Indian Institutes of Technologies – 20% Womens supernumerary quota as a denominator manipulation sleight of hand
Taking a rare break from my focus on Tamilnadu matters to highlight a major issue at the Indian Institutes of Technologies which have been transformed into DEI (Diversity Equity and Inclusion) citadels. The reason I felt the need to go back to Pan-India matters is this is not being talked about by anyone in 6 years. Yet another, “Either I write about it .. or no one hears”
Okay, so whats going on.
Starting 2018, Indian Institutes of Technology which are under the Modi led BJP Central government Ministry of Education introduced a “Supernumerary Quota” to artificially increase the women enrollment to 20%. This was a critical part of the DEI and Gender Sensitisation1 programs in place to increase the women’s enrolment. The Office of Diversity and Inclusion seems to be in all major IITs (IIT-M) The world however thinks Indian IIT’s are bastions of merit and competition.
How the 20% womens quota works
I have written about the difference between Vertical and Horizontal Reservation in the past. Read that for more detail.
Essentially, say you have a program in IIT-Madras. For example Computer Science with an approved student intake of 100 seats. Lets say a selection round by the previous process results in 95 males and 5 females. What they will do is to select 19 more females to take the female equity to 20% – the extra 19 seats added is above the “approved” capacity hence called supernumerary. This is applied in each branch in each IIT.
For simplicity, I am ignoring the the DEI ‘intersectionality’ parameter. So how this actually works in even more hairy. In each IIT > In each level (BTech/MTech)> In each major CompSci,EEE,Mech etc/ apply this
- in each caste quota within each program – add supernumerary to bring the women to 20%. So OBC-NCL which has a 27 seats (out of 100 reserved) will have to add women only seats to bring up to 20%.
- The women are not cross counted.
Suffice to say the Extra seats are called Supernumerary. Interesting word isn’t it?
Supernumerary – A Denominator manipulation statistical fraud
Supernumerary used in the context of Indian English and bureaucratic-speak means “over and above the approved capacity”.
The BJP government which is also popularly known as “Non Core” has simply copied the Congress (UPA-I/II) trick they used while introducing the 27% Vertical Quota in IITs. We are not reducing the open category, we just added 27% extra.
This is the most dishonest part. The claim which will fool 99.99% of naive observers of the Non-Core mindset.
- The Total Seat Count is expanded
- Women’s share rises without displacing men allowing administrators to claim progress without admitting distortion.
The Indian Institute of Technologies and the BJP govt knew that explicit quotas would provoke a backlash and cries of compromised merit. Not to mention constitutional challenges.
So instead of saying “We are taking seats away from merit-ranked candidates” they used a lowly technical-trick “Add seats then change the percentage”
This is a Denominator Manipulation – a well known statistical fraud.
How the denominator manipulation tricks works in IIT
Critics (only 3-4 of us remain from the old group which blogged about these things) naturally ask:
Who loses when you add Women only seats? Not just a few losers but up-to 20%.
They can try the prepared answer
No one loses, these are new seats. The old system is untouched. Don’t cry.
Did you get that?? Unlikely.
The real change that happened is not in who loses the seats in this frame but in what the numbers now mean! The old denominator is NOT the new one. Imagine Maths Professors at IITs not being able to catch such basic fallacies.
Legal tricks to escape constitutional scrutiny
The rule is that all capacity whether new or existing must be under the rules of the Constitution Article 16(4) ; what they have done is to announce new seats with a 100% reservation for women. When seen in this correct light this is patently unconstitutional. So the institution does not integrate these new seats into the system, instead labels them as “supernumerary” social justice DEI only seats. They are also used to bully critics “why are you crying .. you are not affected , your seats are not reduced”. Old times from the days of Congress/UPA Arjun Singh will remember these talking points.
IITs claim three things to be true at once.
- these seats are part of the IIT admission process following the caste quota rules allowed under Art 16(4)
- IIT Admissions are merit based
- These seats are not subject the rules 1 & 2
All three cannot be true.
Capacity is meaningless then
An even more egregious institutional issue with Supernumerary.
Every IIT Course has an approved intake capacity. This number is not arbitrary. IIT admins themselves claim the approved capacity is based on
- faculty strength
- lab availability
- classroom size
- hostel
- student-fac ratio
- safety quality accreditation norms etc
For decades this capacity has been treated as sacrosanct.
By adding a whopping 20% extra seats the IITs are saying one of two things
Either :
Our earlier capacity constraints were wrong or exaggerated.
Or:
Capacity was never real, it was just a number we used for convenience.
Both are alarming. If capacity was rational and binding, then adding 20% is reckless. If capacity was flexible and fictional, then every past claim about the IIT quality control was dishonest.
Remember this is India, where tens of thousands of poor kids study hard to access a tiny number of spots. If you could easily expand this by 20% to meet some ideological (Diversity/Equity/Gender) goal then you could have done this ages ago !! Hence the claim that “sorry we cant expand IIT-Bombay CS by 25% because it would degrade quality– ” rings dishonest and untrue. You could have easily done it, you just did not have the socialjustice/DEI/ideological imperative to do it.
Core3 : Where quota opponents fail – Caste vs Gender
Anti-reservationists failed to engage with the principle itself.
The primary axis of India’s all pervasive quota system is based on Caste-Complex (groups of castes). Here is the thing.
Atleast caste based or even economic situation quotas – can be rightly or wrongly justified as
- hereditary exclusion
- historical civil disprivilege such as lack of land ownership leading to downstream effects
- informal access blockers
WOmens quota in IIT is just to play along with the global woke movement unthinkingly.
- NO formal exclusion of women exists. They attend school at the same rate
- Women compete in the same exam.
- Women dominate other elite fields – Medicine, Law, Biology, Journalism, Psychology..
- Well documented and proven globally – women prefer people-oriented fields over thing-oriented. This holds across all cultures including India.
- They exit Engineering at higher rates by choice, even in egalitarian high income societies.
- Does not study root causes, does not test hypothesis, does not reform schooling to fix the problems where they exist, does not track post admissions outcomes,
- Totally ignores victims – the males who scored higher and are locked out of the “supernumerary” seats.
- As shown in the beginning. IIT Delhi seeks 50% women because if you buy into their princple that ALL under representation is due to oppression then it should be 50%.
The world thinks of IITs as bastions of merit. The reality is we have such a pervasive DEI institutional system. Is this yet another Indian scam waiting to be found out by the world? Why are no Indians themselves calling it out and nipping it? The egregious part of this is using a cheap accounting fraud of denominator manipulation to sell this gender quota rather than just openly saying what it is.
Also see
- Office of Diversity and Inclusion, IIT Delhi has some info about it ↩︎
Unearthing a Forgotten Dravidian Publication: Udumalai Beerangi (The Udumalai Cannon)
In recent explorations of primary sources related to Dravidian ideology, I came across a fascinating – and disturbing weekly publication from the late 1940s: Udumalai Beerangi (உடுமலை பீரங்கி), literally meaning “Udumalai Cannon.” This Tamil-language weekly was published from Udumalaipettai (about 72 km from Coimbatore) by Udumalai B. Ranganathan and ran for roughly two years before being banned in 1949. Details of the circumstances leading to its cessation are scarce and require further research.1 Dravidian ideological sources such as the flagship Viduthalai are tightly guarded. Non-Tamils know about the ideology only though curators and approved translators2 which is why the ability to access the Tamil primary sources is such a critical capability for ideology studies. Earlier this year, I stumbled upon an incomplete corpus of Udumalai Beerangi on Tamil Digital Library3. I sincerely thank the organization for making this primary source available to the public. This enables honest research of the ideological material.
A Note on Primary Sources
In the study of political ideologies, especially ones that later acquire institutional and cultural power, primary sources are not some side shows but represent ground truth. Movements are not defined by how they describe themselves to outsiders (say English speakers) decades later, but by what they said, wrote, sang, produced at the moment of mass formation. Dravidian ideology’s “mass formation” moment was in the 50s and 60s enroute to institutional power. Publications like Udumalai Beerangi, Viduthalai, Kutiarasu, Theekathir provided the emotional charge consumed by first generation literates. This is where the ideology appears in the unfiltered, operational format. Secondary source interpreters and curators such as Dravidian writers in English emphasize outcomes, politics, leaders, vignettes of events an so on. Primary sources in Tamil reveal tone, imagery, fixations, the passion, permitted hatreds. Without engaging primary sources directly, any moral or sociological or social justice evaluation of the Dravidian ideology remains incomplete and shallow.
Hate cartoons with Tamil Brahmin stereotypes – a unique feature
What makes this publication stand out is its explicit use of hate cartoons that appear to be directly adapted from notorious anti-Semitic propaganda styles, particularly reminiscent of the Nazi-era newspaper Der Stürmer. Even in 1949 well after the world had witnessed the horrors of the Holocaust such imagery was openly circulated in Tamil Nadu, sold at railway stalls like Higginbothams and distributed widely.
A typical issue
The magazine was dedicated to spreading Dravidian ideology like others like Kudiarasu , Viduthalai, Dravidan, Puratchi, and dozens of others. This invariably meant propagation of anti-Tamil brahmin stereotypes and assorted accusations. A typical issue would be 8 pages, broadsheet format, with a prominent cartoon on the front page. That cartoon was the go-to differentiation compared to other Dravidian publications of that time. What is also unique is that it was published from a very small town “Udumalai Pettai” or “Udumalai” about 70 km from Coimbatore. It was however very well spread out it appears because you can see letters to the editor from all over Tamilnadu.
As I said the articles were of the usual Anti-Brahmin variety, the standout was the cartoon. Lets take a look at a few of them.
Stereotypical Tamil Brahmins disrupted by Periyar
In the above cartoon, the cartoonist – a certain A.K.Samy uses stereotypical Brahmin stereotypes of fattened bodies with prominent sacred threads. They exclaim “Ayyoo! Poochaandi” this means “Ayoo.. ghoul” as they abandon the Fire ritual of Yagna and run away. As Periyar asks them “Why are you running, please come”. The headline says “In front of rationalism , blind Vaideekam (Vedic) panics and runs away”
All powerful Brahmin controls Madras corporation
One cartoon from 1949 depicts the Madras Corporation under a stereotypical Tamil Brahmin figure aiding the wealthy (portrayed with Marwari stereotypes) while ignoring the impoverished masses in the “dark” areas. The looming Brahmin figure who is all powerful is shown as the Madras Corporation , this is a straight adaption from Der Sturmer stereotypical cartoons. Once again, remember this is in 1948 – after the Nuremberg Trials and the horrors of the World War II and the role of such media was well understood.
Looming Jew template into Dravidian propaganda
The looming stereotype is a Larger Than Life background conspirator that seems to be directly inspired by Nazi propaganda. Instead of criticizing the Madras Corporation on its actual polices and schemes the Dravidian propaganda chooses to use “looming jew” inspired Brahmin stereotype. One wonders if some visitor to Germany who was a fan of Nazis imported such material into the discourse space.
Brahmins laughing at blindfolded Kamaraj and Nehru as Nataraj
The title says “North Indian Nataraja” , Nehru is shown captioned as “North Indian Oppression” dancing in a weird pose trampling upon a man captioned as “Dravida-Land”. On a side note, Mr R. Ranganathan of Udumalai does not know that the actual demon is Muyalagan symbolizing ignorance. In any case, Kamaraj is shown blindfolded, hence ignorant – as the Brahmin stereotypes fat with grotesque frog like faces shown in caricature laugh at it.
Typical content accusing Brahmins
The typical paper would include articles about Marxism, Social equality, Prohibition, it had a section called “புகார் காண்டம்” with this or that demand, a round up of news. All of these would have been unremarkable to the reader at that time. As if they were filler material to transmit the real propaganda about Tamil Brahmins such as this article. To just give a sample of the full page article titled “Tamils and Brahmins”
The typical primary source reads like this. Repeating anti-Tamil-Brahmin canards and tropes such as this. In the Dravidian reading of the Tamil epic Silapathikaram – they say that the Tamil Brahmin sage Madala Marayon entrapped the Tamil valourous king Cheran Cenkuttuvan and made his lose his rationality , or courage. That such interpretations in the plane of the criminal passion rather than on the plane of logic is obvious only to those like me who are deep in Tamil primary source research. In the small clip, there are other accusations – V.V.S Aiyar was promoted and they made the non-Brahmin Sundaram Pillai dimm (Dravidian dysphemism), on and on it goes. Such propaganda was not unique to Udumalai Beerangi at all, this is common to all primary sources and even in actual Tamil language contemporary discourse in 2025. Various accusations against Tamil Brahmins some over 2000 yrs old repeated over and over. What made Udumalai Beerangi unique was the cartoons.
Western Tamilnadu Elite roots of ideology
So what we have is a Primary Source which blared from public places like Higginbothams in Railway Stations with grotesque hateful cartoons of Tamil Brahmins. Upon a populace that was just starting to enter the age of literacy. That led me to get curious about the kind of person who would have the resources and pristine hate to launch such an ambitious and passionate publication. After all , Udumalai is in Kongu Western TN, Tamil Brahmin domination to the extent it even existed was in the Cauvery Delta areas. Who was B. Ranganathan the publisher – what could have been his background. Thinking harder for a bit Beerangi could be a moniker for Bee.Ranga.Nathan. But what was his background? He surely had to be resourceful and elite to launch such a magazine. Thanks to a bibliographic index from Roja Muthiah Research Library I found the publisher was B. Ranganatha Naidu4. It is only fair to interrogate the caste of the publisher who did not flinch to draw and publish hateful caricatures of the Tamil Brahmin caste week after week from a small town in western Kongu Nadu. Fair play I say. Does this solve the riddle ? No but patterns emerge. A signal emerges. A curious and alive mind need to stitch them together.
Interrogating caste location is valid and essential methodology
A lot friends would be uneasy at the mention of the caste location of the source as Ranganath Naidu. Due to the ideological conditioning , these well wishers are unable to register that the magazine did not flinch even a bit to name and defame specifically the Tamil-Brahmins. Regardless, this method I use is valid sociological and discourse analysis methodology.
Locating the caste and class position of the publisher is not an exercise in delegitimization. It is a necessary step to prevent elite-produced hate from being misread as the spontaneous voice of the people (the Volk). Serious researchers require methods that refuse to let hate float free of the producers, refusing to let the elites hide behind the masses. Someone produced such material and someone consumed it. A total focus on the consumers (the Tamilnadu Non Brahmin masses) and a complete lockdown and not even a mention of the producers is invalid and lazy social studies. All social justice can be compromised if this basic discipline of analysis is disregarded.
Primary sources over interpreters
In conclusion, these materials form part of the ideological primary corpus that shaped early Dravidian discourse. It is a reminder that historical research demands diving into uncomfortable primary sources rather than relying on sanitized secondary narratives. The research into Udumalai Beerangi has already yielded rich insights and there’s likely more to uncover after all only about 20 of over 100 have been released. For those interested in digging deeper, primary issues maybe found by searching “உடுமலை பீரங்கி” on platforms like the Tamil Digital Library. We need more hands-on exploration of these archives to truly understand the roots.
செய்வீர்களா?
You up for it?
References
- Aran International e-Journal of Tamil Research ISSN 2582-399X Vol 3 Issue 1 : 11 July 2021 article titled “உடுமலை பீரங்கி வார இதழ் – ஓர் ஆய்வு” Udumalai Beerangi Weekly – A research into it ↩︎
- A sample of a curated and interpreted secondary readings by contemporary Dravidian supporters see “The Machine without the Message – a response to Perumal Murugan” ↩︎
- Tamil Digital Library, Udumalai Beerangi Corpus , about 19 primary sources from Oct 1948 to Apr 1949 ↩︎
- Catalog Card from Roja Muthiah Research Library showing the publishers full name (link) It appears to be a 120 page book published by B.R. and Sons likely B.Ranganatha Naidu and Sons in Tiruvenkata Mudali Street, Periamet, Madras ↩︎
The Dravidian Machine Without Its Message: A Response to Perumal Murugan
By Vivek Rajagopal (realitycheckind)
Outlook recently ran a long, glowing essay celebrating the “ingenious communication methods” of early Dravidian politics in a special issue dated 11-Dec-25. commemorating ‘100 years of the foundation of the Self Respect Movement ‘. The Outlook magazine had run a special series showcasing Dravidian ideology in March-2024 as well “Dravidian Model – leading by example”.
Lets take this particular article. It is titled “Stage, Speech, Cinema, Clothing – How Dravidian politics won the Tamil public:’ written by the popular Tamil author and intellectual Perumal Murugan.
The author lovingly details everything. The stages, microphones, booklets, pamphlets, black shirts, reading rooms, village meetings, tea shops, barbershop debates, cinema, drama, ponnadai silk cloth rituals, volunteer calling themselves Thondars. What a grand cultural machine humming with purpose. Spreading message of love, brotherhood, Tamil pride, women’s rights, and fighting for oppressed surely says the mind.
It is an impressive list.
It is an even more impressive distraction.
Because throughout the lengthy article, there is one thing Perumal Murugan never once mentions:
What exactly was being said on those stages?
Not a line from the speeches. (Periyar in Karaikudi, Madurai, Mannargudi,)
Not a sentence from the pamphlets. (Did these pamphlets exhort importance education, that doesnt sound exciting)
Not a paragraph from the magazines. (Viduthalai)
Not a sample from the street plays.(Pankajam, Iraniyan..)
Not even a hint of the ideological content that filled this truly impressive communications enterprise
A truly impressive Vertically Integrated Messaging Apparatus is described in meticulous detail but the Message itself is pushed into silence. What did these Tamils like Perumal Murugan’s father-in-law hear in those speeches ? What type of content energized the people to travel ? Why not present that content as they heard it ? What would a typical issue of the revered magazines like Viduthalai, Kutiarasu and Udumalai Beerangi feature ? How were they different from the Indian Express or Times of India or Illustrated Weekly ?
It is very unique in Tamil discourse analysis that you run into such totally unexpected and unnatural streams of logic. I lost track of the number of times I went “Wait.. wait.. don’t you think this needs to be said or mentioned at this point..? right here” Only after deep immersion into the primary sources of Dravidian ideology in Tamil did I understand. It is on purpose.
The Machine vs the Message
I’ve been interested in psychology especially mass social psychology for a while now. When someone of such a high standing in a magazine of some repute Outlook describes a machine so grand, so elaborate, so tirelessly active, the human mind automatically commits this cognitive error
If so much effort was invested, and it was so grand the cause must have been noble.
ChatGPT1 calls it the Infrastructural Legitimacy Fallacy. It fits perfectly.
Scale is mistaken for virtue.
Effort is mistaken for ethics.
Volume is mistaken for value.
You see this in the Outlook article:
All of this machinery is narrated with reverence and pride.
thousands of meetings , hundreds of magazines, millions of pamphlets, cinema, stage plays, reading rooms,cross-country tours and public rallies, dramatic costumes and symbols
But the product of this machine the actual ideological content is nowhere to be found. It is like describing the stadium, the seating, the floodlights, the ticket prices, the cheerleaders but not the game.
This is not an innocent omission.
It is a well practiced and well honed strategy in Dravidian historiography. We are the amateur part-timers here.
The Outlook magazine is just an Outlet of this.
What was actually said and why it is hidden
As a service to my fellow Tamil people I have posted by now 1000+ primary source artifacts on my Twitter account @realitycheckind . The basic discipline of any historian is to access the primary sources in the language it was communicated to understand any ideology. Otherwise a set of dishonest translators can take you for a ride and you will be humiliated down the line. Anyone who has read the original Tamil sources Kudiarasu, Viduthalai, Puratchi, Udumalai Beerangi, the special issues, the YouTube videos of speeches, official Tamil books from their own publishing houses, contemporary discourse by speakers and anonymous “tempo accounts” knows exactly what filled those 10,000 meetings and pamphlets.
The message is straight up an anti-semitic adaption. Do not immediately link it to the gas chambers. The message delivered in Tamil as found in the primary sources can be trivially identified by a neutral outsider non-Tamil Indian, or a westerner to be so. This is the reason why a platoon of writers venture out in Outlook magazine and build up the image without letting up on the primary sources.
The following are the common tropes that constitute the message that the machine pushed and continues to push in Tamil language.
Tamil Brahmins compared to snakes, thieves, parasites. Making derogatory words like Paapaan, Paapaathi a common even respectable term. Selecting to use crass and crude comparisons to parasites like Dengue mosquitos, Corona virus instead of rational critique of whatever it is they want to oppose 2
Narrating various canards, half-lies, injustice narratives that Tamil Brahmins heaped on the 97% Non-Brahmins.
Perumal Murugan recounts sadly how the Dravidian Plays Iraniyan and Keemayanam were banned. But he does not mention what was in those plays. I read them all in Tamil. Here is what the play Iraniyan 3contained, here is what Pankajam allathu Paarpana Kodumai 4 contained.
Hindu deities ridiculed through obscene metaphors.5
“Tamil Thāy” described as prostituting herself to Sanskrit.6
Ritual humiliation of Brahmin symbols (tufts, sacred thread).7
Repeated calls for temple desecration and icon destruction.
Sexualised, grotesque, market-language invective. Recurring use of prostitute metaphors 8
Constant racialisation (“Aryan male”, “Dravidian Shudra”).9
Violently worded fantasies of social inversion. Cartoons10 such as a Tamil brahmin chained and whipped. Wall paintings of a Tamil Brahmins tuft being cut a bit too close perhaps and red blood streaming out11
This was not fringe; this was mainstream content, printed and reprinted across decades. If you were to remove the platitudes used as filler material – this was the only distinctive content.
Yet the Outlook essay carefully avoids even one sentence of these speeches.
This how aesthetisation works.
“Celebrate the rituals, clothing, festivals, meetings and the ideology dissolves into culture.”
The Psychological Sleight of Hand
I’ve seen this a lot since I entered Tamil language discourse space. The sheer effort that an average believer in the ideology brings to the table with no apparent personal benefit. This uncommon passion can simply not be found in other discourse spaces. This leads to the Effort = Moral worth fallacy and the All passions are equal fallacy12.
If they held lakhs of meetings, it must have been for justice.
If they printed thousands of pamphlets, they must have been enlightening the masses.
If the volunteers were dedicated, the ideology must have been noble.
It is a comforting story, and an intoxicating one.
But it is not history.
It is public relations for the past.
A machine is not noble because it is large.
A message is not moral because it is loud.
A movement is not ethical because it is efficient.
Der Sturmer was all of the above.
Another psychological insight is. Wealth and high indicators only relative to poor states does not rescue the inner morality of the ideology itself. The same way a high performing narcissist who may be a CEO is still a narcissist. If the assumption is that a foundation of hate against a minority group and transforming that into a culture via propaganda is a necessary condition of growth. That is not the case, because Kerala has a high HDI without the accompanying hatred, crudeness, and exclusion. MH, Haryana, Guj, AP, KA are not too shabby on the economic front, a few have even higher per-capita than Tamilnadu. Hence this the ideology is clearly not a necessary condition. If anything, it can be argued that Tamilnadu has done well inspite of the ideology perhaps due to the industrious nature of the Tamil people.
Conclusion
Dravidian politics certainly built a communication machine of extraordinary reach. I have myself been astounded at it and stated openly that this is the most impressive creation of the top most elite minds of the Tamil land. Street by street, tea-shop by tea-shop, village by village, teacher to student, then father to son, it has created a new political consciousness.
But the machine’s brilliance does not redeem the message.
If anything, the machine’s power makes the content even more important to understand.Yet in article after article in The Outlook, the content is placed behind a curtain of silence. The primary sources are pulled from public view. All of Dr Ambedkar’s speeches and writings are public domain13, all of Mahatma Gandhi’s works are in public domain in a 91 volume Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi project of the Govt of India14. Marxism is an ideology that we may not agree with but all of Marx/Engels works are available in a 50 volume Collected Works15. Open for anyone to research. Periyar inspired Perumal Murugans father-in-law and leading author B.Jeyamohan’s father-in-law to adopt the ideology16, would they not want the corpus to be released so all can have the benefit of it ?
My aim is not to deny the historical impact of the movement but to insist on telling the whole story, including the parts that modern Dravidian interpreters part of the ruling ideology like Dr Perumal Murugan, Dr AR Venkatachalapathy, Dr SV Rajadurai may want to bury.
Admire the machine if you must. But do not forget what the machine was built to broadcast. This is particularly true of Tamil Brahmins who should know the message that was transmitted. The message didn’t singe the authors tribe or the New Delhi based Outlook magazines editors tribe. Understanding is optional for them.
- LLMs are very good in what I call “Naming the Dynamic” – if you tell it a pattern it usually names the rhetorical device used. I’ve tweeted about it a bit ↩︎
- Eradicate Sanathana Dharma like dengue, corona, malaria https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2023/09/23/eradicate-sanathana-dharma-like-mosquito-dengue-law-creates-the-politics/ ↩︎
- Iraniyan Allathu Inayattra Veeran a nefarious retelling by Dravidians of Narasimha Avataram https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2023/02/13/iraniyan-allathu-inayattra-veeran-a-nefariously-hateful-dravidian-retelling-of-narasimha-avataram/ ↩︎
- Pankajam Allathu Paarpana Kodumai – a Dravidian play from 1930s https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2024/03/30/pankajam-allathu-paarpana-kodumai-a-dravidian-play-from-1930/ ↩︎
- A giant corpus of Tamil primary sources is dedicated to obscenizing or de-sacralizing Hindu Gods and particularly Godesses. ↩︎
- Nannilam Speech by Periyar, Kudiarasu Editorial 14-06-1931 “..தமிழ்த்தாய் தானாகவே சமஸ்க்ரித புருஷன் மீது ஆசைப்பட்டு “விபச்சாரம்” செய்வதில் நமக்கு ஆக்ஷேபணை இல்லை. அனால் இந்த பண்டிதர்கள் தம வயிற்றுப் பிழைப்பிற்கு தமிழ்த்தாயை கூட்டி விட்டு பிழைப்பதை தான் நாம் வெறுக்கின்றோம்..” ↩︎
- Present day Dravidian philosopher Suba Veerapandian valorizing Pattukottai Davis criminal assault on innocent brahmins by cutting their sacred thread and hair locks as “soft way” – also see senior Dravidian Sirpi Rajan testimony of how they were encouraged to cut and send bags of threads and tufts ↩︎
- Recurring theme of prostitutes in Dravidian Primary source material, like Collected Works of Periyar. Isn’t it odd for a movement claiming to be Feminist use this type of language ? https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2022/09/27/recurring-theme-of-prostitutes-in-dravidian-ideological-source-material/ ↩︎
- Dravidians are defined explicitly in Tamil primary sources as ALL People of Tamilnadu except Tamil Brahmins. This is clarified by Periyar himself in several places https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2023/01/22/who-is-dravidian-who-is-tamilian/ . Also repeated use of Tamils as offspring of concubines of Paapaans in order to rage bait them. https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2021/02/28/concubinage-and-independence/ ↩︎
- Dravidian anti Tamil Brahmin cartoons mega dump. A raw collection of cartoons promoting ideological elements ↩︎
- As narrated by Communist P. Jeevanandham. He saw graffiti of this sort in Bhima Nagar Trichy. ↩︎
- A criminal passion – analysis of Sartre https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2021/06/05/a-criminal-passion/ ↩︎
- Govt of India Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkars Speeches and Writings Vol 1 to 17 https://www.mea.gov.in/books-writings-of-ambedkar.htm ↩︎
- Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi , a 91 volume collection of primary sources released by the Govt of India https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Collected_Works_of_Mahatma_Gandhi ↩︎
- Collected works of Karl Marx and Freidrich Engels in 50 volumes https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/cw/index.htm ↩︎
- In a Frontline article hailing the ideology, B.Jeyamohan says his father Sargunam was “a product of the Self Respect Movement of Periyar” https://frontline.thehindu.com/social-issues/social-justice/tamil-movements-self-respect-dravidian-politics-populism-tamil-nadu/article70112078.ece ↩︎
Chronological list of speech related arrests in Tamilnadu from 2021 May
List of Persons Arrested by Tamil Nadu Police for Speech-Related Offences (May 2021 – November 2025)
Below is a verified and continuously updated list of individuals arrested by the Tamil Nadu Police under the DMK government (since May 2021) for alleged defamatory remarks, hate speech, promoting enmity, or disturbing communal harmony — primarily via social media posts, YouTube videos, public speeches, memes, or posters criticising CM MK Stalin, late CM M Karunanidhi, Periyar, DMK ministers, or allied Dravidian ideology.
Generated by Grok 4.1
| Name | Date of Arrest | Details of Alleged Offence | Key Charges |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kishore K Swamy (YouTuber & commentator) |
June 2021 Nov 2022 |
Abusive posts/videos against CM Stalin, CN Annadurai & M Karunanidhi | IPC 153, 505(1)(b)/(c) |
| George Ponniah (Catholic priest) |
July 2021 | Derogatory remarks against PM Modi, Amit Shah & “Bharat Mata” | IPC 153A, 295A, 505 |
| ‘Sattai’ Duraimurugan (NTK functionary, multiple arrests) |
Jun 2021, Oct 2021, Jul 2024, Mar 2025 | Repeated derogatory videos/songs against MK Stalin & Karunanidhi | IPC 153A, 504, 505 |
| J. Maridhas (YouTuber) |
Dec 2021 | Video questioning political bias of News18 Tamil journalists | IPC 505, defamation |
| Dakshinamurthy (Seethaiyin Maindan) | Oct 2021 | Documentary allegedly exposing “hidden facts” about Periyar | IPC 153A |
| Kanal Kannan (Stunt master, Hindu Munnani, multiple arrests) |
Aug 2022 Jul 2023 |
Remarks against Periyar statue & edited video mocking Christianity | IPC 153A, 295A, 505 |
| Krishna Kumar Murugan (BJP supporter) |
Mar 2022 | Defamatory posters caricaturing MK Stalin & Karunanidhi | IPC 499, 500, 153A |
| John Ravindranath (John Ravi) (BJP cadre) |
Feb 2023 | Satirical memes mocking MK Stalin & Udhayanidhi Stalin | IPC 499, 153A, 505 |
| Pradeep (Voice of Savukku Twitter admin) |
Mar 2023 | Meme targeting Stalin & PTR over women’s scheme | IPC 153A, 509, TN Women Harassment Act |
| Uma Gargi (Uma Karthikeyan) | Jun 2023 | Tweets defaming Periyar, Karunanidhi & Stalin | IPC 504, 505 + IT Act 66F, 67 |
| S.G. Suryah (BJP State Secretary) |
Jun 2023 | Tweet on sanitation worker death criticising CPI(M) MP | IPC 153A, 504, 505 |
| V.A.T. Kalivaradhan (BJP Villupuram leader) |
Jul 2023 | Derogatory remarks against Karunanidhi & Kanimozhi | IPC 153, 504 + TN Women Harassment Act |
| K. Selvakumar (BJP IT wing) |
Jul 2023 | Tweets ahead of “DMK Files” release | IPC 153A, 505 |
| V. Balasubramanian | Jul 2023 | Video meme on Senthil Balaji arrest | Defamation + IPC 153A |
| Badri Seshadri | Jul 2023 | YouTube interview remarks on Manipur violence & CJI | IPC 153, 153A, 505 |
| Mahesh (Hindu Munnani, Arani) |
Sep 2023 | Derogatory remarks against Udhayanidhi Stalin (Vinayaka Chaturthi) | IPC 153A, 504 |
| V.S. Sendhil Kumar (Hindu Munnani) |
Sep 2023 | Defamatory speech against Udhayanidhi & A. Raja | IPC 153A, 499, 500 |
| RBVS Manian (Ex-VHP leader) |
Sep 2023 | Speeches belittling Ambedkar & Thiruvalluvar | SC/ST Act + IPC 153A |
| Arunkumar (AIADMK worker, Pollachi) |
Oct 2023 | Circulated abusive video against CM Stalin | IPC 499, 153A |
| N. Muthuramalingam | Oct 2023 | Critical Facebook posts against DMK govt | IPC 153A, 505 |
| Amar Prasad Reddy (BJP yatra organiser) |
Oct 2023 | Hate speech during En Mann En Makkal yatra | Multiple cases + Goondas threat |
| Savukku Shankar (multiple arrests) |
Nov 2022, May 2024, Aug 2024 | Derogatory remarks against police & DMK ministers | IPC 294(b), 509 + TN Women Harassment Act |
| Felix Gerald (Red Pix) | May 2024, Sep 2025 | Airing Savukku interview + Karur stampede fake news | IT Act + IPC 153A |
| Mahavishnu (Paramporul Foundation) |
Sep 2024 | Insensitive remarks on disability & karma in schools | BNS 192, 196(1)(a), 352 |
| Kasturi Shankar | Nov 2024 | Derogatory remarks on Telugu community origins | BNS 196, 353 |
| A.S. Omkar Balaji (son of Arjun Sampath) |
Nov 2024 | Threat to “chop off tongue” of Nakkheeran editor | IPC 506, 153A, 499 |
| Rangarajan Narasimhan | Dec 2024 | Derogatory posts against Embar Jeeyar & Udhayanidhi | IPC 499, 500, 153A |
| A. Sarangapani (NTK supporter) |
Jul 2025 | Derogatory YouTube remarks against Dravidar Kazhagam leader Mathivadhani | BNS defamation + enmity |
| Varadarajan (Retd. police officer) |
Oct 2025 | Defamatory video against Madras HC judge over Karur stampede case | IT Act + defamation |
| S. Praveen Raj (‘Sanghi Prince’) (multiple arrests) |
Dec 2023, Jul 2025 | Fake news & communal posts targeting DMK MPs | IPC 153A, 505 + IT Act |
| Muralidharan Sivagnanam (Animal rights activist) |
Nov 2025 | Defamatory social media posts (Instagram/Facebook) harassing five women volunteers: cyberstalking, intimidation, sharing manipulated photos implying moral turpitude/fraud in activism, false narratives to incite backlash; stemmed from internal INCARE disputes. Allegations called women activists as mental patients and out of control New Indian Express | TNPHW Act (insulting women’s modesty) + IT Act (cyber harassment/defamation) +BNS79 |
Total confirmed cases as of November 29, 2025: 31 individuals (many with multiple arrests). Opposition parties claim the real number exceeds 40 when including lesser-reported local cases.
Sathankulam A Raghavan – early Murugan vs Subramanian polemics
Just recording some evidence here.
One of the potent religious polemical weapons Dravidians use to dislodge Tamils from their current faith is to put forth the Murugan vs Subramanian schismatic. To posit that the current Godhead is actually an impostor while Murugan shorn of all ‘mythology’ reset to factory settings to use an analogy is the origina. Tamil Saivaite like Suki Sivam are champions of this argument.
While reading original source material in Tamil , I came across this scholar Sathankulam A. Ragavan another Saivite who seems to be the main voice behind this polemic. Also evident is the vulgar and sexual titillating rhetorical technique used to this day. Just collecting this on blog for future research.
some examples of titillation which leads to desacralising deities. This is obviously something female deities are extremely vulnerable to. Once again the parallel to the crime of “eve teasing” is apparent.
- Vaipaatti (concubine) reference to Murugan two consorts. Periyar probably got this from Sathankulam A Ragavan who was the brain due to his deep Tamil scholarship.
- இடை விடாத புணர்ந்துகொண்டிருந்ததை — having sex without a break in reference to Lord Murugan birth curcumstance.
- removing saree of Godess while giving Abhisekam
- Murugan tighlty holding Valli naachiyaar
- Menstruating Parvathi as topic of Sthala Varalaaru (temple history) as written by his own clans.
References
- சாத்தன்குளம் அ. இராகவன் நூற்களஞ்சியம் சாத்தன்குளம் அ. இராகவன். / சென்னை : அமிழ்தம் பதிப்பகம், 2005 Volume 1 Kutiarasu Katturaikal (available on tamildigitallibrary )
- Wikipage on Sathankulam A Ragavan https://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%85._%E0%AE%87%E0%AE%B0%E0%AE%BE%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%B5%E0%AE%A9%E0%AF%8D
Tamil is lowly language – source of Dravidian accusation 2
A wildly potennt accusation in Dravidian-Tamil world is the one where the Sankarachariar Chandrasekhendra Saraswathi is alleged to have called tamil “Lowly language”. This is transmitted to every nook and cranny..
Obviously we can agree that IF this was his position and if he said it – that should be condemned. But like all Dravidian accusations against Tamil Brahmins there is a level of indirection – usually one of the informers heard this from a person who was connected to the accused. ( A has testified that B said to him that C said that) a difficult format to counter.
WIthout commenting on whether this is a mere canard , I just want to document the sources.
- Hindu Matham Enge Pogirathu – incident narration
- Interview given by one Mr K. Ramalingam
So far I collected the primary source as the episode quoted in “Hindu Matham Enge Pogirathu” (Tamil blog) https://realitycheck.wordpress.com/2021/03/27/%E0%AE%87%E0%AE%A8%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81%E0%AE%AE%E0%AE%A4%E0%AE%AE%E0%AF%8D-%E0%AE%8E%E0%AE%99%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%87-%E0%AE%AA%E0%AF%8B%E0%AE%95%E0%AE%BF%E0%AE%B1%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%81/
Another source appears to be a testimony given by Mr K. Ramalingam – this is spread on Tamil YouTube by the popular Tamil Nationalist ideology Mr. P. Maniyarasan.
The interview cited as the source can be found here http://pallavar.blogspot.com/2018/01/blog-post_31.html (archived)
Friday, January 26, 2018
தமிழ் ஒரு நீசபாஷை; தமிழில் பேசியபின் ஸ்நானம் செய்க!
தமிழ் ஒரு நீசபாஷை; தமிழில் பேசியபின் ஸ்நானம் செய்க! — காஞ்சி சங்கர மடத்தின் தமிழின் மீதான துவேஷம்..
அக்னி ஹோத்ரம் ராமானுஜ தாத்தாச் சாரியார் எழுதிய “இந்து மதம் எங்கே போகிறது?’’ என்ற நூலிலிருந்து…
காஞ்சி சங்கராச்சாரியார் மறைந்த சந்திரசேகரேந்திர சரஸ்வதியும் அக்னி ஹோத்ரம் ராமானுஜ தாத்தாச்சாரியாரும் திருவிடை மருதூர் சத்திரத்தில் உரையாடிக் கொண்டு இருக்கிறார்கள்.
நாங்கள் பேசிக் கொள்வது சுத்த சமஸ்கிருதத்தில்தான். அதனால் பல பிராமணர்களுக்குக்கூட நாங்கள் பேசிக் கொள்வது புரியாது.
“ரகசியமா பேசுகிறீர்கள்? தமிழில் பேசினால் என்ன?’’ என்று மகா பெரியவர் நகர்ந்தபிறகு சிலர் என்னிடம் கேள்வி கேட்டார்கள். அதற்கு நான் சொன்னேன்.
“உனக்கு சமஸ்கிருதம் தெரியவில்லை என்றால் கற்றுக்கொள். உனக்காக அவர் ஒரு நாளைக்கு எத்தனை தடவை ஸ்நானம் பண்ணுவார்? புரிந்து நடந்து கொள்..’ என்றேன்.
சங்கராச்சாரியார் தமிழைப் பேசினால். அவர் தீட்டுப்பட்டு விடுவார்; காரணம் தமிழ் நீஷப்பாஷை. தமிழை நீஷப்பாஷையான பிராமணோத்தமர் பேசினால்., அவர் நாக்கினை நீஷப்பாஷை தொட்டு விட்டால், பிரம்மாவின் நெற்றியிலே பிறந்தவர் தீட்டுப்பட்டு விட மாட்டாரா?
தமிழைப் பற்றியும் தமிழர்களைப்பற்றியும் பார்ப்பனர்களின் நிலை என்ன என்பதைத் தெரிந்தவர்களுக்கு இது கண்டிப்பாக ஆச்சரியத்தைக் கொடுக்காது.
கோயில் கருவறைக்குள் தமிழன் அர்ச்சகன் ஆனால் சாமி தீட்டாகிவிடும்; தமிழில் வழிபட்டாலும் தீட்டாகி விடும் என்பதுதானே அவர்களின் நிலை.
இந்த உரிமைகளுக்காக நாம் குரல் கொடுக்கும் பொழுதெல்லாம் சங்கராச்சாரியார்கள் பார்ப்பனர்கள் எப்படியெல்லாம் நடந்து கொண்டு வருகிறார்கள் என்பதை நாளும் அனுபவித்துக் கொண்டுதானே வருகிறோம்.
ஆட்சி மொழிக் காவலர் கி.இராமலிங்கனார் அவர்களை அறியாதவர்கள் யாரும் இருக்க முடியாது சைவப் பழமாகக் காட்சி அளிக்கக் கூடியவர்கள்! ஊராட்சி, நகராட்சி, நகரியம், ஒன்றியம் என்கிற அழகிய சொற்களைத் தமிழுக்குத் தந்த பெருமகன் அவர்.
அவர் பேட்டியின் ஒரு பகுதி இதோ:
கேள்வி: சங்கராச்சாரியாரைத் தாங்கள் சந்தித்தது பற்றி ஒரு செய்தி சொல்லப்படுகிறதே. அதன் முழுவிபரம் என்ன என்று சொன்னால் நன்றாக இருக்கும்.
கீ. இரா: நான் காஞ்சிபுரத்திலே ‘ரேஷனிங்’ ஆபீசராக இருந்தேன். சங்கராச்சாரி மடத்தைக் கணக்கில் எடுக்கக்கூடாது. அவர்கள் எப்படியும் அரிசி வாங்கி செலவு செய்து கொள்ளலாம் என்றார்கள். நான் சொன்னேன் ‘அய்யா’ இது நியாயமல்ல. எல்லாருக்கும் ஒரு சட்டம்தான். உங்க மடத்துல உள்ள அத்தனைப்பேருடைய கணக்கைக் கொடுங்க. எத்தனை பேர் இருந்தாலும், அத்தனைபேருக் கும் உண்டு என்றேன். யானை இருக்கு குதிரை இருக்கு என்றார்கள். அதற்கும் உண்டு என்றேன். எல்லாம் சொல்லி யும் அவர்கள் கேட்கவில்லை. வெளியிலே போய்ட்டா… கிராமத்துக்குப்போயிட்டடா நாம் எப்படியும் இருந்து கொள் ளலாம். என்று நினைத்து கிராமத்துக்குப் புறப்படத்தயாராக யிருந்தார்கள். அதற்குமுன் சங்கராச்சாரியார் என்னைப் பார்க்கணும் என்று சொன்னாராம். நரசிம்மய்யர் என்பவர் காஞ்சீபுரம் வரதராஜப் பெருமாள் கோயிலிலே நிர்வாக அதிகாரியாக இருந்தார். அவர் என்னை வந்து அழைத்தார்.
நான் இந்த வேஷம் கட்டி இருக்கிறேன்… கால் சட்டை மேல் சட்டையோட…. இதோடு அவரை நான் எப்படி பார்க்க முடியும் என்று கேட்டேன். அதெல்லாம் வரலாம் என்றார். சதாரணமாக அவர்களைப் பார்க்கும் போது மேல சட்டை யோடு போகமுடியாது…
கேள்வி: காரியம் ஆகணும் என்கிற பொழுது அவர்கள் எதற்கும் தயாரானவர்களாயிற்றே…
கீ.இரா. ஆமாம்….. ஆமாம்…! சரி… நான் வருகிறேன் என்ற ஒப்புக்கொண்டு போனேன். அவரே வண்டி கொண்டு வந்திருந்தார். அதில் தான் போனேன். ஆச்சாரியார் வரதராஜப் பெருமாள் கோயிலில் இருந்தார். அங்கு சென்றேன். இவர் அந்த பக்கம் பிரகாரத்தில் வந்துகிட்டிருக்கிறார்…. அப்பொழுது இந்த நரசிம்மய்யர் என்னைச்சீண்டுகிறார் …. நமஸ்காரம் பண்ணுங்க… நகமஸ்காரம் பண்ணுங்க என்கிறார். விழுந்து கும்பிட சொல்கிறார். நான் ஒன்றும் செய்யவில்லை.
பிரகாரத்தில் ஒரு பக்கத்தில் சுவர் ஓரமாக சங்கராச்சாரியார் நின்று கொண்டார். வலக்கை பக்கமாக நானும் நரசிம்மய்யரும் நின்று கொண்டோம். இடதுகை பக்கம் ஒரு சமஸ்கிருத ஆசிரியர் நின்றார். இவர் கேள்வி கேட்கிறார்: ரேஷனிங் பற்றி அது என்ன இது என்ன என்று கேட்கிறார். கேள்வி கேட்கிறதை சமஸ்கிருதத்தில் கேட்கிறார். அதை சமஸ்கிருத ஆசிரியர் தமிழில் சொல்கிறார் எனக்கு. தமிழிலே பதில் சொல்கிறேன் நான்.
பேச்சு முடிந்து வெளியே வந்தோம். வெளியே வரும் பொழுது அந்த நரசிம்ம அய்யரைக்கேட்டேன்: என்ன அய்யா, அவர்தான் தமிழிலே சொன்னா தெரிஞ்சிக் கிறாரே… பின்னே ஏன் அவர் சமஸ்கிருதத்தில் பேசுகிறார். என்று கேட்டேன் அதற்குச் சொன்னார்….. இதிலே பாருங்கோ…. இந்த பன்னிரெண்டரை மணிக்கெல்லாம் சந்திர மௌலீஸ்வரர் பூஜை இருக்கில்லையா, அதுவரைக்கிலும் எந்த நீசப் பாஷையிலும் பேச மாட்டார் என்றார். எனக்கோ அறைந்துவிடலாமான்னு இருந்தது.
அக்னி ஹோத்ரம் ராமானுஜ தாத்தாச்சாரியாவின் கூற்றும் ஆட்சி மொழிக்காவலர் கீ. இராமலிங்கனார் அவர்களின் தகவலும் ஒத்துப் போவதிலிருந்து தமிழ்மீது சங்கராச்சாரியாருக்கு இருந்த காழ்ப்பு – வெறுப்பு அவர்கள் பாஷையில் சொல்ல வேண்டும் என்றால் ‘துவேஷம்’ எந்த அளவுக்கு இருந்தது என்பது கனமாகவே விளங்கும்.
Google Transated to English as
Tamil is a foul language; take a bath after speaking in Tamil!
Tamil is a foul language; take a bath after speaking in Tamil! — Kanchi Sankara Math’s hatred of Tamil..From the book “Where is Hinduism Going?” written by Agnihotram Ramanuja Thathachariyar…Kanchi Shankaracharya, the late Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi and Agnihotram Ramanuja Thathacharya are having a conversation at the Thiruvidai Marudhur Inn.We speak in pure Sanskrit, so even many Brahmins don’t understand what we are saying.”Are you talking in secret? What if we speak in Tamil?” some people asked me after the great elder moved away. I replied.”If you don’t know Sanskrit, learn it. How many times a day will he bathe for you? Understand and act accordingly..” I said.If Shankaracharya speaks Tamil, he will become defiled; the reason is that Tamil is a language of impurity. If a Brahmin, who is a language of impurity, speaks Tamil, and if his tongue touches the language of impurity, will not the one born on the forehead of Brahma become defiled?This certainly comes as no surprise to those who know the Brahmins’ stance on Tamil and Tamils.Their position is that even if a Tamil priest is in the sanctum sanctorum of a temple, the Sami will become impure; even if they worship in Tamil, they will become impure.Every time we raise our voices for these rights, we experience how the Shankaracharyas and Brahmins behave.There can be no one who does not know the guardian of the official language, K. Ramalinganar, who can be seen as a vegetarian! He is the great son who gave Tamil the beautiful words panchayat, municipality, nagariyam, and union.Here is an excerpt from his interview:Question: There is a story being told about your meeting with Shankaracharya. It would be good if you could tell us the full details.K. Ira: I was a ‘rationing’ officer in Kanchipuram. The Shankaracharya Math should not be taken into account. They said that they can buy rice and spend it anyway. I said, ‘Sir,’ this is not fair. It is the same law for everyone. Give the account of all the people in your Math. I said, no matter how many there are, there is food for all of them. They said there is an elephant and a horse. I said there is food for that too. Even after telling them everything, they did not listen. If we go outside… we can stay in the village anyway. Thinking that, they were ready to leave for the village. Before that, Shankaracharya had said that he wanted to see me. A man named Narasimhayyar was the administrative officer at the Varadaraja Perumal temple in Kanchipuram. He came and called me.I am wearing this costume… shorts and a top shirt…. I asked how I could see him with this. He said that all that could come. Normally, when you see them, you can’t go with a top shirt…Question: They are ready for anything when it comes to getting things done…Gee.Ira. Yes….. Yes…! Okay… I agreed to come and went. He himself had brought the cart. I went in it. Acharya was in the Varadaraja Perumal temple. I went there. He has arrived in the prakaram on that side…. Then this Narasimhayyar is touching me…. He says, “Namaskaram… Namaskaram”. He tells me to fall down and bow down. I did nothing.In the prakaram, Shankaracharya stood on one side of the wall. Narasimhaiyar and I stood on the right. On the left, a Sanskrit teacher stood. He asked questions: What is this about rationing? He asked what he was asking in Sanskrit. The Sanskrit teacher told me in Tamil. I answered in Tamil.After the talk, we came out. When we came out, I asked that Narasimha Iyer: What, sir, if he said it in Tamil, he would understand… Then why is he speaking in Sanskrit? I asked him, and he said….. Look at this…. He said that there will be a Chandra Mauliswarar puja for these twelve and a half hours, and he will not speak in any foul language till then. I felt like slapping him.Since the statement of Agnihotram Ramanuja Thathacharya and the information of the State Linguist K. Ramalinganar agree, it becomes clear how much ‘hatred’ Shankaracharya had towards Tamil, if we were to express it in his language, was ‘malignant’.
Earliest mention I found of “Neesa Baasai” canard – 1934
The earliest mention I found of the Neesa Baasai accusation is from May 27 1934 in the Weekly Puratchi. This was one of the magazines run by Periyar from Erode in the period the flagship publication Kutiarasu was banned for a period.
The article uses the extremely effective fictional dialog format of propaganda. It imagines two Tamil Brahmins speaking – with the message that English is the lowly language (neesa baasai) and overlaid is elite Merchange/Mercantile castes on the emancipatory effect of modern education.
So it likely started as a fictional dialog (Sampaashanai) – did it ? Needs research but so far I found the earliest mention here. Attached evidence.
To hate the Brahmin is but an evolution of hatred of the Brahminical.
Mr “Kuthoosi” S. Guruswamy was a leading intellectual and writer of the Dravidian movement. He was associated with Periyar from early stages from 1927 as the person who would write articles and edits in the fortnightly paper Kudiarasu. Later he become the editor of “Viduthalai” the official daily of the Dravidian ideology. He held this post for 16 years from 1946 to 1962. Kuthoosi S. Gurusamy was astonishingly prolific. During this period he churned out over 4000 articles in Tamil and 3000 headliners and edits [3].
In my view, without doubt Mr “Kuthoosi” S. Guruswamy is the ideologue responsible more than any other single person for shaping the average Tamil-Dravidian’s consciousness and worldview till this day.
“Paarpanarkal Maha Tantirasalikal” (The Tamil Brahmins are Big Tricksters) “பார்ப்பனர்கள் மகா தந்திரசாலிகள்” [1] is a Dravidian primary source book written by Kuruvikarambai Velu who was a close associate and biographer of “Kuthoosi” S. Guruswamy.
“In 1953, Kuthoosi Gurusamy wrote an article responding to those who called him a “Brahmin hater”
I translated it below.
Quote “
The evolution of the ideology is to grow from hatred of the Brahminical to hatred of the Tamil Brahmin (Paarpaan). The opposite is opportunism; or cowardice; or a mixture of both. Attempts to convert a birth based enemy into a friend will not succeed.
A cobra has a poison bag what is the use to just pull out its fangs ? Is there any purpose to pull out the fangs of a poisonous cobra and atleast then to sleep with it in the bed? Is it merely to see it raise its hood and dance or it is because it is the snake on top of Siva’s head?
It may be well and good in theory of public justice that a man must not hate a fellow man. But we have to
think whether all public justices are compatible with life. It may be true that the passion of hatred will grow animosity in society. But how can hatred be called a crime unless whatever is responsible for producing that hatred is removed?
A tiger’s nature is to kill and eat goats; So the goat hates the tiger. It is a cat’s natural instinct to kill mice. So mice hate cats. A snake swallows a frog: therefore a frog hates a snake. When an elephant is seen, a lion pounces on it; So even a very big elephant beats a lion. This natural law cannot be said to exist only in animals. One who is fearless, a supremely intelligent being, a seer of God, who can hold the pinnacle of science. Even such an evolved human is not able to forget the passion of hatred. The creature that comes to kill – the tiger, the snake, the bear – man hates these creatures. The critters that ruin his sleep – the mosquito, the bed bug – the human is unable to not hate these.
Does man kiss the ants that devour his food? Not only this. Even within humans, we see this malice. Not only in India; All over the world! The British hate Germans who spread Nazism. The Russians are angry; we are also angry. We have also seen this fanaticism go so far as to hang its leaders.
Similarly, the Nazis hated the Jews who looted Germany’s education, their wealth and their culture. The Jews were expelled from the country. The Jews are wandering like nomadic “Lambadi” gypies without knowing where to go. Arabs say they should not live in Palestine. ‘Not needed here’ says the American. Are we a land of surplus ? British say. The capitalist class in Europe hates Russia. Russian people
hate capitalists. Not only in Russia, but in America, China, Britain—why even in India! Even the Congressman who said, “We are only against the system of governance, we have no hatred for the individual’ The Congressmen say “get out, white man.” they went this far.
Many more can be said like these. Therefore, it is in the nature of man, to hate the one who deceives him, the one who exploits him, the one who rides on his back like a horse or the one who causes trouble to
him.
But it may be asked whether this hatred can never be stopped. It can When? Man does not hate the water-serpent as he hates the poisonous snake, because it is not poisonous; A free-roaming goat is not so afraid of a tiger lurking in a circus or a zoo; Realizing that the tiger cannot come out of the cage! Similarly, Indians do not hate an English villager who does not keep in touch with India – as they hate Churchill!
Exploiters, dung-feeders, blood-suckers and flesh-eaters can change their character and hatred may
be reduced. Even ordinary Tamils who do not belong to any party are hating. But some people are afraid to tell! Many people do not know; We are only asking you to consider this carefully.
Many are calling us “Brahmin haters” – let them call us that. We are not ashamed. “Yes” !! say it like that. What is the fear?
Nathil Art Printers, Chennai-14.
Quote “
Preface to the book
The preface of this book is an introduction by a “Vettharasan” likely a pseudonym. The first pages of the book rehash stereotypical hate tropes and accusations against the Tamil Brahmins. Here is the introduction to the book
Introduction
The Tamil Brahmins (Paarpanrs) are now awakened and rose up in agitation. Somehow, they have started talking in a conference that they are ostracized in the country, that their race is suffering a lot, and that they should fight for justice. They dream that is they hold processions and rebel they will regain their old status.
In India particularly in Tamil Nadu if you count the number of cruelties they have inflicted on the majority of this land – the Non-Brahmin even a stone will melt, even a black snake will soften its heart.
The people of this country are are not yet completely free from the cunning and intrigue of the Tamil Brahmins. In this situation, the Brahmins rallying and saying that they are oppressed is merely yet another of their cunning ploys to deceive the country.
Kuruvukarambai Velu has collected the things written and spoken by Sanathanis like Vivekananda Gandhi and Bharatiyar. You can see how evil the atrocities of the Brahmins must have been that even Vivekananda Gandhi Bharathiyar were incensed by them.
- Vettharasan
Related Posts
References
- பார்ப்பனர்கள் மகா தந்திரசாலிகள் ; ஆசிரியர். வேலு, குருவிக்கரம்பை சு. ; பதிப்பாளர். சென்னை : வளவன் பதிப்பகம் Paarparnarkal Maha Tantirasalikal (Tamizh Brahmins are great tricksters) Kuruvikarambai Velu, Valavan Press (Chennai)
- Periyar’s powerful journalism – Forward Press
- குத்தூசி குருசாமி , குருவிக்கரம்பை வேலு வளவன் பதிப்பகம் (சென்னை) 1975. Biography of Kuthoosi Gurusamy by Kuruvikarambai Velu, Valavan Press (Chennai) 1975
Pankajam allathu Paarpana Kodumai – A Dravidian play from 1930
After being exposed to hundreds of Dravidian anti-Brahmin cultural productions I have been sufficiently numbed to be able to open any book or video and approach the contents in a cold manner.
However, even I was taken aback and disturbed by an early Dravidian book named “Pankajam allathu Paarpana Kodumai ” , பங்கஜம் அல்லது பார்ப்பனக் கொடுமை (Pankajam the/or Brahmin atrocity). This book was published in 1930 by Kudiarasu Publications, Erode which was run by Mr E.V.Ramasamy Periyar.
Also see: Iraniyan alladu Inayattra Veeran a Dravidian play from 1934
Here is an analysis of the play.
Kudiarasu – the propaganda vehicle
The book was published by Kudiarasu Press, it is useful to know a bit about it. Kudiarasu was a weekly magazine started by Mr E.V.Ramasamy Periyar on May 2 1925. It had a string of highly zealous and hard working writers who would take notes of Periyar’s speeches and write articles sometimes under his name and sometimes on their own. In issue after issue, the magazine poured scorn and venom on the Tamizh Brahmin community, its culture, spread canards and fear, used fictional conversations to portray a false reality. It boasted a circulation of 13,000 in 1929 [1], it was roughly the same as the nationalist paper Swadesa Mitran which is said to have been 17,000 in 1925 [2]. However the actual circulation of Kudiarasu does not capture its real reach. In every town and reaching into remote villages the paper would reach and be read out by a Self Respect Movement member to the villagers. [3] The magazine in my view having read almost all publicly available issues was a primary force to instill anti-Brahmin attitude into the minds of the Tamil people. They truly understood the power of the press and the need for a propaganda army to take to the uneducated masses.
The book Pankajam, was published in 1930 by this Kudiarasu Press. The cover indicates that in the first run about 2000 copies were printed by a printer in Kanchipuram. The author of this book is a certain Iyengarkulam S Latchumanar (Iyengarkulam is the name of a village near Kanchipuram).
Pankajam allathu Paarpana Kodumai – the play
The author Iyenkarkulam S Latchumanar (Lakshman) wrote this book as a play. Much in the same manner as the later Iraniyan Allathu Inayattra Veeran which was released in 1934.To a mostly illiterate audience plays offer much more effective means to to take the anti-brahmin message. The dialogs appear to be authentic and sensational accounts of what the Tamil Brahmins speak among themselves. The rustic onlooker cannot tell that what he is witnessing is not actual brahmins conversing but Dravidians acting and inventing these roles and dialogs.
The play is not written in an amateur manner but has all the structural elements as a Bernard Shaw play would. It has acts, actors, the locations laid out. The dialogs assigned. All packaged in a book format with a code, printer, preface and so on. The author seems to be fully aware of the vileness and hence uses softening language up front in preparation of what is to come. He quotes Mahakavi Bharathi in the same manner many do today. Bharathi when quoted absolves the person who is about to make a hate speech of all culpability.
The play in 12 acts
The play is set in 12 acts – each of these acts contain the vilest dialogs and plots that the Tamil Brahmin characters are assigned to speak. A masterful exercise in Freudian projection. Projection is a technique where you let out your vilest thoughts through the voice of someone else. Or you accuse the person on the other side of the wicked things that you actually do and think.
The story
There lived a Tamil Brahmin man named Padmagireesa Iyer who was an astrologer brahmin ( Panjaanga Paapaan) . He had a daughter named Pankajam, who was by nature very haughty and arrogant. In order to meet her marriage expense he tried to exploit the non Brahmin in his area by doing various rituals. In addition he would take his daughter to various non Brahmin houses and get them to give her dresses and ornaments. He had a relative Kailasam Iyer who was a personal assistant to a wealthy Naatukottai Chettiar man. They hatch a plot to exploit his generosity by working on his likes and dislikes. Since the Nattukottai Chettiar couple did not have a girl child they liked them. Padmagirieesa Iyer took his daughter and managed to dupe the Chettiar into donating 6 acres of land. The Brahmins tricks of acting as agents of city lawyers and exploiting poor Non Brahmins are exposed. Then they get her married to a Brahmin groom who demanded 2000 dowry, he managed to study ICS. At the marriage of the couple they beat up a poor Non Brahmin who entered and ate some of the wedding food. After marriage the husband goes to a border area for a job and then returns as a Collector to the same town. Pankajam is the defacto Collector her arrogant ways now out in the open. They mistreat and abuse a qualified Mudaliar boy who had come for a job. The now westernized husband now smokes a cigarette and orders a tumbler of brandy – the Collector couple vow never to allow Non Brahmins in the district to progress. Curtains.
As you can see there isn’t much of a plot here. That would require actual playwright skills like Shakespeare and Chekov. The real purpose is to use these situations to spread the vilest anti Brahmin propaganda amongst the masses.
For instance in Act 1:
Pankajam was an arrogant girl.
Well that seems tame. So many plays feature arrogant women. But look at how this arrogance is portrayed in the dialog.
Place: Agraharam house
பங்கஜம்:சூத்திரச்சி எந்நோத்துக்குடி வர்ரது; நோக்கென்ன கண்ணிலே கொழுப்பாடி மேயாது; என்னாஆஆ தின்பாளே பண்ணியாட்டமா!
(லக்ஷ்மி பையில் இரண்டு பாத்திரம் எடுத்துக்கொண்டு ஒதுங்கி வருகிறாள்)
இந்த சூத்திரச்சிக்கு என்ன கண்ணைக்கூட தெரிய மாட்டேன்ரதே; இயூச்சிண்டுன்னாபோரா.
Hey Sudra-chi – endi cant you look where you are going. do you have lard in your eyes. you eat like aaa aaa like a pig. (The servant maid takes two vessels and goes on the side) Pankajam – this Sudrachi cant even see – she is touching me and moving along.
This continues for page after page , dialog after dialog. You can now see that the non existent plot is not important these vicious dialogs are. Now imagine if you are Non Brahmin Tamil in a village who hears this play. You are bound to develop a deep resentment towards Brahmins without question. That leads us directly to the ideological base of contemporary Tamil Non Brahmin society and its receptiveness for anti brahmin content.
Act 2 : All castes insulted and exploited
In Act 2 – a skit is shown where the Brahmin Padmagireesa Iyer deals with a number of villagers and tries to extract money from them for this or that ritual. Once again, nothing much plot wise, but the dialogs are key.
The actors are Natesan – the barber. A poor caste.
Then a Naidu, Mudaliar, Reddiar, Konar, Gounder, Nayakar, PIllai – presumably representing the Non-Brahmin Elite Vanguard of the anti-Brahmin movement.
The act shows how the Brahmin deals with the caste groups differently. Speaking sweetly with the money castes – abusing the Barber and then when speaking with a fellow brahmin abuses all of them as Shudra Paya.
An example of a visceral dialog when the Brahmin dismisses the love the Poor Natesan shows by bringing meager offerings instead of lots of money. He abuses him as Kammunati, Get out.. tries to milk the rich Non Brahmin Elites (Dravidians) for money for various events like annual death ceremony, birth of a new child etc. Finally when all the “Shudra Boys” have left another Brahmin shows up “they mock all the non brahmins and say lets wash the places they sat with cowdung.” You can see how clever this is – in one step creating a Non Brahmin group as that set of people subjected to this injustice. Of course, the lack of logic that life cycle events by definition are are and hence is NOT a site of exploitation unlike day to day farm agristic slavery that the real oppressed endured. You get a new baby once every 2 years – hence you cant be oppressed every day, by definition. The only reason was to deprive some poor brahmins of their income by use of ceaseless propaganda.
Exploiting the Naatukottai Nagarathar Chettiars
A remarkable and persistent theme in this play is the focus on Nattukottai Nagarathar exploitation by Tamil Brahmins. In Acts 5 onwards , the Brahmins guile fully tricks the generous and innocent Chettiar into parting with not just money but land. The principal agent here is Kailasam Iyer the personal assistant of the Chettiar.
The Chetti and Chettichi dont have a girl child hence they love girls, that too from “Nammava” B community. Use that..
Thats why I have brought along Pankajam – the 12 yr old girl.
using the same trick our friend Ganapathi Iyer managed to get a ton of land and money from the Chetti.
The Act goes on and on – as a string of Brahmins come and go collecting various donations. The Brahmins abuse others and among themselves plot to cheat the wealthy Nagarathar Chetty. Now the masterful piece is here : A Non Brahmin audience bystander who himself wants some of that donation goodies may wonder : How is it that the Nagarathar Chetty – who is presumably an insider to the Non Brahmin Volksgemeinschaft not donating to other Non Brahmins. That is covered brilliantly.
ஆனா நான் இங்கே வர்ர வாளை விரட்டி அடிச்சுண்டுதான் இருக்கேன்; இரண் டாவது வந்துதே அந்த தரித்திரத்துக்கு மாசம் 1 ரூபா கொடுக்கச்சொல்லி செட்டி 10 நாளாகுது. இன் னும் கொடுக்காமையே விரட்டி அடிச்சுண்டு வர்ரேன். 10 தடவை இப்படி அடிச்சாக்கே தானா நின்று போகுதுங்கோ கழுதைகொ.
Kailasam Iyer : Chetty is good man he is reading Kudiarasu Dravidian (magazines) and donating to others. But I am here I am preventing and driving out any Shudra. The chetty asked me to give 1 rupee per month to that Daridiram (non Brahmin) but I drive him out , if I drive him out 10 times, he will stop coming to get money on his own accord.
This is uncommon intelligence by I.S. Latchumanaar. It is the brahmin agent or the brahmin peon or the brahmin clerk who is acting as a gatekeeper and preventing the Chettiar patron from helping the non Brahmins. In one sweep, all agency is removed from the Chettiar and pinned on the Brahmin. I have noticed that the highly dubious and improbably Kasi Episode also involved a Chettiar Mutt. In my view, it appears that Chettiars of that time period were somewhat indifferent and uncommitted to the Anti Brahminism, perhaps due to their sponsorship of Temples and Vedic schools and so on. This could have been attempts to bring them around. And boy! was it a success.
In Act 5 brahmin registrar aids and abets stealing Dalit lands
The scene shifts to a Govt Registrar office where land documents are made. Having drafted the land donation from the Nattukottai Chettiar nobleman his assistant Kailasam Iyer gets the land registered. In the office, the sub-registrar is clearly identified as an Iyengar Tamil Brahmin.
சப்ரி:- இந்தப் பறப்பயல் வந்திருக்கானோ அன்னோ?
நரசி :- ஒ; வந்திருக்கான்.
(மண்ணாங்கட்டியை அழைக்க எழுந்திருக்கிறார்)
To show that Brahmins in govt offices openly refer to oppressed with the worst slurs.
Sub Registrar : Has that :para payal come ?
Narasimman: Yes he has ..(rises to call Mannankatti)
These dialogs are highly incendiary as the Tamil word Parapayal (Paraya Boy) is a offensive slur. The play written by S. Lakshmanar a Non Brahmin makes the Brahmin character use in nonchalantly.
Land dispossessed
In the scene in the Registrar office – a scene is shown where the Dalit is deprived of his land by a hurried and deceptive process. His thumb impression is obtained on a hurriedly drafted paper by Tamil Brahmins. This is once again a masterful uncommon inteligence by author S. Lakshmanan – to show that it is the Brahmins who are responsible for the landlessness of Dalits and that the lands the Brahmins hold are Dalits. Which means the non Brahmin elites are innocent and the land they hold are legitimate and outside of Dalit claims.
மண்:- சாமி; ஆடி அரவட்டையிலே கஞ்சிக்கில்லாதபோயி நம்ப ஐயரண்டே 2 பதக்கு நெல்லுவாங்கி காச்சிக் குடிச்சிட்டோம் சாமி! அதுக்கு வட்டியும் முதலும் 25 ரூபா ஆவுதுங்கொ சாமி!
சப்ரி:- இந்தப் பத்திரத்துக்கு ஆறணா ஆறது பீசு.
நரசி:- ஆ, ஆ, இதோ இருக்கு (எடுத்து வைக்கிறார்) (சப் ரிஜிஸ்டார் பெட்டியில் எடுத்துப் போடுகிறார்)
சப்ரி:- சரி, (பத்திரத்தின் மீது எழுகவேண்டியதை எழுது கிறார். பின்பு கோவிந்தன் கையில் பத்திரத்தைக் கொடுத்து)டேகோவிந்தா! ஜாக்கிரதை எட்ட இருந்து விரல்குறி வாங்கிண்டுவா, தொட்டுண்டு வந்து சோப் போரெ; கர்மம், கர்மம்;
In Aadi, when I didnt have anything for my stomach I brought some grain and cooked and ate it. The loan now stands at Rs 25. The Brahmin Narasimmachari thereby takes the land of the Parayar.
Important is the tone : Danger stand away from him and get the fingerprint.. slaps the wrist of the scared Parayar.. insults throws him out after taking the paper. Merciless and crude. Two other Iyengars supply the Witness for the property transfer. Tamil insults ..
Any person who reads this will develop a hatred for the Brahmin characters in the play. Once again remember these are official cultural productions of the elitest of the Non-Brahmins not some riff raff.
This goes on and on .. various specific named communities are insulted, abused, and mistreated. After cheating the Nattukottai Chettiar of land – Panjakam gets married. In the wedding we see a Non Brahmin Aasaari thrashed up by Brahmins because he ate the food. The insults in Tamil supply the real impact.
‘”வல்லார ஒழிப்பிள்ளை, தடியாம்பிள்ளை, ஆசாரித் தாழி மகன், கம்மாளத் தாழிஒழி, வாய்மேல் உதை வயித் தைப்பார்த்து உதை” என்று பல தவறான சொற்களைப் பலபேர் கோபத்துடன் கூறுகிறார்கள்.”ஐயோ! ஐயோ” வென்று ஆச்சாரி வெளியே ஓடிவருகிறார். பார்ப்பனர் தொடர்ந்துவந்து மடக்கிமடக்கி அடிக்கின்றனர். புரட் டிப் புரட்டி உதைக்கின்றனர். ஆச்சாரி ‘பசி சாமி சாப் பிட்டு ரெண்டுநாள் ஆகிறது சாமி” என்று கத்திக்கத்தி கடைசியாகத் தப்பித்துக்கொண்டு ஓடிவிடுகிறார். ஒரு பிராமணர் துரத்தி ஓடுகிறார் )
This is too vulgar for me to translate – but these are the peak expletives in Tamil – have to do it.
Vallara Ozhi, Aachaari Taazhi, Taazhi Ozhi, Kammala Taazhi.. (consider them variants of mother-f…) smash his mouth, beat him on his stomach. Saying that the Tamil Brahmins chase the Aachaari (artisan caste) out of the dining hall. The poor Aachari wails — “swamy, have mercy I havent eaten for 2 days ” yet they beat him and he ran away.
Back to the Nattukottai Nagarathar choultry in Vada Thillai (Kasi / Varanasi)
After the wedding of Pankajam is completed, the bride and grooms father go on a pilgrimage. They end up at a choultry – a religious motel of sorts, established and run by the same wealthy Chettiars in Varanasi. Immediately this reminded me of the famous “Kasi Sambavam or the Kasi incident” that is given as the origin story of Periyar’s Anti-Brahminism. The Brahmins eat their full , rub their stomachs. A character named Sathakeerthi Iyer – clearly a play on Sathyamurthy Iyer of Congress is in the same mutt at that time. He explains to other Brahmins how to defeat the Shudra political power. Just like elephants are use to capture other elephants, he explains how he mixes with Non Brahmins and has many Non Brahmin friends. They will attack the Dravidians by becoming his slaves. In that way, the Brahmins will keep their interests.
There are other acts where a Brahmin woman Rukmini complains how she was touched in a bus.
Rukmini: Dad, there are Shudras everywhere now. I got on a bus they are everywhere. A Thulukkan (slur for Muslim) sat next to me and he was wearing a scent, he was touching. Then a Christian was touching against me while sitting. I was waiting for the bus journey to end.
The play ends with Pankajam’s ICS husband who has now changed his name to western A.R.G. Paul ICS (A. Rajagopal). The play shows how Selvaraj Mudaliar an innocent and qualified candidate was prevented from getting a job. The couple then vow to never allow Non Brahmins to ever rise in the district as long as they are there.
Pankajam : (alone in excitement) As long as I am in this district I will see to it that not a single Shudra will progress.
Shudra is transitively –> Non Brahmin –> Dravidian as per their definition.
The End.
The curtains close. The play ends.
The relevance today
One may wonder why is this play relevant today. These are primary cultural productions of the Dravidian movement. In 2024, the Dravidian ideology is not just strong in Tamilnadu but even the Congress Party has adopted the talking points and techniques of the Dravidian ideology [6]. It would be a different matter if Tamil Non Brahmin elite society which has ruled for nearly 100 years would have evolved a more cogent, logical, modern and compassionate view of social justice and abandoned such hateful production. However that has not happened. A mere scan of Tamil cultural productions in YouTube, Twitter, Insta, reveals a doubling down on vulgar hate videos, spreading canards, half lies, full lies against Brahmins. Dravidian Tamil literary and cultural productions of anti-Brahmin are not balanced out by other modern and academic works. Hence these are uncontested. In my Twitter journey itself many BJP or NTK people too seem to have such strong influences from their elders who would have transmitted these within their networks.
The argument of the Dravidian interpreters for Non Tamils cannot claim that these productions were a throwback to a different age when Tamil Brahmins dominated all the other castes. We are seeing it now. We are seeing the police power exercised against examination of the ideology even today. Kudiarasu and later Viduthalai were unceasing in creating the anti Brahmin material. That ideological base is the justification Tamil non Brahmin upper caste society uses for the cancellation of Tamil Brahmin individuals and all cultural elements they touch. Kovai K Ayyamuthu who was the editor for Kudiarasu for a couple of years says that the very purpose of Kudiarasu was to annihilate the Tamil Brahmins. Hence like a person who wanted to catch rats would chase it around the house, destroying the sofas, the walls, cupboards, the doors in an mad rage to catch the rat. Finally unable to find it would raze down the entire house [4]. Even if you we cringe at the rat analogy , the point made by Kovai K Ayyamuthu is totally on dot. There is no cultural element that isn’t tainted by Tamil Brahmins or its very slightly expanded version Brahmin-ism. This extends into glorious Tamil productions of the past, Parimelazhagar’s hoary classical ness (1000 yr) can be cancelled by anyone who writes a exposition of Tirukkural in 2024. Kamba Ramayanam is obscene its antiquity can be overridden by Ravana-Kaaviam, while you are at it take Periyapuranam with you. The temples are obscene and sites of oppression. There is nothing redeeming about anything Tamil because the entire span of civilization is tainted by my forebears. See Silapathikaram.. how can a Dravidian self respecter like it? Look at Madalan Marayon how he controls the king Senkuttuvan. This cancelling process goes on and on and on further and further into new territory gaining new ground. Uncontested. Until the Tamil are left with nothing by shame of their past. I am NOT a Dravidian but I am certainly a Tamil hence I need to guard that. Hence an examination of Dravidian literature is an absolute necessity. I hope all Tamils regardless of caste sit up straight and take notice. Is this art yours? If yes, let the world know it is yours.
References
[1] Naan Kanda Periyar , Kovai K Ayyamuthu, Tamizhagam Publishers 1957, p 26
[2] G. Subramaniya Iyer: The First Editor And Founder Of ‘The Hindu’- Through The Eyes Of The Indian Intelligentsia. R. Raveenthar1 , Dr. G. Rengaraju2
[3] Om Prakash Kashyap at Forward Press https://www.forwardpress.in/2022/01/periyars-powerful-journalism/
[4] Kovai Ayyamuthu “Naan Kanda Periyar” 1957 pp 17 “குடி அரசு பத்திரிகையின் ஓரே நோக்கம் பார்ப்ப வர்களை ஒழித்துக் கட்டுவதுதான். எலி பிடிக்கப் போனவன் எ எந்தெந்த இடத்திலும் பொருளிலும் இருந்ததோதையெல்லாம் அழித்தொழித்துக் கடைசியில்,வீடிருந்தால்தானே எனியிருக்கும் வீட் டையே ஒழுத்துவிட்டாள் எலி இராதல்ல என்று தன் வீட்டையே எரித்துச் சாம்பலாக்கிய கதைபோல கரும் பார்ப்பனுக்கும், பார்ப்பளியத்துக்கும் எங் கெய்கே, எவ்வெவற்றில் வளர்ச்சிக்கும் செல்வாகிற்கும் இடமிருப்பதாகஎருகியுரோ அவற்றையெல்லாம் தவிடுபொடியாக்குவடுதன கீச்சயித்துவிட்டார். சாடு யிலே,அடங்கிலே, சாத்திரத்திலே,கோயிலிலே,குளத் இளே, புராணத்திலே, இதிகாசத்திளே மதத்தியே கடவுள் என்ற எண்ணத்திலே, எங்கெங்கு பார்ப்பளம் நுழைந்துள்ளானே
[5] Pankajam Allathu Paarpana Kodumai, Iyengarkulam S Latchumanar, Kudiarasu Publications 1930. Available online at Tamil Digital Library
[6] “In attempt to rebuild Congress turns to Dravidian ideology”. Times of India April 6 2023 Link
Eradicate Sanathana Dharma like Mosquito Dengue – law creates the politics.
Article 25 of the Indian Constitution guarantees the freedom of conscience, the freedom to profess, practice, and propagate religion to all citizens.
All elected representatives swear to protect the constitution. There has to be a meaning to affirming an oath to the constitution. Now what happens if this resolve is tested? Say a minister from an ideologically powerful state resolves to eradicate a particular religion. Then uses obfuscation, double-speak, euphemisms to explain it away. What institutions should step in?
The Dravidian clarion call to not merely oppose Sanathana Dharma but eradicate it is not new. I have written a detailed blog in 2021 “How can Dravidians uproot Sanathana Dharma in a democracy” It is not a mere outburst but a repeated and organized propaganda campaign. This has now grown so much that the new opposition alliance to take on BJP Modi in 2024- the I.N.D.I.A alliance has been created to take on Sanathana Dharma as per the Tamilnadu Education Minister Mr Ponmudi.
Public fulmination using very violent language – eradication mosquitoes malaria – against a veiled enemy calls for using indirection, euphemisms, and obfuscation. It should alert public to pay attention to what specifically they are talking about. Perhaps the obfuscation is required because the real intention cannot be stated in public in plain terms. This type of indirect language is called an argot used by ingroup members to prevent outsiders from understanding it. A code , cant, or a dog whistle that we call in Tamil குறியீட்டு மொழி (code language).
Here we try to explore this in more depth.
The mosquito and the disease
First, the mosquito.
..some things have to be eradicated not opposed. Mosquitoes — Dengue, Malaria, Corona.
Mr Udhayanidhi in the Eradicate Sanathana Conference
Isnt it strange that the Mosquito a vector is used along with diseases?
Tamil Brahmins have been compared to mosquitoes for a long time in Dravidian source material in Tamil. This is yet another attack on Tamizh Brahmins and through them a proposal for the Tamil NonBrahmin Hindus.
Here is Mr E.V.Ramaswamy Periyar – talking about brahmins and eradication of pests like mosquitoes and bed bugs.
When Periyar was speaking in a public meeting, some one asked him “Are you a Paapaan (slur word for Tamil Brahmin) hater?” To that Periyar replied “Since we cant stand mosquito bite, we are asking to use mosquito nets. Does that mean I am a mosquito hater. Since we are unable to bear the bite of the bed bug (a parasitic insect) we are using insect killer and killing the bed bugs. Does this mean I am a bed bug hater”
This reply removed the darkness of ignorance from the person who asked the question.
Periyar Vaazhvin Velichangal . Dr K. Veeramani Sold on Amazon you can see the quote right there
You can see how nonchalantly the Dravidian topmost leaders are comparing Tamil Brahmins as a birth group man,woman, and child to vectors like mosquitoes and bed bugs. Insects and parasites to be protected against and to be fumigated. Like the Nazis, they then claim their hatred is nothing but righteous self defence against the Brahmin pest. This is why I say Dravidian is nothing but an adaptation of anti-semitism. In another video that was found on the YouTube channel MaiChennai a leading thought leadernarrates a similar mosquito discourse between Mr Annathurai who turned reconciliatory towards Tamil Brahmins and the hardline MR EV Ramaswamy Periyar. Mr Suba Vee claims Periyar admonished Anna by saying “how can you say I oppose Brahminism but dont oppose brahmins, can you say that I only oppose mosquito bite but not mosquitoes“.
On 29-12-1938 Mr E.V.Ramaswamy called Tamil Brahmins as “mosquitoes, bugs, and Jews” (Rajmohan Gandhi “Rajaji a life” 2010)
Mr E.V.Ramaswamy (Periyar) writing in the Dravidian periodical Viduthalai :
Brahmins – Newspaper – Political parties – Legislatures and Cinema are the five diseases. These diseases are preying on the human body like the diseases Cancer, Leprosy, and Malaria. If the society is to progress these things should be fought tooth and nail and destroyed completely.
[Viduthalai 9-1-1959 , cited in Translations of Periyar’s speeches and writings Meena Kandaswamy]
Brahmins are a thing like Newspapers, Political Parties, Cinema likened to Cancer , Leprosy. These hate tracts are widely read by the non-brahmin population of Tamilnadu who may be loathe to admit it in public , but when the mosquito comparison is made they are able to immediately access the meaning. When the Cabinet Minister in the UPA govt Mr A.Raja goes one step further and compares Sanathana Dharma to Leprosy, this is the tradition he is coming from.
Theft and the thief – Dravidian-Tamil hatred for Brahmins or Brahminism
Do you hate Tamizh Brahmins (Paarpanar) or Brahminism ? To that Mr EV Ramaswamy (Periyar) replies.
Why do we say Brahminsm? Isnt it true that it is only from the Brahmin that Brahmin-ism comes? This is why I say the Brahmin must be eradicated. IT is like asking “Do you hate theft or do you hate the thief”? Only because he is a thief he commits theft. If you hate theft you must also hate the thief. Since Brahminism comes from the Brahmin, I am working hard to eradicate the source.
Mr E.V.Ramaswamy (Periyar) Viduthalai 11-09-1959 speech at Kannankudi nr Chidambaram
Obfuscation of Sanathana Dharma – words and their meanin
As soon as the furore broke out over the Dravidian vow to eradicate Sanathana Dharma, Mr Karti Chidambaram rushed to clarify that everyone misunderstood the meaning. That in Tamilnadu you see “Sanathana Dharma” simply means caste discrimination. Well, I am from Tamilnadu I do not think so.
The “Sanathana Ozhippu Maanaadu” (Sanathana Eradication Conference) was not an amateur or hurriedly put together affair. It was organized by Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers Association. These are the Dravidian-Tamil literary elite. If in Tamilnadu, Sanathana simply meant “Caste Discrimination” then they would have surely named the conference as “Eradicate Caste Discrimination Conference”. They did not. Another curiosity is the careful title “Sanathana Ozhippu Maanadu” (Sanathana eradication) instead of “Sanathana Dharma Ozhippu Maanadu” (Sanathana Dharma eradication). The omitting of the word Dharma is deliberate because it gives a plausible deniability by omitting the word. Surely the audience can be counted upon make the tiny inductive leap to its actual meaning.
Euphemism, vagueness, split messaging – conveying a message in two parts, are used to conceal what would otherwise be unpalatable or indefensible to the outside world and to its own followers.
Split messaging
Deliver a message which would be unacceptable in two parts.
Taken separately these parts may not fall under hate speech or criminal provisions. This allows plausible deniability, people can deny the parts but accept the whole. To illustrate: The leader of Dravidian-Tamils Dr K. Veeramani said “Sanathana Dharma is Hinduism” and the Udhay said “Eradicate Sanathana”. Instead of one person saying “Eradicate Hinduism”. Taken separately they are not offensive or even wrong – Sanathana Dharma is indeed what we know as Hinduism. And Eradication of Sanathana cannot be called as eradicating Hinduism, it is eradicating Sanathana. Mr Karthi Chidambaram immediately washed off the first part by saying “Dr K.Veeramani is an extreme Dravidian”. This is what discourse analysis looks like.
Choosing to deploy a word that references a thing versus directly naming the thing itself. This is uncommon tactical intelligence.
George Orwell famously wrote that the language and propaganda of totalitarian dictatorship is that of “euphemism, question begging and sheer cloudy vagueness.” He argued that in efforts to “defend the indefensible” totalitarian regimes substitute clinical abstractions for straightforward proper nouns and visceral verbs.
More recently, Berel Lang has referred to “the blatant disparity between the normal connotation of the word and its reference” in Nazi vocabulary, and to “ ‘language rules’ explicitly designed to conceal literal meaning.” He continues that the language of euphemism and deception served not only in internal communications among officials or in messages intended to deceive the Jews, but that “also in addresses to the outside world . . .
Prof Jeffrey Herf. Univ of Maryland. Goebbels and antisemitic campaigns of the propaganda minister
What can be eradicated
A large number of Dravidian Tamil intellectuals came forward to define, redefine, and soften the meaning of the word Sanathana Dharma. Karti Chidambaram, Sugi Sivam, Jeyamohan and others who represent a cross section of the elite castes clarified along the lines that ‘We Tamils do not identify Hinduism with Sanathana Dharma it refers the Vedic religion of the Brahmins only”. To buttress this Jeyamohan supplied evidence that Vedas were not central to Non-Brahmin (Dravidian) Tamil Hindu. This was rebutted instantly. The basic argument from the Dravidan side was “Sanathana Dharma refers to Vedic religion, of the Brahmins”
If Sanatana Dharma is not the Dravidian-Tamil religion that makes the eradication call even more problematic. If Sanathana Dharma which is an indirection used to reference Vedic Hinduism. If that is external to the religion of Dravidians and the religion of the Tamil Brahmin only, then a conference to eradicate someone else’s religious belief is an outright contravention of Article 25 of the Constitution.
Why bait Hindu if they only hate brahmins?
A good question asked by a friend on Twitter. This probably requires a dedicated post. The short answer is “Dravidian” and “Idea of India” is about transformation of the society. This is a marxist concept. Through attacking brahmins and vedic they would surely unsettle the Non Brahmins too. However they can alleviate or privataly reassure them by saying that their offence is limited to Brahmins only or that is it only a mask. They will be given a new religion without the Vedic bits as Jeyamohan and Suba Vee and Pazha Karupiah says. Perhaps they will excise “Sottrunai Vediyan” and create a new religion for Non Brahmin Tamils, but that is a concern for later. They have been set on the slippery slope. They will be taken care of and civilized properly.
What can be eradicated specifically
In concrete terms what can be done to eradicate a faith? As we stand now, even with zero action on #core agenda explicit laws cannot be passed banning the possession of religious material, propagation of the same via schools or shloka classes, public display of symbols, etc. What can be done is to encourage extreme and vulgar polemics on that faith system. In critical theory, sustained high intensity attack on any cultural aspect of a society will eventually wear it down. This is a Gramscian Marxist theory to first infiltrate institutions and destroy the cultural hegemony. This is possible by the seeming defacto immunity from criminal codes IPC 295 ( religious enmity) and IPC 153 (group enmity). While brutally jailing any defensive response using the same sections.
Law creates the politics – the Supreme Court and Dravidian invective
In April of 2023, the Supreme Court of India with great bombast called the Centre impotent for failing to curb hate speech. It also threatened to file contempt against police officers failing to register FIRs.
First here is speech and there is propaganda. That is the difference between a comment and a crusade. Judges are supposed to be alive to such distinctions. Even if vile and vicious, a sudden outburst of abuse against a community is not the same as organized, sustained, state supported propaganda crusade against a group aimed at destroying the dignity of that group. That is the unique feature and the real force behind Dravidian power.
At this time a Dravidian organization has organized hundreds of street corner meetings, conferences, speeches, and online campaigns to eradicate Sanathana Dharma. Then covering up with obfuscation that they actually meant caste discrimination. Caste discrimination is not an inalienable part of Sanathan Dharma, quite the contrary it is only Sanathana Dharma that provides redressal and equity in the form of reservations. To suggest that caste discrimination is not a severable part of the entire Sanathana Dharma tradition is egregious.
Using verses from Manusmriti to adamantly insist that these are real world concerns of today exactly mirrors the Nazi Anti-Semites who used Talmud polemics to justify anti-semitism. Nevertheless all the evils in Manusmriti are common offences today. They are severed and outlawed by criminal laws and civil laws. This reeks of the same “look what we found” to nail you hate propaganda justification.
Free speech or not
Political activity take place in the space created by the court. By all counts “Eradicate Sanathana Dharma” has moved the overton window – the range of political possibilities by miles. Now this is in public debate space. Excuses , qualifications, and clarifications should be in court and not in public. Such public debates about the desirability of eradication will certainly not be allowed for other religions. For example an “Eradicate Islam-ism” and then covering it with ‘we only spoke about the violence” or “Eradicate Christianity” and then fudging “we reject the common word christian there are only protestants, catholics, adventists etc.”.
This “space” is created by the court and Dravidians and their I.N.D.I.A alliance have rushed to occupy this new territory. BJP is trying to take the defence side in response. But in reality this is a matter for the court and police. I contend that to the extent the Dravidian ideology is based on Anti-Brahmin propaganda it is a creation of the legal immunities.
The free speech absolutist would say even if Dravidian-Tamils call for eradication of Hinduism or Brahmins the speech should be protected. Rule of law however is concerned about the uniform application of this principle. The Dravidian government is extremely brutal in arresting dissenting speech. There can only be all-in or all-out in terms of free speech. An example would be Malaysias’ 3R law where all critical content on Race Religion and Royals are taken off the table. Recently Dravidians were warned not to do their anti-hindu and anti-brahmin spiel in Malaysia by their Malaysian hosts. This is an example of all-out. USA in an example of all-in. There is no intermediate state. If X can provoke Y and Y’s reaction is criminal then you can never defeat X in elections. Because this means X’s campaign is valid and Y’s campaign is illegal.
In India, free speech laws follow demonstration of violence potential. If you can show mayhem then perhaps the provocation is banned. However this means insofar as speech laws the appellate authority is the mob not the court. Because the court defers to the mob.
Reversal of logic – drawing a premise
There is another real danger to the discourse that BJP and other defenders of Sanathana Dharma will miss. Stay with me as I explain the dangerous death of logic.
Julius Streicher the notorious anti-semite was hauled to court when his magazine Der Sturmer kept publishing the Blood Libel canard – which accused Jews of killing German children for their blood. During court hearings in front of a German jury he astonishingly claimed the following defence. He had seen a painting of the blood libel by a famous artist in a Vienna city hall. He said “If the blood liberal werent true, would a painter have painted it? would a respected government exhibit in the city hall?
Julius Streicher, Randaal L Bytwerk Page 47
Isnt it an astonishing logic? It will easily catch with the poorly educated Indian masses in the hands of a master propagandist who will deliver it. It is rooted in non uniform application of laws.
Goes like this:
If a call for eradication of Sanathana Dharma was not a constitutionally valid agenda, then surely our esteemed judiciary which shows no favour would have done something about this call. Since this is allowed, eradication of sanathana dharma might be a legitimate call.
These are issues that fall out of the central anomaly with the “Idea of India ” jurisprudence. A lack of principles, abstraction, and lack of commitment to uniform application.
The BJP in 2024 could be in for a nasty surprise at the newly opened territory. There is a great energy that has been unleashed. Tamilnadu has shown that masses and groups will adjust to the new normal of degraded, vulgarized discourse and sue for peace and protection. The same riddle “how can seemingly devout Tamils vote for a group with such offensive rhetoric” can also apply to other states. The propaganda makes it happen.
Acid Thiagarajan story – Dravidian elites valorising Dalit attacking Tamizh Brahmins
One of the common themes we hear from both Dravidians and their New Delhi allies is “But no one got killed”. When pushed, they retreat to “there were no violence”.
For an actual Dravidian Discourse Analyst like it made absolutely no sense that a movement that is built on announcing malevolent intent via propaganda 24×7 would not have capacity for actual graded violence. Would anyone merely announce their mens rea (Criminal mind) but not have any capability to back it up.
Here is a leading mainstream Periyarist Dravidian organization celebrating a terrorist act of physical assault as a way to inspire more such assaults.
Background – the public prosecutor Srinivasachari
Periyar (EV Ramaswamy Nayakar) made a speech calling for murder of atleast 3000 Tamizh Brahmins and arson of their houses besides calling for burning of Indian Constitution. Following this legal action was hesitatingly taken by the then Congress government in Tamilnadu upon prodding by Jawaharlal Nehru. The judge then sentenced Periyar for 3 years jail. The Public Prosecutor who appeared for the TN Government was a Tamizh Brahmin by name of Srinivasachari. This Dravidian hero in an act of revenge threw acid and assaulted the Tamizh Brahmin prosecutor.
Punched and threw acid on Srinivasachariar face ..
The story is recounted in Tamil. I have translated to English below.
If it is Vanchinathan for you !
It is acid Thiagarajan for us !!
My dear Comrade Sinnasami stood with me. We were getting ready for a big plot. Do you know how much money we had ? Four Annas. I heard the news first hand.
Periyar did not announce anything about Viduthalai (a signal of sorts) but I heard news that a Government Lawyer was to participate for Republic Day celebrations. I told my friend Sinnasamy “I have decided. You please leave from here. Long Live Periyar we saluted and shook hands and took leave
Then Sinnasamy pulled me aside and refused to take leave from me. He said “Let me also join you” At that time I said “No please you leave, I have forgotten even my mother and for me only Periyar is important now”
Mr Srinivasachari participated in Republic Day celebrations and was returning. Then, in front of police view itself I grabbed his neck and strangulated him. I screamed “RASCAL” to his face .. then I threw ACID on his face. When he fell down the 8’O clock siren blew. Then I punched him on shoulder and face. Then 300 people chased me.. they could not catch me.
Then police took me for investigation. The Police inspected was very respectful to me, he made me sit equally and put his arms around my shoulder. Then he asked ” There are so many Periyar cadre, why are you so concerned more than them. Why are you alone doing such extremist acts”.
Then I told.
You are from lowered (Backwarded) community I am from oppressed (Dalit) community. You have now made me sit as equal and put hand on my shoulder. 25 years ago I was untouchable. That has been given by Periyar to me. I said.
Original in Tamil
Guile and very fine tuned messaging
This is not a normal outburst. Both the message and delivery are results of very fine tuned propaganda methods. Note the following.
- Vanchinathan is for you – like that Acid is for us. Where you = Brahmins? us = NonBrahmins (Dravidians) ? See how this message is delivered? That fighting a foreign imperial power is on the same level as killing a citizen. If the Dravidian-Tamil argument is that the Tamil Brahmins are not citizens of India but need to be expelled. Then it is incumbent on the Indian state to protect itself.
- 8’o clock siren – this invoking of a factory industrial metaphor is to rouse the communists and attach themselves to anti-semitic like Tamil Brahmin hatred.
- Police being kind – to seed the impression that Tamilnadu Police is sympathetic to Dravidian criminal assault on Tamilzh Brahmins. This can be used to convey ‘dont worry, police is on our side’ and hence attract criminals.
- Dalit as soldiers – the actual criminal Thiagarajan is making an absurd statement to appear to be a reasonable excuse. The police inspector is OBC .. and the criminal a Dalit. The Dalit justifies acid attack on the Tamizh Brahmin Lawyer Srinivasachari as the method due to which the OBC who treated him as untouchable is being nice to him. The straight line logic is that the Dalit should hit the OBC who oppressed him.
Police sympathy with the acid attacker theme
This says “rhe police inspected who was smoking a cigarette in front of me also started crying..”
This story is carried in Kalaignar News – a leading Tamil media outlet.
The tamil has a spelling mistake முன்னாள் instead of முன்னால் – a propaganda theme that hints to potential cadre who can supply the actual criminal capacity not to fear the Police as they are also aligned.
As per (1) , after the incident Acid Thiagarajan hid – then Police caught him and later he was released for lack of evidence. Apparently Periyar himself paid for the lawyers.
This criminal was honored in a stage of Dravidian organizations.
There is a genius at work behind this.
In cahoots with Law and Order
In cahoots with Media.
Dravidian Tamils openly celebrating an activist who boasts about his plan to Kill Nehru
Further , this Trichy “Acid” Thiagarajan has proudly supplied testimony how he plotted to kill Nehru. It goes like this (as per the blog )
Yes, during the Hindi protests in Tamilnadu. Nehru had called Tamils as “nonsense”.
As usual , I got furious. Right at that time Nehru happened to visit Trichy. The day prior to his visit to Trichy men were guarding the railway tracks with lights. I hid near the railway tracks out of sight. I had a bomb attached to a rope. As the train with Nehru approached I planned to toss it into the tracks. Then the train with the Ashoka Chakra emblem rolled by. To toss the bomb I got ready and looked up – it is at that moment I saw at the compartment door Kamaraj standing majestically with arms on hip. I remembered then that Green Tamizhar (Original Tamizhar) Kamaraj was supported by Periyar. So I dropped the bomb and started crying.
This story appears in a Dravidian blog –
Invited as a guest of honour in Dravidan conference in 2007 Tanjavur
Apparently this Acid Thiagarajan was invited as a special guest where he made the speech boasting about his attempt to murder and also other stuff.
What matters is :
- If this is bravado and falsehood – it cannot be of relevance
- The bravado is seen as an act of virtue and hence is celebrated because they want people like this.
Sources :
http://acidthiyagu.blogspot.com/2009/03/blog-post_3941.html (saved backup PDF)
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