Sanatana recently caused stormy outbursts all over India. Is it to be abolished, eradicated and eliminated? Periyar wanted it to be annihilated- to be destroyed completely. On 22nd May, 1954 he delivered a speech at a public meeting of the Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) held in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. The content of that 69 year old speech is as follows, in nutshell:
Dear cadres, friends and all the well wishers, I am glad that this conference is being held after the five year long brahminist rule headed by C. Rajagopalachari. The new Ministry has been formed by Chief Minister Kamaraj and let us hope the change would lead to the welfare of all our people. I have nothing personal against Brahmin individuals. I oppose the Sanatana to which they are adhered to. It is based on Varnashrama which is a social injustice. Sanatana says nothing should undergo change but our Dravidam believes in changes and constant reformations. Therefore we want Sanatana to be not merely eradicated, abolished and eliminated but to be annihilated and totally uprooted.
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Welcome the change
The heirs of Brahmin purohits are in coveted posts and positions but the sons of the soil were expected by Rajagopalachari to carry on with their traditional occupation. The hereditary occupational education scheme imposed by him was a Sanatanist strategy to prevent the progress and advancement of the downtrodden non-brahmins. It is good that the scheme was nipped in the bud. The doors are now open for prosperity.
In 1937, fifty percent of the ministers in the rule of Rajagopalachari were Brahmins. For the first time, we have today a ministry without even one Brahmin minister. People who were in favour of the rule of Rajagopalachari are today extending support to Kamaraj. I am pleased by this major change.
Self Centred Sanatanists
The Sanatana has always been against our demand of communal representation. It existed when the justice party was ruling but the rule under Rajaji scrapped it. I continued my fight to bring it back. When I was with the Congress, S. Ramanathan moved a resolution for community wise representation. Voice vote was avoided. They asked us to get 30 signatures in favour. Ramanathan brought 50 signatures in our favour. I seconded the resolution but when I was away for a few minutes, Thiru – Vi – Ka rejected the resolution cleverly. Eventually I quit the Congress.
To curb the mismanagement in the Hindu Charities and Endowments, the Justice Party enacted a law but the Brahmins in the Congress, Satyamurthy Iyer and Seenivasa Iyengar opposed it. Condemning the act of those Sanatanists, Varadarajulu, Thiru – Vi – Ka and I released a statement that was published in ‘Navasakthi’. Rajaji rushed to our office and requested for compromise. By his persuasion our struggle was withdrawn. When Omandur Ramasamy enacted a similar law, we supported it. He was ridiculed as “black – shirtless Ramasamy” by the Sanatanists in the Congress. Thus our fight against Sanatana was going on .
We resist evil
Our movement is always in favour of those who do something good for society. We shall never hesitate to condemn them if they begin to harm society. I am in favour of Kamaraj today but I would turn against him if he does something harmful to society. Once when Vallabh Bai Patel arrived in Chennai, his rivals decided to wave black flags to protest against his visit. I stopped them from doing it because Patel was in favour of the non-brahmin movement. Therefore, I avoided humiliation to him. What I mean to say here is, we have to be either for or against people according to the way they treat us. No one can be a friend or a foe forever. People change with the times and so do we. There is nothing undesirable about it.
Sanatanists dispensable
The advocates of Sanatana are in no way superior to us. They are not indispensable for society. Ours is a vast land, quite rich in culture and comforts. Why should people of such a great country languish as Sudhras and Panchamas? More than 650 emperors were driven away by us as per history. All the feudal land lords have perished. Even the mighty British rulers have quit. Why can’t we make the Sanatanists quit? Is it fair on our part to still stoop to them? Do they deserve our respect and regard? I urge you all to think deeply over this. Always welcome the good and discard the bad. Most of our people have been worshipping idols obeying the codes of the Sanatanists. People used to kneel and stoop before Brahmin purohits. People should give up paying heed to Sanatanists. Self respect and dignity alone are invaluable.
Unjust ‘brahminocracy’
The word ‘brahminocracy’ has become the substitute for ‘democracy’. Brahmins with vested interest have dominated the world of education and employment. Birth based discrimination and caste based atrocities are on the rise. ‘Sanatana’ wants this pitiable condition to be eternal but we shall not rest until we bring about a change.
The fault lies in our own people who lack awareness. They must wake up before it is too late. Getting rid of ‘brahminocracy’ would be the ideal panacea, a cure for all the societal ailments. The Sanatana Dharma is against equality and social justice. It is the major hurdle on our path preventing our advancement in life. Therefore it is to be uprooted and destroyed completely, because it is undeniably a principle that divides people in the names of caste and religion. It has contaminated our society.
Uproot and uphold
Only by uprooting Sanatana we can uphold humanity and human equality. This must be done for the sake of the oppressed and marginalised people who have been suffering for several decades. We must curb the negative impact of Sanatana Dharma on society. It is certainly responsible for many social evils. Every challenge that comes our way must be confronted with unflinching resolve. We cannot allow a caste hierarchical society to exist.
The Sanatanists think that they are an unquestionable authority. We reject it outright. Nothing is eternal as per our Dravidian principles. Therefore, ‘Sanatana’ should not merely be opposed but must be totally done away with. It enslaved women and did not allow them to step out of their home but today by the tireless efforts of our Dravidian movements, our women have advanced in life to a great extent. We are infact striving to make them all financially independent. Women’s empowerment is not possible until Sanatana is destroyed completely.
What did Sanatana do to women? It pushed women who lost their husbands into fire. This practice of Sati was annihilated by the efforts of social reformers. Similarly this evil called Sanatana should also be uprooted. Long ago widows were forced to wear white saris and there were child marriages too. They have all vanished. Still some more reforms are needed. Caste based education system imposed by Rajaji has been eradicated which is a great relief.
The Sanatana ideology had been preventing the children of backward and oppressed classes from getting educated. We are still resisting this unjust ideology. Our Dravidar Kazhagam (DK) Movement was founded to promote the spirit of questioning everything. We shall continue to do it until we achieve all our objectives. We still have long distance to cover. I urge you all to join us in the collective fight.
Courtesy: ‘Viduthalai’, 1st June 1954
Translated by: M.R. Manohar
