Socio-cultural Histories of South India CSIS ( Center for South Indian studies) workshop

10-11 December 2023

Bhagyanagar

 

By

 

Pradakshina

 

Center for south Indian Studies conducted an informative workshop on the 10^th and 11^th December 2023 with a focus on the Dakshinapatha ,the Dakshin, the south of Vindhyas, was always well- integrated in ancient nation of Bharat. As south was relatively less attacked by invaders, it was able to preserve cultural and spiritual unity of Bharat. However colonial invasions started mostly from the South, and these forces have impacted the intellectual and cultural spaces, Ravindranath Tagore called it ‘aamoolagra invasion’. South was always called Dakshinapatha and north was Uttarapatha. CSIS is functioning from a few places in Dakshin, Bhagyanagar, Cochin and Chennai. The following themes of the sessions which are going to be conducted during the two-day workshop.

 

• Ancient traditions
• Distortions in academic narratives
• Glorious period of Tamil lands – Sangam, cholas etc
• Glorious period of Andhra lands
• Resistance movements
• Distortions of the Dravidianism ideologies

 

 

I  Kerala Heritage and Bharat 

 

Sri Sashi Bhushan, eminent scholar, researcher and writer

 

Culture of a particular region is closely related to the geographical, social and political context of the region. Broadly, Kerala had 3 regions, Travancore, Cochin and Malabar regions. To put it succinctly, Kerala history unfortunately is about foregoing its own culture for the sake of commercial interests. As trade flourished, European powers like Portuguese had deep christian connections and control. As a result, Kerala has about 35% Muslim and 22% christian population. Even in the old days, the christian population had considered the pope as their head. Today 5000 odd libraries are entirely controlled by the Communist party, and hundreds of Akshaya centers are controlled by that party. These centers are projecting Islamic fundamentalism just to prevent the unity of Hindus. A few years ago, with the help of a court order, they intervened in Sabarimala temple, they even produced fake documents that the temple and the area belonged to the tribals. Though earlier tribals helped the pilgrims, the possessional rights always belonged to Hindus. Today all these tribals have turned christian. The Chief Minister even produced a fake copper plate, which finally got exposed. This is the alarming history of Kerala. Today with rigorous and thorough knowledge, we need to retrieve our own history and transfer the knowledge to the present and future generations.

 

There’s a heavy participation of almost 90% communists in Theyyam festivals, especially in Malabar, which are usually performed in non-vedic temples. Though the performances are on the Ramayana epic, they have created fake characters within it to de-hinduise our epics. It is very tough to revive the old Hindu epic traditions in that region.

 

Matrilineal system, which existed since the 100-year war, from the Chola-Chera period or 12^th century onwards, was abolished in 1925, only the Travancore royal family was allowed to practice it.  There were frictions between Vedic and non-vedic traditions, Vajrayana Buddhism was active which followed several Shaivate traditions. Similarly the Jains too followed Vaishnavite traditions. Namboodri Brahmins largely followed Shaivate traditions. Today the sub-castes have largely disappeared. In earlier times, Ayyappa tradition wasn’t very popular, the journey itself was very difficult. The deity himself is non-vedic, though he existed from Vedic times. The deity became popular after Satavahana Empire, then he was called as ‘Revantha’. Revantha as Rishis are present in North too. Some people believe that Vaavar is a Buddhist, others think that he was a non-islamic Arab. Cultural historians have to distinguish between real history, myth and legends, which are all interconnected.

 

After 1949, things changed, a group of non-hindus devastated the Sabarimala Ayyappa temple, which was reconstructed later. RSS leaders played a prominent role in the revival of the Ayyappa tradition. British were responsible for the divide in the society, which continued in the later period.

 

The Film Industry in Kerala is controlled by Christians and Muslims, and they actively promote their culture. The muslims are promoting something called ‘Allopanishad’, which was produced in the 18th century, christians too do play the same game of distortions. We need to expose all such ventures. Interdisciplinary discourses have to be started to understand and expose all such false narratives.

 

Sri Shankaracharya himself moved from Kalady to Himalayas, and was aware of Asethu- Himachala conception of Bharat. Politically there was no unified India, but there was always a cultural and spiritual unity. In Kerala itself, several smaller kingdoms existed with its 42 smaller rivers as natural boundaries.

 

Shankaranath Joshyar was appointed as his adviser by Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Raja Ravi Varma traveled all over the country, painted royalty as well as Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Rajaraja Chola got Ganga waters from Kashi and did Abhishekam at Brihadeeswara temple, hence he was called as Gangai-cholan. All rivers of South-East Asia have Ganga as their byname.

 

Swami Vivekananda advised Dr Palpu to find a spiritual personality to unify the masses, that’s how Sri Narayana Guru was known to all, which helped the backward communities like ezhavas to revive. This community is considered a very dynamic community, and ironically they don’t want any dialogues with other backward communities.

 

Ramayana was popular from the 9th century onwards, Rama Charitam, Bala Ramayanam etc kavyas were very popular.  Onam is celebrated as the return of Mahabali today, earlier it was celebrated as Vamana Jayanti. There were many protests by farmers against the landowners, after the 14^th century they looked upto  Raja Mahabali as their icon. Mahabali and Vamana go together; there are many Mahabali-ishwara temples in many places. Unfortunately, certain left intellectuals are promoting non-vegetarian food during Hindu feasts.

 

We have little knowledge about internal commercial trade routes within the south. Some are well-known like Salem – Kanyakumari (present day’s NH  47), but there existed dozens of such routes. Punch -mark Silver coins from Magadha Empire were found in Thrissur, and many other coins from other kingdoms were found in other places in Kerala. The trading centers of Kerala were well-connected. Unfortunately today history and archaeology are being used to divide India.

 

In 4^th century CE too, inscriptions of Kadamba dynasty are found as ‘vishnu kadamba’. There are many sacred groves and Yakshi shrines which were enumerated in Kerala. After 12/14^th century, many temple structures emerged. From the Megalithic period onwards, many Hindu symbols are seen. These megalithic monuments are called ‘Pandugudis’. In over 70% of these structures, the ‘trident’ connected with Shiva are seen.

 

The monumental work ‘Malabar Manual’ was done by William Logan in 1887. Huge amounts are being funded for Pattinam explorations with a political agenda. ‘Pattinam’ explorations want to falsely establish that they are connected to Roman civilization, and they want to deny the civilizational roots with Sindhu and Harappa. Hundreds of megalithic monuments are seen in a place called Marayu, yet no scientific excavations are done. In Bali, the Hindu Dharma was called the ‘aarava’ religion. Prof MN Shastri prepared monumental volumes based on Sri Narayana Guru’s teachings. It is our duty to propagate the real teachings of Sri Narayana Guru.

 

‘Palli’ is primarily a Pali word, meant to mean places of worship and prayers, of Devi, Jaina, Buddhist etc. Churches and mosques started appropriating these terms, and started calling as Teresapalli etc.  Malayalam has over 40% Sanskrit words. Unlike Tamilnadu, Kerala never negated Sanskrit and its rich knowledge. Even in medieval ages, non-brahmin communities like village astrologers, carpenters etc learnt Sanskrit and propagated its knowledge systems. Unfortunately, the Kalady Sanskrit University is controlled by communist party, just like the same party controls the Devaswom boards of several temples. All south Indian languages including Sinhalese have derived their scripts from southern ‘Brahmi’ script.

 

As per Shankara Mahatyam, Sri Adi Shankara visited all the major temples and Kshetras, including Kamakhya in the northeast. It’s only natural that the connect is there. There was also a Parasurama sect in various parts of the country, as well as Pasupatha and Kapali sects. Brajbhasha was the main link language of many saints, sanyasis and sadhus. Swati Tirunal even composed verses in Hindustani music. Travancore royalty propagated and promoted Sanskrit language which was also spoken widely.

 

Sri Guru Nanak went to remote Kanyakumari, and composed beautiful poems in praise of Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy, the deity of the famous temple.

 

 

 

II  Continuity of Traditions – beyond Linguistic Frontiers

 

Sri Ramachandran, epigraphist and author, Chennai.

 

 

Chola, Pandya, Chera were the various kingdoms, Kerala is a derivation from Chera, a variety of pearls is also known, similar to Tamraparni, also a pearl variety from Srilanka. Sangam period was the earliest literary period from Tamilnadu, the kingdoms of Chola and Pandya were contemporaneous to Ashoka. This period was known as the second urbanization phase which started from 7^th century BCE, after the first one belonging to the Sindhu period. Before this period, the 16 Mahajanapadas flourished for over a 1000 years. Mandhata, was mentioned as the ancestor of Chola kings, Muchukunda Mandhata’s capital was Mahishmati. Copper- hoard culture was prevalent during the Mahajanapada period. There was a natural intermingling between all people, upto 16^th and 17^th centuries, before the linguistic boundaries crystallized during the British period.

 

Dravida is a mispronunciation of the word, ‘dramila or dramida’ mentioned in Karavela’s Hathigumpha inscription. King Sibi is also mentioned as an ancestor of Cholas, in Sibi Jathaka tales and also in Buddha-Jathaka tales. Protection of citizens is mentioned as a Kshatriya quality, Buddhists were Kshatriya kings.

Gowda Purana mentions the Telugu- chodas, and Sibi as ancestors. This legend exists across the nation, Chambinath Mahadev is the deity of this community of Gowd- Rajputs between Sheopur and Omkareshwar. Socio-historians should probe these cultural connects. The small rivulet of Narmada is called Kaveri, it shows that Cholas hailed from Omkareshwara area. The Koyil Puranam, the Puranam of Chidambaram temple, mentions that Gowdesa Manu was the first Chola King, possibly from Avanti Mahajanapada.

 

The term Nairs of Kerala maybe a corrupted form of Naikars, they claim their ancestry to Mahabali, later they became Vellalars or agricultural communities. The ‘confederacy of merchants’ was created later, after the collapse of the Chola period.

 

The Pandya and Kourya lineage is believed to be the descendants of Pandava and Kaurava clans. Mathura in Uttar Pradesh and Virat Nagar in Rajasthan, are believed to be the original towns from where they hailed. The Uttara Gograhana legend from Mahabharata is mentioned in a veiled manner in the Pandyan inscriptions. Goddess Meenakshi, the fish-eyed goddess is regarded as a descendant of the Matsya Kingdom. Another line is that of Cheraman Perumal kingdom, many inscriptions from 12/13^th centuries claim they are from Chandra dynasty.

 

The Chousat Yogini temple in Morena, Madhya Pradesh exists; the Yogini temple believed to be built by queen Hiradevi in Hirapur in Orissa also exists. The number 64 is associated with the tantric Devi/ Yogini cult. 64 Yoginis/Yakshinis are supposed to have been pacified by Shiva; the preceptors of Golaki Mutt, originating from Tripura have spread throughout India.

 

Tenkasi, called as Dakshin Kasi temple was built by King Parakrama Pandya, he mentioned that he has built Dakshin Kasi, on the banks of Chitra river, after Kasi was destroyed in 1432. He stated that he brought many people and Pandits from Kasi. Lohita pada/ sivanth pada was the terms used for Gorakhnath Mutt. The Kasi Maharaja’s emblem – three fish – was also the emblem or insignia of the Pandya kings of Tenkasi. The Pandya king, Kulasekhara Deva Dikshitar  (though Madhura Naikars were the kings), is regarded to have belonged to the Brahmin Bhumihar community as per 1754 CE inscription. Telugu Chodas ruled from Srikakulam and Draksharamam. In conclusion, there was huge cultural connect and intermingling of people from various regions of the nation, beyond today’s linguistic frontiers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

III  Glorious Past of Andhra Desa

 

Sri Veerender, scholar and historian, Itihasa Sankalana Samiti

 

Thirty Kings of Satavahana dynasty ruled for nearly 400 years, mentioned in Brahmanda Purana, Vayu Purana, Agni Purana as Andhras or Andhra Bhrityas.  Dharanikota or Amaravati was the ancient capital. After research, Kotilingala on the banks of Godavari, is believed to be the first capital of Satavahanas. Paithan was the second capital of Satavahanas. About 150 BCE, Gautamiputra Satakarni / Yagnasri Satakarni, had established Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, as the capital.

 

Possibly from the Sada dynasty, Siri Mahasada’s inscription was found in Guntupalli in North Andhra. Vaddamanu/ vardhaman Jain inscription was also found near Amaravati, Guntur district. Yagnasri Satakarni then captured the Andhra region and established the capital at Amaravati. He ruined the Jain stupas and converted them to Buddhist stupas; strangely the queens patronized Buddhism, while the kings were Hindus and they performed Aswamedha yagas.

 

Ikshvaku kings, Santhamoola’s son Virapurusha Dutta developed the Nagarjunakonda region and established the Kingdom, expanded till river Penna in Nellore. Hindu temple was built there, which has pillar inscriptions in Sanskrit. Buddhist stupas were built in Nelakondapalli in Khammam region during the 2^nd century CE. The Ikshvaku king Rudramoola Dutta may have been the last king during the 2^nd century CE. Language was Sanskrit with Brahmi script.

 

Vishnukundinas, Salankana and Pallava dynasties came up after the Ikshvakus in 3^rd century CE. Pallavas moved towards Nellore and Kanchipuram. Vishnukundinas with capital at Vinukonda possibly, were Hindu kings, they moved towards Kadapa, Tummalagudem near Nalgonda district, and Keesaragutta near Hyderabad, and in Chaitanyapuri area within Hyderabad city, during 4^th century CE. Vakatakas spread from Maharashtra region, followed by the Telugu Chodas, later followed by the Badami and Kalyani Chalukyas. From the 11^th century onwards, clear inscriptions are found in Telugu language. Gaadha Saptashati was written by Satavahana king Hala during 1^st / 2^nd century CE.

 

Buddhism’s downfall happened after women’s entry into the Sanghas. Jainism was very much prevalent during the Kakatiya period, frictions rose between Shaivates and Jains. Chalukyas built major temples in Andhra, especially the Shaivate temples. Kolanupaka was a major Jain temple from the Chalukyan period, flourished till about the 8^th century CE. Kakati /kakatamma temple, a form of Goddess Parvati was considered to be in Mahbubabad area, where Kakatiyas and Rani Rudrama used to worship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Second day

 

IV  Kakatiya Empire 

 

Sri SM Pran Rao, historian and author

 

After a long gap after the decline of Satavahanas, the Telugu lands once again unified under the vast Kakatiya kingdom.  Kakatiya kingdom had Garuda and Varaha as state emblems. The Kingdom was vast and spread out till today’s north Tamilnadu, today’s south Odissa, parts of today’s Karnataka etc. It was a peaceful and prosperous kingdom with no unnecessary wars or cruelty. They had built over 1500 beautiful temples of great sculpture and architecture, and also built a network of canals and tanks for irrigation. Rudramadevi was a great ruler; she was the first empress in India.

 

In the early phase, they were Samsthanas under Rashtrakutas. Mangallu Dana sasana -956 CE gives the first glimpse of kakatiyas-Danarva donated the village to a Brahmin. Bayyavaram or bayyaram village has another inscription, which gives the list of the kings of Kakatiya dynasty. An incarnation of Goddess Durga, Kakati was a village goddess, and the Kuladevi of Kakatiyas.  Ekaveera Devi is depicted as one of the companions of Kakati Devi. Kakateeyas are very much people of Telugu regions. Telugu names like Gundaya, Bethiraju, Prolaya etc were prevalent then. Ekamranatha who wrote the Prathapa Charitra Kavya is considered as the first historian, the text gives the details of the Kakatiya dynasty. Somadeva Raju ruled the Dhanyakataka. Hanumakonda was ruled by Erukala Raju, a tribal king. Siriyaladevi gave birth to Madhava Varma, later Durjaya was born, from where the Kakatiya dynasty is supposed to have started. As Rashtrakutas were Jains, it is believed that Kakatiyas, a Samsthana, were also earlier Jains. 16^th Teerthankara, Shantideva’s nude giant statue is found in Hanumakonda. Later from 1157 CE, they became totally Hindu and were practicing Shaivates, they have built many huge Shiva temples.

 

Prola II laid the foundation for today’s Warangal, it was then called Andhra Nagari, and Orugallu/ Ekasila nagaram. Rudradeva became the ruler. Palnadu was another great Samsthana during that era.

Brahma Naidu, a Vaishnavite arranged ‘chapa koodu’/ common dining’ of all communities, described by the great poet Srinatha in Palnati Veera Charitra, Palnadu minister Nagamma, who was a Shaivate approached Rudradeva.

 

Rudradeva built the famous Veyi sthambhala gudi (thousand pillars temple) in Hanumakonda and many other great temples. Temples were built in Mantrakuta or Manthani, Makha sthali (yagna sala) became Makthal, he also built the Karman Ghat temple. Kakatiyas official language was Sanskrit, he also wrote Neeti Sara in Sanskrit. Some Kavyas like Markandeya charitra were written in Telugu also during that time. Jaithuki/ Jaitrapala from Devagiri killed Rudradeva; Rudradeva earlier adopted Ganapati Deva. Ganapati Deva was among the greatest kings of Bharat, he expanded the Empire all over Andhra upto Kanchipuram and Mahabalipuram. Rudramadevi (born 1209) was brought up as a prince, she was later made the queen of the empire, she was a great warrior and she later took revenge against Devagiri kings, including Mahadevaraju of Devagiri, Bedada or Bidar fort also surrendered to her. At the age of 80 in 1289 CE, Rudramadevi died in war, a heroic death in a battle at Tripuranthakam, in Prakasham district. The greatest king Prataparudra II followed her as the King. He defeated several muslim invaders. During that time, Allauddin Khilji’s army led by Malik kafur’s invading army destroyed hundreds of temples, and they used to kill thousands of cows every day.

 

 

 

V  Musunuri Nayakas

 

Sri Khandavalli Satyadev Prasad, author, scholar and researcher.

 

Musunuri Nayakas hailed from the Vengi region, the Musurnuri nayaka brothers are Prolaya Nayaka and Kapaya Nayaka. Their forefathers served the Kakatiya kings of Orugallu/ Warangal. The last king Prataparudra II ruled during 1289-1323, he was a great ruler and administrator, a patron of arts and literature and builder of great temples.

 

There were 72 Samsthanas or Nayamkaras in the kingdom. Allauddin Khilji’s army led by sex-slave Malik Kafur (from Cambay/khamba) attacked Devagiri/ Daulatabad in 1307. In 1309 CE, the invaders attacked Kakatiyas, though King Prataparudra defeated the invaders twice earlier. The invaders attacked the Hoyasalas at Dwarasamudra in 1310 CE and destroyed that great kingdom. The invaders were jihadis, they killed and looted Hindu kingdoms, burned crops and destroyed agriculture and the countryside. King Prataparudra was forced to offer truce, not because of military defeats, but because ordinary civilians were killed and looted. The jihadi bandit attacks were against the rules of Dharma Yuddha, the principles followed by the kings in India. Mohd Bin Tughlak/ Ulug khan invaded Kakatiyas in 1323 CE, the great King Prataparudra jumped into Narmada on the way to Delhi where he was being taken as a prisoner. Kaluvacheru inscription by one Anitalli in 1327 CEi describes this episode.

 

• Kampili ruler’s wife Gangadevi describes the invasion in her Sanskrit work Madhura Vijayam.
• Abhiti Stavam of Vaishnava Savant Vedantha Desikar also describes these invasions.
• Zafarnama of Ibn Batuta described the banditry and cruelty of Islamic invaders with great pride.

 

After the fall of Kakatiyas, the entire south fell into chaos and despair. Musunuri Nayaka brothers were from kamma community, others were Kapus, Recharla kings were velamas, Addanki Reddys were Reddys, Annaya Mantri and others were Brahmins, in other words, people of all castes and communities of Hindus fought together in the great liberation of the Telugu lands.  By 1326 CE, initially coastal Andhra, then Rayalaseema and Telangana were liberated, Vilasa dana sasanam/ inscription describes the liberation of Hindus in great detail.

 

Musunuri Prolaya has granted a village in Konaseema to a Veda pundit Vennaya to protect the Shastras and knowledge systems. After Prolaya, his cousin Musunuri Kapaya took over, he defeated Maqbool and captured Warangal by 1336 CE, the vast Kingdom of the earlier Kakatiyas was retrieved in its entirety by the Musunuri Nayaka Kings. The Musunuri Nayakas were such crucial figures that they became the inspiration for Vijayanagara Empire, which in turn became the inspiration for the Maratha Empire of Chattrapati Sivaji Maharaja.

 

 

VI   Internal Resistance during the Muslim rule and Colonial rule

 

Dr Rahul A Shastri, Author and scholar

 

Gulbarga ( Kulbarga – Raja Kulachandra ) was mentioned by Persian scholars, the Persian silsilas shifted their faith to Allah, the Sufi panth became solidified. The kalandhars, madaris have taken their practices from Naga sadhus, other shia Sufis became more orthodox. The descendants of Ali were massacred in Karbala. Many shia peers came and settled in Deccan, Sharfuddin Suhrawardy of Pahadi Shareef was a prominent Sufi in Hyderabad. Orthodox Sufism is closely allied with political Islam, and adopted more covert methods rather than open jihad.

 

Khiljis and Tughlaks controlled Deccan for a period during mid-14^th century. There were many revolts against Delhi sultanate by the Bahmanis supported by Telugus and others. Bahmani rule was established from Gulbarga, they later attacked and subdued the Hindu powers. Syeds, Persians and Turks – afaquis were imported from Muslim countries and were given plum posts. Thousands of afaquis were killed by Hindu rebellions. From the 1500s onwards, bahmanis disintegrated into 5 kingdoms.

 

The Qutb shahis of shia faith, were established at Golkonda. Quli Qutb Shah’s son was sheltered at Vijayanagara, and he later snatched power at Golkonda. Many thousands of Sunnis came from north and settled in Deccan.  Abul Hasan Tanisha became sultan in Deccan, Madanna was made a minister by him. Madanna and his brother Akkanna opposed the moors- the Africans, Arabs and Iranians, the Dutch and other foreigners. Madanna and Akkanna were trying to build a Hindu resistance. Chattrapati Shivaji’s relations with Deccan were severed when the second installment wasn’t paid by Golkonda to the Marathas and a few other political developments.

 

In 1686 CE, Akkanna and Madanna were beheaded by Aurangzeb publicly and massacres of thousands of Hindus were conducted by Aurangzeb’s army, the Hindu massacres went upto Machilipatnam.

Maheswaram temple complex, near Hyderabad  was destroyed. Deccan Brahmin resistance was organized by Moru and Ramdas, it was a prolonged rebellion, which from some sources, seems to have gone on for a 100 years. The anti – Brahmin policy of Aurangzeb was clear and was also written about.

 

In 1786 CE, Monsieur Raymond’s French army was stationed in Hyderabad, when the kingdom became the first major ally and a subsidiary to the British. The pro- British Diwan led the Nizam into an alliance with the British. Hyderabad’s army was commanded by Mahipat Ram. Mahipat Ram wrote letters to defy the British, later Mahipat Ram was dismissed. The British then established their agent and residency in Hyderabad, through which they ruled the Hyderabad kingdom. There is evidence that Mahipat Ram led an internal rebellion; in 1808 the Battle of Sholapur took place.  It is believed that he and his brother Sripat Ram were in the court of Indore, he later died there.

 

 

VII  Impact of British Rule – Detrimental to South Indian society 

 

Sri V. Prabhakaran, Researcher, Chennai

 

 

The fragmented nature of Indian polity and society made it easy for the foreign colonial powers to conquer the Indian kingdoms. While north India faced the brunt of Islamic invasions, though islamic forces came deep south, the destruction was relatively less in south.  Aurangzeb’s army led by Rustom Khan was defeated by Raghunath Sethupathi of Madurai in 1707, he also entered into victorious agreements with British. The following are some of the battles.

 

• Battle of kolachala 1741 Raja Marthanda Varma
• Puli Thevar 1765
• Rani Velu Nachiyar 1788
• Veerapandiya Kattabomman -1799
• Pazzhasi Raja 1805

 

Over a million people died in the ‘First war of Independence’ in 1857, somewhat betrayed by the Sikh regiment. Modern weapons were used by Indians in the war.  After that, the British crown took over direct control of the country. In 1857 when 8gms  gold cost was Rs 7, the British collectors were paid Rs 6000 as salary.  The British brought in many harsh Acts against Indians to suppress, humiliate and loot the people.  About 168 communities spread over 200 taluks were criminalized. The social fabric was torn apart.

 

Some of the British Acts:

 

• Indian Councils Act 1861
• Indian Civil Services Act 1861
• Criminal Tribes Act 1871 (rahadari chit)
• Vernacular Press Act 1878
• Indian Arms Act 1878 (guns, pistols needed license).

 

Lord Ripon brought in a few changes in the administration, including in Courts, where Indians could become judges.

 

The Hindu- German association

Crown prince of Prussia Frederick Wilhelm met several revolutionaries like Jatin Mukherjee, Rashbihari Bose etc. During World War I, Germany attacked the East coast with the MDen warship.

 

Subversion of Education was accomplished by Macaulay who brought in the Education Minute in 1835. Presidency Colleges with English education were established. Census driven caste surveys were done, jathis were categorized and divided as per ‘Purusha Sukta’. The Pyramidical structure was presented, and ritual hierarchy was falsely presented as social hierarchy. Though there was some kind of untouchability, it wasn’t in the manner that it is projected today. Agriculturists, Craftsmen, artisans were categorized as Sudras in the old texts, they were not categorized as any menial services. The normal societal division of labour was presented as a caste hierarchy.

 

William Jones, Max Mueller etc  arbitrarily theorized Aryan homeland theories that Aryans arrived from Central Asia.  Francis Whyte Ellis wrote ‘Comparative study of South Indian languages’, had introduced the notion of `Dravidian languages’ as a group. Robert de Nobili, a missionary has written ‘yeshu Veda’ in Latin.  Robert Caldwell and GU Pope made much mischief. Caldwell brought in fake ‘Dravidian’ theories that Aryans invaded Dravidians etc; GU Pope manufactured many distortion theories that ‘Shiva was a disciple of Jesus’, and `Tiruvalluvar was a disciple of St Thomas’ etc.  In such a vitiated atmosphere, the non -brahmin movement was started.

 

Anti -brahmin movement – Justice Party

Self respect movement – Dravida Kazhagam

Political party – DK

 

Dr Natesa Mudaliar, Pitti Thyagaraja Chetty and TM Nair founded the non -brahmin movement. – South Indian liberal federation in 1914. Alexander Cardew played a major role in anti-brahmin nature of the Dravidian movement. In 1918, Annie Besant formed the Home -Rule movement.  Madras Mail was founded by Welby. The Justice Party got 63 seats out of 97 and formed the government with Raja of Panagal as Chief Minister. Justice party later became Anti- dalit, anti-Backward Castes etc.

 

1920. Rajagopalachary as CM imposed Hindi as compulsory subject, Periyar shot into the limelight with his anti- Hindi agitations. EV Ramasami Naikar became president of the Congress party in Madras Presidency in 1920. Annadurai, a well-educated man propounded atheism, these leaders changed the Justice Party’s name into Dravida Kazhagam. Their newspaper’s name was changed to Vidudalai.

The workshop concluded with a valedictory session and speakers were honored. Vote of thanks proposed by Sri Sandeep Kumar P Director CSIS. The workshop concluded with National Anthem.