# Periyar
**Periyar** was the honorific name of Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), an Indian social reformer, rationalist, and anti-caste campaigner from [Tamil Nadu](https://www.edgepedia.org/tamil-nadu) who founded the [Self-Respect Movement](https://www.edgepedia.org/self-respect-movement) in 1925 and later led the [Dravidar Kazhagam](https://www.edgepedia.org/dravidar-kazhagam)[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/dravidian-movement-tamil-nadu-dmk-aiadmk-tvk-history-10689043/?tbref=hp) • [2](https://apnews.com/article/7967186eb3bffade80e0d96e354a1baf). Half a century following his passing, he is still brought up during every Tamil Nadu election campaign, as parties spanning the whole ideological range of the state, from the DMK and AIADMK to the CPI, the BJP, and the newly created TVK, openly call upon his legacy[3](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/whose-periyar-how-the-rationalist-leaders-legacy-shapes-tamil-nadu-politics-across-party-lines/articleshow/134293692.cms) • [4](https://www.mirrornow.in/chennai-news/periyar-ev-ramasamy-legacy-tamil-nadu-politics-article-156170660).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Full name and dates | Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy, 17 September 1879 (Erode, Tamil Nadu) to 24 December 1973 (Vellore)[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/dravidian-movement-tamil-nadu-dmk-aiadmk-tvk-history-10689043/?tbref=hp) • [5](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/erode-venkata-ramasamy-naicker_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29/) |
| Self-Respect Movement | Founded in 1925 by the former Congressman E.V. Ramasamy Naicker, standing for anti-caste politics, rationalism, social reforms, and women's rights[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/dravidian-movement-tamil-nadu-dmk-aiadmk-tvk-history-10689043/?tbref=hp) |
| Dravidar Kazhagam | Social justice organization launched in the 1940s; led in recent decades by K. Veeramani from Chennai[2](https://apnews.com/article/7967186eb3bffade80e0d96e354a1baf) |
| Core positions | Anti-caste and anti-religion; identified Brahminism as the dominant form of casteism in India[6](https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/dravidian-movement-family-tree-jayalalithaa-tamil-nadu-elections-karunanidihi-dmk-aiadmk-vaiko-2771834/) • [7](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-periyar/periyars-antiaryanism-a-genealogy-a-synopsis-and-a-critique/EADAAE2B10BAD5B13BBEFAA173F415D9) |
| Engagement with Ambedkar | First met B.R. Ambedkar in 1940 in Mumbai; commissioned the first translation of *Annihilation of Caste* into any Indian language, in Tamil, serialized in *Kudi Arasu*[8](https://assets.cambridge.org/97810096/05366/excerpt/9781009605366_excerpt.pdf) |
| Political stance | Never contested an election[3](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/whose-periyar-how-the-rationalist-leaders-legacy-shapes-tamil-nadu-politics-across-party-lines/articleshow/134293692.cms) |
| Position on the state | Supported the Indian war effort in 1962 and the Indo-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971[8](https://assets.cambridge.org/97810096/05366/excerpt/9781009605366_excerpt.pdf) |
## Early life and turn to activism
Periyar was born into a religious, conservative family of the intermediate Balija Naidu caste; his father, Erode Venkatappa Naicker, was a devout Vaishnavite who named his second son after the Hindu god Rama[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10). He received about five years of formal schooling between the ages of six and eleven, partly because his rebellious streak led him to defy caste boundaries and fraternize with lower castes[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10).
A formative experience was a pilgrimage to Kasi, where he was denied lodging while Brahmin mendicants were provided for, an episode his biographer Sami Chidambaranar links to his loss of respect for religion[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10). After an initial adherence to the [Indian National Congress](https://www.edgepedia.org/indian-national-congress), he left it in 1925 and founded the Self-Respect Movement[5](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/erode-venkata-ramasamy-naicker_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29/).
## The Self-Respect Movement
In 1925, after leaving the Indian National Congress, Ramasamy formed the Self-Respect Movement (Suya Mariyadai Iyakkam), which stood for anti-caste politics, rationalism, social reforms, and women's rights[1](https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/dravidian-movement-tamil-nadu-dmk-aiadmk-tvk-history-10689043/?tbref=hp) • [10](https://vidurfoundation.org/biographies/periyar-ev-ramasamy-life-and-lessons). The movement's efforts included pushing for Dalits to be admitted into temples, calling on Brahmin priests to chant hymns in Tamil rather than Sanskrit, and staging protests against Hindi[11](https://indianexpress.com/article/research/aiadmk-sasikala-panneerselvam-jayalalithaa-tamil-nadu-dravidian-movement-4619852/). During this period he also launched *Kudi Arasu*, his party paper[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10).
__[Women's rights](https://www.edgepedia.org/womens-rights).__ Periyar advocated women's property rights, the right to divorce, widow remarriage, and intercaste marriage, presenting these not as social reform gestures but as matters of basic equality[10](https://vidurfoundation.org/biographies/periyar-ev-ramasamy-life-and-lessons). Scholars of the movement note that, in his view, marriage and chastity were key patriarchal institutions, and that patriarchy pervaded language, literature, and gender-based socialization[12](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10445885/). He argued that marriages should happen without the influence of caste, religion, god, traditions, and rituals, because these practices legitimized the enslavement of woman to man[12](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10445885/).
The movement spread quickly; the Justice Party's editorial of 9 January 1929 remarked that no movement within the memory of the present generation had spread in [South India](https://www.edgepedia.org/south-india) with such rapidity and vigor as the Self-Respect Movement[13](https://www.tnhc.org.in/docs/proceedings/Chidambaram-2012.pdf).
## Atheism and religion
Periyar is most popularly known for his atheism and for his acerbic attacks on the Hindu religion and Hindu gods[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10). He saw Hinduism as a fundamental degradation of the non-Brahmin community in general and Dalits in particular, treating religion as an institution of social power that privileged Brahmins at the expense of the equality and liberty of women and lower castes[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10). A 1931 article in *Kudiarasu* argued that non-Brahmins, untouchable castes, the poor, and the working classes needed to destroy Hinduism first if they desired equality and socialism[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10).
**Atheism as strategy and belief.** His commitment to atheism deepened after a tour of Western countries beginning in December 1931; his longest stay was in the Soviet Union, where he spent about three months between February and May 1932, registered with the Anti-Religious Propaganda Office in Moscow, and was impressed by the socialist project[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10). On his return he published translated works including *The Communist Manifesto*, Bhagat Singh's *Why I am an Atheist*, and [Bertrand Russell](https://www.edgepedia.org/bertrand-russell)'s *Why I am not a Christian*[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10).
He was nevertheless aware of religion's importance in social life and endorsed conversion to Islam and Buddhism in certain contexts; the scholar Karthick Ram Manoharan, of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta, argues that Periyar was more sympathetic to Buddhism because he did not view it as a theistic system but as a philosophy of rationalism[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10). The inscriptions beneath his statues in Tamil Nadu read, in Tamil, "There is no god. He who created god is a fool. He who propagates god is a scoundrel. He who worships god is a barbarian"; in September 2019 the [Madras High Court](https://www.edgepedia.org/madras-high-court) dismissed a petition demanding their removal, holding that his philosophy of self-respect, social reform, and the ending of the caste system could be deciphered in them[9](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10).
## Anti-caste thought
Working in the Tamil Nadu of his time, Periyar's approach to caste identified three broad social categories: the Brahmins, the Dalits, and the "Shudras"[7](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-periyar/periyars-antiaryanism-a-genealogy-a-synopsis-and-a-critique/EADAAE2B10BAD5B13BBEFAA173F415D9). In his view, the prevailing casteism of India took the shape of Brahminism: a ritual hierarchy based on birth whose legitimacy came from Hindu scriptures, practices, traditions, and values, and which produced material effects.[7](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-periyar/periyars-antiaryanism-a-genealogy-a-synopsis-and-a-critique/EADAAE2B10BAD5B13BBEFAA173F415D9) This made him vehement in criticizing the scripturally highest castes and most sympathetic to those treated as lowest[7](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-periyar/periyars-antiaryanism-a-genealogy-a-synopsis-and-a-critique/EADAAE2B10BAD5B13BBEFAA173F415D9).
His anti-Brahminism has attracted continuing debate. Karthick Ram Manoharan notes three main accusations from critics, that Periyar had hatred toward Brahmins and preached violence against them, favored the powerful among non-Brahmin castes, and sidelined Dalits; he has questioned the last two and addresses the first in the Cambridge Companion to Periyar, arguing that Periyar also challenged non-Brahmins for internalizing casteism and subscribing to hierarchy over others[7](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-periyar/periyars-antiaryanism-a-genealogy-a-synopsis-and-a-critique/EADAAE2B10BAD5B13BBEFAA173F415D9). Unlike Ambedkar, Periyar saw Shudras and untouchables as "Adi Dravidas", the original inhabitants of Southern India, and could appropriate anti-colonial sentiment to denounce the historical oppression of low castes[14](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1322514832&disposition=inline).
## Periyar and Ambedkar
Periyar met B.R. Ambedkar, the scholar and Dalit leader who chaired the committee drafting India's constitution, for the first time in 1940 in Mumbai[8](https://assets.cambridge.org/97810096/05366/excerpt/9781009605366_excerpt.pdf). Both viewed the Congress primarily as a formation that represented Brahmins and Hindu upper castes[15](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-periyar/periyar-ambedkar-and-the-poona-pact/7B09E21429F27C864B2C251F58CD58F7).
From 1932 to 1944, *Kudi Arasu* published at least forty articles in support of Ambedkar's opinions. While the era's major political forces sidelined Ambedkar, Periyar stood among the first leaders to see him as the spokesman of the Dalits, and he contributed greatly to making Ambedkar known across Tamil Nadu by arranging for *Annihilation of Caste* to be translated into Tamil[8](https://assets.cambridge.org/97810096/05366/excerpt/9781009605366_excerpt.pdf). Periyar endorsed Ambedkar's conversion to Buddhism and, on his death, wrote a tribute hailing him as one of the greatest thinkers of the time[8](https://assets.cambridge.org/97810096/05366/excerpt/9781009605366_excerpt.pdf). A study of the two figures notes that Ambedkar's thoughts influenced Periyar's positions on the Dalit question, while Periyar's own works figure minimally in Ambedkar's writings, largely because Periyar wrote in Tamil and little of his work was translated[16](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19472498.2020.1755127).
## Legacy in Tamil Nadu politics
Although Periyar never stood as a candidate in any poll, half a century after he died, his name is brought up in connection with each Tamil Nadu election[3](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/whose-periyar-how-the-rationalist-leaders-legacy-shapes-tamil-nadu-politics-across-party-lines/articleshow/134293692.cms). In the same way Congress calls on Gandhi, Tamil Nadu parties, despite rejecting his atheism and radical views, use Periyar as an emblem to ground both their political identity and their legitimacy as champions of Tamils first.[3](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/whose-periyar-how-the-rationalist-leaders-legacy-shapes-tamil-nadu-politics-across-party-lines/articleshow/134293692.cms)
**Claimed across party lines.** When the actor and politician C Joseph Vijay launched TVK, he named Periyar as one of the party's "ideological guiding lights"; the DMK and AIADMK maintain that their core ideologies were influenced by Periyar; and the CPI endorses his social reform movement, especially his views on inter-caste marriages[3](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/whose-periyar-how-the-rationalist-leaders-legacy-shapes-tamil-nadu-politics-across-party-lines/articleshow/134293692.cms). The political historian and biographer Kannan R describes him as an "enduring ideological benchmark"[3](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/whose-periyar-how-the-rationalist-leaders-legacy-shapes-tamil-nadu-politics-across-party-lines/articleshow/134293692.cms).
Even at the height of his renown, his critique of Hinduism and religious superstition was an aspect of the movement that Dravidian political parties began to downplay[17](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/006996670203600303).
The legacy also shapes contemporary controversies. Atheists in India, though small in numbers, have exerted influence in politics, and the Dravidar Kazhagam and its coalition of political parties have resisted the policies of [Narendra Modi](https://www.edgepedia.org/narendra-modi)'s central government[2](https://apnews.com/article/7967186eb3bffade80e0d96e354a1baf). Tamil Nadu's long history of social justice and equal rights movements, rooted in this tradition, is cited as a reason Hindu-centric politics has not resonated there; the BJP did not win any of the state's 39 seats in the 2019 election[18](https://apnews.com/article/cb283460d1066a0e874da7334ffd880e).
His standing in scholarship has grown with the publication of *The Cambridge Companion to Periyar*, edited by A.R. Venkatachalapathy of the Madras Institute of Development Studies and Karthick Ram Manoharan of the [National Law School of India University](https://www.edgepedia.org/national-law-school-of-india-university), the first companion volume devoted to him[19](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/the-cambridge-companion-to-periyar/5349F4B097E2F671F41E653F8F966610). As the state approaches the 147th anniversary of his birth in 2026, he remains a central figure in the evolution of Tamil Nadu's political identity[4](https://www.mirrornow.in/chennai-news/periyar-ev-ramasamy-legacy-tamil-nadu-politics-article-156170660).
## References
1. [From DK to DMK to AIADMK: How the Dravidian movement has shaped TN's politics, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/dravidian-movement-tamil-nadu-dmk-aiadmk-tvk-history-10689043/?tbref=hp)
2. [Nonreligious struggle to find their voice and place in Indian society and politics, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/7967186eb3bffade80e0d96e354a1baf)
3. [Whose Periyar? How the rationalist leader's legacy shapes Tamil Nadu politics across party lines, The Times of India](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/whose-periyar-how-the-rationalist-leaders-legacy-shapes-tamil-nadu-politics-across-party-lines/articleshow/134293692.cms)
4. [Why Periyar E.V. Ramasamy Remains the Defining Force in Tamil Nadu Politics, Mirror Now](https://www.mirrornow.in/chennai-news/periyar-ev-ramasamy-legacy-tamil-nadu-politics-article-156170660)
5. [Naicker, Erode Venkata Ramasamy, Treccani Dizionario di Storia](https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/erode-venkata-ramasamy-naicker_%28Dizionario-di-Storia%29/)
6. [The Dravida Family Tree, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/dravidian-movement-family-tree-jayalalithaa-tamil-nadu-elections-karunanidihi-dmk-aiadmk-vaiko-2771834/)
7. [Periyar's Anti-Aryanism: A Genealogy, a Synopsis, and a Critique, The Cambridge Companion to Periyar, Cambridge University Press](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-periyar/periyars-antiaryanism-a-genealogy-a-synopsis-and-a-critique/EADAAE2B10BAD5B13BBEFAA173F415D9)
8. [The Cambridge Companion to Periyar, publisher's excerpt, Cambridge University Press](https://assets.cambridge.org/97810096/05366/excerpt/9781009605366_excerpt.pdf)
9. [Karthick Ram Manoharan (2020). Freedom from God: Periyar and Religion. Religions 11(1), 10](https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/11/1/10)
10. [Periyar E.V. Ramasamy: Complete Life Story, Vidur Foundation](https://vidurfoundation.org/biographies/periyar-ev-ramasamy-life-and-lessons)
11. [Periyar and the Dravidian movement in Tamil Nadu, The Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/research/aiadmk-sasikala-panneerselvam-jayalalithaa-tamil-nadu-dravidian-movement-4619852/)
12. [Radical freedom: Periyar and women (PMC)](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10445885/)
13. [The Self-Respect Movement of Periyar, Tamil Nadu History Congress proceedings](https://www.tnhc.org.in/docs/proceedings/Chidambaram-2012.pdf)
14. [Dissertation on Ambedkar and caste history, OhioLINK ETD](https://etd.ohiolink.edu/acprod/odb_etd/ws/send_file/send?accession=osu1322514832&disposition=inline)
15. [Periyar, Ambedkar, and the Poona Pact, The Cambridge Companion to Periyar](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/cambridge-companion-to-periyar/periyar-ambedkar-and-the-poona-pact/7B09E21429F27C864B2C251F58CD58F7)
16. [Karthick Ram Manoharan (2020). In the path of Ambedkar: Periyar and the Dalit question. South Asian History and Culture 11(2)](https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19472498.2020.1755127)
17. [Glynis George (2002). 'Four makes society': Women's organisation, Dravidian nationalism and women's interpretation of caste, gender and change in South India. Contributions to Indian Sociology](https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/006996670203600303)
18. [Why voters in southern India are more resistant to Modi's Hindu-centric politics, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/cb283460d1066a0e874da7334ffd880e)
19. [The Cambridge Companion to Periyar, Cambridge University Press](https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/the-cambridge-companion-to-periyar/5349F4B097E2F671F41E653F8F966610)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Society and history › Social life and human behavior › Communities and populations › Caste and caste societies*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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