ABSTRACT
E. V. Ramasamy Naicker (1879–1973), ‘Periyar,’ an iconic figure in the history of Tamil Nadu, challenged Indian nationalism and worked to annihilate both caste and religion. His Soviet and European travels in 1931–1932 resulted in arguably the only time in the history of Tamil Nadu that Left ideas joined hands with a radical social emancipatory anti-caste movement. Already fifty years old and recently out of the Congress, he spent over three months in Soviet Russia, meeting apparatchiks, atheist activists, and bureaucrats. In Berlin he interacted with both the League Against Imperialism and the Nudist movement. In Britain he participated in a number of Communist party events, meeting so many who themselves had led translocational lives – Abani Mukherji, Clemens and Rajani Palme Dutt, Shapurji Saklatvala – linkages that caused ruptures not only in his life but also in his socio-political movement. Drawing on a larger biographical study, this paper focuses on a hectic year in his long life, and the power of ideas refracted through his life and work as an iconoclast.
