The Genesis of the Dmk

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS ARTICLE IS TO DESCRIBE AND EXPLAIN THE genesis of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam1 which came into existence on September 17, 1949. Here we will focus mainly on political developments and socio-economic conditions in Tamil Nadu 2 from the middle of the last century till 1949. Specifically, the period under consideration involves an investigation of the emergence and evolution of the Non-Brahmin political movement and Dravidian separatism. The Non-Brahmin political movement in Tamil Nadu represented essentially a strong reaction to the Brahmin dominance of the administrative, cultural, educational., political, and religious spheres. The domination and power enjoyed by the Brahmins was fM out of proportion to their numerical strength. The basic objective of the Non-Brahmin political movement in the initial stages was to eradicate the "imbalance". In the later stages, particularly when the dynamic E. V. Ramasamy Naicker (hereafter referred to as Periyar) 3 assumed the leadership of the movement, more radical postures and policies were adopted and the achievement of an independent sovereign federal republic of Dravidanadu consisting of the present Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Mysore became the principal objective of the movement. Let us examine the extent of Brahmin dO'minance in some detail. In the field of education, their superiority was clearly established well before the present century and the level of literacy among them was proportionately much higher than among the Non-Brahmins in the Madras Presidency.4 One manifestation of this was the high educational "output" of that community. For example, although the Brahmin community constituted only about three per cent of the population, they formed the 'majority of the college educated in the Madras Presidency in the late 19th century. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 clearly illustrate this.