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Kudi Arasu (also pronounced as Kudiyarasu; English: Republic) was a Tamil weekly magazine published by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in Madras Presidency (present-day Tamil Nadu) in India.
| Periyar |
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| Ideologies |
| Activities |
Kudi Arasu (also pronounced as Kudiyarasu; English: Republic) was a Tamil weekly magazine published by Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in Madras Presidency (present-day Tamil Nadu) in India.
Periyar started Kudi Arasu on 2 May 1925 in Erode [1] with K. M. Thangaperumal pillai as the editor. Its initial publications were issued weekly on Sunday with 16 pages at a cost of one anna. In November 1925, Periyar quit the Indian National Congress after his failed attempt to bring reservation for non-Brahmins in educational institutions and government jobs. [2] S. Ramanathan who founded Self Respect Movement in 1921 along with like minded friends, invited EVR to spearhead the Self-Respect Movement to propagate self-respect among Indians, especially Tamils. The magazine became the mouthpiece of the movement. [3] [4] The magazine circulated in the Tamil diaspora, for which Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani played a prominent role. [5] It had Periyar's wife Nagammai, his sister Kannammal [1] and his brother E. V. Krishnasamy [6] as the publisher for a period of time when he was on tour or arrested. It ceased publication on 5 November 1949.[ citation needed ]
Periyar wrote several articles on women's rights, on atheism and against the caste system. Others like M. Singaravelu wrote many articles on socialism. [7]
In an editorial dated 29 March 1931, Periyar criticised Mahatma Gandhi for Bhagat Singh's death. [6] He wrote,
There is no one who has not condoled the death of Mr. Bhagat Singh by hanging. There is none who has not condemned the government for hanging him. Besides, we now see several people known as patriots and national heroes scolding Mr. Gandhi for the happening of this event. [8]
The Madras government of the British Raj banned the magazine at several occasions for various reasons including sedition and for propagating communism. In 1935, the Tamil version of Why I am an Atheist was banned, [9] and translator P. Jeevanandham and publisher E.V. Krishnasamy were arrested. [6]
In 2010, works from between 1925 and 1938 were reproduced and published as books. [10]
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is an Indian political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu, where it is currently the ruling party, and the union territory of Puducherry, where it is currently the main opposition.
Krishnasamy Veeramani is an Indian politician.
The Justice Party, officially the South Indian Liberal Federation, was a political party in the Madras Presidency of British India. It was established on 20 November 1916 in Victoria Public Hall in Madras by Dr C. Natesa Mudaliar and co-founded by T. M. Nair, P. Theagaraya Chetty and Alamelu Mangai Thayarammal as a result of a series of non-Brahmin conferences and meetings in the presidency. Communal division between Brahmins and non-Brahmins began in the presidency during the late-19th and early-20th century, mainly due to caste prejudices and disproportionate Brahminical representation in government jobs. The Justice Party's foundation marked the culmination of several efforts to establish an organisation to represent the non-Brahmins in Madras and is seen as the start of the Dravidian Movement.
Dravidar Kazhagam is a social movement founded by E. V. Ramasami, also called Thanthai Periyar. Its original goals were to eradicate the ills of the existing caste system including untouchability and on a grander scale to obtain a "Dravida Nadu" from the Madras Presidency. Dravidar Kazhagam would in turn give birth to many other political parties, including Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and later the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.
Conjeevaram Natarajan Annadurai, popularly known as Anna, also known as Perarignar Anna, was an Indian politician who served as the fourth and last Chief Minister of Madras State from 1967 until 1969 and first Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 20 days before his death. He was the first member of a Dravidian party to hold either post.
Maraimalai Adigal was a Tamil orator and writer and father of Pure Tamil movement. He was a fervent Tamizh Saivite. He wrote more than 100 books, including works on original poems and dramas, but most famous are his books on his research into Tamil literature. Most of his literary works were on Saivism. He founded a Saivite institution called Podhunilaik Kazhagam. He was an exponent of the Pure Tamil movement and hence considered to be the father of Tamil linguistic purism. He advocated the use of Tamil devoid of Sanskrit words and hence changed his birth name Vedhachalam to Maraimalai.
Dravida Nadu is the name of a proposed sovereign state demanded by the Justice Party led by the founder of the self-respect movement, E.V. Ramasamy Periyar, and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) led by C. N. Annadurai for the speakers of the Dravidian languages in South India.
Thamizhavel Go. Sarangapani, or Kosa as he was also known, a Tamil writer and publisher, was born in Thiruvarur, Tamil Nadu, on 20 April 1903. He received a good education and was effectively bi-lingual in Tamil and English. At 21, he went to Singapore to work as a bookkeeper, eventually becoming the manager at his firm.
P. Jeevanandham also called Jeeva, was a social reformer, political leader, litterateur and one of the pioneers of the Communist and socialist movements in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.
Dravidian parties include an array of regional political parties in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, which trace their origins and ideologies either directly or indirectly to the Justice Party and the Dravidian movement of C. Natesanar and Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. The Dravidian movement was based on the linguistic divide in India, where most of the Northern Indian, Eastern Indian and Western Indian languages are classified as Indo-Aryan, whereas the South Indian languages are classified as Dravidian. Dravidian politics has developed by associating itself to the Dravidian community. The original goal of Dravidian politics was to achieve social equality, but it later championed the cause of ending the domination of North India over the politics and economy of the South Indian province known as Madras Presidency.
Erode Venkatappa Krishnasamy Sampath, usually referred to as E. V. K. Sampath was a prominent politician from Tamil Nadu, India. He was an advocate of the Dravidian Movement of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy and was considered by some as his political heir. He later split from Periyar's Dravidar Kazhagam to form Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) along with C. N. Annadurai. In spite of being one of the founders of DMK he later left and formed his own party, by the name, Tamil National Party. Nevertheless, he later merged his party with the Indian National Congress. He is a former Member of Parliament from the constituency of Namakkal.
Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy, revered by his followers as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'Father of the Dravidian movement'. He rebelled against Brahmin dominance and gender and caste inequality in Tamil Nadu. Since 2021, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu celebrates his birth anniversary as 'Social Justice Day'.
The religious views of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy involved opposition to religion virulently because, in his views, the so-called men of religion invented myths and superstitions to keep the innocent and ignorant people in darkness and to go on exploiting them. He was an atheist and a rationalist in his own right. Periyar had been a harsh critic of Brahminical Hinduism in Tamil Nadu, and he also criticized Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. He has spoken appreciatively of these other faiths in India finding in their ethics principles of equality and justice, thus advocating them if they can prove an alternative to Brahamanic Hinduism. With regards to institutionalized religion being used for personal gain, Periyar stated that "religion goes hand in hand with superstition and fear. Religion prevents progress and suppresses man. Religion exploits the suppressed classes." As religions, however, they are prone to be hit by accusation of superstition, exploitation and irrationalism.
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, also known as Ramaswami, EVR, Thanthai Periyar, or Periyar, was a Dravidian social reformer and politician from India, who founded the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. In 1919 Periyar Ramaswamy joined the Indian National Congress after quitting his business and resigning from public posts. He was the chairman of Erode Municipality and undertook Constructive Programs spreading the use of Khadi, picketing toddy shops, boycotting shops selling foreign cloth, and eradicating untouchability. In 1921, Periyar was imprisoned for picketing toddy shops in Erode. When his wife as well as his sister joined the agitation, it gained momentum, and the administration was forced to come to a compromise. He was again arrested during the Non-Cooperation movement and the Temperance movement. In 1922, Periyar was elected the President of the Madras Presidency Congress Committee during the Tirupur session where he advocated strongly for reservation in government jobs and education. His attempts were defeated in the Congress party due to a strong presence of discrimination and indifference. He later quit the party on those grounds in 1925.
Rao Bahadur Namasivayam Sivaraj was an Indian lawyer, politician and Scheduled Caste activist from the state of Tamil Nadu.
The anti-Hindi imposition agitation of 1937–1940 refers to a series of protests that happened in Madras Province of British India during 1937–1940. It was launched in 1937 in opposition to the introduction of compulsory teaching of Hindi in the schools of the province by the Indian National Congress government led by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). This move was immediately opposed by E. V. Ramasamy (Periyar) and the opposition Justice Party. The agitation, which lasted for about 30 months, was multifaceted and involved fasts, conferences, marches, picketing and protests. The government responded with a crackdown resulting in the death of two protesters and the arrest of 1,198 persons including women and children. The mandatory Hindi education was later withdrawn by the British governor of Madras Lord Erskine in February 1940 after the resignation of the Congress government in 1939.
The Self-Respect Movement is a popular human rights movement originating in South India aimed at achieving social equality for those oppressed by the Indian caste system, advocating for lower castes to develop self-respect. It was founded in 1925 by S. Ramanathan who invited E. V. Ramasamy to head the movement in Tamil Nadu, India against Brahminism. The movement was extremely influential not just in Tamil Nadu, but also overseas in countries with large Tamil populations, such as Sri Lanka, Burma, Malaysia and Singapore. Among Singapore Indians, groups like the Tamil Reform Association, and leaders such as Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani were prominent in promoting the principles of the Self-Respect Movement among the local Tamil population through schools and publications.
Why I Am an Atheist is an essay written by Indian revolutionary Bhagat Singh in 1930 in Lahore Central Jail. The essay was a reply to his religious friends who thought Bhagat Singh became an atheist because of his vanity.
Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy Nagammai was an Indian social activist and women's rights activist. She was known for her participation in the Temperance movement in India and the Vaikom Satyagraha. She was the first wife of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy who headed the Self-Respect Movement.
S. Ramanathan was an Indian politician who served as the minister of Madras Presidency in the Congress-led government of 1937. He was the first founder of the Self-Respect Movement.