Periyar E.V. Ramasamy

He was jailed for a temple road in Kerala. He left the Congress over one refused proposal. He then built a movement that still shapes politics in Tamil Nadu.

Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy is better known as Periyar, the “respected elder”. He fought caste, defended women’s rights and urged people to question religious authority. Exams ask about his dates, his movement and the split that followed.

1Who was he, and how did he start?

Ramasamy was born on 17 September 1879 in Erode, in the Madras Presidency. His family were merchants. He went to school for about five years. Then, at twelve, he joined his father’s trade.

“Periyar” is a Tamil word that means “respected one” or “elder”. People gave him the name later in life. It became his best-known title.

In 1919 he joined the Indian National Congress. He quit business and his public posts to do so. He served as chairman of Erode Municipality and took up khadi, boycott of foreign cloth and picketing of toddy shops.

In 1921 he went to jail for picketing toddy shops. His wife and sister joined the protest, and it gathered strength. In 1922 he became President of the Madras Presidency Congress Committee.

Why does this matter? He did not begin as an outsider. He rose to a high post inside the Congress before he broke with it.

• Born 17 September 1879 in Erode.
• Joined the Congress in 1919.
• President of the Madras Presidency Congress Committee, 1922.

2What was Vaikom about?

Vaikom was a small town in the princely state of Travancore, now in Kerala. Strict rules of untouchability held there. Dalits and other lower castes could not walk on the roads around the Vaikom temple.

In 1924 the Congress backed a non-violent protest to open those roads. This was the Vaikom Satyagraha. Local leaders had begun it, and the protesters asked for the right to use the public roads.

Periyar was invited to lead because he headed the Madras Presidency Congress. He reached Vaikom on 14 April with his wife Nagammai. They were arrested and jailed.

The protest went on, and he was jailed more than once. Sources say he was imprisoned twice. The roads opened in stages, and full temple entry came only later, with the Temple Entry Proclamation.

In 1925 the Madras Presidency Congress passed a resolution praising him as “Vaikom Veerar”. This means “Hero of Vaikom”. It became one of his best-known titles.

Why does Vaikom matter? It was an early test of non-violent protest against caste. It also made Periyar famous beyond Tamil lands.

• Vaikom Satyagraha, 1924, in Travancore.
• Aim: use of the roads around the temple by all castes.
• Periyar led it and was jailed.
• Title: Vaikom Veerar, from the 1925 Congress resolution.

3Why did he leave the Congress?

Periyar pushed for fair representation of non-Brahmin communities. He wanted them in party posts, jobs and schools. The Congress turned his proposal down again and again.

He moved it once more at the Kanchipuram session in 1925. It failed there too. He felt the party was ignoring the majority of the people he spoke for.

So in 1925 he resigned from the Congress. This single refused demand is the standard exam answer. Remember “non-Brahmin representation”.

Why does this matter? A refused proposal became the start of a new movement. His break with the Congress was about social justice, not about the British.

• He asked for non-Brahmin representation in party posts.
• The proposal failed at Kanchipuram, 1925.
• He resigned from the Congress in 1925.
• Read about Caste Consciousness Movements.

4What was the Self-Respect Movement?

In 1925 Periyar began the Self-Respect Movement. Its main idea was simple. No person should be treated as lower by birth. It backed education, equal standing and freedom from caste customs.

He spread these ideas in print. A Tamil weekly named Kudi Arasu started in 1925. An English journal named Revolt followed in 1928.

The movement spoke up for women. It opposed child marriage and backed widow remarriage. It argued that women should have a say in marriage and a claim to property.

It also promoted self-respect marriages. These were held without priests or religious rites. The idea was to make marriage a plain, equal agreement.

In 1929 he announced at the First Provincial Self-Respect Conference of Chengalpattu that he was dropping the caste title “Naicker”. From 1929 to 1932 he toured Malaya, Europe and the Soviet Union. Later he said the trip shaped his views on equality.

In 1937 C. Rajagopalachari’s government made Hindi compulsory in schools. Periyar helped lead protests against it in 1938. For him, language policy was linked to power and equal treatment.

Why does the movement matter? Its ideas changed Tamil public life. Later parties borrowed its slogans of rationalism and social justice.

• Began in 1925: no one is inferior by birth.
• Journals: Kudi Arasu (1925) and Revolt (1928).
• Dropped the title Naicker at Chengalpattu, 1929.
• Led protests against compulsory Hindi in 1938.
• Read about C. Rajagopalachari and the anti-Hindi agitation.

5How did the DK and DMK come about?

In 1939 Periyar became head of the Justice Party. In 1944 he changed it into the Dravidar Kazhagam. It was now a social movement that stayed out of elections.

His first wife, Nagammai, died in 1933. In July 1948 he married Maniammai, who was far younger. He was nearly seventy then. The marriage drew sharp criticism inside the DK.

In 1949 C.N. Annadurai and his supporters left to form the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or DMK. Many younger members wanted to contest elections. Periyar wanted a movement outside elections.

The two sides also differed on the larger goal. Periyar called for a separate Dravidian state. Annadurai chose to work within a united India.

Do not blame the split on one event. Leadership, method and election strategy all mattered. The 1948 marriage only sharpened the quarrel.

Periyar kept campaigning until he died on 24 December 1973. Maniammai then led the DK. Since 2021, Tamil Nadu marks his birthday, 17 September, as Social Justice Day.

Why does this matter? The two parties that grew from his work have dominated Tamil politics. Their roots reach back to his movement.

• Head of the Justice Party, 1939; renamed DK, 1944.
• Married Maniammai in July 1948; Nagammai died 1933.
• DMK formed in 1949 by C.N. Annadurai.
• Died 24 December 1973; Social Justice Day on 17 September.
• Read about C.N. Annadurai and M. Karunanidhi.

6What are the exam traps?

• Vaikom was about access to roads near the temple, not entry to the temple building at once.
• Periyar left the Congress in 1925 over non-Brahmin representation.
• The Self-Respect Movement started in 1925; the DK came in 1944.
• The DK-DMK split had more than one cause.
• UPSC 2025 asked who founded the Self-Respect Movement; the answer is Periyar.