and pitted against the "White" Brahmins | |||
== Periyar - The Movie == | |||
A Tamil movie "Periyar" was taken depicting his biographical life, the lead role played by ] | |||
] and ] starred in a movie on E.V. Ramaswamy in a government-sponsored movie. | |||
== Notable followers == | |||
* ] | |||
* ] | |||
==References== | |||
* ], leader of ] after E.V. Ramaswamy. | |||
<div class="references-small"><references /></div> | |||
* ], ] Tamil poet. | |||
* ], engineer and hydroglogist. | |||
==Bibliography== | |||
* ] | |||
* ]. ''E. V. Ramaswami - Periyar: A study of the influence of a personality in contemporary South India''. ISBN 91-24-27645-6. | |||
* ] | |||
* ]. "E.V. Ramasami's Reading of the Ramayana" in Paula Richman, ed., ''Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia''. | |||
* ] | |||
* ]. “E V Ramasamy Naickarin Marupakkam” | |||
* ] | |||
==External links== | ==External links== | ||
* , official website of |
* , official website of Thanthai Periyar. | ||
* , a timeline of |
* , a timeline of Periyar's work. | ||
* | * | ||
* | * | ||
Line 153: | Line 135: | ||
* by W. B. Vasantha Kandasamy, ] and K. Kandasamy. | * by W. B. Vasantha Kandasamy, ] and K. Kandasamy. | ||
== References == | |||
{{DEFAULTSORT:Periyar, Ramasami}} | |||
<div class="references-small"><references /></div> | |||
] | |||
] | |||
==Bibliography== | |||
] | |||
* ]. ''E. V. Ramaswami - Periyar: A study of the influence of a personality in contemporary South India''. ISBN 91-24-27645-6. | |||
] | |||
* ]. "E.V. Ramasami's Reading of the Ramayana" in Paula Richman, ed., ''Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia''. | |||
] | |||
] | |||
] | |||
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Revision as of 23:38, 29 June 2007
EVR better known as Periyar | |
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File:Periyar1973.jpgThanthai Periyar | |
Born | September 17, 1879 Erode, Tamil Nadu, India |
Died | December 24, 1973 Tamil Nadu, India |
Occupation(s) | Trader, Social Worker |
Spouse(s) | Nagammal, Maniammai |
E.V. Ramasami Naicker (September 17, 1879 – December 24, 1973), also known as E.V. Ramaswami, EVR, Thanthai Periyar, or just Periyar, was a Indian atheist, anti-Hindu, social reformer, an activist, and the founder of Dravidar Kazhagam and the founder of the radical and sectarian denomination of the Dravidian Nationalist movement, innocuously called the Self-Respect Movement in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
Biography
EVR's given name was Ramaswami. He was from a prominent Kannada Naicker caste, a community that descended from the Nayak rulers of Tamil Nadu. Hence he is called E. V. Ramaswami Naicker. "Periyar" means 'respected one' or an 'elder' in Tamil.
EVR was an atheist, noted for his antitheistic statement, "He who created god was a fool, he who spreads his name is a scoundrel, and he who worships him is a barbarian." His atheistic attacks and blasphemous acts, however, were directed at Hinduism alone. In 1956, he took a procession of Rama's picture garlanded with slippers near Dharmapuri and destroyed the portrait in public, drawing widespread protests from Indians whose religious sentiments were hurt. EVR's most popular writing is The Ramayana: A True Reading (1959), on the Ramayana, a Hindu epic.
Though he was born in an affluent Kannada origin Naidu family, he started a movement claiming to "fight untouchability" which he used as a podium to tout intensely racist anti-Brahmanism and anti-Hindu prejudices,specifically targeting Brahmins, the rituals of Hinduism, and pseudoscientific views concerning the Aryan Invasion Theory and the caste system.
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 a girl of just 13 in 1898. 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 humililation 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"
Rationalism
Ramaswami was a believer till the age of 28 and managed (dharmakartha) a temple. He became an atheist and followed western philosopher Nietzsche and claimed that God is dead. His anti-Brahmin rhetoric was carefully camouflaged in atheism. This won him considerable following in Tamil Nadu. He portrayed the Brahmins as villains of the society. Soon political parties saw an advantage in his rhetoric and began imitating him. Except a few, the majority of the people who listened to him did not give up religion or idol worship. Even today, his followers clandestinely offer prayers in Hindu temples and to swamis.
Ramaswami's rationalism was focussed on deriding the ritualistic practices by the priests, who were all Brahmins, in Sanskrit. His rhetoric always steered clear of Christians and Muslims.
Affiliation with the Indian National Congress
Initially, he joined the Congress Party in their political activism against British occupation. His critics dispute his contributions to the Congress party and say that his role was magnified as part of Dravidian nationalist propaganda.., His views on Aryan Invasion Theory prompted him to change his political position and support the British occupation of South Asia, feeling that the invasionist scenario pseudoscience touted by the British (who viewed themselves as "Aryans" and so justified in their occupation of South Asia) was a valid reason..Mohandas 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.
Self-Respect Movement: 1925-39
Periyar and his followers campaigned constantly to influence and pressurise the government to take measures to remove social inequality even while other nationalist leaders focussed on the struggle for political independence.
Anti-Hindi
Hindi imposition in Tamil Nadu started in 1937 when the Congress Government of the Madras Presidency under (Rajaji) made Hindi a compulsory subject in schools. Tamils opposed Hindi imposition immediately and the Justice Party under Sir A. D. Panneerselvam and Periyar organized anti-Hindi imposition 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 and it was withdrawn in 1940 by the British governor.
Justice Party: 1939-1944
Justice Party was a rich man's party and had no grassroots support or leadership. Before World War II, the Justice Party ruled Madras Province for a short period. People voted Congress Party into power soon after the War. It was then the Justice Party began looking for someone popular with the masses, Ramaswami was an obvious choice. And the popular slogan social was "social justice",as a euphemism for anti-Brahmin rhetoric. He targeted Rajaji, the Congress leader and a Brahmin.
Dravidar Kazhagam and propaganda
To give a local flavor, Ramaswami changed the name of the Justice Party to Dravidar Kazhagam (Party of the Dravidians). He pitched himself against the so-called "Aryans", who were the Brahmins again. He avoided parliamentary democracy and started his campaigns on his own. His followers who wanted politics split with him after his marriage to a very young woman 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.
The logical culmination of Periyar's anti-Hindi, anti-north Dravidian non-Brahmanism was reached when the Justice Party became secessionist in nature, demanding an independent Dravidshan for the Dravidians. Thus, caste-region interaction in Tamil Nadu strengthened an exclusionary regional nationalism. Further, it also sought to delegitimize Brahmans not only from society but also from their regional identity. However, this exclusion did not last long. Once the regional claims were realized through formation of Madras (now Tamil Nadu) State and non-Brahman claims were translated into an extensive policy of reservations, Brahmans were incorporated as members into the Tamil society. Brahmans are accommodated as ideologues and legitimizers of the regional legacy of the Dravidian movement.
Anti-Hindi Movement
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.
Periyar and anti-Brahmanism
Periyar's self-respect movement was founded on a principle of intense anti-Brahmanist racism, while nominally claiming to be a movement espousing "rationalism" and "athieism".Tamil Brahmins (Iyers and Iyengars) were frequently held responsible by followers of Periyar for direct or indirect oppression of lower-caste people on the canard of "Brahmin oppression" and resulted in innumerable hate attacks on Brahmins and which amoung other reasons started a wave of forced mass-migration of the Brahmin population.. Periyar is alleged to have 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 later Dravidan parties. 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).
Periyar and pseudohistory
Main articles: Aryan Invasion Theory (history and controversies) and Self-respect movementOver the course of the 19th century, British scholars such as Max Mueller propagated falsified invasionist scenarios of Indo-Aryan Migration in India as part of a systematic and well-organized propaganda campaign to create sectarian divisions on the basis of racial perceptions contrasting the so-called upper-caste Aryans and lower-caste Dravidians. It also provided the british (who saw themselves as pure-blooded anglo-Saxon Aryans), a justification for their colonization of South Asia (since "Brahmins did it too").In colonial India this propagandistic reconstruction of an epoch lying almost three to four thousand years in the past changed created a volume of pseudohistorical literature, causing the brainwashed masses in the South into an "internalized past" through an act of "semioticization the Aryan migration". Periyar and his followers exploited this body of literature to advance the notion of a "Pure Dravidian Race", superior in every way to the "despicable" Aryan Brahmins, philosophies that historian Michael Bergunder compares to the ideas of Herrenvolk in Nazi Germany
A major aspect of this ideology was the claim that the "Aryan" Brahmins started the Indian Caste System immediately following the "Aryan Invasion" as a tool to exploit and oppress the "Dravidians", a debunked and largely pseudohistorical claim that was used by Periyarites to justify their villification of Brahmins, which frequently devloved into anti-Hinduism in general.. Such propaganda swiftly became the bastion of Dravidian nationalist ideology, and was absorbed into numerous sectarian and communal movements. However, it was only the Self-Respect Movement started Periyar that provided a popular catalyst for a Tamil nationalism that ostensibly had a "secular" foundation. In the 1930s and ’40s there thus developed a Dravidian mass movement, which had among its declared goals the abolition of "Brahmanical oppression" through the caste system and religion and the revival of Dravidian culture and society.The pseudohistory of a "venerable flourishing Dravidian civilization" (centuries prior to actual advanced Tamil civilizations such as the Chola Empire and during a period when mainstream archaeology conforms the total absense of any society in South India more advanced than the Stone Age), unjustly "destroyed by the Aryan Brahmins", played a significant role in the Dravidian propaganda of this period. This act of turning the Orientalist and invasionist scenario of the Aryan Migration became a leitmotif of the argument that formed part of Periyar's anti-Brahmanism. A reflection of Periyar's pseudohistorical propaganda was in his declaration:
We do not need to explain how the Aryans entered and settled in the Dravidian country (tira¯vit»a na¯» t»u), and subjugated and oppressed the Dravidians. Nor do we need to explain how before the Aryans entered the Dravidian country, the Dravidian country had a civilization and arts of the highest rank …
Such claims rendered the Self-respect movement to swiftly degenerate into mass-hysteria, with Tamil poets such as Bharati Dasan, who became the mouthpiece of the Periyarites. He wrote poems that were similar in tone and polemic to anti-Semitic propaganda films in Nazi Germany (such as Der Ewige Juden) that were contemporary to that period. To him, Brahmins were "common Mlechachas" who came as common beggars to plunder the Dravidian land. A sample of his incendiary and racislist poetry goes:
In order through false promises, through strife, // to rule fraudulently, they fraudulently, they (Brahmins) came at»i.
Legacy
- 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.
- EVR's comment on Tamil as a "language of barbarians" haunted him later in life. He was a strong proponent of embracing English as the global language and dropping Tamil from academics. To this day, his followers choose to ignore discussions on this topic.
- Early in his political life, EVR had derided Tirukkural and an anachronism and a tool for Aryan aggrandisement. At a later point, he embraced it as the true guide and insisted it was a common guide for all religions. When prominent Muslims spoke out and commented that a man-made work, Tirukkural can never equal God-given verses (Qur'an), EVR and his rationalist thought observed silence.
- In recent years, anti-Hindu and anti-Brahman movements such as neo-Buddhism have adopted Periyarite rhetoric into their propaganda. Other Anti-Brahman, anti-Hindu and anti-Semitic groups such as Dalitstan and Dalit Voice have combined Periyarite rhetoric with Afrocentric pseudohistory to portray ]s as "Black-descended" and pitted against the "White" Brahmins
Periyar - The Movie
Sathyaraj and Khushboo starred in a movie on E.V. Ramaswamy in a government-sponsored movie.
Notable followers
- Bharatidasan
- Sathyaraj
- K.Veeramani, leader of Dravidar Kazhagam after E.V. Ramaswamy.
- Kavignar Inkulab, rationalist Tamil poet.
- Poondi Kumaraswamy, engineer and hydroglogist.
- Periyar Thasan
- S.Vallatharasu
- M. Karunanidhi
- C.N. Annadurai
External links
- Periyar, official website of Thanthai 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
- http://www.amazon.com/Ramayana-reading-E-Ramaswami-Naicker/dp/B0006E12N4/sr=1-1/qid=1167891710/ref=sr_1_1/002-7042148-2641612?ie=UTF8&s=books
- http://www.periyar.org/html/ap_bios_eng1.asp
- http://www.periyar.org/html/ap_bios_eng1.asp
- http://snphilosophers2005.tripod.com/louis.pdf
- http://pib.nic.in/feature/feyr98/fe0798/PIBF0707981.html
- http://rajeev2004.blogspot.com/2006/12/dravidiana-perversity-of-periyarana.html
- http://www.expressindia.com/ie/daily/19990331/iex31073p.html
- http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/Periyar.pdf
- Sara Dickey,"The politics of adulation in South India", Journal of Asian Studies Vol 52 No 2 (1993) pages 340-372
- http://sify.com/news/politics/fullstory.php?id=13569138
- http://www.tamilnation.org/hundredtamils/periyar.htm
- http://www.gallup.unm.edu/~smarandache/Periyar.pdf
- http://www.periyar.org/html/dk_movement_eng.asp
- http://www.uni-giessen.de/~gk1415/revolutionary.htm#9
- ^ Lloyd I. Rudolph Urban Life and Populist Radicalism: Dravidian Politics in Madras The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3 (May, 1961), pp. 283-297
- Lloyd I. Rudolph and Suzanne Hoeber Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition: political development in India P78,University of Chicago Press 1969, ISBN:0226731375
- Singh, Yogendra,Modernization of Indian Tradition: (A Systemic Study of Social Change),Oriental Press 1974 page 167
- C. J. Fuller,The Renewal of the Priesthood: Modernity and Traditionalism in a South Indian Temple P117, Princeton University Press 2003 ISBN:0691116571
- ^ Bergunder M, Contested Past: Anti-Brahmanical and Hindu nationalist reconstructions of Indian prehistory,Historiographia Linguistica, Volume 31, Number 1, 2004, pp. 59-104(46)
Bibliography
- Diehl, Anita. E. V. Ramaswami - Periyar: A study of the influence of a personality in contemporary South India. ISBN 91-24-27645-6.
- Richman, Paula. "E.V. Ramasami's Reading of the Ramayana" in Paula Richman, ed., Many Ramayanas: The Diversity of a Narrative Tradition in South Asia.