POLITICAL AWAKENING AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE DRAVIDIAN LEGACY

Author

Dr. M.PRABU


Abstract

 The period from 1870 to 1920 witnessed a significant political awakening in the Madras Presidency. The expansion of modern education, growth of newspapers, emergence of political associations, and development of representative institutions encouraged new forms of political participation. Increasing competition for education, government employment, and political representation also contributed to the emergence of non-Brahmin consciousness. The formation of the South Indian Liberal Federation, popularly known as the Justice Party, in 1916 marked an important stage in the organisation of non-Brahmin political interests. The Home Rule Movement and the constitutional reforms of 1919 further expanded the political sphere. These developments laid the institutional and ideological foundations for later Dravidian politics, particularly its emphasis on social justice, communal representation, equality, regional identity, and opposition to caste-based dominance. Thus, the political awakening of the Madras Presidency between 1870 and 1920 played a crucial role in shaping the foundations of the Dravidian legacy in South India.



Keywords

Political Awakening; Madras Presidency; Provincial Politics; Non-Brahmin Movement; Justice Party; Home Rule Movement; Social Justice



Full Text:

Download Paper PDF


References


  1. Baker, Christopher John. The Politics of South India, 1920–1937. Cambridge University Press.
  2. Washbrook, D. A. The Emergence of Provincial Politics: The Madras Presidency, 1870–1920. Cambridge University Press.
  3. Price, Pamela G. “Ideology and Ethnicity under British Imperial Rule: ‘Brahmans’, Lawyers and Kin-Caste Rules in Madras Presidency.” Modern Asian Studies.
  4. Viswanath, Rupa. “Rethinking Caste and Class: ‘Labour’, the ‘Depressed Classes’, and the Politics of Distinctions, Madras 1918–1924.” International Review of Social History.
  5. Karthik, Vignesh K. R. “Periyar and the Forging of a Horizontal Dravidian–Tamil Solidarity.” In The Cambridge Companion to Periyar.

 

Share your valuable work from Social Media Buttons