Dalit Rights

Indian Slavery Act abolishes legal slavery

Under Act V of 1843, slavery lost legal recognition in Company territories, agrestic slavery in the Tamil districts included.

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.

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.

Iyothee Thass founds the Dravida Mahajana Sabha

Iyothee Thass founded the Dravida Mahajana Sabha and urged Dalits to record themselves in the census as casteless Dravidians rather than Hindus.

Rettamalai Srinivasan launches the Paraiyan newspaper

Dalit leader Rettamalai Srinivasan started the Tamil paper Paraiyan in October 1893 to speak for the Paraiyar community.

Iyothee Thass founds the Sakya Buddhist Society

After embracing Buddhism in Ceylon, Iyothee Thass founded the Sakya Buddhist Society in Madras, launching a Tamil Buddhist revival among Dalits.

Iyothee Thass launches Oru Paisa Tamizhan

Iyothee Thass launched the Tamil weekly Oru Paisa Tamizhan, an anti-caste journal that later became The Tamilan.

Council adopts the term Adi Dravida

Acting on a resolution by M. C. Rajah, the Madras Legislative Council adopted Adi-Dravida officially in place of terms like Paraiya and Panchama.

Rettamalai Srinivasan at the Round Table Conference

Dalit leader Rettamalai Srinivasan represented the depressed classes alongside B. R. Ambedkar at the Round Table Conferences in London.

M. C. Rajah and the Rajah-Moonje Pact

Dalit leader M. C. Rajah of Madras agreed with B. S. Moonje to reserved seats within joint electorates for the depressed classes.

Travancore Temple Entry Proclamation

The Maharaja of Travancore opened state temples to all Hindus regardless of caste, including temples in present-day Kanyakumari district.

Madras Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act

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

Deaths of Natarajan and Thalamuthu in custody

Anti-Hindi protesters L. Natarajan and Thalamuthu died after being jailed, and were claimed as the first martyrs of the anti-Hindi movement.

Dalits enter Madurai Meenakshi Temple

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

N. Sivaraj becomes first president of the Scheduled Castes Federation

At Nagpur, Madras Dalit leader N. Sivaraj was elected first president of the new All-India Scheduled Castes Federation founded with Ambedkar.

Ramnad (Mudukulathur) riots

Violent caste clashes broke out in Ramanathapuram district between Thevar and Dalit communities after the 1957 elections.

Dalit leader Immanuel Sekaran murdered

Immanuel Sekaran, a Dalit activist and former soldier, was murdered amid caste tensions in Ramanathapuram district.

Kilvenmani massacre

Around 44 Dalit agricultural labourers' family members, mostly women and children, were burnt to death at Kilvenmani in Thanjavur district.

SC and ST students exempted from tuition fees

A 1970 Government Order exempted Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students up to the Pre-University Course from paying tuition fees.

Reservation raised to 49 percent

The DMK government raised the backward classes quota from 25 to 31 percent and the SC/ST quota from 16 to 18 percent.

Meenakshipuram mass conversion

Several hundred Dalits in Meenakshipuram village in Tirunelveli district converted from Hinduism to Islam, citing caste discrimination.

Uthapuram caste violence and the 'untouchability wall'

After caste violence in Uthapuram near Madurai in 1989, caste Hindus built a wall separating the Dalit area of the village.

Separate 1 percent reservation for Scheduled Tribes

The Karunanidhi government split the combined SC/ST quota and gave Scheduled Tribes a separate 1 percent reservation.

Vachathi atrocity

In Dharmapuri district, a raid on the tribal village of Vachathi by police, forest and revenue officials left villagers assaulted and women raped.

Kodiyankulam police raid

About 600 policemen raided the Dalit village of Kodiyankulam in Thoothukudi district, destroying property amid caste clashes in southern Tamil Nadu.

Melavalavu massacre

Dalit panchayat president K. Murugesan and six other Dalit men were murdered at Melavalavu near Madurai by members of a dominant caste.

First Samathuvapuram equality village inaugurated

The first Periyar Ninaivu Samathuvapuram, a housing colony where families of different castes live side by side, opened near Madurai.

Tamil Nadu Dr. Ambedkar Law University inaugurated

Chennai saw the inauguration of a state law university named for B. R. Ambedkar, created by a 1996 Act to place every law college under a single body.

K. Krishnasamy founds Puthiya Tamilagam

Former MLA K. Krishnasamy founded Puthiya Tamilagam, a regional political party in Tamil Nadu.

Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi contests elections for the first time

The Dalit Panthers movement led by Thol. Thirumavalavan, later the VCK, entered electoral politics for the first time in 1999.

Manjolai labourers massacre on the Tamirabarani

Seventeen people, mostly Dalit tea estate workers, died in the Tamirabarani river at Tirunelveli while fleeing a police lathi-charge.

Internal reservation for Arunthathiyars

Tamil Nadu set aside 3 percent within the Scheduled Caste quota for the Arunthathiyar community.

Paramakudi police firing

Police opened fire on Dalits protesting at Paramakudi on the Immanuel Sekaran memorial day, and the death toll rose to seven.

Dharmapuri caste violence

Mobs burned Dalit homes in three villages near Dharmapuri after an inter-caste marriage.

Marakkanam caste violence

At Marakkanam, PMK cadres heading to a Vanniyar youth festival clashed with Dalit villagers, setting off violence in the northern districts.

Murder of Dalit engineering student Gokulraj

Dalit engineering student V. Gokulraj was abducted from a temple in Tiruchengode and murdered, in a case treated as an honour killing.

Seshasamudram violence over a Dalit temple car procession

A dominant-caste mob attacked the Dalit colony of Seshasamudram and burned a temple car on the eve of its procession.

Udumalaipettai honour killing of Shankar

Dalit youth Shankar was hacked to death in a busy street in Udumalaipettai for marrying Kausalya, a woman from a dominant caste.

Death of S. Anitha and the NEET protests

Dalit student S. Anitha, who had challenged NEET in the Supreme Court, died by suicide, triggering protests across the state.

Vengaivayal drinking water tank contamination

Human faeces were found in an overhead water tank serving Dalit families in Vengaivayal village of Pudukkottai district.

Nanguneri attack on Dalit student and his sister

A 17-year-old Dalit student and his sister were attacked with sickles at home in Nanguneri by schoolmates from dominant castes.

Murder of BSP state president K. Armstrong

Prominent Dalit leader K. Armstrong, who headed the Bahujan Samaj Party in Tamil Nadu, was hacked to death near his house in Chennai.