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Old 03-31-2012, 03:30 AM   #20
Drugmachine

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Celebrating the birthday of a person who announced 'தமிழ் ஒரு காட்டுமிராண்டி மொழி' is one of the holy jobs for Tamilians.

People who have self respect should not garland any God / Goddess but the one who said, 'கடவுளை நம்புபவன் முட்டாள்!'
et tu Mrs. RR? just kidding, I welcome your comments and of others as well with whom a civil and reasoned discussion is possible.

I don't know the exact context in which EVR said 'தமிழ் ஒரு காட்டுமிராண்டி மொழி'. The Wiki article on EVR has the following with respect to this comment: Anita Diehl (source: ISBN 91-24-27645-6) explains that Periyar made these remarks on Tamil because it had no respective feminine verbal forms. You may take this for whatever worth you may see in it.

If you look a little deeper you would see a more complete picture. I give you another statement attributed to EVR:
The love of one’s tongue is the foremost of all loves that are required of the people born in our nation. He that has no love for his tongue certainly has no love for his nation. A nation functions on the basis of the love for one’s language. So it is my wish that Tamil’s love for their mother-tongue should grow.



EVR was critical of Sanskritized Tamil, the over emphasis of Bhakti, and even the over zealous deification of Tamil language itself which was done by his own people. He wanted to modernize the language. He introduced several changes to the Tamil script that have become standard Tamil script today.

Next, I agree there is a certain level of deifying of EVR among his followers that the man himself would have condemned. But, many, or even most, of his followers are theists, they are not non-believers. Further, why garlanding by itself is forbidden for those who value self-respect? Self-respect only means refusing to be disrespected or being forced into disrespecting oneself, not allowing others to rob one's own dignity. A self-respecting person can very well show respect to others whom they respect, surely! This may include garlanding the person when they are alive and garlanding a statue when the person is gone.

EVR was certainly anti-Brahmin, but, if his written words, his actions, and what others who have researched his life say, are to be believed, he was not anti-Brahmin on a personal level. In other words, he hated Brahminism and Brahmins who would insist on it, but not individual bramins. I give some excerpts of an interview by reddif of Gnana Rajasekharan, the director of the movie Periyar.
No, I am not a follower of Periyar. But I am a very great admirer of Periyar. You cannot make a film on him without admiring him. I may not be following his ideas in toto but I value his contributions to society and original thinking. Now let me go back to your first question where you gave so many descriptions to Periyar. I am making this film because he was misinterpreted. I feel the greatness of Periyar will not be gauged by such interpretations.


He also differentiated between Brahmin and Brahminism. He had an excellent relationship with Rajaji who was a Brahmin but he was vehemently against Brahminism.

One more thing to note is that not only EVR considered Rajaji his friend, Rajaji claimed EVR as his friend. It was Rajaji that EVR consulted before deciding to marry Maniyammai. During his time as a congressman EVR worked with many Brahmins. When some of them died EVR wrote gracious and admiring eulogies in his Kudi Arasu. He became increasingly anti-Brahmin later in his years and I think that is because most Brahmins he came across in Congress and elsewhere put jAti solidarity ahead of social reform -- people are free to disagree with me on this point.

Marrying Maniyammai is an easy target to mock EVR, but then again, it only reveals a deep seated hatred for the man. I have no problem with people disagreeing with EVR, criticizing him, even hating him, but citing this case to mock him as a hypocrite is completely beyond the pale.

First, it was Maniyammai who came to EVR and refused to leave. She dedicated her life to taking care of EVR because she adored him. Many credit her care of EVR for hm living into his 90s. There came a time when EVR was concerned about her future after he was gone. EVR himself openly declared that he was not marrying her for conjugal pleasure. If you believe EVR, and I think even some of his ardent enemies will agree that he was a plain spoken fellow, not afraid to speak his mind, they only had a platonic relationship.

Dear Mrs. RR, I know your comment was only about a couple of things, but I tried to answer many more questions that have been raised. I am sorry if I am bringing you into this discussion that you don't want to get into. Please feel free to not respond if you wish to stay out of it. However, if you choose to respond I will only value your comments.

Cheers!
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