Rettaimalai Srinivasan (Dravida Mani) – Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha, Paraiyan Journal, Madras Legislative Council & Round Table Conferences | TNPSC Notes

Rettaimalai Srinivasan (R. Srinivasan, 1859–1945) was a leader of the Depressed Classes (the Adi Dravidar community) in the Madras Presidency. He founded the Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha (1891), edited the Tamil journal Paraiyan (1893–1900), was nominated to the Madras Legislative Council (1923), where he demanded the right of all castes to use public roads, and represented the Depressed Classes with Dr B. R. Ambedkar at the first two Round Table Conferences in London (1930 and 1931). The British gave him the titles Rao Sahib, Rao Bahadur and Diwan Bahadur; in Tamil Nadu he was honoured as Dravida Mani and is fondly called "Thatha".

தமிழில் படிக்க

These notes are written for TNPSC Group 1, 2/2A and 4 aspirants and are meant to be complete on their own. Rettaimalai Srinivasan is a core topic in History, Culture, Heritage and Socio-Political Movements of Tamil Nadu (social reform, the Adi Dravidar movement, journals of the period, leaders of the Depressed Classes). His role at the Round Table Conferences and in the debate on representation links to the Indian National Movement and to Indian Polity (Communal Award, Poona Pact, reservation); his work for civic rights and equality is useful for Development Administration in Tamil Nadu (social justice). Read each section, then use the tables, the quick revision table and the key points at the end.

Life at a Glance

Early Life, Family and Education

• Birth: 7 July 1859 at Kozhiyalam, a village near Madurantakam in the then Chengalpattu district. Several sources give 1859; a few, including a recent academic study, give 1860. The Tamil Nadu Government observes his birthday on 7 July.
• Family: he was born in a poor agricultural family of the Paraiyar community. His father was Rettaimalai, and the name "Rettaimalai" in front of his own name comes from his father.
• Moving for a better life: poverty and caste discrimination made the family leave the village; they moved first to Thanjavur and later to Coimbatore.
• Schooling: he studied in Thanjavur and then in a residential school in Coimbatore, where he was reportedly the only Paraiyar among about 400 pupils. He felt the sting of untouchability as a student, and this shaped his life's work.
• Higher studies: he completed his higher (college) studies in Coimbatore.
• Marriage: in 1887 he married Renganayaki Ammal; they had two daughters and four sons.

His education in Tamil and English later helped him edit a journal, work as a court translator, take part in Legislative Council debates and present the case of the Depressed Classes in London.

Work in the Nilgiris and Move to Madras (to 1890)

• After his studies he worked for about ten years in the Nilgiris (Ooty), as a clerk / accountant. Ooty was then the summer capital of the Madras Presidency.
• In 1890 he moved to Madras (Chennai), which became the base of his social and political work for the rest of his life.

Family Link with Iyothee Thass

Pandit C. Iyothee Thass (1845–1914), the Tamil scholar, Siddha physician and anti-caste thinker, was Srinivasan's brother-in-law. Both worked for the dignity of the oppressed and both helped build the "Adi Dravidar" identity, but they differed on method: Iyothee Thass looked to Buddhism as the path of liberation, while Srinivasan chose to assert the community's own name and to fight for civic and political rights.

Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha (1891)

• In 1891 Srinivasan founded and led the Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha in Madras to protect the interests of those treated as "untouchable".
• The Sabha was later known as the Adi Dravida Mahajana Sabha. The Tamil Nadu Class 10 Social Science textbook states that Rettaimalai Srinivasan founded the Adi Dravida Mahajana Sabha in 1893 – so in exam questions both "1891 (Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha)" and "1893 (Adi Dravida Mahajana Sabha)" may appear. Read the name in the question carefully.
• Through the Sabha he organised meetings and petitions on the education, employment and civic rights of the Depressed Classes.

The Paraiyan Journal (1893–1900)

In October 1893 Srinivasan started the Tamil journal Paraiyan from Madras. It was one of the earliest journals run by a Dalit leader for the Depressed Classes.

• Why the name "Paraiyan"? The word was used as a term of insult. Srinivasan deliberately chose it as the title to turn it into a word of self-respect and to make the oppressed say their identity openly; he saw the journal as an assertion of identity.
• What it asked for: through the journal he urged the leaders of society to help the poor and the oppressed get education and government jobs, and he wrote about the daily discrimination they faced.

Exam tip: Paraiyan (1893) is Srinivasan's journal. Do not confuse it with Iyothee Thass's Oru Paisa Tamilan (1907), which is a different journal by a different leader.

The 1893 Petition on the Civil Services Examination

In 1893 the demand that the Indian Civil Services examination should also be held in India (instead of only in England) was being raised. Srinivasan led a petition against holding the examination in India. The petition shows how early he linked questions of political reform with the position of the Depressed Classes.

Years in South Africa (1900–1921)

• In 1900 Srinivasan left India. He had hoped to go to England to put the case of the Depressed Classes before the British, but he went to South Africa in search of work.
• He worked there as a translator / interpreter in a court, and later in government service.
• Gandhi: M. K. Gandhi was practising law in South Africa in these years. According to popular accounts repeated in later newspaper reports, Srinivasan helped Gandhi learn to sign his name in Tamil as "Mo. Ka. Gandhi".
• He also wrote an open letter to Gandhi.
• He returned to India in 1921. While he was away, the non-Brahmin movement had grown in Madras: the Justice Party (South Indian Liberal Federation, 1916) had come to power in 1920 under the Montagu–Chelmsford reforms.

Exam tip: the South African years are 1900 – 1921. Some sources give 1904 as the year he joined government service there; his departure from India is 1900.

Member of the Madras Legislative Council (from 1923)

Under the Montagu–Chelmsford reforms (Government of India Act, 1919), the Depressed Classes were given seats in the Madras Legislative Council by nomination. Srinivasan was nominated in 1923 and served as a member for many years. He used the Council to turn the demands of the Sabha into government orders.

• The name "Adi Dravidar": the Sabha had long campaigned for this name. In 1922 the Madras Government accepted the term "Adi Dravidar" for official use, and Srinivasan continued to press for it in the Council.
• Contemporaries in the Council: M. C. Rajah was another leading Depressed Class member of the Madras Council in this period. Both used legislative politics, petitions and memorials to win civic rights.

Round Table Conferences, London (1930–31)

The British Government called Round Table Conferences in London to discuss constitutional reforms for India after the Simon Commission. The Depressed Classes were represented by Dr B. R. Ambedkar and Rettaimalai Srinivasan.

• Demands: with Ambedkar he asked for separate electorates for the Depressed Classes and a share in education and employment in proportion to their numbers.
• Clash with Gandhi: Gandhi opposed separate electorates for the Depressed Classes. Srinivasan stood with Ambedkar on this issue.
• What followed: the British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald announced the Communal Award (16 August 1932), which gave separate electorates to the Depressed Classes. Gandhi began a fast in Yerwada jail, and the Poona Pact (24 September 1932) replaced separate electorates with reserved seats in a joint electorate.

Views on Religion and Identity

• In 1935, when Dr Ambedkar declared at Yeola that he would not die a Hindu and planned to convert, Srinivasan sent him a telegram with a different view.
• He argued that the Depressed Classes had never been inside the Hindu fold (they were outside the varna system) and were Dravidians by race – so a formal conversion was not necessary. He publicly asked Ambedkar to reconsider.
• Unlike Iyothee Thass, he did not see religious conversion as the answer; he put his faith in self-respect, education, representation and law.

Autobiography and Writings

• Jeeviya Sarithira Surukkam ("A Brief Life History") – his short autobiography in Tamil, published in the late 1930s (some sources give 1938, others 1939). It is regarded as possibly the first autobiography by a Dalit in India.
• The book is short and tells the story of his life and public work in his own words.
• His petitions, memorials and speeches in the Legislative Council are also important records of the early anti-caste movement in Tamil Nadu.

Titles and Honours

Exam tip: Rao Sahib, Rao Bahadur and Diwan Bahadur were British titles; Dravida Mani was a Tamil honour, not a British title.

Death, Memorials and Remembrance

• Death: 18 September 1945 at Periyamedu, Madras, at the age of about 86.
• Postage stamp: India Post issued a commemorative stamp in his honour in 2000.
• State function: on 6 July 2011 the Tamil Nadu Government (Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa) announced that his birthday, 7 July, would be celebrated as a government function; ministers pay homage at his statue in the Gandhi Mandapam complex.
• Memorial hall: the Rettaimalai Srinivasan Mani Mandapam stands in the Gandhi Mandapam complex at Guindy, Chennai, maintained by the Department of Information and Public Relations.
• National tributes: leaders, including the Vice-President of India, pay tribute on his birth anniversary, remembering him as a social reformer who fought untouchability and stood for the self-respect of every person.

Contemporaries – Who Was Who

Writing Mains Answers on Rettaimalai Srinivasan (Group 1 / Group 2)

Descriptive papers ask about leaders of the Depressed Classes and social reform in Tamil Nadu. Build your answer around these points and support each with a fact from the notes above.

Contribution of Rettaimalai Srinivasan to the upliftment of the Depressed Classes (about 150–250 words)

• Introduction: 1859–1945; leader of the Adi Dravidar people in the Madras Presidency; known as Thatha and Dravida Mani.
• Organisation: Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha (1891), later Adi Dravida Mahajana Sabha – meetings, petitions, demand for land and education.
• Press: Paraiyan (1893–1900) – turned an insult into a word of self-respect; demanded education and jobs.
• Legislature: nominated in 1923; 1924 resolution on the right of all castes to use public roads; demands for the name Adi Dravidar, temple entry, prohibition, abolition of hereditary village headmen.
• National level: with Ambedkar at the First and Second Round Table Conferences; demanded separate electorates and proportional share in education and jobs.
• Ideas: Dalit self-assertion and leadership; identity through self-respect rather than religious conversion.
• Conclusion: a pioneer whose work prepared the ground for later reservation and civic-rights laws; remembered by a stamp (2000), a State function on 7 July and a memorial at Gandhi Mandapam.

Role of the press in social reform – the Paraiyan journal (about 150 words)

• Context: late 19th century – the oppressed had no voice in the press.
• The journal: started October 1893; monthly, then weekly; own press; ran till 1900.
• Message: assertion of identity; appeals for education, government jobs and civic rights.
• Comparison: Iyothee Thass's Oru Paisa Tamilan (1907) – a parallel voice with a different approach.
• Result: built awareness and organisation that later found expression in the Legislative Council and at the Round Table Conferences.

Srinivasan and Ambedkar – shared goals, different views (about 100 words)

• Shared: both represented the Depressed Classes at the Round Table Conferences (1930, 1931) and demanded separate electorates.
• Different: in 1935 Srinivasan argued that the Depressed Classes were outside the Hindu fold, so conversion was unnecessary; Ambedkar chose conversion later.
• Lesson: the Dalit movement had more than one strategy – identity, representation, law and religion.

Practice: Match the Following

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Paraiyan vs Oru Paisa Tamilan: Paraiyan (1893) – Srinivasan; Oru Paisa Tamilan (1907) – Iyothee Thass.
• Sabha years: Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha – 1891; the textbook line "founded the Adi Dravida Mahajana Sabha in 1893" refers to the same movement under its later name.
• Round Table Conferences: he went with Ambedkar to the first two (1930, 1931); M. C. Rajah was not his co-delegate there.
• Nominated, not elected: he entered the Madras Legislative Council in 1923 by nomination.
• South Africa years: left in 1900, returned in 1921 – he was away during the rise of the Justice Party (1916–1920).
• Titles: Rao Sahib, Rao Bahadur, Diwan Bahadur – British; Dravida Mani – Tamil.
• Religion: in 1935 he argued that conversion was unnecessary. He died in 1945, long before Ambedkar's conversion (1956).
• Iyothee Thass: brother-in-law, not his father-in-law or teacher.

Quick Revision Table

TNPSC Key Points (PYQ-style facts)

• Born: 7 July 1859, Kozhiyalam (near Madurantakam). Father: Rettaimalai.
• Only Paraiyar student among about 400 in a Coimbatore residential school.
• Worked about ten years in the Nilgiris; moved to Madras in 1890.
• Brother-in-law of Pandit Iyothee Thass.
• Founded the Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha in 1891 (Adi Dravida Mahajana Sabha – 1893 in the Class 10 textbook).
• Journal: Paraiyan – Tamil, October 1893 to 1900; monthly first, then weekly.
• South Africa: 1900 – 1921; court translator; helped Gandhi sign "Mo. Ka. Gandhi" (popular account).
• Nominated to the Madras Legislative Council: 1923 (Montagu–Chelmsford reforms).
• 1924: resolution for the right of all castes to use public roads and streets.
• Round Table Conferences: First (1930–31) and Second (1931), with Dr B. R. Ambedkar, for the Depressed Classes.
• 1935: told Ambedkar conversion was unnecessary – Depressed Classes were outside the Hindu fold.
• Autobiography: Jeeviya Sarithira Surukkam – possibly the first Dalit autobiography.
• Titles: Rao Sahib, Rao Bahadur, Diwan Bahadur (British); Dravida Mani (Tamil); "Thatha".
• Died: 18 September 1945, Periyamedu, Madras.
• Stamp: 2000. 7 July – State function from 2011. Mani Mandapam at Gandhi Mandapam, Guindy.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Rettaimalai Srinivasan?

Rettaimalai Srinivasan (1859–1945) was a leader of the Depressed Classes (Adi Dravidar community) in the Madras Presidency. He founded the Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha in 1891, edited the Tamil journal Paraiyan from 1893 to 1900, worked in South Africa from 1900 to 1921, was nominated to the Madras Legislative Council in 1923, and represented the Depressed Classes with Dr B. R. Ambedkar at the first two Round Table Conferences in London (1930 and 1931).

What was the Paraiyan journal?

Paraiyan was a Tamil journal started by Rettaimalai Srinivasan in October 1893 in Madras. It began as a four-page monthly, soon became a weekly, later had its own printing press, and was published until 1900. By choosing the caste name itself as the title, Srinivasan wanted the oppressed to state their identity openly and to demand education, jobs and civic rights.

What did Rettaimalai Srinivasan do in the Madras Legislative Council?

Nominated in 1923, he raised the problems of the Adi Dravidar people. His best-known demand (1924) was that people of every caste must have the right to use public roads and streets. He also pressed for the name Adi Dravidar in place of caste names, for temple entry, for prohibition of liquor and for abolition of the hereditary village headman system.

Which Round Table Conferences did Rettaimalai Srinivasan attend?

He attended the First (1930–31) and Second (1931) Round Table Conferences in London as a representative of the Depressed Classes, together with Dr B. R. Ambedkar. They demanded separate electorates and a fair share in education and employment for the Depressed Classes. Some Tamil sources say he took part in the 1932 session as well.

What titles were given to Rettaimalai Srinivasan?

The British government conferred on him the titles Rao Sahib, Rao Bahadur and Diwan Bahadur. The Tamil title Dravida Mani was given to him in Tamil Nadu late in his life (sources give 1939 or 1940). He is also affectionately called 'Thatha' (grandfather).

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