The Gyan Panchayat on 31st October 2020
The Principles of Self-Respect
(from Wikipedia)
The Self-Respect
Movement is a South
Asian movement with 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. It
was founded in 1925 by S.
Ramanathan who invited E.
V. Ramasamy (also called as Periyar by his devoted followers) to
head the movement in Tamil
Nadu.
Periyar was convinced that if man developed self respect,
he would automatically develop individuality
and would refuse to be led by the nose by schemers. One of his most
known quotes on Self-Respect was, "we are fit to think of
'self-respect' only when the notion of 'superior' and 'inferior'
caste is banished from our land".
Periyar did not expect personal or material gain out of this
movement. He used to recall in a very casual manner that as a human
being, he also was obligated to this duty, as it was the right and
freedom to choose this work. Thus, he opted to engage himself in
starting and promoting the movement.
Periyar declared that the Self-Respect Movement alone could
be the genuine freedom movement, and political freedom would not be
fruitful without individual self-respect. He remarked that the
so-called 'Indian freedom fighters' were showing disrespect of
self-respect, and this was really an irrational philosophy.
Periyar observed that political freedom as conceived by
nationalists such as Gandhi
and Jawaharlal
Nehru and others did not cover individual self-respect. To him
neither revival of the original spirit of Hindu
religion and ancient traditions which formed part of Gandhi's
conception of freedom, nor complete liberation
from the British
rule which was considered by Nehru to be the meaning of freedom
or both of them together could ensure individual self-respect or the
eradication of social ills from Indian society. In his opinion, the
task of fulfilling the need for self-respect would have to be faced
whatever be the extent of political
freedom gained. Pointing out that even the British
monarch in a sovereign
independent nation had no freedom to marry a person of his choice and
had to abdicate
his kingdom, Periyar raised a question whether Gandhi's vision of
freedom or Nehru's concept of independence contained even an iota of
individual self-respect.
Periyar believed that self-respect was as valuable as life itself
and its protection is a birthright and not swaraj ('political
freedom'). He described the movement as Arivu Vidutalai Iyakkam,
that is, a movement to liberate
the intellect.
The terms tan-maanam or suya mariyadai meaning
'self-respect' are traceable in ancient Tamil
literature considered a virtue of high valor in Tamil
society. Periyar once claimed that to describe the ideology of
his movement, no dictionary or language in the entire world could
provide a word better than or equal to suya mariyadai.
Started as a movement (Iyakkam in Tamil) to promote
rational behavior, the Self-Respect Movement acquired much wider
connotation within a short period of time. Periyar, speaking with
M.K. Reddy at the First Self-Respect Conference held in 1929,
explained the significance of self-respect and its principles. The
main principles of the Self-Respect Movement in society were to be:
no kind of inequality
among people; no difference such as rich and poor in economic life;
men and women to be treated as equals in every respect without
differences; attachments to caste, religion, varna,
and country to be eradicated from society with a prevalent friendship
and unity around the world; with every human being seeking to act
according to reason, understanding, desire, and perspective, and
shall not be subject to slavery of any kind or manner.
Equality
with stress on economic and social
equality formed the central theme of the Self-Respect Movement
and was due to Periyar's determination to fight the inequalities
ingrained in the caste
system as well as certain religious practices. Working on the
theme of liberating the society from the baneful social practices
perpetrated in the name of dharma
and karma, Periyar developed the idea of establishing this
movement as the instrument for achieving his objective.
Self Respect
Periyar's philosophy of
self-respect was based on his image of an ideal world and a
universally accepted one. His philosophy preaches that human actions
should be based on rational thinking. Further, the outcome of the
natural instinct of human beings is to examine every object and every
action and even nature with a spirit of inquiry, and to refuse to
submit to anything irrational as equivalent to slavery. Thus, the
philosophy of self-respect taught that human actions should be guided
by reason, right and wrong should follow from rational
thinking and conclusions drawn from reason should be respected under
all circumstances. Freedom means respect to thoughts and actions
considered 'right' by human beings on the basis of 'reason'. There is
not much difference between 'freedom' and 'self-respect'.[55]
Periyar's foremost
appeal to people was to develop self-respect. He preached that the
Brahmins had monopolised and cheated other communities for decades
and deprived them of self-respect. He stated that most Brahmins
claimed to belong to a "superior" community with the
reserved privilege of being in charge of temples and performing
archanas.
He felt that they were trying to reassert their control over religion
by using their superior caste status to claim the exclusive privilege
to touch idols or enter the sanctum sanctorum.[52]
Women’s rights
As a rationalist
and ardent social reformer, Periyar advocated forcefully throughout
his life that women should be given their legitimate position in
society as the equals of men and that they should be given good
education and have the right
to property. He thought age and social customs was not a bar in
marrying women. He was keen that women should realise their rights
and be worthy citizens of their country.[56]
Periyar fought against the orthodox traditions of marriage as
suppression of women in Tamil Nadu and throughout the Indian
sub-continent. Though arranged
marriages were meant to enable a couple to live together
throughout life, it was manipulated to enslave
women. Much worse was the practice of child marriages practised
throughout India at the time. It was believed that it would be a sin
to marry after puberty. Another practice, which is prevalent today,
is the dowry system
where the bride's family is supposed to give the husband a huge
payment for the bride. The purpose of this was to assist the newly
wedded couple financially, but in many instances dowries were misused
by bridegrooms. The outcome of this abuse turned to the exploitation
of the bride's parents wealth, and in certain circumstances, lead to
dowry deaths.
There have been hundreds of thousands of cases where wives have been
murdered, mutilated, and burned alive because the father of the bride
was unable to make the dowry payment to the husband. Periyar fiercely
stood up against this abuse meted out against women.
Women in India also did not have rights to their families' or
husbands' property. Periyar fought fiercely for this and also
advocated for women to have the right to separate or divorce their
husbands under reasonable circumstances.While birth
control remained taboo in society of Periyar's time, he advocated
for it not only for the health of women and population control, but
for the liberation
of women.
He criticised the hypocrisy of chastity
for women and argued that it should either apply also to men, or not
at all for both genders. While fighting against this, Periyar
advocated getting rid of the Devadasi
system. In his view it was an example of a list of degradations of
women, attaching them to temples for the entertainment of others, and
as temple prostitutes. Further, for the liberation of women, Periyar
pushed for their right to have an education and to join the armed
services and the police force.
Thoughts
on the Thirukkural
Periyar hailed the Thirukkural as a valuable scripture
which contained many scientific and philosophical truths. He also
praised the secular nature of the work. Periyar praised Thiruvalluvar
for his description of God as a formless entity with only positive
attributes. He also suggested that one who reads the Thirukkural will
become a Self-respecter,
absorbing knowledge in politics, society, and economics. According to
him, though certain items in this ancient book of ethics may not
relate to today, it permitted such changes for modern society.
On caste,
he believed that the Kural illustrates how Vedic
laws of Manu
were against the Sudras
and other communities of the Dravidian race. On the other hand,
Periyar opined that the ethics from the Kural was comparable to the
Christian Bible. The Dravidar Kazhagam adopted the Thirukkural and
advocated that Thiruvalluvar's Kural alone was enough to educate the
people of the country.
Periyar also asserted that due to the secular nature of
Thirukkural, it has the capacity to be the common book of faith for
all humanity and can be kept on par or above the holy books of all
religions.
The Self-Respect Movement — The Emergence of
South Indian Politics
By Vedika
Agarwalla
The Self-Respect Movement was founded in 1921 by S.Ramanathan and
invited E.V Ramasamy to head the campaign. E.V Ramasamy, popularly
known as Periyar is regarded as the ‘Father of Modern Tamil Nadu.’
Periyar was a social activist, politician and a thinker who was way
ahead of his time. He was the pillar of the Dravidian framework and
philosophy that went on to shape the politics of Tamil Nadu.The
Self-Respect Movement is also known as the Dravidian Movement. The
three main ideologies that were propagated through this movement
were the breaking down of the Brahminic hegemony, equal rights for
the backward classes and women in the society and revitalization of
the Dravidian languages which included Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and
Malayalam.
It opposed the domination of Brahmins
as the superior class and hence, encouraged the facilitation
of self-respect for those belonging to the lower end of the
caste-based society in India. The movement believed in the principle
of individuality which could be developed only when one gains
self-respect.The movement had a lofty goal of achieving equality in
various spheres of life. It wanted the liberation of the society from
baneful social practices performed in the name of caste and religion
which led to a vicious cycle of discrimination such as the practice
of caste-based occupation and untouchability. The method of casteism
led people to act in an irrational manner which hampered the ability
of people to act according to reason, understanding, and perspective.
One of the most
critical and significant sociological change that occurred through
the Self-Respect Movement was the enforcement of self-respect
marriages in which a marriage could be officiated without a Brahmin
priest, as the ceremonies were usually conducted in Sanskrit which
most people lacked an understanding of and therefore rituals were
based on blind adherence. The movement regarded marriages to be not
bound by caste and hence encouraged inter-caste and inter-religious
marriages where one should be able to marry a person of their choice.
The self-respect marriages stood for widows remarrying as well,
because the prevalence of child marriages widowed many girls at a
young age. Consequently, the movement was able to garner a wide
audience of woman.Tamil Nadu was one of the first states to legalize
Hindu marriages without the presence of a Brahmin priest which led to
an increase of inter-caste marriages.
Apart from the
anti-caste ideologies, the Self- Respect Movement had a deep-rooted
sense of feminist values. It advocated for a society where a woman
had the freedom over their physical, sexual and reproductive choice.
Periyar’s model focused on enabling woman to gain access to
contraception as well as permanent birth control; this came at a time
when there was an extensive national talk on anti-conception
medication. The feminist ideology of the movement propelled woman to
have an equal right to choose partners, to divorce and the choice to
remarry. The Self-Respect Movement wanted to bring a radical
transformation in the heterosexual relationships by abolishing gender
hierarchy and gender roles. It emphasized the importance of sharing
domestic work and child-rearing activities among men and woman.
One of the
primary aims of the movement was to eradicate the devadasi system
which was prevalent in the eastern and southern parts of the country.
In this system a woman between the ages of 7-36 were to dedicate
their lives to the temple deity where they performed various arts.
Initially the status of a devadasi was considered to be respectable,
but later on, at the time of the colonial era, the devadasi system
was condemned on the grounds of practicing prostitution as they bore
many children to the priest and wealthy patronages. Moreover, the
devadasi system isolated these woman from the society. Hence the
movement consisted of women from all walks of life who were actively
engaged in protests fighting for human rights. The basic motto of the
Self-Respect Movement was to bring social changes in the society. It
touched lives from all the strata of the community – not only
attacked the caste system prevalent at that time, but also advocated
for gender equality.
Even though
Periyar never wanted this movement to become political, gradually it
became so. As the movement slowly turned political, the leaders
associated with it became power hungry, and corruption crept in. The
origin of the two major political parties of Tamil Nadu- DMK and
AIADMK can be traced to the Dravidian movement. Both these parties of
Tamil Nadu have ruled the state for more than half a century. These
parties have defiantly brought significant social changes, but
subsequently, their main aim became to capture the popular mandate
and vote bank politics. Unfortunately, most of the mass movements in
our country which have noble intentions of bringing radical changes
in our society tend to deviate from its intended goal.
