Iyothee Thass
Ayodhya Thass (C. Iyothee Thass, May 20, 1845 – May 5, 1914) was South India’s first anti-caste militant, social worker, Tamil scholar and paranormal doctor. He was one of the pioneers of the Dravidian movement. Hailing from an Adi Dravida background, he was active in the fields of politics, religion and literature for the advancement of the Adi Dravidian people in the late 19th century. He converted to Buddhism and advised that the original religion of the Pariyars was Buddhism and therefore they should convert to Buddhism. In 1891, Panchamar co-founded the Mahasana Sabha with Srinivasan. The Panchamars did not come in the Varunasirama system, but were called Avarnas.
Born into a well-educated family. His grandfather, Butler Khandappan, was the one who rescued the copies that had been lost in the case for centuries and handed them over to Ellis Duray from his family savings book. It was only then that the screw came into its present form.
Education and Scholarship
Ayodhya was born on May 20, 1845 in the Thousand Lights area of Chennai and later emigrated to the Nilgiris due to his father’s work. His parents gave him the name Kathavarayan. Working with his grandfather George Harrington in the Nilgiris helped Ayodhya in many ways at a young age.
To his father also Kasi Medu Sadavathani Vairakkan Velayutham Puluvar (1830-1892), Vallakkalathy V. He was also educated by Ayodhya Das Pandit (1836-1900). He had a deep knowledge of Tamil, Siddha medicine and philosophy and was fluent in English, Northern languages and Pali. Due to his respect for his Guru, he changed his name from Kathavarayan to Ayodhya Das.
Works related to religion
At the age of 25, he mobilized the oppressed masses in the Nilgiris and founded the Advaitananda Sabha in the 1870s. His family followed Vaishnava religious traditions. On that basis she called her boys Madhavaram, Pattabhiraman, Janaki Raman, Rajaram. After converting to Buddhism, she named her daughters Ambika Devi and Maya Devi.
Despite his involvement in Advaita Vedanta, his quest was for a rational liberation philosophy against all its forms, such as theology, ritualism, Brahmanical domination, spirituality, and religious culture. It is based on the search for self – thought, self – ideology.
The period of the Pandits (late 19th century) was the period when Hinduism was re-established. Everything was imposed into Hinduism by organizations such as the Brahma Samaj and the Aryan Samaj. ‘Those who are Christians or non-Muslims’ were all forced into the ‘Hindu’ identity in the census from 1861 to 1891 as Hindus. Pandit who supported the Vaishnava tradition but refused to accept the identity of ‘Hindu’. Thus accepting the ‘Hindu’ identity means accepting the caste system of the ‘Hindu’ community. He was very careful that the people of Aditya, who were experiencing the greatest caste oppression, should not accept the Hindu identity. Instead he began to look for a non-Hindu alternative identity. An attempt was made to recreate ‘Tamil Saiva’ in devotional forms in Tamil Nadu. This, too, was in a sense an attempt by the casteists. Although ‘Tamil Saivam’ speaks anti-Brahmin, it does not talk about ‘caste eradication’. That is why Pandit did not join Tamil vegetarianism.
On behalf of the ‘Casteless Dravida Maha Jana Sabha’ initiated by the Pandits, he sent to the Indian National Congress a petition containing 10 demands, such as free education, temple entry and allotment of barren land, passed on December 1, 1891. Those demands were never met. At a meeting organized by the Chennai Maha Jana Sabha in 1892, Pandit, representing the Nilgiris district, submitted the above 10 requests and sought permission to enter the temples of Vishnu and Shiva. It was immediately denied and insulted. This humiliation led the scholar to another thought. Who are we? Hindus? Why is caste stigma imposed on us? Counted as and moved in search of self. He questioned the Vedas, Hinduism, Brahmanism, Ritualism, etc.
Activities for Adi Dravidars
In the 1870s Ayodhya Dasar integrated the Todar and other hill tribes of the Neelamalai. In 1875 he founded the Advaitananda Church. Contact was made with Rev. John Rathinam, who ran the Vesilian Mission School for the Adi Dravidians in the Thousand Lights area. Pandit also participated in the news magazine ‘Dravida Pandian’ published on behalf of ‘Dravidar Kazhagam’ conducted by Janratnam.
In 1886 Adi Dravidars declared that they were not “Hindus”. Following that declaration, the Dravida Mahasana Sabha was established in 1891. In the 1891 census, Adi Dravidars insisted on registering themselves as “casteless Tamils” rather than identifying themselves as Hindus. His actions greatly inspired the Buddhist revivalist Anagarika Dharmapala of Ceylon.
The only party at the time was the Indian National Congress, which split it into two factions, the Northern Congress, the Congress of Bengal and the Southern Congress, criticizing it as a Brahmin Congress and sidelining the Congress. So he started self-ideology and self-politics against conversion, Advaita, Tamil vegetarianism, theatrical contact, the Congress party and all sorts of reactionary ones.
Adi Dravida believed that the lifting of the cultural and religious barriers raised to the oppression of the people would bring about the true liberation of the oppressed people and that Buddhism, the anti-caste, anti-Varuna religion, was the ideal. Buddhism was the original religion of the Adi Dravidians and the cause of their inferiority (i.e. the Adi Dravidians were enslaved because they followed Buddhism). At the same time, Adi Dravidar believed that Buddhism would be the support and means for liberation and power.
He explained through his Tamil scholarship that the Indian tradition was Buddhism:
The word Indian is a strain of ‘Indram’. The name ‘Indradesam’ came to the country where Indra Buddha and the people who consider him a guru live. There was a nation here before the arrival of the Aryans, and that nation was formed by Buddhism. It has always been based on rationality, humanism, equality, consensus, philosophy and practice. In it the scholar explains that over time it was twisted into magic or sorcery by the invasion and invasion of a foreigner. The casteless culture of the homeland has been destroyed and distorted by foreign powers and outsiders. He sought to destroy the inequalities caused by birth and to build a nation that would create a political ideology that would move towards equality.
In the October 30, 1912 issue of the Tamil magazine, he called on the British (35 years before independence) to grant political power to the Adi Tamils, the landlords of India, if India gained independence. “Compassionate British expatriates are gracious to the natives and give them sovereignty, but it is a pity to give to the natives. He insisted that the Adi Dravidians should gain political power.
Conversion to Buddhism
Ayodhya Das with his mentors met Henry Steele Alcott and expressed his desire to convert to Buddhism. [3] Ayodhya commented that the people of Tamil Nadu were Buddhists and that the Aryans had conquered their own Tamil Nadu. He went to Sri Lanka with the help of Alcott and was initiated by the Sinhala Buddhist monk Sumangala Nayak. On his return from there Ayodhya founded the Sakya Buddhist Society in Chennai and established its branches all over South India. The Sakya Buddhist Society, also known as the “Buddhist Association of India”, was founded in 1898.
Tamil magazine
Published from Chennai Rayapettai on 19th June, 1907 every Wednesday with four pages titled “ஒரு பைசாத் தமிழன்”
The scholar explained the need for the magazine to be published and for whom:
“Some philosophers, natural scientists, mathematicians and literary figures have come together to publish this magazine ‘One Paisat Tamil’ to teach justice, the right path and honesty to the people who do not discriminate between high, middle and shop level. We demand the signature of every Tamil who wants to spread the Tamil fragrance.” Announced that.
On the front page of the magazine, the name of the magazine ‘Oru Paisath Tamilan’ was written on the nine lotus petals in book form and on the left side it was ‘Jayathu’ and on the right side it was ‘Mangalm’.
In the first issue, God’s Greetings, King’s Greetings, Tamil Greetings, Poovathamizholi (Political Series) Gazette (Country Current News) were published categorized according to the importance of the news.
Name change
One year later, at the request of readers, ‘Print and Press Name Changed’ (26. August 1908 – p. 2) was removed and ‘Oru Paisath’ was removed and renamed ‘Tamil’ on 26. August 1908.
The news in Tamil was also expanded. In particular, the women’s column (Ladies column) featured news on women’s education, employment, women’s advancement. The General News section is followed by general news, current affairs, general news, weather reports, reader letters, foreign news, advertisements and book reviews. The Tamil magazine spread to neighboring countries like Karnataka Kolar Gold Field, Kodagu, Burma, South Africa, Rangoon, Singapore .. where most of the Tamils lived.
Close Belief studied in detail the epic twists and turns of the scriptures that support untouchable cruelty, as well as Brahmanical supremacy. He has written extensively on anti-religious, anti-Brahmin, anti-superstition and anti-caste sentiments in books such as ‘Yathartha Brahmana Vedanta Vivaram’, ‘Vesha Brahmana Vedanta Vivaram’, ‘History of Sri Murugan God’ and ‘Vibudhi Research’
At a time when no movement was emerging in Tamil Nadu, he spoke of social justice, marginal oppression of social values. The Government of Tamil Nadu celebrated and celebrated the centenary of the Tamil Magazine, which presented a comprehensive political policy package to various movements that spoke on issues such as participation in power, emancipation of the representative political oppressed, feminism, Tamil linguistics, rationality, self-respect, anti-casteism, anti-Hindi language, anti-Vedic, anti-Brahminical and untouchability. . Concepts of modernity in journalism and politics originated from the Tamil magazine.
The forerunner of Dravidian politics
Dravida Mahajana Sabha Launched in 1891. Ayodhya Das started Dravida Pandian in 1885. He said in 1886 the so-called untouchables among the Hindus were non-Hindus. He also put forward the idea that they were all casteless Dravidians. Thus he became known as the forerunner of Dravidian ideology. He is also said to be the forerunner of Dravidian politics as he founded the Dravida Mahajana Sabha and started Dravidian politics.
Source: Wikipedia
0 Comments