The Philosophy of Thanthai Periyar

by Mukilan Murugasan
(this article was compiled from various published articles by reknown authors)

The philosophy of Thanthai Periyar E.V. Ramasamy (17.9.1879 to 24.12.1973) was all men and women should live with dignity and have equal opportunity to develop their physical, mental and moral faculties. To achieve this, he wanted to put an end to all kinds of unjust discriminations and to promote Social Justice and rational outlook.

Thanthai Periyar’s philosophy is that, different sections of a society should have equal rights to enjoy the fruits of the resources and the development of the country. They should all be represented, in proportion to their numerical strength, in the governance and the administration of the state. Thanthai Periyar’s unique contribution was his insistence on rational outlook to bring about intellectual emancipation and a healthy world-view. He also stressed the need to abolish the hierarchical, graded, birth-based caste structure as a prelude to build a new egalitarian social order. In other words, he wanted to lay a sound socio-cultural base, before raising a strong structure of free polity and prosperous economy.

It was in this context, he formed the Self-respect Movement in 1925. It carried on a vigorous and ceaseless propaganda against ridiculous and harmful superstitions, traditions, customs and habits. He wanted to dispel the ignorance of the people and make them enlightened.

Self-respecters performed marriages without Brahmin priests and without religious rites. They insisted equality between men and women in all walks of life. They encouraged inter-caste and widow marriages.

Thanthai Periyar propagated the need for birth control even from late 1920’s. He gathered support for lawful abolition of Devadasi (temple prostitute) system and the practice of child marriage.
Thanthai Periyar went on a propaganda tour to Malaysia twice; first in 1927 and the second time in 1955. His first visit to Malaysia in 1927 received considerable amount of opposition from the local caste conscious Tamils. However, with intervention of the British, he was allowed to give talks to the Malaysian Tamils. In both his visits he visited all the rural areas in Malaysia and successfully created a mental revolution among the Tamils.

On 27 June 1970, the UNESCO quoted Thanthai Periyar as “the Prophet of the new age, The Socrates of the South East Asia, Father of the Social reform movement and arch enemy of ignorance, superstition; meaningless customs and baseless manners.”

Thanthai Periyar E.V.Ramasamy (1879 – 1973)
Thanthai Periyar E.V.Ramasamy was, in essence, a social revolutionary, a staunch rationalist, an original thinker and above all a humanist. Strictly speaking, he involved himself in politics to make sure that it serves the cause of society. He strove hard for more than six decades of his active life for the many sided improvement of the society. In those days, superstitions, religious fanaticisms, foolish dogmas, hegemony of upper castes, untouchability and perpetuation of widowhood were all rampant. Thanthai Periyar saw that those who dedicated themselves to the public service were in the forefront of politics, and to them the social service was secondary. Political emancipation was uppermost in their programs. Thanthai Periyar too jumped into the vortex of national politics but what he saw therein, was baneful casteism and bedeviled Brahmanism that played havoc among the public.
Once in a student hostel managed by a nationalist known as V.V.S. Iyer, segregation of non-Brahmins was practiced. Thanthai Periyar as the leader of Tamilnadu Congress was denied entry into the hostel although he is entitled for a subsidy from the Congress Committee. In addition Thanthai Periyar’s request for the inclusion of principle of social justice in the Congress party programs to give proportional representation in the government appointments to all the castes failed to receive any support from the leadership of Congress, which is dominated by the upper caste Brahmins. These infuriated Thanthai Periyar and caused him to leave Congress and establish Self-Respect Movement.
Thanthai Periyar proclaimed himself as an atheist and took pride in telling others that he is an atheist. puranas, myths and, sastras were the target of his vociferous condemnation. He firmly asserted that these were responsible to make the public foolhardy and superstitious.

Thanthai Periyar felt that non-Brahmins must be united, form a party and continue to fight for their rights. This led him to support the Justice Party and later circumstances forced him to assume the leadership of the party.

Since most the non-Brahmins in Tamilnadu are illiterate till today, Thanthai Periyar continued his work in creating awareness on the importance of economic well-being, education and social justice till his death in 1973.

HISTORY OF THANTHAI PERIYAR MOVEMENT
To put his principle into practice, Thanthai Periyar associated himself with the Madras Presidency Association (MPA) in 1917. He was one of its vice-presidents. The Association advocated communal representation and demanded reservation for the Non-Brahmins and minority communities, as a 'sine qua non' of removing the injustices.
Vaikom Satyagraha
The leaders of Kerala Congress launched the famous Vaikom Satyagraha in 1924, demanding the right for the depressed castes (Awarnaas and Panchamas ) to use the roads around the temples and the public places. But soon it landed in the doldrums when all the leaders were put behind the bars. So they appealed to Thanthai Periyar, who was then the President of the Tamilnadu Congress, to go over to Vaikom in the Princely State of Thiruvancoor to revive the spirit of the agitators and continue the peaceful struggle. As he was asked to shoulder the responsibility very dear to his heart, he immediately started and soon reached the spot. As it was his wont, he threw himself into the struggle wholeheartedly. He spoke to the individuals addressed the small and big gatherings, speaking in simple Tamil or broken Malayalam, but always with great zeal and convincing logic. When people witnessed his working with sincere devotion, dedication and determination, they helped him in all possible ways, and large number of them came forward to support the agitation and participate in it. Thanthai Periyar was imprisoned for his activities, defying ban orders. First, he underwent simple imprisonment, and subsequently he was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment. But the suppressive measures only helped the Satyagraha to gain momentum. When the government came to know that all the right thinking persons and general public was in favor of the cause of the agitators, it decided to bow to their demands. It threw open the roads around the Mahadevar temple to people of all castes. People of Tamilnadu hailed Thanthai Periyar as `Vaikom Hero', a title coined by V. Kalyanasundaranar, an erudite Tamil scholar, a selfless Congress leader and a pioneer in labor movement.
Thanthai Periyar's role in the Vaikom Satyagraha contributed for the triumph of that first historic social struggle in the history of modern India. This paved the way for the "untouchables" to use public roads without any inhibition and for other prospective egalitarian social measures.

The President of Indra Congress, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, when laying the foundation stone for Thanthai Periyar Center in New Delhi, described Thanthai Periyar’s Vaikom Sathyagragha as below:
“The Vaikom Sathyagragha of 1924 is a turning point in the political and social history of modern India. The Sathyagragha carried out under the inspiration and leadership of Thanthai Periyar who was then the President of Tamilnadu Congress Committee peacefully but forcefully change the very face of society and the destiny of our country. Social reforms which Vaikom so powerfully symbolized were always an integral part of our freedom movement. Gandhiji repeatedly used to say that social freedom without social emancipation and transformation would be meaningless. We have accomplished much since Vaikom and particularly since independence. But we still have a long way to go in empowering the weaker sections of society; the Dalits, the Adivasis, the minorities and women in different parts of the country. Political representation of these sections has increased considerably, but we still have to assure them economic prosperity, social dignity and legal equality. We still are in the grip of a number of social evils. Politics must once again become the vehicle for social reforms and we must pursue the Vaikom spirit with vigour and enthusiasm.” ( Viduthalai; 1998).

Thanthai Periyar’s exit from the Indian Congress
At Cheranmaadhevi near Tirunelveli in Southern Tamilnadu, Thanthai Periyar started a National training school as an alternative to those run under the control of the British Government. That school, known as Gurukulam, was funded by the Tamilnadu Congress Committee and by other non-Brahmin philanthropists. V.V.S.Iyer, a Brahmin, managed it. Under his management, V.V.S.Iyer showed discrimination between the Brahmin and Non-Brahmin students. Brahmin boys were treated in a better way than the others with regard to food, shelter and the curriculum. Along with his companions Thanthai Periyar opposed the discriminatory practice and put an end to it.

It was Thanthai Periyar's firm conviction that universal enjoyment of human rights will become a reality only when the caste system was eradicated. Until the social reconstruction took place, he wanted communal representation as a measure of affirmative action to uphold social justice. So he tried, every year from 1919, to make the Tamilnadu Congress Committee to accept the policy of reservation to different social groups and communities. But his efforts bore no fruit in this regard. Finally he left Congress in November 1925 at the Kancheepuram Conference. He had to part company with Mahatma Gandhi because the later was not prepared to put an end to the Brahmin domination and to fight against caste system.

Self - respect Movement: 1925- 1939
The Self-Respect Movement, founded in 1925, carried on a vigorous and ceaseless propaganda against ridiculous and harmful superstitions, traditions, customs and habits. He wanted to dispel the ignorance of the people and make them enlightened. He exhorted them to take steps to change the institutions and values that led to meaningless divisions and unjust discrimination. He advised them to change according to the requirements of the changing times and keep pace with the modern conditions.

Self-respecters performed marriages without Brahmin priests and without religious rites. They insisted on equality between men and women in all walks of life. They encouraged inter-caste and widow marriages. Thanthai Periyar propagated the need for birth control even from late 1920s. He gathered support for lawful abolition of Devadasi (temple prostitute) system and the practice of child marriage. It was mainly due to his consistent and energetic propaganda, that the policy of reservations in job opportunities in government administration was put into practice in the then Madras Province (which included Tamilnadu) in 1928.

When he was in prison, a women's conference in Madras (now Chennai) in 1928 passed a resolution to refer to E.V.Ramasamy always as Thanthai Periyar (the great man).

Thanthai Periyar's concept of Dravidians was not based on the purity of blood related to a race, but on values and ways of life. The Brahminical upper castes that followed the discriminatory socio-cultural principles, practices and traditions of caste system originally enunciated in the Sanskrit scriptures like Vedas, Ithihaasas, Puraanas, and Dharma Sastras etc. are Aryans. Those who subscribe to the egalitarian Tamil tradition and values of humanism are Dravidians.

In 1942-1943 that Maniammai joined the movement and came to attend to the personal needs of Thanthai Periyar. She was devoted to Thanthai Periyar and served him sincerely. They married later in 1949.

Many among his followers wanted to enter into politics and have a share in running the government. They were looking for an opportunity to part with Thanthai Periyar. When Thanthai Periyar married Maniammai on 9th July 1948, they quit Dravidar Kazhagam stating that Thanthai Periyar had set a bad example by marrying a young woman in his old age - he was 70 and she was 30. Those who parted company with Thanthai Periyar formed Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam - DMK, under the leadership of C.N.Annadurai (Arignar Anna). Least perturbed by sentimental and motivated protests, Thanthai Periyar marched on with redoubled vigor to find an enlightened egalitarian society.

Dravidar Kazhagam supported Congress party in 1957, 1962 and 1967 general elections, and opposed DMK, which formed the government in the State in 1967. Soon after, Arignar Anna went to Tiruchirappalli along with all his ministers and paid his homage to his mentor. Thanthai Periyar was happy when the DMK regime renamed Madras State as Tamilnadu and made Self-Respect marriages legal. It was a non-religious mode of performing marriages introduced by Thanthai Periyar in late 1920s. Though law till 1967 did not recognize such marriages, thousands of them were conducted due to the influence of the principles of Self-respect movement.

Thanthai Periyar was deeply saddened when Arignar Anna, one of his chief disciples and an unquestioned leader of millions of Tamil youth, passed away in his 60th year on 3rd February 1969.

Dravidar Kazhagam decided in its Central Committee meeting in November to undertake an agitation demanding to put an end to the practice of appointing only Brahmins as priests in temples, as a way of removing one of the root causes of caste system.

On 12th January 1971, the DMK Government enacted a law giving equal opportunities to qualified persons irrespective of their birth in any caste. On March 14, 1972 the Supreme Court gave a seemingly ambiguous judgment in the case against the Tamilnadu Government's 1971 enactment that threw the job of temple priests open to all qualified persons irrespective of their caste. As the bureaucracy in favor of the conservatives who defended the status quo interpreted this judgment, Thanthai Periyar announced an agitation, exhorting people to work for equal human rights in all spheres including social, religious and cultural. This agitation had become necessary to remove the indignity to the people belonging to the Dravidian race because they were dubbed as Sudras and Panchamas according to Vedic and Brahminical Sanathana Dharma known as Hindu religion.

In his last meeting at Thiagaraya Nagar, Chennai on 19 December 1973, Thanthai Periyar gave an inspiring clarion call for action to gain social equality and dignified way of life. He fell ill on the next day and breathed his last on 24th December 1973. Thanthai Periyar's life marked a turning in history and the beginning of a new era.

Dravidar Kazhagam on Present Day
To get his ideals translated into realities, Thanthai Periyar founded Self-respect movement in 1925, and later it came to be called Dravidar Kazhagam (Dravidian Association.) Apart from leading the movement and using it as an active agent to achieve his goal of establishing an enlightened egalitarian society, he legally registered a public trust known as the Thanthai Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution in 1952, in order to gather, preserve, multiply and properly utilize the needed resources. A perusal of the objectives of the Institution shows their universal character. Thanthai Periyar donated to the trust everything he had inherited, earned and received from the public. Now it has grown several folds under the care and guidance of his lieutenants. More than 46 institutions are maintained by the trust functioning in the name of Thanthai Periyar and Maniammai. They serve mainly by providing educational and medical facilities. Thousands of students get education from the primary to the post-graduate level. There are schemes to train people mainly from rural areas to enable them to get gainful employment or to run a business of their own. There are homes to bring up the orphans and to look after the aged. Study camps and classes are conducted periodically, and publications made to propagate the principles, ideas and ideals of Thanthai Periyar .

Contraception
Thanthai Periyar views contraception as a key to liberate womenfolk from their slavery to man.

Thanthai Periyar went to the extent of suggesting women to stop conceiving as having a number of children affects both the women and their husbands adversely. They lose their independence and liberty and become slaves to others.
A man has to forfeit all his rights and self-respect to eke out his livelihood how can he dream of leading an independent life overburdened with a cluster of children hanging around him? As such, conceiving, bearing, and begetting children deprive a woman of her own independence and set her husband’s freedom at naught.

As woman has no independent source of income those days, she depends on others to rear up her children. In this respect she is more miserable than any other creature in the world. Besides, she loses her luster and stamina with repeated child- bearing and falls an easy prey to diseases and premature death. Therefore, women should adopt contraceptives to safeguard their rights.

Invariably men become admirable bachelors and adorable saints, monks, and monastery heads wallowing in money and material pleasures but never a woman. This discrimination towards women is due to the fact that she conceives and loses her rights to become a religious head and therefore, she is considered unfit to occupy holy positions.

Thanthai Periyar felt that propaganda for contraception is more significant than the propaganda for prohibition and eradication of infectious diseases.

However, Thanthai Periyar’s strong support of contraception does not mean that he is against women having any children altogether. His idea of contraception is aimed at limiting the number of children. Thanthai Periyar says a married couple should not have more than 3 children. Thus, his contraception policy is against bringing forth an unlimited number of children.

Thanthai Periyar even suggested that books, which have appeared, on the subject in English and other foreign languages be translated into Tamil and distributed among the people. Popular media such as the cinema and drama should also be fully exploited to highlight how women can be liberated from their slavery and the country be benefited by practicing contraception.

iv. Prostitution
The word prostitution is in reference to man-women relationship. The concepts that prostitution is a sin and that prostitution means immoral character are applied only to women and not at all to men. Thanthai Periyar says the word prostitution was never used on men, in spite of his conduct in matters related to sexual conduct. The use of the word ‘prostitution’ with reference to women is because women are deemed as slaves to men. Women who indulge in prostitution are kept out of their community, imprisoned, beaten, rebuked and in some occasions even murdered. Men have never been subjected to such harsh treatments even if his sexual conduct is extremely bad. This proves that women are deemed as slaves to man, that they are objects of lust and can be easily be bought and sold or rented out for men to fulfill their sexual needs.

v. Marriage
Thanthai Periyar points out that, weddings in the Tamil society are wasteful and causes tremendous amount of difficulty for the families of the bride and bridegroom. It also involves a lot of wastage for everyone. However, the people involved often disregard the difficulties and wastage resulting from the wedding. They are of the opinion that, it is an obligation to spend large amount of money for a wedding. They do not mind going through the hardship and difficulties arising due to the wasteful expenses. The wastage and difficulties is not confined to the families celebrating the wedding but it also extends to the relatives, friends and neighbors. Almost all families that celebrate the wedding borrow recklessly and spend lavishly to satisfy those who attend the wedding. They also do this fearing that others may speak low of them. Those wasteful expenses cause many families to crush and they remain in debt for a long period of time.

Widow remarriage
Thanthai Periyar opines performing ‘Sati’ is better than torturing widows for the rest of their life in the name of Sastras. If every wife, at the death of her husband were allowed to mount the funeral pyre, she would have gone to the ‘heaven’ preserving her ‘chastity’. But the widow who is spared the funeral pyre is made to face throughout her life a kind of suffering equivalent to the torture of her body inch by inch. Therefore, it was better that she died, than live such a life.

A widow has no life to look forward to. As a widow, remarriage was out of the question in the Hindu tradition bound community. Chapter 6, 50 of the Manu strictly prohibit a widow to remarry. Verse 44 says a widow should only eat fruits, edibles and vegetable for the remaining part of her life. She is not supposed to even mention the name of another male. The society treats a widow as an evil omen and an economic liability. She has to remain barefoot, shaven bald, sleep on the floor and is not allowed to venture out of the house. She is slandered if seen talking to any male.

Women’s education
Thanthai Periyar strongly advocates that all women should be educated. Women who are not educated will eventually be sent to religious sanctuaries of mutts for unmarried women, as man will not marry them. Even for those women who are married and feel they are no longer young, should continue to study so that their husbands will not seek educated women in their place.

Thanthai Periyar condemns the belief by parents that educated girls will correspond with their secret lovers. Thanthai Periyar further advocates that girls should be taught self-defense. Women should acquire the ability to protect themselves from men who tries to molest them. Women should develop physical strength like men and they also should be trained in the use of weapons. Their leisure time should not be wasted in learning traditional dances.

Thanthai Periyar advises women to acquire education, rationalization, worldly experience, self-confidence and courage. Women should have the desire to work like men.

Advice to youths
On speaking about expenses, Thanthai Periyar concludes that an increase in income is not important for an individual or a family. One should instead learn to minimize expenses and learn to save. Whatever may be the financial status of the family, the expenses should be within their limits. It is very unprincipled on the part of a women of ordinary means desire to dress like a rich woman. One should learn to spend according to his income. Expenses should be carefully planned and somehow, saving should be effected. Lavish expenditure spoil’s one’s character. In addition, married couples should not live for themselves. They should learn to share their wealth with those who are in need. One should bear the little inconvenience when helping someone. By adopting this principle in all affairs of life, Thanthai Periyar says one will be doing some service to the society.