About Myself
I express, plainly and openly, thoughts which occur to me, and which strike me as right. This may embrrass a few; to some this may be distastefule; and a few others may even be irritated; however, all that I utter are porven turths and not lies.
Not that all the people of the world should act according to my wish, but that come what may, surely in politics and in public life, human justice alone not justice as prescribed by any epoch or religion. Should be imposed; such is my desire.
As far as I am concerned, I was never a partyman. I have always been a man of principles.
Till the end of my life, I shall never canvas for a vote. I shall not even expect a word of praise from any quarter.
I am under no necessity to permanetly support anyone for gaining selfish ends. I see no wrong at all in supporting that person who does good to us, Who strives for the removal of our social degradiation even if he is a foreigner.
Saturday, May 5, 2007
Periyar: The vision of Periya Change
http://The vision of Periya Change
Periyar: The vision of Periya Change
[The Tamil Word Periya means big or great; Periyar means a great person]
For the modern, political phase of caste categorisations in South India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular, there is a Father Figure. He was a true maverick. He deprecated everything. Anybody from anywhere could become the leader of Tamilians, he said, because no Tamilian was capable of becoming a leader. Tamil was the language of barbarians, he said.
For all that, E.V.Ramasami Naicker was venerated by Tamil masses as Thanthai Periyar, the Great Father. The reason was that he took positions that brought about a revolution in public life in Tamil Nadu and caste-ridden societies everywhere. When other movements against caste exploitation, like the Justice Party, failed to sustain themselves, the Dravida movement that Periyar started altered political equations in the state permanently.
Actually Periyar was part of all the early attempts to bring caste inequalities to some kind of a resolution. He began with what he called The Self-respectors’ Party, then moved on to the South Indian Liberal Federation and the Justice Party until, at a conference in Salem in 1944, he announced the formation of the Dravida Kazhagam. Its members wore black shirts “as a symbol of the darkness and degradation of Dravidians.”
The antonym of Dravidians was of course Brahmins. Periyar made a sensational career out of his antipathy to Brahmins whom he saw as the root of all evil. Brahmins did things in Sanskrit, so sanskrit was bad. Brahmins ruled Hindustan, so Hindustan was bad. Brahmins monopolised rituals and idol-worship, so all rituals were meaningless and all idol-worship was superstition.
Exaggerations and eccentricities characterised Periyar’s ideology, but the Dravida Kazhagam transformed the assumptions of life in Tamil Nadu. Brahmins were challenged in ways that seems inexorable. Long before the Kazhagam came into existence, Periyar had influenced the British administration in Madras to announce a policy of reservations for non-Brahmins in government posts. That was in 1928-29. By the 1950s he similarly helped facilitate the first amendment to the Indian Constitution which legalised reservation in educational institutions for Backward communities.
As a direct result of Periyar’s campaigns and activities, the hold Brahmins had on public affairs in general and politics in particular was lost. In no state in the South are they in a commanding position today. True, the Dravida movement split into different kazhagams, but the non-Brahmin dominance that Periyar brought into being remained unchallenged. Even gifted Brahmins like Jayalalitha had to fit into the Dravida scheme of things in order to gain control of the state. Periyar died in 1973. But Periyar lives....
(The New Sunday Express: Nov. 17, 2002)
Periyar: The vision of Periya Change
[The Tamil Word Periya means big or great; Periyar means a great person]For the modern, political phase of caste categorisations in South India in general and Tamil Nadu in particular, there is a Father Figure. He was a true maverick. He deprecated everything. Anybody from anywhere could become the leader of Tamilians, he said, because no Tamilian was capable of becoming a leader. Tamil was the language of barbarians, he said.
For all that, E.V.Ramasami Naicker was venerated by Tamil masses as Thanthai Periyar, the Great Father. The reason was that he took positions that brought about a revolution in public life in Tamil Nadu and caste-ridden societies everywhere. When other movements against caste exploitation, like the Justice Party, failed to sustain themselves, the Dravida movement that Periyar started altered political equations in the state permanently.
Actually Periyar was part of all the early attempts to bring caste inequalities to some kind of a resolution. He began with what he called The Self-respectors’ Party, then moved on to the South Indian Liberal Federation and the Justice Party until, at a conference in Salem in 1944, he announced the formation of the Dravida Kazhagam. Its members wore black shirts “as a symbol of the darkness and degradation of Dravidians.”
The antonym of Dravidians was of course Brahmins. Periyar made a sensational career out of his antipathy to Brahmins whom he saw as the root of all evil. Brahmins did things in Sanskrit, so sanskrit was bad. Brahmins ruled Hindustan, so Hindustan was bad. Brahmins monopolised rituals and idol-worship, so all rituals were meaningless and all idol-worship was superstition.
Exaggerations and eccentricities characterised Periyar’s ideology, but the Dravida Kazhagam transformed the assumptions of life in Tamil Nadu. Brahmins were challenged in ways that seems inexorable. Long before the Kazhagam came into existence, Periyar had influenced the British administration in Madras to announce a policy of reservations for non-Brahmins in government posts. That was in 1928-29. By the 1950s he similarly helped facilitate the first amendment to the Indian Constitution which legalised reservation in educational institutions for Backward communities.
As a direct result of Periyar’s campaigns and activities, the hold Brahmins had on public affairs in general and politics in particular was lost. In no state in the South are they in a commanding position today. True, the Dravida movement split into different kazhagams, but the non-Brahmin dominance that Periyar brought into being remained unchallenged. Even gifted Brahmins like Jayalalitha had to fit into the Dravida scheme of things in order to gain control of the state. Periyar died in 1973. But Periyar lives....
(The New Sunday Express: Nov. 17, 2002)
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