Self-Respect Movement
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Dravidian movement |
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Former Dravidian parties Justice party · Thamizhaga Munnetra Munnani · Thayga Marumalarchi Kazhagam |
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Contemporary Dravidian parties Dravidar Kazhagam |
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Chief Ministers from Dravidian parties
C. N. Annadurai · V. R. Nedunchezhiyan · M. Karunanidhi · M. G. Ramachandran · Janaki Ramachandran · J. Jayalalithaa · O. Panneerselvam |
The Self-Respect Movement was founded in 1925 by E.V. Ramasami Naicker (also known as Periyar) in Tamil Nadu, India. The movement has the aim of achieving a society where backward castes have equal human rights,[1] and encouraging backward castes to have self-respect in the context of a caste based society that considered them to be a lower end of the hierarchy.[2] The movement was extremely influential not just in Tamil Nadu, but also overseas in countries with large Tamil populations, such as Malaysia and Singapore. Among Singapore Indians, groups like the Tamil Reform Association, and leaders like Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani were prominent in promoting the principals of the Self-Respect Movement among the local Tamil population through schools and publications.
A number of political parties in Tamil Nadu, such as DMK and AIADMK owe their origins to the Self-respect movement,[3] the latter a 1972 breakaway from the DMK. Both parties are populist with a generally social democratic orientation [4]
The movement has been in political power in Tamil Nadu since 1967, when the DMK under C. N. Annadurai defeated the ruling Congress Party. The incumbent (as of 2006) Chief Minister is M. Karunanidhi of the DMK.
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[edit] Anti-Brahmanism
Tamil Brahmins (Iyers and Iyengars) were frequently held responsible by followers of Periyar for direct or indirect oppression of lower-caste people on the canard of "Brahmin oppression" and resulted in attacks on Brahmins and which among other reasons started a wave of mass-migration of the Brahmin population.[5]. Periyar in regards to a DK member's attempt to assassinate Rajagopalachari, "expressed his abhorrence of violence as a means of settling political differences".[6] Eventually, the anti-Brahmanism subsided with the replacement of the DMK party by the AIADMK[7].
[edit] Self-Respect marriages
One of the major sociological changes introduced through the self respect movement was the self-respect marriage system, where by marriages were conducted without being officiated by a Brahmin priest. Periyar had regarded the then conventional marriages were mere financial arrangements and often caused great debt through dowry. Self-Respect marriages encouraged inter-caste marriages and arranged marriages to be replaced by love marriages. It was aruged by the proponents of self-respect marriage that the then conventional marriages were officiated by Brahmins, who has to be paid for and also the marriage ceremony was in Sanskrit which most people never understood and hence were ritual and practices based on blind adherence.[8]
[edit] See also
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[edit] References
- ^ N.D. Arora/S.S. Awasthy. Political Theory and Political Thought. ISBN 8124111642.
- ^ Thomas Pantham, Vrajendra Raj Mehta, Vrajendra Raj Mehta, (2006). Political Ideas in Modern India: thematic explorations. Sage Publications. ISBN 0761934200.
- ^ Shankar Raghuraman, Paranjoy Guha Thakurta (2004). A Time of Coalitions: Divided We Stand. Sage Publications. ISBN 0761932372.
- ^ Christopher John Fuller (2003). The Renewal of the Priesthood: Modernity and Traditionalism in a South Indian Temple. Princeton University Press, 118. ISBN 0691116571.
- ^ Lloyd I. Rudolph Urban Life and Populist Radicalism: Dravidian Politics in Madras The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 20, No. 3 (May, 1961), pp. 283-297
- ^ Lloyd I. Rudolph and Suzanne Hoeber Rudolph, The Modernity of Tradition: political development in India P78,University of Chicago Press 1969, ISBN:0226731375
- ^ C. J. Fuller,The Renewal of the Priesthood: Modernity and Traditionalism in a South Indian Temple P117, Princeton University Press 2003 ISBN:0691116571
- ^ Hodges S (2005)Revolutionary family life and the Self Respect movement in Tamil south India, 1926–49 Contributions to Indian Sociology, Vol. 39, No. 2, 251-277
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