#periyar

[lillilu-68]

©Lillilu68

Come me

devi trovare un posto

dove crescere e ramificarti

[aranyaani]

says a lot about congress that they're celebrating a man who married his own step-daughter. nehru himself had once said that periyar needs to be thrown in a mental asylum

[anarchistin]

Periyar understood the importance of ground level work and its power to sustain the idea of social and cultural progress. His staunch objection to the capture of state power even to implement his own ideas was a clear indication of the fact that he knew top-down imposition of an ideology is not going to have a sustainable and lasting impact and any progress will be undone when that power is lost.

Instead of trying to teach people to follow power, people should be made aware to question power and reject its imposition and oppression themselves. He understood that any form of centralized institutional power or authority needs to be opposed, whether it is political, cultural, religious, or linguistic.

— Pranav Jeevan P

“Oppression Is My Enemy: Anarchism In Periyar’s Work

Despite not following the emergence of anarchism or meeting with anarchists, the vision and actions of Periyar closely aligns with the princ

[thozhar]

Tamil women protestors at the anti-hindi agitation of 1937-1940 in Madras. Organized by Periyar and the Justice Party (later becoming the Dravida Kazhagam)

[gaystcr]

“brahmins cannot hope to claim a high and superior status forever. times are changing. they will have to come down. […] it will not be by force. it will just be the laws of the land and the people.”

happy birthday, periyar.

பிறந்தநாள் வாழ்த்துக்கள் ஐயா!

[dravidianchronicler]

"If larger country oppresses a smaller country, I'll stand with smaller country. If smaller country has majoritarian religion which oppresses minority religions, I'll stand with minority religion. If minority religion has caste and one caste oppresses another caste, I'll stand with caste oppressed. In oppressed caste if an employer oppresses employee, I'll stand with employee. If employee goes home and oppresses his wife, I'll stand with that woman.

"Overall OPPRESSION is my ENEMY"

-Periyar E. V. Ramasamy

[indiaporama]

Periyar parc - Kerala

[piyushcreates]

Self-respect is the key

The Self Respect Movement Started in 1925 by Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy(also known as Periyar), who was an Indian social activist and politician. The aim of the movement was to help the backward cast to get equal human rights and also help them understand the concept of self-respect in the society of the cast system. This was started in Tamil Nadu, India, and was declared a genuine, nonpolitical freedom movement. Periyar even went against the ideas of Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru and told the society that neither of their motives would help make India get rid of their problems. 

Some of the amazing principles and ideas from the movement were that there should no kind of inequality among people; caste, religion, varna attachments should be eradicated, and unity prevails among the people. 

Other than this, Brahmins were ruling in the high-level positions in the government, which resulted in biasedness and so Periyar wanted to change it which would allow non-brahmins to acquire the positions and make the government balanced. Other than this, the movement was considered to have deep feminist values because it promoted the idea of contraceptives and celebrating sexual and reproductive choices, which would allow women to have birth control, also allowing women to marry and remarry as many men as they want to which made the movement revolutionary. 

All in all, Periyar was way ahead of his time, and his ideologies seemed amazing but at the same time unachievable. Even today people are fighting for equal human rights and it seems impossible to eradicate the caste system and religion, because of the rising tensions and politics. One can only dream and hope that one day every human would be educated enough to understand and remove these boundaries, tags, and barriers that are being set upon us and be free.