| This article is part of the Renaissance of Kerala series |
| Renaissance of Kerala |
| Background |
| • Caste system in Kerala • Indian caste system • Untouchability • Forward caste • O. B. C. • SC and ST • Rejection • Apartheid • Stratification • Hindu reforms • Varna • Pulayar |
| Leaders |
| Vaikunda Swami Sri Narayana Guru Chattampi Swamikal Ayyankali Arattupuzha Velayudhappanikkar Sahodaran Ayyappan Vagbhatandan Brahmananda Sivayogi Pandit Karuppan T. K. Madhavan Mannathu Padmanabhan Anandathirthan Agamananda Swami V. T. Pandit Karuppan Swadeshabhimani Kumaragurudevan Vakkom Moulavi Chempakaraman Pillai G. P. Pillai Dr. Palpu Kumaranasan C. V. Kunhuraman C. V. Raman Pillai E. M. S. |
| Others |
| Channar Lahala Consecration at Aruvippuram S. N. D. P. Yogakshemasabha N. S. S. Vaikom Satyagraham Kalpathi-Suchindram Satyagraham Guruvayur Satyagraham Malayali Memorial Ezhava Memorial Nivarthana Agitation Paliam Satyagraham Upper Cloth Revolt Temple Entry Proclamation |
V. T. Bhattathiripad, (Malayalam: വി.ടി. ഭട്ടതിരിപ്പാട്) (1896-1982) was an Indian social critic, well-known dramatist and a prominent freedom fighter.[1]
Bhattathiripad was born to Nambudiri Brahmin parents in Kaippilly Mana at Kidangoor, a village near Angamaly, Kerala state. He encouraged widow marriage in the Brahmin society and tried to reform the conservative practices of the "Namboodiri community in particular and the society at large."[2]. He conducted the first mixed-race marriage in the Brahmin society. He is credited with starting the progressive theater movement of Kerala during which "the stage and performance became a highly conscious social activity in the hands of social reformers and political activists".[3] His drama Adukkalayilninnum arangathekku was a turning point in this context:
The year 1929 is most significant in the sense that V. T. Bhattathiripad wrote his play Adukkalayil Ninnu Arangathekku. It was the first play in Malayalam to have a definite and concrete social objective and which was produced in 1929 itself as part of a very powerful social reformist movement led by Namboodiri Yogakshema Sabha. The degenerate Brahmanical ideology and its social structure had its first powerful assault from within for the first time and the most fervent slogan of the period was for the transformation of "Brahmans into human beings".[3]
The V. T. Bhattathiripad College in Sreekrishnapuram, Palakkad District, is named after him.