Tamil Nadu is different thanks largely to Naicker, the iconoclastic social reformer popularly known as Periyar. A contemporary of Gandhi, he left the Congress disillusioned over the party’s failure to eradicate the caste system. Periyar’s original target were the powerful brahmins, the Iyers, Iyengars and Madhavas, who controlled the temples with their vast tracts of land and also monopolised all levers of temporal power. In his fight against the hegemony and corruption of the brahmins, Periyar targeted Hinduism, since brahmins claimed the exclusive right to be the keepers of the faith and lay down the norms of worship. As part of the Dravida movement, pictures of gods were garlanded with slippers, Ravana Leelas celebrated to counter the Ram Leelas organised in Aryan, north Indian culture. Thanks to the Dravida movement, brahmins were totally marginalised in Tamil Nadu. They constitute a mere 3 per cent of the state’s population.

The Dravida movement against the organised Hindu religion was less successful. Today many representatives of the Dravida parties do not hide their religious practices. Some have been known to even walk on beds of hot coals to propitiate the gods. The AIADMK’s Jayalalithaa, a brahmin herself, regularly visits shrines and once donated an elephant to the Guruvayur temple in Kerala. Even some of Karunanidhi’s immediate family have shown signs of religiosity. His son Stalin and his wife have been blessed by Sai Baba. Karunanidhi’s second wife, Dharmammal, has been known to visit temples. During Karunanidhi’s present tenure as chief minister, 3,000 temples are reported to have been renovated. Tamil Nadu political analyst R. Rajagopalan believes that the ageing Karunanidhi has dug in his heels simply because he wants to be seen as the last true upholder of Periyar’s anti-religion crusade.

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