Dravidian nationalism, or Dravidianism, developed in
Madras Presidency
The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...
which comprises the four major ethno-linguistic groups in
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
. This idea was popularized during the 1930s to 1950s by a series of small movements and organizations that contended that the
South Indians (
Dravidian people) formed a racial and a cultural entity that was different from the
North India
North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Central ...
ns. Dravidianists have claimed that the
Brahmins and other
upper castes were originally
Aryan migrant
The Indo-European migrations were hypothesized migrations of Proto-Indo-European language (PIE) speakers, and subsequent migrations of people speaking derived Indo-European languages, which took place approx. 4000 to 1000 BCE, potentially expla ...
s from the north, and that they imposed their language,
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
, religion and heritage on the southern people.
History
The early Dravidian movement led by
E. V. Ramasami
Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (17 September 1879 – 24 December 1973), revered as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'F ...
demanded an independent
Dravidian State, which included all four Dravidian speaking states of
South India
South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union territo ...
. The movement failed to find support among other
Dravidian people and had to be limited to Tamil Nadu. A new morphed ideology of Dravidian nationalism gained momentum within Tamil Nadu during the 1930s and 1950s.
Dravidian Nationalism was thus based on three ideologies: dismantling of Brahmin hegemony; revitalization of the
Dravidian Languages
The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant ...
(that include Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil) and social reform by abolition of existing caste systems, religious practices and recasting women's equal position in society.
By the late 1960s, the political parties who were espousing Dravidian ideology gained power within the state of Tamil Nadu.
The Sixteenth Amendment of the Indian Constitution (popularly known as the ''Anti-Secessionist Amendment'') banned any party with sectarian principles from participating in elections. Faced with the new constitutional changes, Dravidian ideologues left the call for an independent Tamil homeland on the back burner.
Subsequently, they aimed at achieving better co-operation between the states and claimed more autonomy for Tamil Nadu.
Political parties
Since the 1969 election victory of
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; DMK) is a political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu where it is currently the ruling party having a comfortable majority without coalition support and the union territory of Puducherry where it is curre ...
(DMK) under
C. N. Annadurai, Dravidian nationalism has been a permanent feature of the government of Tamil Nadu. After the Dravidian people achieved self-determination the claim for secession became weaker with most mainstream political parties, except a fringe few, are committed to development of Tamil Nadu within a united India. Most major Tamil Nadu regional parties such as DMK,
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and
Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam ( 'Renaissance Dravidian Progressive Federation') is a political party active in the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry. It was established by Vaiko in 1994 after ...
(MDMK) frequently participate as coalition partners of other pan-Indian parties in the
Union Government of India
The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, ...
at
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
. The inability of the national parties of India to comprehend and capitalize on Dravidian nationalism is one of the main reasons for the lack of presence in Modern Tamil Nadu. The modern-day Dravidian Nationalism have actually contributed to a more flaccid celebration of Dravidian identity and the ‘uplift’ of the poor.
Notes
{{Reflist
1930s establishments in British India
Politics of Tamil Nadu
Dravidian movement