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Words of Freedom: Ideas of a Nation #6
Words of Freedom: Ideas of a Nation: Periyar E.V.Ramasami
BOOKS
- GenresNonfiction
112 pages, Paperback
Published February 5, 2010
About the author
Periyar
96 books151 followersErode Venkatappa Ramasamy (E.V. Ramasamy), commonly known as Periyar (பெரியார்), also referred to as Thandhai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam.
Periyar spent over fifty years giving speeches, propagating the realisation that everyone is an equal citizen and the differences on the basis of caste and creed were man-made to keep the innocent and ignorant as underdogs in the society. Although Periyar's speeches were targeted towards the illiterate and more mundane masses, scores of educated people were also swayed. Periyar viewed reasoning as a special tool. According to him, all were blessed with this tool, but very few used it. Thus Periyar used reasoning with respect to subjects of social interest in his presentations to his audiences. Communal differences in Tamil society were considered by many to be deep-rooted features until Periyar came to the scene.
The bedrock of E.V. Ramasamy’s principles and the movements that he started was rationalism. He thought that an insignificant minority in society was exploiting the majority and trying to keep it in a subordinate position forever. He wanted the exploited to sit up and think about their position, and use their reason to realise that they were being exploited by a handful of people. In a message to the Brahmin community, Periyar stated, "in the name of god, religion, and sastras you have duped us. We were the ruling people. Stop this life of cheating us from this year. Give room for rationalism and humanism". He added that "any opposition not based on rationalism, science, or experience will one day or another, reveal the fraud, selfishness, lies and conspiracies".
Periyar's philosophy of self-respect was based on his image of an ideal world and a universally accepted one. His philosophy preaches that human actions should be based on rational thinking. Further, the outcome of the natural instinct of human beings is to examine every object and every action and even nature with a spirit of inquiry, and to refuse to submit to anything irrational as equivalent to slavery. Thus, the philosophy of self-respect taught that human actions should be guided by reason, right and wrong should follow from rational thinking and conclusions drawn from reason should be respected under all circumstances. Freedom means respect to thoughts and actions considered right by human beings on the basis of reason. There is not much difference between freedom and self-respect.
Periyar spent over fifty years giving speeches, propagating the realisation that everyone is an equal citizen and the differences on the basis of caste and creed were man-made to keep the innocent and ignorant as underdogs in the society. Although Periyar's speeches were targeted towards the illiterate and more mundane masses, scores of educated people were also swayed. Periyar viewed reasoning as a special tool. According to him, all were blessed with this tool, but very few used it. Thus Periyar used reasoning with respect to subjects of social interest in his presentations to his audiences. Communal differences in Tamil society were considered by many to be deep-rooted features until Periyar came to the scene.
The bedrock of E.V. Ramasamy’s principles and the movements that he started was rationalism. He thought that an insignificant minority in society was exploiting the majority and trying to keep it in a subordinate position forever. He wanted the exploited to sit up and think about their position, and use their reason to realise that they were being exploited by a handful of people. In a message to the Brahmin community, Periyar stated, "in the name of god, religion, and sastras you have duped us. We were the ruling people. Stop this life of cheating us from this year. Give room for rationalism and humanism". He added that "any opposition not based on rationalism, science, or experience will one day or another, reveal the fraud, selfishness, lies and conspiracies".
Periyar's philosophy of self-respect was based on his image of an ideal world and a universally accepted one. His philosophy preaches that human actions should be based on rational thinking. Further, the outcome of the natural instinct of human beings is to examine every object and every action and even nature with a spirit of inquiry, and to refuse to submit to anything irrational as equivalent to slavery. Thus, the philosophy of self-respect taught that human actions should be guided by reason, right and wrong should follow from rational thinking and conclusions drawn from reason should be respected under all circumstances. Freedom means respect to thoughts and actions considered right by human beings on the basis of reason. There is not much difference between freedom and self-respect.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 18, 2018
A short collection of EVR’s writings published as part of a series celebrating 60 years of Indian Independence. Interesting to read someone who sees Gandhi as a hypocrite and egotistical, when my only understanding of Ghandi has always been that he was some sort of saint and saviour of the Indian people. I learned a lot in this volume of political writing - it was like a crash course on Indian politics, culture and religion (with regular visits to Wikipedia along the way). I saw how ruling classes hold onto power to serve their own people by any means necessary. Huh. Sounds familiar? History repeats itself the world over.
Some thought-provoking quotes I came across that I want to hold onto and think on a little bit more:
“Injuring a person’s body and hurting his mind - both are violence.”
On Truth, looking at opposing Muslim vs Hindu beliefs:
“Both of them are believers in God and believers in religion. Then, what is Truth? What is Untruth?”
Discussing why there has been no progress for social reform:
“But this state of things is advantageous to some sets of people, and that is the reason, I think, for the failure of the efforts to improve the condition of the people.”
Some thought-provoking quotes I came across that I want to hold onto and think on a little bit more:
“Injuring a person’s body and hurting his mind - both are violence.”
On Truth, looking at opposing Muslim vs Hindu beliefs:
“Both of them are believers in God and believers in religion. Then, what is Truth? What is Untruth?”
Discussing why there has been no progress for social reform:
“But this state of things is advantageous to some sets of people, and that is the reason, I think, for the failure of the efforts to improve the condition of the people.”
June 5, 2015
The strident critic and voracious critique of: Congress's politics of National Movement, Gandhi's spurious standing on varnashrama dharma and dubious way of dealing with social reforms, and Brahmanical religion.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews