ABSTRACT
Periyar E. V. Ramasamy held the Brāhmins and their Sanskritic culture responsible for the social, economic, political, and cultural backwardness of the non-Brāhmins in Tamilnadu. As such, he sought to smash the edifice of that culture and root it out lock, stock, and barrel, to replace indignity with dignity, inegalitarianism with egalitarianism. His involvement in politics, first in the Congress and then away from the Congress in the Dravidar Kazhagam (D.K.), were targeted towards such an end. On the social plane, the Self-Respect Movement was considered the most potent tool. While he failed to carry forward his politics to all of India, the impact of his social and political stance had far-reaching effects on the Tamil region and Dravida culture and politics.
