The

Indian independence movement The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British Raj, British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged ...

had a long history in the Tamil-speaking districts of the then Madras Presidency going back to the 18th century. The first resistance to the British was offered by the legendary Since then there had been rebellions by '' polygars'' such as the

Puli Thevar Puli Thevar was a Tamil Palaiyakkarar who ruled Nerkattumseval, situated in the Sankarankoil taluk, Tenkasi,formerly Tirunelveli Tamil Nadu. He is notable fighting against East India Company from May 22, 1752 - 1767 in India. Worship of God ...

, Veeramangai

Velu Nachiyar Rani Velu Nachiyar (3 January 1730 – 25 December 1796) was a queen of Sivaganga estate from 1780–1790. She was the first Indian queen to wage war with the East India Company in India.Muthu Vaduganatha Periyavudaya Thevar,

Ondiveeran Ondiveeran Pagadai (or Ondi Veeran) (died 20 August 1771) was an Indian commander-in-chief who fought against the British East India Company in Tamil Nadu. Ondiveeran came from the Arunthathiyar community and is viewed by them as a hero. Pres ...

Marudu brothers The Marudhu Pandiyars (Periya Marudhu and Chinna Marudhu) were Diarchal Kings of Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, India, towards the end of the 18th century. They were known for fighting against the East India Company. They were finally executed by t ...

Veerapandiya Kattabomman Veerapandiya Kattabomman was an 18th-century Tamil Palayakarrar and king of Panchalankurichi in Tamil Nadu, India. He refused to accept the sovereignty of the British East India Company and waged a war against them. He was captured by the Briti ...

Veeran Sundaralingam Sundaralinga Kudumbanar (died 1799), also known as "Veeran" Sundaralingam Kudumbanar, was an 18th-century CE general from Tamil Nadu, India. Fight against British He was a general of the Poligar Veerapandiya Kattabomman in their fight against ...

Oomaithurai Oomathurai (real name Kumarasamy Naiyakar), was an Indian Poligar (Palaiyakkarar) from Tamil Nadu, who fought against the British East India Company in the Polygar Wars. He was the younger brother of Veerapandiya Kattabomman. He died by hanging ...

, Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone Yadav, Chinna Alagumuthu kone, and

Dheeran Chinnamalai Dheeran Chinnamalai (17 April 1756 – 31 July 1805) was a Palayakkarar and Pattakarar who fought against the British East India Company. Early life Dheeran Chinnamalai was born on April 17, 1756 in present-day Kangeyam, to a noble family. Hi ...

and the

sepoys ''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire. In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its oth ...

Vellore Vellore (English: ), also spelt as Velur (), is a city and the administrative headquarters of Vellore district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Palar River in the northeastern part of Tamil Nadu and is separ ...

. Though there were no violent rebellions in the 19th century, still, there were continuous agitations by Indian independence activists such as Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty, John Bruce Norton,

Eardley Norton Eardley John Norton (19 February 1852 – 13 July 1931) was a Madras barrister, Coroner and politician of British origin. He was also one of the earliest members of the Indian National Congress and a champion of civil liberties and rights of ...

, Sir T. Muthuswamy Iyer, P. Rangaiah Naidu, G. Subramania Iyer, Sir S. Subramania Iyer, C. Jambulingam Mudaliar, Salem Ramaswami Mudaliar,

S. Ramaswami Mudaliar Raja Sir Savalai Ramaswami Mudaliar (1840–1911) was an Indian merchant, d''ubash'', politician and philanthropist who was known for his wealth. He was also one of the early leaders of the Indian National Congress. Early life Ramaswami Mud ...

, T. M. Jambulingam Mudaliar, Tiruppur Kumaran,

M. Veeraraghavachariar Mudumbai Veeraraghavachariar (1857-1906) was an Indian journalist, freedom-fighter and teacher from the erstwhile Madras Presidency. He was one of the founders of ''The Hindu'' newspaper and served as its Managing Director from 1878 to 1905. Ear ...

and

C. Karunakara Menon Diwan Bahadur Cozhisseri Karunakara Menon (1863–1922) was an Indian journalist and politician from the erstwhile Madras Presidency. He was the second editor of The Hindu after G. Subramania Iyer and the founder of the ''Indian Patriot''. Kar ...

. After a brief interlude of militancy in the early 1900s, independence activists from Tamil Nadu adopted the non-violent principles of

Mahatma Gandhi Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...

. Some of the important Gandhian leaders of the region were

C. Rajagopalachari Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (10 December 1878 – 25 December 1972), popularly known as Rajaji or C.R., also known as Mootharignar Rajaji (Rajaji'', the Scholar Emeritus''), was an Indian statesman, writer, lawyer, and independence activis ...

K. Kamaraj Kumaraswami Kamaraj (15 July 1903 – 2 October 1975, hinduonnet.com. 15–28 September 2001), popularly known as Kamarajar was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the Chief Minister of Madras State (Tamil Nadu) ...

and S. Satyamurti. Contemporaneous with the Indian nationalist movement, there were also pro-British political parties and movements, the most prominent being the Justice Party. Some important pro-British leaders were P. Theagaroya Chetty, V. S. Srinivasa Sastri and Raja of Panagal. The first freedom fighter alakumuthu kon in thirulavali Kattamkulam

Early contacts with European powers

European travellers and traders have had contacts with the Tamil country at least since the 1st millennium

Origin and rise of the British East India Company

Following the negotiations which Sir

Thomas Roe Sir Thomas Roe ( 1581 – 6 November 1644) was an English diplomat of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods. Roe's voyages ranged from Central America to India; as ambassador, he represented England in the Mughal Empire, the Ottoman Empire ...

had with the

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled t ...

Jahangir on behalf of

James VI of Scotland and I of England James VI and I (James Charles Stuart; 19 June 1566 – 27 March 1625) was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603 until hi ...

, the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

, founded by a charter in 1600, opened factories or trading posts all over India. The

Masulipatnam Machilipatnam (), also known as Masulipatnam and Bandar, is a city in Krishna district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipal corporation and the administrative headquarters of Krishna district. It is also the mandal headquar ...

factory, the first in the south, was opened in the year 1612. Later factories were established at Pulicat and Armagon. In 1639, due to harsh weather conditions, the Masulipatnam factory was moved to a site newly purchased from the Raja of Chandragiri. A planned administrative base, a fort and a few British residences were set up. The city of Madras, which grew from this new settlement, thus became the first British trading settlement to be established in the Tamil country. The agency of Fort St George set up in 1640, was upgraded to a Presidency in 1652 but demoted in 1655 before being upgraded once again in 1684. In the initial years, the British in South India concentrated mainly on trade and not on territorial expansion and hence, rarely indulged in acts of military aggression. However, the rapid rise of French influence forced the British at Madras to interfere in local politics and assert themselves in the region through negotiations and alliances or through more forceful means. The French victory over the British and their conquest of Madras in 1746 compelled the British East India Company to set up a regular standing army though Madras was returned to the British three years later. Eventually, the French were defeated in a long series of battles known as the

Carnatic Wars The Carnatic Wars were a series of military conflicts in the middle of the 18th century in India's coastal Carnatic region, a dependency of Hyderabad State, India. Three Carnatic Wars were fought between 1744 and 1763. The conflicts involved n ...

and their influence in India virtually disappeared with the fall of Pondicherry in 1774. Apart from eliminating the French, the Carnatic Wars also strengthened British prestige and influence in the region as they had set up military alliances with local princes in their bid to outmaneuver the French. One of the princes was the most important and powerful ruler in the Tamil country, the

Nawab of the Carnatic The Carnatic Sultanate was a kingdom in South India between about 1690 and 1855, and was under the legal purview of the Nizam of Hyderabad, until their demise. They initially had their capital at Arcot in the present-day Indian state of Tamil N ...

, who became a debtor and eventually pensioner of the British East India Company. The first British possession in the Tamil country, apart from Madras, was Fort St David, near Cuddalore, which was established in 1690. The British acquired taxation rights over Chingleput district in 1763 and South Arcot in 1781. The two districts, along with rest of the Carnatic kingdom, came under complete British control in 1801. The Baramahals comprising Salem, Coimbatore and western Tamil Nadu, were ceded to the British by

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

in 1793 following his defeat in the

Third Mysore War The Third Anglo-Mysore War (1790–1792) was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore and the British East India Company, the Kingdom of Travancore, the Maratha Empire, and the Nizam of Hyderabad. It was the third of four Anglo- ...

while Tanjore was acquired from the Thanjavur Maratha ruler

Serfoji II Serfoji II Bhonsle ( ta, இரண்டாம் சரபோஜி ராஜா போன்ஸ்லே, mr, शरभोजी राजे भोसले (द्वितीय)) (24 September 1777 – 7 March 1832) also spelt as Sarabho ...

in 1799.

Resistance to British expansion

Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone Maveeran Alagumuthu Kone (11 July 1710 – 19 July 1759), from Kattalankulam in Thoothukudi District, was an Indian polygar who revolted against the British presence. In Tamil Nadu he waged a war against the Presidency armies from 1750 - 1 ...

(1710–1757), from Kattalankulam in Thoothukudi District, was an early freedom fighter against the British presence in Tamil Nadu. Born into a Konar family, he became a military leader in the town of

Ettayapuram Ettayapuram is a panchayat town in Thoothukudi district of Tamil Nadu, India. It is the birthplace of Tamil poets Mahakavi Bharathiar and Umaru Pulavar. Muthuswami Dikshitar, one of the triads of Carnatic music, was patronized in his final years ...

, and was defeated in battle there against the British and

Maruthanayagam Maruthanayagam Pillai (1725 – 15 October 1764), was the commandant of the British East India Company's Madras Army . He was born in a Tamil Vellalar family in a village called Panaiyur in British India, what is now in Nainarkoil Taluk, Raman ...

's forces. He was executed in 1757 by British troops after a fierce battle and was captured and executed. In his memory, the government of Tamil Nadu conducts a Pooja ceremony every year on 11 July. A documentary film based on his life was released in 2012. After his death ''

polygar Palaiyakkarars, or Poligar, (as the British referred to them) in Tamil Nadu refers to the holder of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, ''palayam'' was given for valuable military services rendered by any in ...

'' of Avudyapuram, who, in 1757, led a confederacy of Western ''polygar'' chieftains in defiance against the Nawab of Carnatic's right to levy taxes on them on behalf of the British. The British responded by appointing Muhammad Yusuf, the governor of Madurai and Tirunelveli, and entrusting to him the task of putting down the rebellion. Yusuf enlisted the support of the Eastern ''polygar'' chieftains and eventually succeeded in reducing the rebels. Later, however, Muhammad Yusuf, himself, rebelled against the British and was captured and executed. During the 1780s and 1790s, Tamil chieftains like

and the

Maruthu Pandiyar The Marudhu Pandiyars (Periya Marudhu and Chinna Marudhu) were Diarchal Kings of Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu, India, towards the end of the 18th century. They were known for fighting against the East India Company. They were finally executed by ...

brothers also fought along with Tipu Sultan against the British. The Marudu brothers defeated a powerful British force at Kollangudi near Sivagangai in April 1789 with Udhaya Perumal Gounder as Chief commander.

Panchalankurichi Panchalankurichi is a village, 3 km from Ottapidaram and 21 km from Thoothukudi in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu, India. Panchalankurichi was once a Palayam and is best known as the birthplace of Veerapandiya Kattabomman, an 18th- ...

, revolted against the British along with his brother Oomadhurai and a few neighbouring ''polygars''. After a few successful skirmishes, Panchalankurichi was eventually besieged by Company troops and Kattabomman was defeated in a long, pitched battle. Kattabomman and most of his allies were captured and hanged and the fort of Panchalankurichi was levelled to the ground. However, the Maruthu Pandiyar brother and some of Kattabomman's allies evaded capture and along with Dheeran Chinnamalai, fought the Second Polygar War against the British. Though the rebels were initially successful and Chinnamalai inflicted a severe defeat on Colonel Makiskan, the rebellion was eventually put down in 1802 and all the leaders captured and hanged. The Maruthu Pandiyar brothers defeated the British troops at Virupatchi and repulsed an attack on Sivagangai but were defeated and captured at Cholapuram. The brothers were hanged in October 1801 along with other prisoners.

Vellore Mutiny

On 10 July 1806, a sepoy mutiny broke out in the town of

, 130 kilometres from Madras. The sepoys of the Vellore garrison were displeased with a recently introduced law regulating the usage of Hindu caste marks or beards. Full-scale rebellion broke out after midnight on 10 July 1806 and Fateh Hyder, the second son of Tipu Sultan, who was imprisoned in

Vellore Fort Vellore Fort is a large 16th-century fort situated in heart of the Vellore city, in the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu, India built by Vijayanagara Empire, Vijayanagara kings. The fort was at one time the headquarters of ...

was crowned king. However, reinforcements arrived from the nearby town of Arcot within the next fifteen minutes and the rebellion was successfully quelled by Sir

Rollo Gillespie Major-General Sir Hugh Robert Rollo Gillespie (21 January 1766 – 31 October 1814Dictionary of Indian Biography; Charles E Buckland p166 (1906)) was an officer in the British Army. The Army's historian Sir John Fortescue called him "The bravest ...

. Over 100 captured sepoys were executed by blasting them with canister shots. William Bentinck, the

Governor of Madras This is a list of the governors, agents, and presidents of colonial Madras, initially of the English East India Company, up to the end of British colonial rule in 1947. English Agents In 1639, the grant of Madras to the English was finalized b ...

was recalled and replaced. The laws regulating Hindu religious marks was withdrawn.

Opposition to missionary activities

During the 19th century, the British rulers of India were actively endorsing the activities of Christian missionaries and enacting laws to empower them and favour proselytisation. In 1844, a law was introduced amending Hindu law to make it possible for Christian converts to inherit property from their Hindu ancestors. At about the same time, Christian theology was introduced as a compulsory subject in the curriculum of the University of Madras. Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty, a popular indigo merchant launched a campaign against these measures and presided over a protest meeting in Madras city on 7 October 1846. The protestors even petitioned lawmakers and social and political activists in United Kingdom and enlisted their support. The laws were eventually withdrawn. Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty was made a

Companion of the Order of the Star of India The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander (GCSI) # Knight Commander ( KCSI) # Companion ( CSI) No appointments ...

and nominated to the

Madras Legislative Council Tamil Nadu Legislative Council was the upper house of the former bicameral legislature of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It began its existence as Madras Legislative Council, the first provincial legislature for Madras Presidency. It was init ...

, the second Indian to be in the council. Chetty was also assisted in his efforts by Madras lawyer and Indophile John Bruce Norton whose own participation in the Indian National movement is significant. The conversion of a

Brahmin Brahmin (; sa, ब्राह्मण, brāhmaṇa) is a varna as well as a caste within Hindu society. The Brahmins are designated as the priestly class as they serve as priests (purohit, pandit, or pujari) and religious teachers (gur ...

student of the Madras Christian College in April 1888 sparked severe protests from Hindus in the Madras Presidency. The agitators resolved to start national schools to counter evangelistic activities in missionary-run schools and colleges. Most of the leaders were Indian nationalists who had recently founded the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

''The Hindu'' and the Madras Mahajana Sabha

Indian nationalists of the 19th century propagated their views and objectives by starting newspapers and forming social and political organisations. The first Indian-run newspaper ''The Crescent'' was started by Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty to counter Christian missionary propaganda and alleged British injustice. But the newspaper which played a major part in the history of the Indian independence movement in Tamil Nadu was the English-language ''

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...

'' which was started by Indian independence activists G. Subramania Iyer,

and

N. Subba Rao Pantulu Nyapathi Subba Rao Pantulu (14 January 1856 – 15 January 1941) was an Indian politician and social activist who served as a member of the Madras Legislative Council between 1893 and 1909. He was also one of the founders of ''The Hindu''. Earl ...

in 1878 in support of the candidature of T. Muthuswamy Iyer as the first Indian judge of the Madras High Court. In the following years, ''The Hindu'' launched severe criticisms of economic policies of the government. The Madras Native Association established by Gazulu Lakshminarasu Chetty in 1852 was the first Indian political organisation in the Madras Presidency. On 16 May 1884, the

Madras Mahajana Sabha Madras Mahajana Sabha was an Indian nationalist organisation based in the Madras Presidency. Along with the Poona Sarvajanik Sabha, Bombay Presidency Association and the Indian Association, it is considered to be a predecessor of the Indian Nati ...

was founded by prominent Indian leaders of the Presidency such as P. Rangaiah Naidu of Madras, Salem Ramaswami Mudaliar of Salem and

Chingleput Chengalpattu, previously known as Chingleput, is a city and the headquarters of Chengalpattu district of the state Tamil Nadu, India. The town is located near to the industrial and IT hub. It is the headquarters of the district and is away fr ...

. Its founders later played leading roles in the Indian National Congress. The Indian National Congress was established due to the efforts of

Allan Octavian Hume Allan Octavian Hume, CB ICS (4 June 1829 – 31 July 1912) was a British civil servant, political reformer, ornithologist and botanist who worked in British India. He was the founder of the Indian National Congress. A notable ornithologist, Hum ...

and with the blessings of the then

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

Lord Ripon George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, (24 October 1827 – 9 July 1909), styled Viscount Goderich from 1833 to 1859 and known as the Earl of Ripon in 1859 and as the Earl de Grey and Ripon from 1859 to 1871, was a British p ...

and held its first meeting at the Tejpal Sanskrit College, Bombay between 28 and 31 December 1885. Among the 72 delegates who attended the first session, 22 were from the Madras Presidency. Important public personalities of the Presidency, like Rangaiah Naidu, S. Subramania Iyer, and G. Subramania Iyer, attended the first session of the Indian National Congress. However, some prominent personalities like

, Salem Ramaswami Mudaliar, C. Jambulingam Mudaliar, T. Madhava Rao and

R. Raghunatha Rao Diwan Bahadur Rai Raghunatha Rao (7 February 1831 – 3 May 1912) was an Indian civil servant, administrator, politician and Indian independence activist who served as the Diwan of Indore from 1875 to 1880 and 1886 to 1888. He was related ...

did not participate in the first session. Nevertheless, the Indian National Congress, with its ideals actively propagated by members of the

Theosophical Society The Theosophical Society, founded in 1875, is a worldwide body with the aim to advance the ideas of Theosophy in continuation of previous Theosophists, especially the Greek and Alexandrian Neo-Platonic philosophers dating back to 3rd century CE ...

grew by leaps and bounds, that the 1887 session of the Congress held in Madras city and presided over by Madhava Rao was a tremendous success. The visiting dignitaries were welcomed by

Lord Connemara Robert Bourke, 1st Baron Connemara, (; ; ; ; 11 June 1827 – 3 September 1902) was a British Conservative politician and colonial administrator who served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1874–80, 1885–86) and Governor of ...

, the then

. In 1889, Eardley Norton and Salem Ramaswami Mudaliar led an Indian delegation to the United Kingdom to set up a UK chapter of the Indian National Congress. From the early 1900s, leadership of the Indian National Congress passed on to a new generation of politicians such as P. S. Sivaswami Iyer, C. Sankaran Nair, M. Krishnan Nair,

C. P. Ramaswami Iyer Sir Chetput Pattabhiraman Ramaswami Iyer (12 November 1879 – 26 September 1966), popularly known as Sir C. P., was an Indian lawyer, administrator and politician who served as the Advocate-General of Madras Presidency from 1920 to 1923, Law m ...

S. Srinivasa Iyengar Seshadri Srinivasa Iyengar CIE (11 September 1874 – 19 May 1941), also seen as Sreenivasa Iyengar and Srinivasa Ayyangar, was an Indian lawyer, freedom-fighter and politician from the Indian National Congress. Iyengar was the Advocate-Genera ...

and P. Theagaroya Chetty. Eventually, with the passage of time and the influx of revolutionary ideas from the north, the movement turned violent.

Rise of extremism

The split between the moderates and extremists at the Surat session of the Indian National Congress in 1906 was also accompanied by a split between the moderate and extremist elements in the Indian independence movement in Tamil Nadu. Among the supporters of the Indian extremist Bal Gangadhar Tilak were

Subramania Bharathi C. Subramania Bharathi Birth name: C. Subramaniyan, the person's given name: Subramaniyan, father's given name: Chinnaswami. (C. Subramaniyan by the prevalent patronymic initials as prefix naming system in Tamil Nadu and it is Subramaniyan C ...

and

V. O. Chidambaram Pillai ''V.'' is the debut novel of Thomas Pynchon, published in 1963. It describes the exploits of a discharged U.S. Navy sailor named Benny Profane, his reconnection in New York with a group of pseudo-bohemian artists and hangers-on known as the Who ...

. Subrahmanya Bharathi was a prodigious Tamil poet and writer and is often regarded as the "national poet of Tamil Nadu". His virulently anti-British writings in ''New India'' and ''

Swadesamitran ''Swadesamitran'' was a Tamil language newspaper that was published from the then Madras city from 1882 to 1985. One of the earliest Tamil newspapers and the longest in print, ''Swadesamitran'' was founded by Indian nationalist G. Subramania Iyer ...

'' attracted the attention of the government which issued a warrant for his arrest forcing hm to flee to the French territory of Pondicherry. Chidambaram Pillai (VOC) founded the first Indian- owned shipping company in British India, the Swadeshi Steam Navigation Company to challenge British monopoly over shipping. From the beginning, the company had to deal with the hostility and bias of British administrators and competitors. Eventually, the company was liquidated and Pillai thrown in jail. V. V. S. Aiyar, an associate of

V. D. Savarkar Vinayak Damodar Savarkar (), Marathi pronunciation: �inaːjək saːʋəɾkəɾ also commonly known as Veer Savarkar (28 May 1883 – 26 February 1966), was an Indian politician, activist, and writer. Savarkar developed the Hindu nationali ...

, joined the

India House India House was a student residence that existed between 1905 and 1910 at Cromwell Avenue in Highgate, North London. With the patronage of lawyer Shyamji Krishna Varma, it was opened to promote nationalist views among Indian students in Britai ...

and participated in the

Hindu–German Conspiracy The Indo–German Conspiracy (Note on the name) was a series of attempts between 1914 and 1917 by Indian nationalist groups to create a Pan-Indian rebellion against the British Empire during World War I. This rebellion was formulated betwee ...

. In 1911, one of Aiyar's associates,

Vanchinathan Vanchinatha Iyer (1886 – 17 June 1911), popularly known as Vanchinathan or Vanchi, was an Indian independence activist. He is best remembered for assassinating Robert Ashe, the Tax Collector of Thirunelveli who was instrumental in closing ...

shot dead General Ashe, the District Collector of

Trichinopoly Tiruchirappalli () ( formerly Trichinopoly in English), also called Tiruchi or Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with bein ...

. Vanchinathan, later, shot himself to evade arrest. Extremist activities in Tamil Nadu reached a climax during the First World War. The British theosophist Annie Besant who had been campaigning for social reforms and increased rights and privileges for native Indians, launched the

Home Rule League The Home Rule League (1873–1882), sometimes called the Home Rule Party, was an Irish political party which campaigned for home rule for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, until it was replaced by the Irish Parliam ...

in 1915, in order to pressurise the British government to grant self-rule to India. She was put under house-arrest on the orders of the Governor of Madras Lord Pentland and was released only after a long protracted legal battle waged by Sir S. Subramania Iyer and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. The

Rowlatt Act The Anarchical and Revolutionary Crimes Act of 1919, popularly known as the Rowlatt Act, was a law that applied in British India. It was a legislative council act passed by the Imperial Legislative Council in Delhi on 18 March 1919, indefinitel ...

and subsequent

Jallianwala Bagh massacre The Jallianwala Bagh massacre, also known as the Amritsar massacre, took place on 13 April 1919. A large peaceful crowd had gathered at the Jallianwala Bagh in Amritsar, Punjab, to protest against the Rowlatt Act and arrest of pro-independenc ...

provoked outrage in the Tamil-speaking districts of Madras Presidency. S. Subramania Iyer returned his knighthood and S. Srinivasa Iyengar, his CIE.

The Dyarchy

The Montague-Chelmsford reforms of 1919 introduced a dyarchical system of governance in all the three Presidencies of

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

and Madras. As per the new reforms, elections were held in the Madras Presidency in November 1920. In the absence of any contest from the

which had decided to boycott the elections, the Justice Party, an organisation with pro-British leanings, was elected unopposed and formed the government in the province. A. Subbarayalu Reddiar served as Premier for a short term and was succeeded by Sir P. Ramarayaningar. The formulation of a policy of caste-based communal reservations in 1921 appears to be one of the highlights of his tenure. During the 1923 elections, the Justice Party split into two factions – the Constitutionalists and Ministerialists. In the very same year, the Indian National Congress, itself, split into two with a group of "No-Changers" who claimed the right to use its name in favour of non-participation in the government and another faction called the " Swaraj Party" which was in favour of council entry. The Swaraj Party under

emerged as the single-largest party in the 1926 elections. However, the Swaraj Party refused to form the government prompting the governor Lord Goschen to install a regional aristocrat P. Subbarayan as the Premier and nominate members of his own choice to the council to support him. However, the government was beset with problems from the very beginning as both the Swaraj Party as well as the Justice Party tried to topple it. The Simon Commission arrived in India in the year 1928 to make field investigations into the working of the Montague-Chelmsford reforms. The Indian National Congress and the Swaraj Party as well as the Justice Party, in the initial stages, decided to boycott the commission as there was not a single Indian in it. A motion was put forth in both the houses of the Madras legislature boycotting the commission and was passed with absolute majority. But the Premier P. Subbarayan opposed the motion and prepared to welcome the commission prompting both of his ministers A. Ranganatha Mudaliar and R. N. Arogysamy Mudaliar to resign in protest. The Governor intervened to appoint S. Muthiah Mudaliar and M. R. Sethuratnam Iyer as ministers in place of the resigned members of the cabinet and appointed Sir M. Krishnan Nair, an important leader of the Justice Party, to his executive council, in order to enlist the support of its members. The motion was eventually defeated and the Simon Commission was accorded a warm welcome amidst cries of foulplay by the Swaraj Party. The Justice Party was voted back to power in the 1930 elections and

B. Munuswamy Naidu Bollini Munuswamy Naidu (1885 – 1935) was the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 27 October 1930 to 4 November 1932. He was conferred 'Rao Diwan Bahadur' by British Government. Munuswamy Naidu was born in Tiruttani, Madras Presid ...

served as Premier for a short term before being succeeded by the

Raja of Bobbili Raja Sri Ravu Svetachalapati Sir Ramakrishna Ranga Rao KCIE (20 February 1901 – 10 March 1978) was an Indian politician and ''zamindar'' who served as the Chief Minister of Madras Presidency from 5 November 1932 to 4 April 1936 and 24 ...

. However, the economic conditions under the Great Depression combined with

anti-incumbency Anti-incumbency is sentiment in favor of voting out incumbent politicians. It is sometimes referred to as a "throw the bums out" sentiment. Periods of anti-incumbent sentiment are typically characterized by wave elections. This sentiment can also le ...

and rising corruption in the Justice Party ranks resulted in its defeat in the 1934 elections. However, Justice Party was returned to power as the Swaraj Party, the single largest party, refused to form the government. However, by 1937, things had changed and a united and rejuvenated Indian National Congress participating in the elections for the first time held under the Government of India Act 1935 registered a famous win and a near-complete rout for the Justice Party.

Notes

Sources

* * * {{cite book, title=The Congress in Tamilnad: nationalist politics in South India, 1919–1937, url=https://archive.org/details/congressintamiln0000arno, url-access=registration, author=David Arnold, year=1977, id={{ISBN, 978-0-88386-958-1, publisher=David Arnold, isbn=0883869586