Mahatma Ayyankali(1863-1941)
Ayyankali was born in 1863 in Venganoor under the rule the Travancore state. He was one of seven
children belonging to the Pulaya family. In those days, dalits were not allowed to walk through public
roads. Their women were not allowed to cover their breasts in public places. Their children were not
allowed access to education.
Although Ayyankali was uneducated, he was determined to rebel against the existing forms of
discrimination in society. He started his rebellion by daring to ride his bullock cart into the market through
the public roads of Venganoor. Enraged by his audacity, the upper-castes physically attacked him. But
that did not dissuade Ayyankali from reaching his goal. His valor encouraged other Dalits to throw off the
fetters of servility. Ayyankali went on to lead a group of pulaya youngsters to the village market. Inspired
by him, other Dalits throughout southern Kerala launched a movement for civil rights. This movement
tasted success in 1900 when the Dalits of Travancore won the right to walk along the public roads.
But that was just the beginning. Knowing how lack of education had kept them in darkness, Ayyankali
opened a school to teach the children belonging to Dalit families at Venganoor. Unfortunately his school
was set ablaze by a group of upper-caste people. Rather than losing hope, Ayyankali launched another
mass movement to ensure the right to education for all Dalits. Like his previous movement, this one was
also successful when in 1907 the Travancore government passed an order mandating that all Dalit
children be admitted into public schools. But many government officials whose views were stained by
caste bias tried their best to annul this order which led to a clash between them and Ayyankali. After a
tussle of three years the order was released to the public in 1910.
Mahatma Ayyankali also pioneered a movement for democratizing public places and asserting the rights
of workers even before the establishment of any workers (that is communist) organizations in Kerala. He
soon became a voice for the untouchables in Kerala and associated himself with genuine social reformers
who were aiming to restructure the decadent Hindu society. No wonder that Ayyankali was later
nominated to the assembly of Travancore in 1910 by the then rulers as a mark of recognition of his
leadership abilities. In the assembly, the members who scoffed at Ayyankali being an illiterate low-caste
were shocked to find in him an eloquent speaker.
With the support he received from his well-wishers, Ayyankali established Sadhu Jana Paripalana
Sangham to help the Dalits by providing them education, finance and legal support. Ayyankali’s SJPS
became a powerful organization with the slogan‘Progress through education and organization.’ Within a
short period it had close to a thousand branches in all parts of Kerala. Even the upper-castes now came
forward to donate land for SJPS to setup offices.
While all these changes were taking place, several missionaries based in Kerala were asking the
untouchables to accept Christianity in order to escape caste discrimination. When Ayyankali was
informed of this issue, he asked the missionaries as to why the numerous Syrian Christians who were
already residing in the state practiced caste-based prejudices, concluding correctly that conversion to
Christianity will not do untouchables any good. He also rejected the missionary misinformation about the
spurious Aryan-Dravidian racial constructs.
Along with Sree Narayana Guru, Ayyankali asked the Hindu society to reform itself in order to save it from
dissolution. He gave his unflinching support to the efforts taken by the Arya Samaj and the Hindu
Mahasabha to eradicate caste prejudices. Ayyankali’s mammoth efforts are best described by this
statement of historian N K Venkateswaran who wrote in 1926:
“Pulayas are awakening at a rapid rate. They have a representative in the Praja Sabha. The angel of
change has waved a torch over this land. The sparks from the torch will coalesce to become a fiery flood.
The old moth eaten social mores would be cleansed by fire. They will sit alongside those who call
themselves ‘high ones’. They have already taken the initiative in organizing meetings and putting
forward their just demands. It is a pleasing sight to watch their future culture on the rise.”
Finally on June 18, 1941, this daring son of Kerala passed away leaving behind a legacy of social reform,
progress and a lasting legacy.