Vaikom Satyagraha: Struggle against Untouchability-Essay Question 3
Kannur University
Common Course
Readings on Kerala (1A02ENG)
3.
“Vaikom Satyagraha saw the coming together of great personalities.” Explain.
T K Madhavan met Gandhi at Tirunelveli in 1923 to seek
his advice and support for launching an agitation for temple entry. Gandhi
approved of the agitation and suggested non-violence as the strategy. Gandhi
also gave a message to the people of Travancore emphasizing the untouchable’s
right to worship in Hindu temples.
The active involvement
of Sree Narayana Guru served as a powerful source of inspiration and guidance
for the satyagrahis. During March 1925, after his visit to the Satyagraha site,
Gandhiji visited Sree Narayana Guru at Sivagiri. Gandhiji inquired Guru if he
had any difference of opinion about the Satyagraha started at Vaikom. Gandhiji
also asks him if he wants to add or alter anything to the movement. Sree
Narayana Guru answers Gandhiji’s question by affirming that the satyagraha at
Vaikon is going smoothly. Guru also affirms that he does not want to make any
alterations. Gandhiji tells Sree Narayana Guru that some think that nonviolent
satyagraha is of no use and to establish right, violence is necessary. He
inquires Sree Narayana Guru’s opinion in this matter. Sree Narayana Guru
answers by stating that he does not think that violence is good.
In pursuance of Gandhi’s
advice, a savarna jatha was organized from Vaikom to Thiruvananthapuram
under the leadership of Mannath Padmanabhan, the founder of the Nair Service
Society. The declared purpose of the jatha was to present a memorial to the Maharani
Regent but its intention was more to arouse public opinion, particularly among
caste Hindus, against untouchability. The jatha,
which started from Vaikom on 1 November 1924, stopped at about two hundred
places on the way, where public receptions were organized and in which the
leaders of the jatha denounced untouchability in strong terms.
The appeal of the
satyagraha went beyond religious and regional parameters was evident in the
participation. In addition to the Christians and Muslims who participated in
the agitations, a party of twelve Akalis headed by Lala Lal Singh and Kripal
Singh came to Vaikom and setup langar for the volunteers. E V Ramaswamy, popularly
known as Periyar, came with his wife Nagammai and offered Satyagraha on the
14th of April. In the course of the agitations, Periyar was arrested and
imprisoned twice which earned for him yet another sobriquet ‘Vaikom Veerar’.
Probably for the first
time in India, women played an unprecedented part in the agitations with their
large scale involvement and participation in the events. Narayani Amma,
Meenakshi Amma, Thirumalai Amma, and Nagammai Amma were some of the leaders at
the forefront of the satyagraha. Thus, Vaikom Satyagraha saw the coming
together of great personalities.
Vaikom Satyagraha: Struggle against Untouchability-Essay Question 2
REF: Multiple Modernities, edited by Board of Editors, Kannur University, Cohin: Hornbill Publishing House, 2019. Print.
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