The passing away of every Periyarist is undeniably an irreparable loss to us. Widely known all over the State of Telangana and other States too, popularly as Hyderabad J.N. Damodar left us on 2nd January 2026.
His grand father Munusamy (Naidu) was a senior veteran leader of the Justice Party in Tamil Nadu and also a former Chief Minister of Madras Presidency. As the grandson of a stalwart, J.N. Damodar too emerged as a staunch Periyarist and unswerving Rationalist.
Manjai Vasanthan, a senior cadre of our movement and a prolific writer, authored a book in Tamil under the title ‘Ivarthan Periyar’ that meant “This is Periyar”. It was printed and published by us. This work on the life and achievements of Periyar was translated with our permission, by the Late Damodar into English, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Odiya and several other regional languages. He printed and published the translated versions and thousands of those free copies were distributed by him to a wide circle of readers all over the country. Such was his passionate attachment to Periyar Thought and ideology. He was very particular about their reaching the youth of the present generation, especially the young students of the modern era.
The objective of Damodar was to spread Periyar Thought beyond Tamil Nadu and propagate it over all other states. He worked hard with unflinching resolve, particularly towards this noble mission.
He had a very healthy relationship with our Dravidar Kazhagam movement. The Federation of Indian Rationalists Association (FIRA) organised a grand conference at Trichy in 2025. The main agenda was to resolve and spread Periyar thought through, several regional languages. We had invited Damodar to grace the occasion as a guest of honour in order to felicitate him as one of the ardent promoters of Periyar thought, but he could not attend the event owing to his age related ailments. However, he reciprocated by his acknowledgement and stated in his response that he was invigorated by our invite. Damodar has also generously contributed to the cause of our ‘PERIYAR WORLD’ construction at Siruganur near Trichy. As a donor he would be honoured posthumously by our engraving his name on the exclusive DONORS’ WALL under construction.
The passing away of Damodar is certainly an irreparable loss to our DK movement. He deserves our royal salute. We commend his noble efforts towards propagating Periyar Thought through various Indian languages. “The Modern Rationalist” conveys its heartfelt condolence to the bereaved family of Damodar.
– Dr.K. Veeramani
President,
Dravidar Kazhagam
