Tamil Nadu Timeline

LegislationNational and Dravidian movements

Madras Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act

· Chennai

Madras Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act
India Post, Government of India, GODL-India · Wikimedia Commons

A law passed by the Rajagopalachari ministry lifted the bars on Dalits and Shanars entering Hindu temples across the Presidency.

Dalit legislators in the Madras Legislative Council put forward a Temple Entry Bill in 1938, but Premier C. Rajagopalachari persuaded them to withdraw it. His government then passed the Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act in 1939, which removed the restrictions barring Dalits and Shanars from Hindu temples. Dalits entered the Meenakshi Temple at Madurai in that same year.

Related events

  1. 1886

    1. 1886ChennaiSocial Reform

      Iyothee Thass declares Dalits are not Hindus

      Anti-caste activist Iyothee Thass declared that the depressed classes were not Hindus, a stand he later carried into the Dravida Mahajana Sabha and the 1891 census.

  2. 1891

    1. 1891ChennaiSocial Reform

      Rettamalai Srinivasan founds the Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha

      Rettamalai Srinivasan set up the Paraiyar Mahajana Sabha, an early Dalit body, and launched the Tamil paper Paraiyan in 1893.

  3. 1937

    1. 14 Jul 1937 to Oct 1939ChennaiGovernance

      C. Rajagopalachari forms first Congress ministry

      C. Rajagopalachari became Premier of Madras at the head of the first Congress government in the Presidency.

  4. 1938

    1. Mar 1938ChennaiLegislation

      Madras Agriculturists Relief Act eases peasant debt

      A law to reduce the debts of indebted farmers in the Madras Presidency was brought in by the Rajagopalachari ministry.

  5. 1939

    1. 8 Jul 1939Meenakshi TempleSocial Reform

      Dalits enter Madurai Meenakshi Temple

      A. Vaidyanatha Iyer led a group of Dalits and Nadars into the Meenakshi Amman Temple, Madurai, defying orthodox opposition.

  6. 1947

    1. 9 Oct 1947ChennaiLegislation

      Madras Devadasis (Prevention of Dedication) Act enacted

      The Madras legislature outlawed the dedication of girls to temples as devadasis, ending a long reform campaign.

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