Sri Narayana Guru

Mahatma Ayyankali 

The Pioneers of Kerala’s Renaissance

Today, the fourth day of Onam, is the birth anniversary of Narayana Guru, the tallest figure of the renaissance movement, which put Kerala ahead of the rest of India in terms of   social development.

On this day in 1855 Nanu, who in the fullness of time came to be revered as  Sree Narayana Guru, was born in a backward class family on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram.

Eight years later, also during the Onam season, a Dalit boy, Ayyanhali, was born at Venganoor, another village near Thiruvananthapuram. He came to be hailed by Kerala’s dispossessed as a Mahatma.

After receiving a traditional education, Nanu opted for a life of asceticism. At the age of 33, he sent shock waves through the citadels of orthodoxy by picking up a stone from a river bed, consecrating it as a Shiva idol and installing it in a makeshift temple at Aruvippuram. While entry to temples under the control of the Maharaja’s regime was limited to those in the higher echelons of the caste hierarchy, this one was open to all, regardless of caste and creed.

He hung a handwritten placard with these words on a tree nearby: “This is a model place where all live in fraternity without caste differences and religious hatred.”

It later gained recognition as the objective of the evolving Kerala renaissance.

Priesthood challenged his right to consecrate an idol. He dismissed their objections, saying, “This is our Shiva”.

Later he built more temples at various places in response to requests from people, whom caste supremacists kept out of their temples.

Over the years he spelt out the cardinal principles of his model state in a few aphorisms:

--Ask not, Say not, Think not Caste.

-- One Caste, One Religion, one God for mankind.

-- Whatever the religion, one must be a good human being.

-- Caste, religion, dress, language - these should not divide human beings.

He explained the ‘one religion’ concept by pointing out that the essence of all religions is the same.

He urged the people to get enlightened through education and prosper through agriculture and industry.

At the instance of Dr. P. Palpu, a qualified medical professional who joined Mysore government service after being denied a job in Travancore on grounds of caste, he set up the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam, with himself as President, to propagate his ideals.

A special feature of the Yogam’s second annual session held at Kollam in 1904 was an industrial exhibition, said to be the third after those held in London and Paris in the 19^th century.   

In the Census Report of 1911 the Travancore government acknowledged the beneficial results of the Guru’s social activities.

Yogam leader T.K. Madhavan was instrumental in persuading the Congress at its 1923 session at Kakinada to organize a satyagraha to press the demand for throwing open the roads around the Mahadeva temple at Vaikom to all. Members of the so-called lower castes were not allowed to use those roads.

Gandhi visited Vaikom during the satyagraha. On that visit, he also called on Narayana Guru at Varkala. They spoke with the help of an interpreter.

The conversation began with Gandhi asking if the Guru knew English, and his saying no. The Guru then asked if the Mahatma knew Sanskrit, and he too said no.

With large-scale conversions to other faiths in the region in his mind, Gandhi asked whether the Guru did not consider Hinduism sufficient for attaining salvation.

“Any religion is sufficient,”  said the Guru.

After Gandhi repeated the question twice, the Guru gave him the answer he was angling for. “Hinduism is also sufficient,” he said.

While addressing a public meeting at the Guru’s Ashram, Gandhi offered a facetious justification for inequalities in society. Pointing to the leaves of a tree, he said, “Look at those leaves. They are not all of the same size.”

Speaking later, the Guru said the leaves of all size will have the same taste,

 At Vaikon, for months three satyagrahis, one Caste Hindu, one OBC man and one Dalit, courted arrest each day. The Maharaja’s police and the temple high priest’s goons belaboured the OBC and Dalit satyagrahis.

The Akali Dal ran a langar at the satyagraha camp.

The satyagraha ended without a formal settlement. Once it ended and the police and the goons left, the ban died a quiet death. 

Ayyankali had no formal education, for there was no school he could go to.  

In 1893at the age of 30, he threw away the loin cloth the Dalits were required to wear and started dressing the way members of the so-called upper castes did.

He bought a bullock cart and rode in it through public thoroughfares defying the rule that barred members of his community from using a vehicle.

At a time when there were no political parties or trade unions, Ayyankali oganized a strike by Dalit farm workers in support of the demand for educational facilities for their children.  

Caste supremacists burnt down a school set up for Dalits. When the Dewan ordered that Dalit children be admitted to government schools, Caste Hindus threated to pull out their children. The Dewan then instructed the teachers to continue work with only Dalit students.

Ayyankali told Gandhi he wanted to see ten graduates in his community.

The Naharaja’s government nominated Ayyankali as a member of the State Assembly.

First-hand accounts of foreigners testifying to the extremely cruel and oppressive conditions under princely rule in the 19th century are available. Women of the so-called lower castes were forced to go topless in public. The socially disadvantaged groups bore the brunt of the tax burden. There was a breast ax on women and head tax on men.

The first woman martyr of the campaign for social justice was Nangeni of Cherthala who cut off a breast and flung it at the tax collector.

With the spread of modern education, largely due to the efforts of Christian missionaries, campaigns against atrocities began. They became widespread under the impact of the movements of Narayana Guru and Mahatma Ayyankali.

The period also saw reform movements among Christians and Muslims.

The Kerala renaissance movement was essentially the coming together of reform movements to create a progressive society.  The political parties came later.     

Thanks to the early gains of the renaissance, Kerala provided the only Dalit woman member of the Constituent Assembly, the first Dalit President and the first Dalit Chief Justice of India.

Like the Bengal renaissance, which is sometimes referred to as the Indian renaissance, the Kerala movement was sparked by the spread of English education. But, unlike in Bengal, reform movements did not begin and end with the so-called upper castes in Kerala.  On the contrary, the movements originated among the lower strata of society and travelled upwards. Within the Hindu fold, the first stirrings started with the founding of Sri Narayana’s and Ayyankali’s organizations. The Nairs and the Namboodiris mobilized themselves later, realizing they would be left behind if they did not change their ways.

Today the Kerala renaissance is in reverse gear. How that happened deserved to be dealt with at some length.  So it must wait. It will be the subject of an article to follow.