TAMIL NATIONAL FORUM
Selected
Writings by Shan Ranjit
Decaying Dravidian Movement
21 July 2000
Introduction
Early Life of Periyar - & Gandhi
Periyar & the Dravidian Movement
Periyar, Buriyani, Frugality & Marriage
Dravidian Movement Today: Rudderless and Looking for
Direction
Introduction
1925, Villipuram, Tamil Nadu: It was a
scorching day in the blistering Tamil Nadu summer. Goplan -
an eight-year old boy belonging to the weaver caste - had
walked almost seven miles to his school in Villipuram from
his remote village. Sweat was pouring from all over his
body, and the boy was on the verge of collapsing due to
dehydration. Then to his excitement, he saw a wayside hotel,
with a jug full of water placed out side. He ran towards the
jug, dipped the tumbler in to it. As he was about to quench
his thirst, he felt a thundering slap on his face, pushed to
the ground and beaten by the owner of the hotel. As he fell
to the ground, he saw the board ‘ Brahmin Hotel ‘ at the top
of the hotel. It was only then that Gopalan realized his
grave mistake- drinking water from a Brahmin hotel.
It was such atrocities and cruelties
practiced by the Tamil Nadu Brahmins in the early part of
the last century, that catapulted a man by the name
E.V.Ramasamy Naiker- fondly called Periyar by his admirers -
in to Tamil Nadu politics. It was Periyar who started the
Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu demanding self respect for
all the non-Brahmins. Like Moses freeing the Jews from the
Egyptian slavery, it was Periyar who freed millions of Tamil
Nadu Tamils from the Brahmin slavery.
It is most unfortunate that at present , all
the dominant Dravidian parties and their leaders have not
only mortgaged their self respect , but are manipulated by
Brahmin interests. It is sad that the Dravidian movement in
Tamil Nadu has not only lost it goal and but is also
decaying. To understand the zeal and the philosophy of the
early Dravidian movement, it is essential to know some thing
about Periyar’s life history and what made him to launch his
Dravidian movement.
Early Life of Periyar - & Gandhi
Periyar was born in 1879 – ten years after
Gandhi-. His parents were well to do Hindu merchants. He had
his early education in a Catholic school. Studies never
attracted Periyar. After some time, Periyar dropped out of
school, and helped his father with the business.
When Periyar was twenty years of age, he was
disillusioned with his worldly life. He wanted to experience
the spiritual side of the world. He renounced everything,
and went to Banaras (Kashi). Here, he lived as a naked
Sanyasi (monk), meditating and uttering gods’ name all the
time. He begged for his food, and slept along the banks of
Ganges. However the hope of finding some kind of spiritual
illumination never came, and he left Banaras for his
hometown, disappointed with himself and the life style of
Banaras.
When Periyar returned to his hometown around
1920, he joined the local municipal politics, and eventually
joined the Indian National Congress of Mahatma Gandhi. He
actively supported and participated in Gandhi’s handloom
campaign and non- cooperation movement.
But he was disgusted with the way the Non-
Brahmins were treated by the Brahmins even within the
Gandhian movement. Non-Brahmins were not allowed free entry
in to the temples; they were absolutely barred from entering
from the inner sanctum sanctorum. He was furious when the
Brahmins priests would throw the holy ash from a distance in
to the hands of Non-Brahmins inside the temples. Only
Brahmins could take a bath in the temple pond, and take the
water to do the pooja in side the sanctum sanctorum. Non
Brahmins were not allowed to walk on the lane where the
temples were located. He was hurt when he found out that
even in schools that were run by the Ramakrishna mission
foundation, the Brahmins teachers would tell the
Non-Brahmins students that they were fit only to graze cows,
and not for any formal education.
The incident that catapulted Periayar in to
national politics took place in Tirivandram in the state of
Kerala in the early twenties of last century. Within the
compound of the Royal palace there was a temple and the law
courts. One day, a sacred temple ceremony was going on, and
a lawyer by the name Madhavan - a non Brahmin - was not
allowed walk past the temple to enter the courts. This
resulted in a protest, and the Maharaja jailed the
protesters. Periyar came to Kerala, campaigned for a whole
year until the temple lane was opened for the non- Brahmins.
The final break with Mahatma Gandhi came
when at a congress school – run by the Gandhi’s party-
Brahmin children were fed separately from the non-Brahmin
children. The matter was reported to Gandhi: but his reponse
was ambiguous and lighthearted. At this juncture, Periyar
broke away from Gandhi and the Congress party and formed the
Self-Respect Movement in 1925.
Periyar & the Dravidian Movement
For the next fifty years – he died in
December, 1974 at the age of ninety five – wearing a black
shirt, he campaigned against Brahminism and Hinduism; he
campaigned against Congress party and casteism; he mocked at
the foolish and insane Hindu beliefs and customs; he
passionately fought for the right of Tamil Nadu women. He
traveled from village to village in Tamil Nadu conducting
self-respect marriages for Non- Brahmins without priests or
religious vows. He conducted all his ceremonies in the most
inauspicious times.
He began his discourses by saying, “ There
is no god. He who invented God is a fool. He who propagates
God is a fool. He who worships God is a barbarian.” His
rejection of God was his rejection of the Brahmins and
their language (Sanskrit). Periyar was hoping to establish a
Dravidian, non- Brahmin State called Dravidstan.
Periyar was single minded and obsessed to
rein the Brahmin political and economic power and transfer
it to the majority- non Brahmins. A fiery Tamil poet
Bahrathidasan - belonging to weaver caste - ably assisted
him in this endeavor.
Periyar, Buriyani, Frugality & Marriage
Periyar was a large man. He ate enormous
portions of food. His food mainly consisted of Buriyani with
mutton, beef or pork; However, he was never fussy about his
food. Periyar was well known for his frugality when it came
to money. He would tell his supporters that instead of
garlanding him, to give two rupees to the party. He charged
for his signatures and speeches. When he had ninety-nine
rupees, he would ask for another rupee to make in to a
hundred-rupee note and deposit in the bank. He invested his
money wisely in mills and banks. In 1953, he bought Periyar
Thiddal in Madras- a vast expanse of grounds close to the
then tram station. By 1973, Periyar was worth about Twenty
million Indian rupees. It is reported that his property is
now worth about 20 crores.
In 1949, Periyar’s party split over his
decision to marry a young woman, Maniammai. Her parents were
Periyar’s followers. Manniamai was opposed to her parents
plan to get her married to a relative. Hence she left the
house. When Periyar came to know about this, he brought
Manniamai to his house in Erode. She functioned as his
secretary cum nurse. Six years later they were married. He
was seventy, and she was thirty-one at that time. Their
marriage lasted for 21 years, and she outlived Periyar only
five years. There were many reasons cited for this odd
marriage. However, insiders insist that Periyar – who had
accumulated large wealth in his name - did not want this
money to go to his relatives. He wanted the money to be used
for the Dravidian cause, and felt that the only person whom
he could trust was his nurse cum secretary.
Dravidian Movement Today: Rudderless and Looking for
Direction
Periyar had only one goal: transfer the
political power from the Brahmins to the Non Brahmins. To
achieve this he used various ways, including his bitter
attack on Hinduism that the Brahmins conveniently used as a
scapegoat to perpetuate their atrocities. His goal was
achieved when the first Dravidian party came to power in
Tamil Nadu in 1967. Like the conservative movement in United
States having lost his zeal at present- after their
convincing victories over global communism and socialism-
the Dravidian movement has lost its ability to energize the
people because it had not identified any new causes since
coming to power. Instead of promoting the interests and
prosperity of the Dravidians, it’s ironic that the present
Dravidian leaders have selfishly promoted the
interests/prosperity of their sons, nephews and their
girlfriends
Taking undue advantage of the disunity among
the Dravidians, the Brahmins who had been on the political
sideline for some time, are influencing and shaping the
Dravidian movement today. It is not only ironic but also
frightening that the Brahmins either control or secretly
influence the the major Dravidian in Tamil Nadu parties at
present.
The first major split in the Dravidian
movement came when the young fire bands in the party opposed
Periyar marrying Maniammai, and formed a new party (DMK) in
1947. At least Periyar was sincere and honest, and publicly
married this young woman. Can this be said of those
Dravidian leaders who opposed Periyar’s marriage then ? It
is not only ironic but hilarious that some of these very
Dravidian leaders - who had opposed Periyar's marriage-
would later go on to set up ‘Chinna Veddus' (second houses)
throughout the state. Some times the occupants of these
‘Chinna Veddus’ were none other than Brahmins.
In 1972,
MGR
broke from DMK and formed AIADMK. At that time he had
claimed that he was expelled from DMK when he had questioned
some of the accounting practices of the party.
But it is an open secret that the Congress
party- dominated by the North Indian Brahmins – had
engineered the split to break the dominance of the Dravidian
movement in Tamil Nadu. MGR was only used as a scapegoat in
this matter.
The late MGR – a Menon from Kerala - would
be the undisputed and most popular leader of the Dravidian
people for almost a decade until his death in 1987. His wife
came from a Brahmin Family from Varkala in Kerala. His inner
circle mainly consisted of Malayalaee Brahmins. His
concubines mostly belonged to the Brahmin caste.
It is an open secret that MGR , who had
promised to marry one of his young Brahmin mistresses at a
famous temple located on a hilltop backed out at the last
minute due to his fledging political career- though Periyar
ruined his political career by his marriage, he was
gentlemen enough to keep up his promise to Mani Ammai .
MGR also flouted the most important
ideological principle of Perriayar and the Dravidian
movement – atheism – by being an avid temple visitor.
Following MGR’s death, there was a fierce struggle for the
leadership. However it was a Karnataka Iyeangar Brahmin and
one of MGR’s concubines, Jayalalitha, who ultimately
succeeded him.
However, the mother of all insults to
Periyar and the Dravidian movement comes from none other
than Veeramani, the successor of Periyar and Manniammai. He
heads the oldest Dravidian party (Dravida Kalagham formed by
Periyar himself). Today, the man not only wags his tail but
has fallen at the feet of the Kannada Iyangar ‘Amma’ who
resides at the Poes garden in Chennai. What more insults
does Periyar and the Dravidian movement need? I have no
doubt that Periyar - who is buried in Periyar Thiddal in the
center of Chennai - must have died a second time over the
sorry state of affairs of his beloved Dravidian movement.
In conclusion, unless the Dravidian movement
finds new exciting social issues- like eradication of caste
system among the non Brahmins, economic prosperity,
abolition of the shameful female infanticide, and fighting
the rising Brahmin anarchy (shrewdly being projected as the
“hinduvata”) - the demise of the Dravidian movement is
certain. |
