Periyar E. V. Ramasamy – Self-Respect Movement, Vaikom Satyagraha, Justice Party & Dravidar Kazhagam | TNPSC Notes

E. V. Ramasamy (1879–1973), known as Thanthai Periyar, was a social reformer and political leader from Erode who founded the Self-Respect Movement (1925) and the Dravidar Kazhagam (1944). For his part in the Vaikom Satyagraha he is called Vaikom Veerar, and the title Periyar was conferred on him by a women's conference in Madras in 1938.

தமிழில் படிக்க

These notes are written for TNPSC Group 1, 2/2A and 4 aspirants and are meant to be complete on this topic. Periyar is a core topic in the unit History, Culture, Heritage and Socio-Political Movements of Tamil Nadu (Self-Respect Movement, Justice Party, Dravidar Kazhagam, social reform) and in History, Culture of India and Indian National Movement (Congress years, Non-Cooperation, Vaikom Satyagraha). His role in social justice and reservation also links to Indian Economy and Development Administration in Tamil Nadu, and his titles and Tamil script reform are asked in General Tamil. Read each section, then use the tables, quick revision timeline and key points at the end.

Periyar at a Glance

Early Life, Family and Education

• Full name: Erode Venkata Ramasamy – usually written E. V. Ramasamy or E.V.R.
• Born: 17 September 1879 at Erode, then part of Coimbatore district in the Madras Presidency.
• Parents: Venkata (Venkatappa) Naicker, a merchant, and Chinnathayammal.
• Siblings: elder brother E. V. Krishnasamy and sister Kannammal, both of whom later helped him in public work.
• Schooling: he had only a few years of formal schooling and joined his father's trade at about the age of 12.
• First marriage: at 19 he married Nagammai, then 13. Nagammai later took an active part in his agitations; she died in 1933.

Exam tip: his birth date (17 September), birthplace (Erode), parents' names and first wife Nagammai are often asked in match-the-following questions. Since 17 September is now also Social Justice Day, remember this date well.

Kasi Pilgrimage (1904) and Early Public Life

In 1904 he went on a pilgrimage to Kasi (Varanasi). Biographers treat this journey as a turning point: his experiences there sharpened his questioning of caste discrimination and religious practice. Back in Erode he became a successful businessman and held several public offices, including that of Chairman of the Erode Municipality.

Congress Years (1919–1925)

• Joining the Congress (1919): attracted by Gandhi's programme, he joined the Indian National Congress in 1919, gave up his business and resigned his public posts, including the Erode municipal chairmanship.
• Non-Cooperation and temperance: he took part in the campaign against liquor. In 1921 he was jailed for picketing toddy shops in Erode; his wife Nagammai and sister Kannammal joined and carried on the picketing.
• Congress leadership: in 1922 he was elected President of the Tamil Nadu (Madras Presidency) Congress Committee.
• Communal representation: inside the Congress he repeatedly moved resolutions for communal representation – reserved places for non-Brahmins in education, government jobs and legislatures – but these were defeated or not allowed.

Exam tip: questions on the Congress years usually turn on three years – 1919 (joined Congress), 1921 (toddy-shop picketing and jail) and 1922 (TNCC President). The demand for communal representation later became the main reason for his exit.

Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–1925)

Vaikom, in the princely state of Travancore (now Kottayam district, Kerala), has a Shiva (Mahadeva) temple. The public roads around it were closed to people of the so-called lower castes.

• Background: T. K. Madhavan had raised the demand for temple entry in his paper Deshabhimani from 1917 and met Gandhi at Tirunelveli in September 1921; the Kakinada session of the Congress (1923) passed a resolution against untouchability, and the Kerala Congress took up the Vaikom issue.
• Start: the satyagraha began on 30 March 1924, led by Kerala Congress leaders T. K. Madhavan, K. P. Kesava Menon and K. Kelappan. Most local leaders were arrested within days.
• Periyar's entry: Periyar reached Vaikom with his wife Nagammai in April 1924 and took up the leadership of the struggle.
• Imprisonment: he was arrested and lodged in Arukutti (Aruvikutti) jail. After his release he continued the agitation and was imprisoned a second time.
• Women's role: Nagammai organised women volunteers and kept the agitation going while he was in jail.
• Gandhi's visit: Gandhi visited Vaikom in March 1925 to negotiate a settlement.
• End: the satyagraha ended on 23 November 1925 in a compromise under which public roads near the temple (except the eastern road) were opened to all castes; full access and temple entry came only after the Temple Entry Proclamation of 1936.
• Title: his role earned him the name Vaikom Veerar (Hero of Vaikom), generally credited to Thiru. Vi. Kalyanasundaranar.
• Centenary: Tamil Nadu and Kerala jointly marked the Vaikom centenary from 2023. On 12 December 2024 Chief Ministers M. K. Stalin and Pinarayi Vijayan inaugurated the renovated Thanthai Periyar Memorial and Library at Vaikom, restored at a cost of ₹8.14 crore.

Cheranmadevi Gurukulam Controversy

A Gurukulam (residential school) at Cheranmadevi in Tirunelveli district was run by the nationalist V. V. S. Aiyar with financial support from the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee. It came to light that Brahmin and non-Brahmin students were served food separately. Periyar objected strongly to a Congress-funded institution practising caste distinction. The controversy increased his distance from the Congress leadership.

Leaving the Congress – Kanchipuram, 1925

At the Tamil Nadu Congress conference at Kanchipuram in November 1925, Periyar again sought to move a resolution on communal representation. When it was not allowed, he walked out and left the Congress, stating that it would not address the concerns of non-Brahmins. He then devoted himself fully to the Self-Respect Movement.

Exam tip: for 'Why did Periyar leave the Congress?', write two reasons – (1) the Cheranmadevi Gurukulam caste-dining issue and (2) the refusal to allow his communal representation resolution at Kanchipuram (November 1925).

Self-Respect Movement (Suyamariyathai Iyakkam), 1925

The Self-Respect Movement was launched in 1925. It kept away from electoral politics and concentrated on social reform. According to Tamil Nadu school textbooks, its main aims were:

• Abolition of the caste system and of untouchability and caste-based disabilities.
• Equal rights, status and opportunities for women, and removal of restrictions placed on them.
• Rejection of hereditary priesthood and of rituals that required priests; promotion of rational thinking against superstition.
• Restoring pride in Tamil (Dravidian) history and culture.

Practices: members gave up caste surnames (Periyar himself dropped the caste title "Naicker"), and the movement popularised self-respect marriages – marriages conducted without priests or religious rites.

Legal recognition: self-respect marriages were given legal validity by the Hindu Marriage (Tamil Nadu Amendment) Act, 1967, passed by the C. N. Annadurai government. It inserted Section 7-A into the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955; the Act received the President's assent on 17 January 1968. Under Section 7-A, a marriage between two Hindus is valid if, in the presence of relatives, friends or other persons, each party declares in a language they understand that they take the other as spouse, or they exchange garlands or rings, or a thali is tied. No priest and no saptapadi (seven steps around fire) are needed.

Self-Respect Conferences and Key Meetings

The first Provincial Self-Respect Conference at Chengalpattu (February 1929) is the most frequently asked. It was presided over by W. P. A. Soundarapandian and passed resolutions calling for an end to caste distinctions (including giving up caste titles) and for equal rights for women. The Erode meeting of December 1932, held after Periyar's foreign tour, adopted the Erode Plan with the communist leader M. Singaravelar, combining social reform with socialist economic demands.

Journals and Writings

His best-known book is Pen Yen Adimaiyanal? (Why Were Women Enslaved?, 1942), in which he argued against double standards of chastity imposed only on women and advocated women's property rights, divorce and widow remarriage.

Exam tip: learn the journals by language – the English ones are Revolt (1928) and The Modern Rationalist (1971); the rest are Tamil. That the first issue of Kudi Arasu came out from Erode is also asked.

Foreign Tour (1931–1932)

Periyar left Madras in December 1931 with S. Ramanathan and a young relative, Ramu, and toured Europe, including the Soviet Union. He returned to India in November 1932. After his return he wrote about socialism and the Soviet experience, and the Erode Plan followed.

Anti-Hindi Agitation (1937–1940)

• Cause: the Congress ministry headed by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), which took office in 1937, made Hindi a compulsory subject in secondary schools (government order of April 1938).
• Periyar's role: with the Self-Respect Movement and the Justice Party he led the agitation – picketing, processions and public meetings. He argued that compulsory Hindi was an imposition on Tamil language and culture.
• Arrests: more than a thousand people were jailed, including Periyar (1938) and C. N. Annadurai.
• Martyrs: two agitators, Natarasan and Thalamuthu, died in prison in 1939.
• Women's conference: on 13 November 1938 the Tamil Nadu Women's Conference in Madras, presided over by Neelambikai Ammaiyar (daughter of Maraimalai Adigal) and organised by women activists such as Meenambal Sivaraj, Dr S. Dharmambal and Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar, resolved to call him "Periyar". Soon afterwards he was arrested and imprisoned for his part in the agitation.
• Women's picketing: soon after the conference women activists, including Dr S. Dharmambal, picketed the Hindu Theological School in Madras and were arrested.
• End: after the Congress ministry resigned in 1939, Governor Erskine withdrew compulsory Hindi in February 1940.

Exam tip: 1938 holds three key events – the title 'Periyar' (13 November), Periyar's imprisonment in the anti-Hindi agitation (late 1938) and the Justice Party presidency (29 December), to which he was elected while in prison.

President of the Justice Party (1938)

The Justice Party (South Indian Liberal Federation) was founded in 1916. While still in prison, Periyar was elected its President on 29 December 1938, succeeding the Raja of Bobbili. From then on the Justice Party and the Self-Respect Movement worked together under his leadership.

Dravidar Kazhagam – Salem Conference, 1944

• Date and place: 27 August 1944, at the Justice Party's conference at Salem.
• Decision: the Justice Party was renamed Dravidar Kazhagam (DK). The resolution moved by C. N. Annadurai is known as the Annadurai Resolution.
• Black shirts: in the mid-1940s Periyar asked DK members to wear black shirts.
• 15 August 1947: Periyar called for Independence Day to be observed as a day of mourning, arguing that political freedom without social freedom was incomplete.

Exam tip: for 'At which conference did the Justice Party become the Dravidar Kazhagam?' the answer is the Salem conference, 1944. Because Annadurai moved the resolution it is called the Annadurai Resolution; do not confuse it with the Chengalpattu conference (1929).

Marriage to Maniammai and the DMK Split (1949)

In 1949, when he was nearly 70, Periyar married Maniammai, a DK worker, describing it as an arrangement to safeguard the movement and its properties. Many members, including Annadurai, disagreed with the marriage and with the movement's strategy. On 17 September 1949 – Periyar's 70th birthday – C. N. Annadurai announced the formation of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) in Madras.

Exam tip: the DMK was launched on Periyar's own birthday, 17 September (1949); the same date was later declared Social Justice Day (2021). Link the two in memory.

Later Years: Communal G.O. and the First Amendment

When the courts struck down the Madras Communal G.O. on reservation in admissions (the Champakam Dorairajan case), the DK under Periyar held protests across the state in 1950–51 demanding its restoration. The Constitution (First Amendment) Act, 1951, which added Article 15(4) enabling special provisions for socially and educationally backward classes, followed.

Tamil Script Reform

Periyar proposed simplifying certain Tamil letter forms to make printing and learning easier, and used the reformed letters in his own journals such as Viduthalai. In 1978, his birth-centenary year, the Tamil Nadu government adopted part of this reform – for example the new forms of letters such as ணா, றா, னா and லை, ளை, னை, ணை that are used today. The proposed forms அய் (for ஐ) and அவ் (for ஔ) were not adopted in general use.

Women in Periyar's Movement

Women played a visible part in the movements Periyar led, and TNPSC often asks about them:

• Nagammai – his first wife; picketed toddy shops in Erode (1921), organised women at Vaikom (1924) and served as publisher of Kudi Arasu for periods when he was touring or in prison.
• Kannammal – his sister; joined Nagammai in the toddy-shop picketing at Erode (1921).
• Neelambikai Ammaiyar – daughter of Maraimalai Adigal (founder of the Pure Tamil Movement); presided over the 1938 Women's Conference that gave the title Periyar.
• Meenambal Sivaraj, Dr S. Dharmambal, Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammaiyar, Pandithai A. Narayani – among the organisers of the 1938 conference and leaders of women's participation in the anti-Hindi agitation.
• Maniammai – his second wife (1949); led the Dravidar Kazhagam from 1973 to 1978.

Exam tip: General Tamil papers ask questions such as 'Who carried out Tamil script reform?', 'Who wrote Pen Yen Adimaiyanal?' and 'Who is called Vaikom Veerar?' – the answer to all three is Periyar.

His Views (as presented in Tamil Nadu textbooks)

• Caste: he argued for the complete abolition of caste and untouchability and for proportional (communal) representation of non-Brahmins.
• Religion and rationalism: he advocated rational thinking (pagutharivu) and questioned religious beliefs and rituals that, in his view, justified inequality.
• Women: he advocated women's education, employment, property rights, the right to divorce and widow remarriage, and criticised double standards of chastity.
• Language: he opposed compulsory Hindi and promoted Tamil identity and script reform.

Death and Succession

Periyar died on 24 December 1973 at Vellore, aged 94. Maniammai led the Dravidar Kazhagam from 1973 until her death in 1978; K. Veeramani has led it since 1978.

Honours and Memorials

• Postage stamp: issued on 17 September 1978 (birth centenary), 25 paise.
• Periyar University, Salem: established in 1997 by the Tamil Nadu government.
• Social Justice Day: announced by Chief Minister M. K. Stalin in the Assembly on 6 September 2021; Periyar's birthday, 17 September, is observed every year with a social justice pledge in government offices.
• Vaikom memorial: renovated Thanthai Periyar Memorial and Library at Vaikom, Kerala, inaugurated on 12 December 2024.
• Erode: his house in Erode is maintained as the Periyar Memorial House, with photographs and personal belongings.

Dravidian Organisations Compared

Organisations and Posts – Summary

Common Confusions in the Exam

Quick Revision Table

TNPSC Key Points (PYQ-style facts)

• Born 17 September 1879, Erode; died 24 December 1973, Vellore.
• Parents: Venkata Naicker and Chinnathayammal; wives: Nagammai, Maniammai.
• Titles: Periyar / Thanthai Periyar (Women's Conference, Madras, 13 November 1938); Vaikom Veerar.
• Kasi pilgrimage: 1904. Joined Congress: 1919. TNCC President: 1922.
• Toddy-shop picketing in Erode: 1921 (with Nagammai and Kannammal).
• Vaikom Satyagraha: 30 March 1924 – 23 November 1925; Travancore; Periyar jailed twice (Arukutti jail).
• Cheranmadevi Gurukulam (V. V. S. Aiyar): separate dining for Brahmin and non-Brahmin students.
• Left Congress: Kanchipuram conference, November 1925 – communal representation issue.
• Self-Respect Movement: 1925. First conference: Chengalpattu, February 1929 (president W. P. A. Soundarapandian); 2nd Erode 1930; 3rd Virudhunagar 1931.
• Journals: Kudi Arasu 1925 (Tamil), Revolt 1928 (English), Puratchi 1933, Pagutharivu 1934, Viduthalai 1935.
• Foreign tour: December 1931 – November 1932 (Europe, Soviet Union) with S. Ramanathan.
• Erode Plan: December 1932, with M. Singaravelar.
• Anti-Hindi agitation: 1937–40 against Rajaji's compulsory Hindi; martyrs Natarasan and Thalamuthu (1939).
• Justice Party President: 29 December 1938 (while in prison).
• Dravidar Kazhagam: Salem, 27 August 1944 (Annadurai Resolution).
• DMK formed by Annadurai: 17 September 1949.
• Book: Pen Yen Adimaiyanal? (1942).
• Self-respect marriages legalised: Section 7-A, Hindu Marriage (TN Amendment) Act, 1967.
• Stamp: 1978; Periyar University: 1997; Social Justice Day: from 2021.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who gave E. V. Ramasamy the title 'Periyar' and when?

The title 'Periyar' (the great one / respected elder) was conferred on him by a resolution of the Tamil Nadu Women's Conference held in Madras (Chennai) on 13 November 1938, presided over by Neelambikai Ammaiyar, daughter of Maraimalai Adigal. Soon afterwards he was imprisoned for his part in the anti-Hindi agitation.

Why is Periyar called Vaikom Veerar?

He is called Vaikom Veerar (Hero of Vaikom) for his role in the Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–25) in Travancore, which demanded that roads around the Vaikom temple be opened to all castes. He joined the struggle in April 1924 and was imprisoned twice. The title is generally credited to Thiru. Vi. Kalyanasundaranar (Thiru. Vi. Ka.).

When and why did Periyar leave the Congress?

He left the Congress in November 1925 at the Tamil Nadu Congress conference at Kanchipuram, when his resolution demanding communal representation (reservation) for non-Brahmins was not allowed. The Cheranmadevi Gurukulam controversy over separate dining for students had already widened the gap.

When and where was the Dravidar Kazhagam formed?

At the Justice Party's conference at Salem on 27 August 1944, the party was renamed Dravidar Kazhagam. The renaming resolution, moved by C. N. Annadurai, is known as the Annadurai Resolution. Periyar led the Dravidar Kazhagam until his death in 1973.

Why is 17 September observed as Social Justice Day in Tamil Nadu?

17 September is Periyar's birthday (born 1879, Erode). On 6 September 2021 Chief Minister M. K. Stalin announced in the Assembly that it would be observed every year as Social Justice Day (Samooga Neethi Naal), with a social justice pledge taken in government offices.

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