PERIYAR MOVEMENT

Introduction

Erode  Venkata Ramasamy (17^th sept.1879- 24^th  Dec. 1973) was affectionately called by his followers as “Periyar”-which means ‘respected one’ or ‘elder’ in Tamil. He was a social activist, politician and a businessman, who started Self –Respect movement or the Dravidian Movement and proposed the creation of an independent state called Dravida Nadu, comprising the states of South India. He was also the founder of political party, Dravidar Kazhagam.

Periyar was born in Erode,Madras Presidency to a wealthy family of Balijas. At a young age he faced numerous incidents of racial,caste  and gender discrimination.At his time the tamil society was marked by inequality ,discrimination etc among non-brahmin caste.They were severly victimised by upper caste Hindus by not allowing them certain rights such as prohibition on entering Hindu tempels.Periyar also gave importance to the pathetic condition  of women who were deprived of their basic rights.

He was a member of Indian national congress from 1919, but resigned in 1925 when he felt that the party was only serving the interest of the Brahmins.In 1939 he became the head of Justice Party & in 1944, he changed its name to Dravidar kazhagam. Periyar propagated the principles of rationalism, self-respect, women’s rights and eradication of caste. He opposed the exploitation and marginalisation of the non-Brahmin indigenous Dravidian peoples of South India and the imposition of Indo-Aryan India.

He was born as Raghav Erode Venkata Ramasami Naicker on 17 september 1879.In 1929, Periyar announced the deletion of his caste surname ‘Naicker’ from his name at the first Provincial Self-Respect Conference of Chenggalpattu.

Self-respect Movement

Of all the social reform movements in Tamil Nadu,the only movement ,which was entitles non religious and secular in its approach to social problems was the self respect movement started by Periyar.The self respect movement was described from the beginning as ‘dedicated to the goal of giving non-Brahmins a sense of pride based on their Dravidian past’.

Goals/Demands

The following are their main demands:

.To allows people to live a life of freedom from slavery to anything against reason and self respect.

.To do away with needless customs,meaningless ceremonies,and blind superstitious belifs in society.

.To put an end to the present social system in which caste,religion,community and traditional occupations based on the accident of birth,have chained the mass of the people and created “superior” and “Inferior” classes and to provide people equal rights.

.To completely eradicates untouchability and to establish a united society based on brother/sisterhood.

.To give equal rights to women.

.To prevent child marriages and marriages based on law favourable to one sect.

.To conduct   and encourage lovemarriages,widow marriages,inter caste and inter religious marriages and to have the marriages registered under the civil Law,and to establish & maintain homes for orphans & widows and  to run educational institutions.

Ideology

.He was staunch supporter of Gandhian Philosophy .He also participated in Non-cooperation movement  and his followers also actively participated in satyagraha.

.During 1929 to 1930 to propagate the self- respect philosophy he toured many countries.He carefully noticed their political systems,social movements,way of life,economic and social progress and administration of public bodies.He also toured many European nations including Russia.   

.When he returned to India his political ideology was shaped by social concept of self respect.The communist system obtained in Russia appealed to him as appropriately suited to deal  with the social ills of the country.Thus ,on socio-economic issues periyar was  Marxist , but he did not for abolishing private ownership.

      It was Periyar's firm conviction that universal enjoyment of human rights will become a reality only when the Varna-Jaathi (caste) system was eradicated.

Periyar believed if a man realizes that he is equal to all other men and that he has the right to equality with all other men then he becomes a self-respecting person. Periyar also wanted women to develop that kind of respect. This was one of the reasons why he named his movement the “Self-Respect Movement”.

Rationalism

The main backbone of Periyar’s principles and the movements that he started was rationalism. He said that the society is dominated by insignificant minority & they were exploiting the majority and trying to keep it in a subordinate position forever. He wanted the exploited to sit up & think about their position and use their reason to realise that they were being exploited by handful of people. If they started thinking, then they will realise that they were also human being like rest, that birth did not & should not endow superiority  over others & that they must awaken themselves & do everything possible to improve their own lot.

In the same way ,periyar explained that wisdom lies in thinking & that the appear-head of thinking is rationalism.On caste,he stated that no other living being harms or degrades its own class.But man,said  to be a rational living being,does these evils.the differences,hatred,enmity,degradation,poverty & wickedness,now prevalent in society are due to lack of wisdom rationalism and not due to God or the cruelty of time.

Self-respect

His philosophy of self respect was based on his image of an ideal world.According to his philosophy human actions should be based rational thinking.Further,the  outcome of the natural instinct of human beings is to examine every object and every action and even nature with a spirit of inquiry, and to refuse to submit to anything irrational as equivalent to slavery.Thus,the philosophy of self respect taught that human actions should be guided by reason,right & wrong should follow from rational thinking .

Women’s rights

As a rationalist periyar always advocated of giving women their legitimate position in society as equals of men & that they should be given good education & have the right to property.He thought age & social customs was not a bar in marrying women.Periyar fought against the orthodox traditions of marriage as suppression of women in Tamil Nadu & throughout the  Indian subcontinent.He also criticised the practice of child marriage and dowry system & hence he said these system enslave women in their own home and deprive them from their basic rights.

He also advocated for women rights over her husband property and birth control measures ,not only for the health of women and population control, but for the liberation of women.

Outcome

Periyar and his movement achieved a better status for women in Tamil society.Periyar held that in matters of education and employment there should be no difference between men and women.This had a profound influence in the state departments and even the center made it possible for women to join police departments & the army.

His attempts for rights of the underprivileged section of society brought a huge change in Tamil society in the form of introduction of reservation of seats in government departments.