Tamil Nadu Timeline

CultureNational and Dravidian movements

Periyar launches Kudi Arasu

· Erode

Periyar launches Kudi Arasu
Kudiyarasu Magazine edited by Periyar. E. V. Ramasamy, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

E. V. Ramasamy began publishing the Tamil weekly Kudi Arasu, which became the main voice of the Self-Respect Movement.

Kudi Arasu was a Tamil weekly started by E. V. Ramasamy at Erode in 1925. It carried articles against caste, superstition and Brahmin dominance and promoted rationalism and women's rights. The journal became the principal organ of the Self-Respect Movement. It was repeatedly faced with government action during the 1930s.

Related events

  1. 1879

    1. 17 Sep 1879ErodeSocial Reform

      Birth of E. V. Ramasamy (Periyar)

      E. V. Ramasamy, later known as Periyar, founder of the Self-Respect Movement and the Dravidar Kazhagam, was born at Erode.

  2. 1919

    1. 1919ErodePolitics

      Periyar joins the Indian National Congress

      E. V. Ramasamy of Erode, later known as Periyar, joined the Indian National Congress, beginning a political career that later led to the Self-Respect Movement.

  3. 1925

    1. 1925KanchipuramSocial Reform

      Periyar leaves Congress and starts the Self-Respect Movement

      After his resolution on communal representation was not allowed at the Kanchipuram conference, E. V. Ramasamy left the Congress and began the Self-Respect Movement.

  4. 1929

    1. Feb 1929ChengalpattuSocial Reform

      First Provincial Self-Respect Conference at Chengalpattu

      The first provincial conference of the Self-Respect Movement at Chengalpattu passed resolutions against caste and for women's rights.

  5. 1931

    1. 29 Mar 1931ErodeLiterature

      Kudi Arasu editorial on Bhagat Singh's execution

      Writing in Kudi Arasu, Periyar faulted Gandhi over Bhagat Singh's execution, a sign of the journal's increasingly leftist stance.

  6. 1935

    1. 1935ErodeLaw Justice

      Tamil translation of 'Why I am an Atheist' banned

      Bhagat Singh's 'Why I am an Atheist' in Tamil was banned by the Madras government, which also arrested the translator and the publisher.

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