In northern Tamil Nadu one of the most dominant caste is the Vaniyars.

They are mobilized into

caste organizations. They are also active in political parties like PMK, DMK and Congress. The
Mukkulathors is another caste found in the southern region The next caste is the Gounders. They
are predominantly found in the western part of Tamil Nadu. The Nadars are another community.
They are more inclined towards the Hindutuva ideology.

The Vaniyars, Mukkulathors and Gounder communities have led the most attacks on Dalits.
They refuse to give Dalits the equal rights in temple ceremony and have opposed to inter-caste
marriages where one of spouse happens to be a Dalit. The hatred is far more intense if the girl
happens to be from one of these communities.

In the post Independent India one of the first and most violent crimes against the Dalits was the
Keezhvenmani incident. But details of this incident remain mysterious because of lack of proper
documentation and multiples narratives. Keezhvenmani is a village in Thanjaur, Tamil Nadu. On
the night of December 25, 1968 44 Dalits mainly women and children were locked in a hurt and
burned because they demanded increase in wages.

In the session court Pakirisamy murder case and Keezhvenmani massacre were tried together. In
the Pakirisamy murder case the court held that it was not a planned attack. One person was given
life and other seven were sentenced for few years. In keezhvenmani the court held that it was a
premeditated attack but the accused were sentenced for 10 years. However on appeal the High
Court acquitted the accused. The court made the following observation “… there was something
astonishing about the fact that all the 23 persons implicated in the case should be mirasdars.
Most of them were rich men, owning vast extent of lands and Gopala Krishna Naidu possessed a
car. However much they might have been eager to wreak vengeance on the kisans, it was
difficult to believe that they would walk bodily to the scene and set fire to the houses, unaided by
any of their servants. They were more likely to play safe, unlike desperate hungry labourers. One
would rather expect that the mirasdars, keeping themselves in the background would, send their
servants to commit the several offences which according to the prosecution the mirasdars
personally committed… The evidence did not enable Their Lordships to identify and punish the
guilty”. The High Court also observed that “However, it is a little comforting to learn that the
accused did not have any intention to burn them to death.”
This decision was confirmed by the Supreme Court as well. However eye witness account by
the survivors is contrary. In fact the eye witness say that two children who were thrown out from
the huts were thrown back into the fire. Also six people happened to escape from fire but two of
them were caught, killed to death and thrown into fire. The court also failed to notice that there
was also two murders few days before the huts were burned and the Mirasdars also fired gun
shots to kill the farmers. On December 15 1968 Gopalkrishna Naidu held a public meeting and
threatened that if they refused to give up their demands then the village will be burned to ashes.
After these incidents the Court talks about not having the intension to kill. The court failed to
notice that the accused were not just landlords but from upper caste as well and the victims were
not just deceased were not just labourers but untouchables.

There are hardly any historical accounts on Keezhvenmani massacre. The only paper that
covered the incident extensively was Theekadir. Most of newspaper saw this incident as just a
conflict between two groups of farmers. Even if the article mentioned harijan farmers, they failed
to see the case bias behind this incident. It was not just the demand for wages the angered the
Mirasdars. The fact that people who have been oppressed for ages are revolting against them is a
major reason for this massacre. After the massacre the landlords were rejoicing the violence
they had caused. The people of Keezvenmani remember the landlords saying ““100 men like
Gopalakrishna Naidu will be born. A 100 Kilvenmanis will burn. A 100 landlords will be ready
to embrace the gallows.”

Dravida Munertra Kazhagam was in power and Annadurai was the Chief Minister when this
massacre happened. He sent PWD minister Karunanidhi and Law minister Madhavan to
Keezhvenmani. They conveyed their condolence but no action was taken. In fact Anna’s
government downplayed the incident. The police filed weak case, they water down testimonies
and helped the landlords. The police who aid the landlords, who look away, who file a flimsy
case, who water down testimonies, who provide escape routes for all the guilty. One of the
accused Gopalkrishna Naidu was a president of Congress in Nagapattinam. Chief Minister
Annadurai said “People should forget this as they forget a feverish nightmare or a flash of
lightning.” (http://toanewdawn.blogspot.com/2015/11/no-one-killed-dalits-part-i-by-
meena_21.html )The DMK government did not want to upset the Congress party that was ruling
in the Center. DMK was a political party founded on Periyar ideology that called for abolishing
caste system. The Self-Respect movement that was against Brahmin supremacy facilitated the
mobilization of land owning Non-Brahmin caste. Irony was the DMK that accused Congress for
class-caste dominance was doing exactly the same after coming to power.

Periyar saw this as merely a class struggle between the labourers and land owners. He said that
the market should decide the wages and it is not something a worker should demand. He blamed
the communist party for the massacre.

According to CPI (M) former state secretary G Ramakrishnan after Periyar both the Dravidan
Parties, DMK and AIADMK have completely ignored the issues of the Dalits.
(https://www.livemint.com/Politics/DQ9xqDBUL30bAblsOr7gLK/48-years-after-
Keezhvenmani-how-the-Dalit-discourse-is-play.html)

Research Methodology

Aim: The aim of the paper is to look at caste conflict in Periyar’s Tamil Nadu and its impact on
women.

Objective: The objective of this paper is to understand the views on Periyar on caste and
patriarchy and study how women are affected because of caste conflicts. The paper also tries to
see how caste conflicts still happen in Tamil Nadu despite strong anti-caste movement and anti-
patriarchy movement in Tamil Nadu by Periyar.

Scope and Limitation: The status of women and caste conflicts that happened during Periyar’s
time that is after he started the self-Respect movement till the time of his death (1925-73). The
limitation of this paper is that there is very less resources on caste- conflicts that happened during
this time. The only caste conflict that is properly documented is the Mudhukulathor. That is
because of strong involvement of Congress party in the dispute. Even Keezhvenmai massacre is
not properly documented. The oppression and self-harassment of Dalit women by landowners
are also not reported or documented. This is because of the notion attached to chastity and also
the economic dependence of these Dalits on landowners.

Research Question

1. What was the position of women in Tamil Nadu during Periyar's time?
2. How are caste, class and patriarchy related?

3. What was Periyar’s views on caste and women? What are its limitations?

4. What were the caste conflicts that happened in Tamil Nadu during Periyar’s time and why did
it happen?