Everything about The Self-respect Movement totally explained
The
Self-Respect Movement was founded in
1925 by
E.V. Ramasami Naicker (also known as Periyar) in
Tamil Nadu,
India. The movement has the aim of achieving a society where
backward castes have equal
human rights, and encouraging backward castes to have
self-respect in the context of a
caste based society that considered them to be a lower end of the hierarchy. The movement was extremely influential not just in Tamil Nadu, but also overseas in countries with large Tamil populations, such as
Malaysia and
Singapore. Among
Singapore Indians, groups like the Tamil Reform Association, and leaders like
Thamizhavel G. Sarangapani were prominent in promoting the principals of the Self-Respect Movement among the local Tamil population through schools and publications.
A number of political parties in Tamil Nadu, such as
DMK and
AIADMK owe their origins to the Self-respect movement, the latter a 1972 breakaway from the DMK. Both parties are
populist with a generally
social democratic orientation
The movement has been in political power in Tamil Nadu since
1967, when the DMK under
C. N. Annadurai defeated the ruling
Congress Party. The incumbent (as of 2006) Chief Minister is
M. Karunanidhi of the DMK.
Anti-Brahmanism
Tamil Brahmins (
Iyers and
Iyengars) were frequently held responsible by followers of Periyar for direct or indirect oppression of lower-
caste people on the canard of "Brahmin oppression" and resulted in attacks on Brahmins and which among other reasons started a wave of mass-migration of the Brahmin population.. Periyar in regards to a DK member's attempt to assassinate Rajagopalachari, "expressed his abhorrence of violence as a means of settling political differences". Eventually, the anti-Brahmanism subsided with the replacement of the DMK party by the
AIADMK.
Self-Respect marriages
One of the major sociological changes introduced through the self respect movement was the
self-respect marriage system, where by marriages were conducted
without being officiated by a
Brahmin priest. Periyar had regarded the then conventional marriages were
mere financial arrangements and often caused great debt through dowry. Self-Respect marriages encouraged inter-caste marriages and arranged marriages to be replaced by love marriages. It was aruged by the proponents of self-respect marriage that the then conventional marriages were officiated by Brahmins, who has to be paid for and also the marriage ceremony was in
Sanskrit which most people never understood and hence were ritual and practices based on blind adherence.
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