History has always been unfair to women and Maniammai is no exception. Most women leaders’ lives and work go unacknowledged or face eventual erasure from the public memory due to the absence of deep veneration that keeps male leaders’ memories alive. Surprisingly, Maniammai’s name has sustained its place in people’s memories, even nearly 50 years after her death. However, the way she is remembered remains problematic. She is often recalled as Periyar’s second wife and not as a leader of a formidable social organisation.
Maniammai’s 1949 marriage to EVR Periyar, the founder of the Dravidar Kazhagam, was deemed controversial due to their significant age difference — she was 32, and he was 70. This marriage, a major point of contention, overshadows all other aspects of her life. Maniammai’s name is brought up only in the context of her marriage, largely to question Periyar’s moral character and feminist ideals for marrying a young woman. In Periyar’s defence, his followers argue that Maniammai was his chosen successor, and the marriage was merely a legal mechanism to secure her role. They even exalt her to the status of a martyr who sacrificed her life for Periyar.
It is vital to separate Maniammai from this male-centric discourse and engage with her independent of the intent of either penalising or exonerating Periyar.
Maniammai (March 10, 1917 to March 16, 1978) led the Dravidar Kazhagam, a social organisation which spearheaded the self-respect movement in Tamil Nadu in the 20th century and changed the trajectory of the state’s politics. She was an editor and publisher of the newspaper Viduthalai (Freedom), a significant achievement for any woman journalist, especially a Bahujan woman, during that era. She was also known for her social welfare work, including running orphanages and homes for children and women in need.
Maniammai’s political journey began at a very young age. Her father, Kanagasabai, was a member of the Justice Party, and when he died in 1943, Maniammai, then in her early 20s, joined the party. Born Gandhimadhi, she dropped "Gandhi" from her name and adopted the name “Arasiyal Mani” on August 27, 1944; this was the day the Justice Party was renamed as Dravidar Kazhagam, signaling its ideological break from Gandhi and the Congress. Her early writings were published under KA Mani, a shortened version of her name, before she came to be known as Maniammai, with the honorific “ammai” added.
Through her active work in the Dravidar Kazhagam, Maniammai became a member of its State Administrative Council in 1946. She participated in the party’s agitations against Hindi imposition in the year 1948 and was arrested. An exchange from the court proceedings is often quoted to display Maniammai’s radical idealism and courage:
Question: What is your religion?
Maniammai: I do not have any religion.
Question: Your caste?
Maniammai: Dravidian.
Judge: You are sentenced to two months in prison.
Maniammai: Extremely happy. Thank you.
This arrest marked the first of many that followed in her life.
In 1949, of all the promising leaders present in the party including CN Annadurai, NV Natarajan, S Gurusamy, VR Nedunchezhiyan, K Anbazhagan, it was the capable Maniammai who was chosen to head the party and run its trust as Periyar’s successor. Periyar needed his political and personal heir to be someone who would stay loyal to the party’s objectives, steer clear of electoral politics, and be financially responsible for the party’s trust funds. Maniammai had gained Periyar’s immense trust and was found suitable to take over after him.
Predictably, many members were unhappy with the choice; it was unprecedented for a woman to lead a social atheist organisation that was primarily composed of men, and which didn’t fight solely for women’s issues. It is not difficult to deduce that Periyar’s decision regarding leadership would not have been subject to such harsh scrutiny had a man been chosen instead of Maniammai.
Despite fierce opposition, Maniammai and Periyar married in July 1949, securing her position as the next leader. This marriage is often cited as the reason behind the split in the party, which led Annadurai to start his own party, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). Maniammai assumed control of DK after Periyar’s death in 1973 and remained its leader for about four years until her own death in 1978.
Maniammai is often unfairly remembered as merely Periyar’s caretaker, overshadowing her dynamic activism. Throughout her marriage, she remained a vocal and relentless force against oppression, actively participating in protests and demonstrations. In 1957, she was arrested during an anti-caste campaign for demanding the removal of the word “Brahmanal” from hotel nameboards, staging a protest in front of Murali’s “Brahmanal” café in Triplicane, Chennai, which refused to change its casteist signage. The following year, she was arrested again for publishing a radical article in Viduthalai as its editor.
In 1958, when party members Pattukottai Ramasamy and Manalmedu Vellaisami, who were arrested during an anti-caste agitation, passed away in Trichy jail and were buried inside the premises, Maniammai sought to retrieve the bodies and arrange a proper funeral for them. She met the then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, K Kamaraj, and contacted minister Bhaktavatsalam to obtain the bodies. A solemn funeral march was led by Maniammai and the bodies were buried with due respect which was denied to them in death.
After Periyar’s death, Maniammai went on a tour to various places in Tamil Nadu to meet the people and various leaders, as was customary before taking charge. During her tenure as the leader of DK for four years, Maniammai organised several important political events — despite two of the four years falling in the Indian Emergency period of 1975 to 1977.
The most famous among them is Tamil Nadu’s first Ravana Leela of 1974, in response to the Ram Leela conducted in Delhi where they burned the effigy of Ravana — the antagonist in the Hindu epic Ramayana. Ravana is considered a Dravidian hero in alternate versions of the epic, and Maniammai’s Ravana Leela burned effigies of Rama, Lakshmana and Sita, subverting the ideological hold of the epic.
Another important protest was conducted in front of post offices demanding that the Union government allow members of all castes to become temple priests. This agitation on April 3, 1974 was followed up by a waving of black flags in May when some Union Ministers visited Tamil Nadu. The agitation demanding entry into temple sanctums, scheduled to happen at the Thanjavur Big Temple on August 15, 1975, was suspended due to Emergency restrictions.
Maniammai started the Periyar Maniammai Educational and Charitable Society in 1974 and converted her property and wealth into a Trust to provide for people’s education. The Self-Respect Marriage Bureau, which promotes inter-religious and inter-caste marriages, was also started under her leadership in July 1974 and is still functioning.
Maniammai’s editorials and articles in Viduthalai during her leadership are important sources of not only the day-to-day activities of the party but also its long-term ideological ambitions. Her articles fiercely advocate anti-Brahminism, anti-casteism, atheism, feminism, Dravidianism, and also Tamil nationalism.
Maniammai firmly believed that a separate Tamil state was the ultimate solution for freeing the state from the country’s oppressive hold. She was so committed to the idea that she continued to boldly advocate for it despite the anti-secession amendment to the Constitution in 1963. In one of her speeches in 1975, she fiercely remarked, “As long as we remain bound within the structure of the Indian nation, our social oppression and degradation will continue endlessly… It was Perarignar Anna who bestowed upon our state the name “Tamil Nadu”. Half of the goal has been achieved; we have secured the name “Tamil Nadu”. Now, what remains is ensuring that Tamil Nadu belongs solely to Tamils. And that, too, is soon within reach.”
When the Constitution was amended in 1976 to include the words “secular” and “socialist” in the preamble, Maniammai wrote about how the rights to freedom of “anti-religious” and “anti-superstitions” campaigns must also be made constitutional. Given the current political situation where little difference exists between religion and politics, this rational demand seems inconceivable. Even in Tamil Nadu, the state which prides itself on its rational approach, atheist discourse seems to have lost its vigour due to electoral and appeasement politics.
Maniammai’s articles functioned as political commentaries as she passionately criticises the workings of both the Union and state governments. She condemned Indira Gandhi’s anti-Tamil sentiments and authoritarianism, and questioned both the DMK and AIADMK led governments on their policies regarding employment and liquor ban.
When Indira Gandhi was set to visit Tamil Nadu, Maniammai invited people to join a rally to show their resistance. She wrote, “Under the guise of Emergency, atrocities were committed and concealed, leading the nation toward destruction. Indira Ammaiyar orchestrated actions with a deliberate plan to erase the Tamil identity… Not just party comrades, but all Tamil youths, women, and comrades who possess Tamil consciousness — without any party distinctions — I earnestly invite you all to join.”
Maniammai was also taken into custody for waving black flags during Indira Gandhi’s visit in 1977.
In an editorial written in 1974, to battle the crisis of unemployment of Tamil youth, she demanded that the Tamil Nadu government “pass an official order ensuring 80% of job opportunities in our state are allocated exclusively to the Tamil community” without fearing the labels of “anti-nationalism” and “narrow-mindedness”.
Maniammai wrote regularly and prolifically, even during times of ill-health. Her last editorial, which criticised then Chief Minister MG Ramachandran’s management of the government employees’ labour strike, was published on March 9, 1978, just a week before her death.
Maniammai’s earlier writings in Kudiarasu (The Republic) and Viduthalai published in 1940s and 50s bear a sharp contrast as they are not concerns of everyday politics. The articles are highly literary, revealing her scholarship and critical ability to read texts from new political perspectives. Her most popular article is a comparative study of Kandapuranam and Ramayanam where she lays down 66 points to argue how both are essentially the same text intended to perpetuate Aryan domination.
In an article titled “Who is Bharati?”, she offered a close reading of Mahakavi Subramania Bharati’s poems to expose his proclivity for Aryanism. In another article, she undertook a study on Valmiki’s portrayal of Sita in the Ramayana. With the help of textual evidence, she examined whether the author’s purpose was to create an epitome of chastity, or represent an ordinary woman susceptible to passion, through Sita’s character. In an article titled The Rational Question – Are Stone and Copper Statues God?, Maniammai compiled rationalistic poems of various Tamil Siddhars and poets like Kudhambai Siddhar, Sivavaakiyar and Pattinathar that deliberate over the existence of god.
While most women leaders are haunted by spectres of male approval, and censor themselves to appeal to the male masses, what becomes striking about Maniammai is the passionate feminist sensibility that shines through her speeches. At the Vaikom satyagraha jubilee celebrations held in Kerala in 1975, the centenary of which was celebrated jointly by Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments last year, Maniammai delivered a speech inaugurating the women’s conference. During that speech, she did not hesitate to call out the sexist remarks of an earlier male speaker and implored women to bravely take up the fight for gender equality, and not foolishly entrust the responsibility to men.
In one of her 1944 speeches, she advised educated women not to enter traditional and regressive marriages that would require them to cook and do domestic chores. She even urged women to run away from home to teach parents, who force their daughters into such marriages, a fitting lesson. She constantly emphasised the importance of women being political and occupying public spaces in her speeches.
Maniammai was always found draped in simple black sarees which symbolised resistance and protest. She made every aspect of her life political, from her appearance to name and deed. Yet, there is a serious dearth of resources, both in Tamil and English, that evaluate her contributions and role in history based on what she offers or has failed to offer. A single comment which condemns her writing holds more merit than the rhetoric praises of the “sacrifice” she made through her marriage, as the former reveals a genuine engagement with her. It is unfair when a woman’s life gets defined by her marriage. More so for someone who took to the streets, sought constitutional changes, dared to find the Mahakavi faulty and urged young women to flee home to escape from marriage.
Aazhi is a research scholar in the Department of English at Stella Maris College, Chennai.
Views expressed are the author’s own.