Review of a compelling book of insights on Dravidian Narratives.
Date : 04/05/2024
The book on Dravidian Maya (Vol 1, Rare Publications, Chennai) by a longstanding writer Subbu brings out certain unknown events and denials about Dravidianism apart from reiterating certain known criticisms. Its subtitle says it all: Lies, Deception and Collaboration. It traces the history of Dravidian narratives from its origins in the pre-Independence days. For some of us who pick up the thread of the Dravidian narratives at various periods of time, this gives the continuous thread Dravidian narratives wove around key persons.
There are various dimensions of Dravidian narratives: Brahmin baiting as he calls it, under the guise of caste discrimination; rationalist arguments and atheism; self-respect movement; and anti-Hindi, Aryan, and North. The author goes about countering these narratives using their own quotes and evolving thoughts over years. This book gives in glimpses the events, people, and insights around these narratives. It is primarily centred around Tamil Nadu. This book is full of illuminating quotes of speeches and writings which I am tempted to reproduce but hold to myself. I cite a few just to fire the curiosity.
The story of Dravidian is always intertwined with the machinations of British Raj, the role of Bishop Robert Caldwell and many evangelists. Tamil Nadu somehow became a laboratory for social reforms. It was initially aided and abetted by the Britishers as the idea of caste oppression with Brahmins as the centrepiece of oppressors appealed to them to divide the society. Quoting author Muthukumar, Subbu writes, “Ironically, Caldwell, a British missionary, was among the very first to articulate an opposition to the cultural imperialism of the Aryans. He argued against the Brahminical domination over the indigenous people of India” (p35). He goes on to write, “Bishop Robert Caldwell held aloft the word “Dravidian” against an integrated India” (p35). Caldwell also contrived the theory of “Dravidian Family of Languages”, which is probably the springboard of the concept, Dravidam. However, even though christened Dravidam and was supposed to traverse the entire south, it never travelled beyond Tamil Nadu.
The predecessor of Dravidians is the Justice Party. The author explodes the myth of social justice while discussing the leading lights of Justice Party. The key players of the Justice Party those days were mainly landlords, merchants, financiers, etc. He mentions that during famine in early 20th century, the leaders of Justice Party were quite indifferent to the famine and farmers plights. He remarks on a sarcastic note, “Perhaps, unsatisfied with the huge lands in their possession, they also joined politics, and earned a monthly salary of Rs.4333.60 from the Government” (p56). This would have been a princely sum those days.
Attributing Dravidian movement to the influence of British, a leading writer Mangala Murugesan writes, “It can be said with conviction that British rule was the invisible cause of Dravidian movement’s emotion and outlook. The British, to ensure their position in power to rule Indians, created a divisive atmosphere among the people. Their ‘Divide and Rule’ policy was the primary reason (Self Respect Movement, p 52 as quoted by Subbu p170).
However, the narratives were powerful, thanks to the apathy of the then Congress and it did help DMK coming to power in 1967 riding on anti-Hindi wave. They have managed to imbibe deeply certain biases in the minds of ordinary people. There are still takers for anti-Brahminism though Brahmins have moved on and ceased to be factor. The atheism branch of narratives has got diluted as Tamilians are a spiritually inclined people. If at all, it has only grown in strength, and today every event in temples is celebrated with lot of fervour and grandeur.
Another narrative is the Aryan Dravidian narrative. The author is quite forthright when he says, “Dr.T.M. Nair can be easily dismissed as ignoramus in Tamizh history when he says that “the Aryans invented god and thrusted the concept on the Dravidians” (p79). The author gives several proofs from literature to show why his contention is not true. Throughout the book he has tried to dispel the myths about the narratives about Brahmins role in Vaikom protests, freedom struggle, anti-Hindi stand. Even on Aryan – Dravidian divide, the Dravidians seem to have taken a6 face value the propositions of Britishers and parroted it.
The book throws up many new incidents. One such is the book Arya Mayai published in 1943. To quote him, “It was a collection of essays in the daily “Dravida Nadu” by C.N Annadurai. It was nothing but the sacrilegious expressions of a Christian Evangelist on Hinduism collected and enriched by Annadurai with his alliterative claptrap. He had declared in that book that the Brahmins were the Aryans. The Congress Party which was in power under the Chief Minister P.S.Kumaraswami Raja, promptly banned “Arya Mayai”. He points out that when Annadurai became CM he did not lift the ban either (p78).
Several people have spoken about the myth of Aryan – Dravidian divide which is now well received. However, in Tamil Nadu this narrative is still in vogue. I consider the quote of the leading Tamil writer Jayakanthan (p77) quite relevant and poignant, as he was an active member of CPI. Subbu quoting him says, “We have still not got any acceptable definition or answer for the question of what the so - called Dravidian society is. Variously confounded it was supposed to mean the Tamizhs, the South Indians, the non-Brahmins, etc. When we researched or approached the people of that movement for an answer, the meaning of Dravidian was found to be a very crude one” P 77.
Even on the issue of freedom movement at the height of independence struggle, the Justice Party the to which Periyar was aligned had a debatable role. Subbu quotes Arunan, a Marxist Leader, “Not in just speech alone but in deed as well, the Justice Party was, to a fault, a loyal servant of the imperialism. Even to the extent of unabashedly supporting Rowlat Act… And worse, the leaders who released the statement where the same Theagaraja Chettiar and DR.T.M. Nair whom the people of Dravidian movement are still eulogising as the ‘undisputed leaders of the Dravidian Movement’”(p100).
From among the Dravidian group, it had members who were theists like Maraimalai Adigal and K.A.P Vishwanathan or A.T Pannerselvam who was a catholic Christian and leader of Justice Party; and some were against communal representation. Members of an ideological or political group need not hold similar opinion but it is expected that they will share beliefs in some core agenda. It can’t be that each one will come speak against one narrative and remain silent on other narratives.
Even the Self Respect movement started by Periyar had its opponents. The author quotes Varadarajulu in daily Thamizhnadu, who wrote, “I have been warning for the last two years that either by shedding blood or through patriots dying in hordes, this self -respect propaganda must be quelled; Naicker has not mended his ways” (p160).
Writing on the aspect of love of Tamizh, he quotes Ma.Po. Sivagnanam, a leading Tamil scholar of repute, “… due to national appraisals and Bharati’s hard labour, love of Tamizh grew fast along with the love of a land. It became clear that the British Rule was coming to a close. The Dravidians then realized that there was no future for them if they did not start eulogising Tamizh. Hence Simon Stalin, Edward Mayo Miranda, etc. were suddenly dispensed with and Narayanaswamy morphed to Neduchezhiyan, Ramaiah to Anbhazhagan…. “ (p194).
One platform the Dravidian thinkers exploited to the hilt and which still runs its course movie world. There was complete intermingling of political and theatre platform. On example, he gives is the narrative around Nandanar a film (1942) based on the life of Nandanar as espoused in the ballad named “Nandanar Charithram Keerthanam”. Subbu says, “It was Cinema which provided the much needed lifeline for the rationalist movement” (p95). Dravidian writers and players have successfully built their narratives through movie plots, dialogues and songs.
Subbu finally caps his narration with a quote from C.N.Annadurai from the Justice Party meeting in Salem in August 1944, “Since the inception of our party we have been supporting the British Raj; fought with the organizations that did not work with and caused troubles for the governments…. But all these seem not to go well with the people. They have started despising us… The government in their talks regarding Indian Political, and social matters, have been ignoring our party and our demand for Dravida Nadu. Whether it is the State Governor, or Governor General or Indian Minister or British Premier no one has even mentioned about our organization, our or our goal even once or twice whenever there had been talks about the Indian political parties” (p228).
The Crux and the Paradox
The book starts with stating the paradoxical contrasts in Tamilnadu where the Dravidian narratives still carry currency but there are also may contra practices and branches within Dravidian thinkers and in Tamil Nadu overall. He has tried to negate the narratives with illustrations and writing of their own leaders. Throughout the book, he provides authentic quotes which gives enough meat to debaters looking for evidences to counter Dravidian narratives.
The Dravidian thought leaders have, on and off, managed to turn the switch on anti-Brahmin, Hindi, and North narratives when required. The fever and fervour among ordinary people on these issues have watered down as economic pressures have taken over, but the narratives keep getting recycled. They have started newer versions like anti-National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET) or anti-National Education Policy (NEP). The anti-ism seems to continue in some form or other in different manifestations.
He calls it ‘maya’ but it has carried for too long. It is now facing backlash with more people speaking for nationalism and spirituality. More people are learning Hindi like never before. It says Vol 1, hope in next his volume he will the longevity of these narratives which should have been at least outdated by now.
This book is in English which is important as there is an inquisitiveness about the content, persistence, and vehemence of these narratives. I can say with confidence people from North of the Vindhyas know about Dravidian narratives as much as people from South know about the North of it. Even among the leaders from North they neither know the narratives, nor the full import or the magnitude of the influence.
I strongly recommend this book for interested readers wanting to know about leading characters, the narratives and contradictions of Dravidian thoughts.
· Book Details: Dravida Maya: Lies, Deception and Collaboration, Subbu, Rare Publications, Chennai. 2022. pp240.
G Ramesh
Professor (Retd)
IIM Bangalore
Image Credits: Wikimedia.
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