Caste, Peasant & Trade Union Movements | History for UPSC CSE PDF Download

Caste, Peasant And Trade Union Movements

 South India
 Justice Movement

• It was an intermediate caste movement launched in Madras around 1915-16 by C.M Mudaliar, T.M. Nair and P. Tyagaraja Chetti on behalf of intermediate castes (like Tamil Vellalas, Mudaliars, and Chettiars; Telugu Reddis, Kammas and Baliza Naidus; and Malayali Nairs) and against Brahmin pre­dominance in education, government service and politics.
• They founded a new political party, known as the “Justice Party” which exhibited its loyalty to the Brit­ish government in the hope of getting more government jobs and representa­tion in the new legislatures.

Self Respect Movement

• It was a populist and radical movement founded in 1925 in Tamil Nadu by E. V. Ramaswami Naicker popularly known as “Periyar”, against the Brahmin dominations.
• It advocated weddings without Brahmin priests, forcible temple entry, burning of the Manusmriti and outright atheism at times.
• Periyar founded a Tamil Jour­nal, “Kudi Arasu”, in 1924 in order to propagate his ideas.
• Nadar Movement
• In the Remmad district of South Tamil Nadu, an untouchable caste of toddy tappers, and agricultural labourers, originally called “Shanans”, emerged as a prosperous mercantile class by the end of the 19th century, and began to call themselves by the prestigious title of “Nadars” and to claim Kshatriya status.
• They organised a “Nadar Mahajan Sangam” in 1910, imitated upper caste customs and manners (Sanskritization), and raised funds for educational and social welfare activi­ties.

Movement of The Pallis

• In northern Tamil Nadu, the Pallis, a lower caste people, began to claim Kshatriya status from 1871.
• They called themselves “Vanniya Kula Kshatriya” and imi­tated upper caste customs like the ta­boo on widow remarriage.

Ezhava Movement

• The untouchable Ezhavas of Kerala, under the leadership of Nanu Asan (also known as “Narayan Guru”), began in the early 20th century and also imitate some of the customs of the higher castes.
• In the later period they be­came the firmest supporters of the com­munists in Kerala.

Nair Movement

• In the state of Travancore the intermediate caste of Nairs (numeri­cally the dominant caste) started in the late 19th century a strong movement against the social and political domina­tion of the Nambudri Brahmins and the non-Malayali Brahmins (Tamil and Maratha).

• C.V. Raman Pillai organised the Malayali Memorial (1891) which attacked Brahmin Predominance in gov­ernment jobs, and his historical novel “Martanda Varma” (1891) attempted an evocation of the lost Nair military glory, but his group was easily accomodated within the official elite by the late 1890’s.
• After 1900, however, a more energetic Nair leadership emerged un­der K. Rama Krishna Pillai and M. Padmanabha Pillai. The former edited the “Swadeshabhimani” from 1906 till 1910 when its attacks on the court and demands for political rights led to his expulsion from Travancore.
• Padmanabha Pillai founded the Nair Service Society (1914) which worked for the social and political ad­vancement of the Nairs.

Western India
 Satyashodak Movement

• It was a movement started by Jyotiba Phule in Maharashtra.
• Phule, through his book “Ghulamgiri” (1872), and his organisation “Satyashodak Samaj” (1873), proclaimed the need to save the lower castes from the hypocritical Brahmins and their opportunic scrip­tures.
• This movement was dual in character. That is, it has an urban elite-based conservatism (the trend rep­resenting the desire of the urban-edu­cated members of the intermediate and lower castes to move upwards in the social ladder by sanskritization) as well a more genuine rural mass-based radi­calism (the trend representing the de­sire of the rural Maratha peasants to do away with the evils of the caste system itself).

Mahar Movement

• It was the movement of the untouchable Mahars of Maharashtra under the leadership of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar (their first graduate) from 1920’s. Their demands included the right to use tanks and enter temples, abolition of the ‘Mahar watan’ (tradi­tional services to village chiefs), and separate representation in the legisla­tive councils. From 1927, some of them even started burning of the Manusmriti as a symbol of a sharper break with Hinduism.
• In the late 19th century also the Mahars organised themselves under Gopal Baba Walangkar, an ex-service­man and demanded more jobs in the army and other government services.

Northern and Eastern India

• Kaivartas of Midnapur in Bengal, belonging to a lower caste but economically being well-off, began call­ing themselves “Mahishyas”, and started a “Jati Nirdharani Sabha” (1897) and a “Mahishya Samiti (1901), which later played a prominent role in the nation­alist movement.
• Namasudras of Faridpur in Bengal, an untouchable caste of poor peasants, started developing associa­tions after 1901 at the initiative of a tiny elite of educated men and some missionary encouragement.
• Kayasthas of Northern and Eastern India, having interprovincial professional connections, started an All-lndia Kayastha Association and a newspaper, the Allahabad-based “Kayastha Samachar” by 1910.
• But on the whole, in northern and eastern India, Brahmin domination was less clear-cut, with other high-caste groups (like Rajputs and Kayasthas in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and Vaidyas and Kayasthas in Bengal) serving as buffers. Hence, mobilisation along caste lines came much later in these regions than in western and southern India. Further, movements of the lower and intermediate castes in these regions were not as prominent and powerful as those in Western and Southern In­dia.

Causes for Their Rise

• Grievances of the educated men belonging to the lower and inter­mediate caste, eg. Justice Movement in South India, Satyashodak Movement (its urban aspect) in Maharashtra, etc.
• Desire of some of the lower castes to move upward in the social ladder through the process of Sanskritization (i.e., castes asserting a higher status for themselves through borrowing customs, manners and ta­boos from groups traditionally superior) eg; Movements of the Nadars and Pallis of Tamilnadu, those of Ezhavas and Nair of Kerala, etc.
• Desire of some radical ele­ments to improve the lot of the lower and intermediate castes by attacking Brahmin domination. and at times by challenging the very basis of caste sys­tem, eg, Self-Respect Movement in Tamil Nadu, Mahar and Satyashodak movements (the latter in its rural as­pect) in Maharashtra etc.