C.N. Annadurai

Fifteen million people are said to have come to his funeral, a Guinness World Record. He had been Chief Minister for under two years.

C.N. Annadurai, photographed in 1946, three years before he founded the DMK. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

📑 Contents

Timeline

15 September 1909: Born in Kanchipuram, Madras Presidency.
17 September 1949: Breaks away from Periyar’s Dravidar Kazhagam, founding the DMK.
1967: The DMK-led United Front sweeps the Madras State election, ending Congress rule there.
6 March 1967: Sworn in as Chief Minister. He is the first Dravidian, and first non-Congress, CM of the state.
14 January 1969: Madras State is officially renamed Tamil Nadu, under his government.
3 February 1969: Dies in office, from cancer, just three weeks after the renaming.

C.N. Annadurai (1909-1969), popularly called “Anna” (elder brother), founded the DMK and became Tamil Nadu’s first Chief Minister.
He broke away from Periyar’s Dravidar Kazhagam on 17 September 1949, founding the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK).
In 1967, the DMK-led United Front swept the Madras State election, ending Congress rule in the state.
He was sworn in as Chief Minister on 6 March 1967, the first Dravidian and first non-Congress CM of the state.
Under his government, Madras State was officially renamed Tamil Nadu, on 14 January 1969.
He died in office, from cancer, on 3 February 1969 — just three weeks after the renaming.

He studied Economics and Politics at Pachaiyappa College, Chennai, earning an M.A. after his B.A. there in 1934.
Before full-time politics, he edited the Tamil weekly Viduthalai, wrote for Periyar’s Kudi Arasu, and later founded his own weekly, Dravida Nadu, in 1942.
His government legalised “self-respect marriages,” performed without priestly involvement. The Tamil Nadu Assembly passed the law on 27 November 1967, and it took effect on 20 January 1968.
Annadurai reportedly sent the draft rule to Periyar for review. He then changed one word, “and” to “or,” so wearing a thaali became optional for the bride, not mandatory.
His government also made pre-university education free, for children whose parents earned under Rs. 1,500 a month.
See ModHist0251 — Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, and ModHist0253 — M. Karunanidhi, his mentor and successor respectively.

His funeral is listed by Guinness World Records as history’s largest, with 1.5 crore (15 million) mourners. Some commentators dispute the number, since it exceeds a third of Tamil Nadu’s population at the time.
Before politics, he also wrote screenplays carrying Dravidian social-reform themes, including Nallathambi (1949) and Velaikkari.
M. Karunanidhi, his protégé, did not succeed him immediately; V.R. Nedunchezhiyan first served as caretaker CM, before Karunanidhi was sworn in on 10 February 1969. Karunanidhi went on to serve as Chief Minister five separate times.
His 1967 win effectively ended Congress dominance in Tamil Nadu politics, a shift the state has never fully reversed.
Anna University, established in 1978, and Anna Salai, a major Chennai road renamed in November 1969, are both named in his honour.
See ModHist0040 — India’s Official Language Debate: The 1965 Anti-Hindi Agitation, for the language politics that helped fuel his 1967 rise to power.