The year 1938 marked a turning point in Tamil Nadu’s history — it witnessed the birth of the first Tamil language struggle against the imposition of Hindi, Periyar played a crucial role in it.
Published Nov 13, 2025 | 2:00 PM ⚊ Updated Nov 13, 2025 | 2:00 PM
DMK founder and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister CN Annadurai (left) with social reformer Periyar EV Ramasamy. (Creative Commons)
Synopsis: The first women’s conference in Tamil Nadu passed a resolution to prefix the honorary title, Periyar, to EV Ramasamy, since no other leader had accomplished reforms like him, and since no one in South India could be considered equal or superior to him.
Thousands of women waited at the Ottraivadai Naadaga Kottagai (drama theatre) on Walltax Road in Chennai on 13 November 1938, joined by a few hundred men. The Kottagai was hosting Tamil Nadu’s first Women’s Conference.
The moment was historic, a defining one for Tamil Nadu. After the event, 73 women, 32 children and 1,164 men were jailed for participating in an anti-Hindi movement.
The historic event also bestowed the title of ‘Periyar’ on EV Ramasamy Naicker, who would go on to become the ideological leader of Tamil Nadu.
Along with this historic resolution that bestowed the title on Naicker, the conference also passed several others, including one against the imposition of Hindi, demanding women’s rights, and advocating the promotion of the Tamil language. The arrests of 1,269 people soon followed.
The year 1938 marked a turning point in Tamil Nadu’s history — it witnessed the birth of the first Tamil language struggle against the imposition of Hindi.
Thanthai Periyar statue in Vaikkom, Kerala. (Shafeeq Thamarassery)
C Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), who was then in power, made Hindi compulsory in schools. The move triggered widespread protests across Tamil Nadu. Thanthai Periyar led the movement, travelling from town to town, giving speeches, and mobilising people against the policy.
He also emphasised that women must rise and join the struggle, inspiring many women associated with the Dravidian movement to step forward in defence of Tamil.
Responding to his call, a group of women organised the Tamil Nadu Women’s Conference on 13 November 1938. The conference was presided over by Thiruvaranga Neelambigai Ammaiyar, daughter of the Tamil purist leader Maraimalai Adigal, founder of the Pure Tamil Movement.
The event was jointly organised by prominent women leaders, including Meenambal Sivaraj, Pandithai A. Narayani, Thamaraikannammal, Dr S. Dharmambal, Malar Mugathammal, and Moovalur A. Ramamirtham Ammal.
The conference did not restrict itself to issues of women’s freedom or rights. It also passed resolutions on pressing political and social issues of the time, such as:
The first resolution passed at the conference was to confer the honorific title, “Periyar”, upon Ramasamy.
The resolution stated, “Since our leader E.V. Ramasamy has accomplished reforms that no other reformer in India has achieved so far, and since there is no one in South India who can be considered equal or superior to him, this conference requests that his name, both in speech and writing, be prefixed with the honorific title Periyar.”
There is also an alternative account claiming that P Chidambaram Pillai, a lawyer from Nagercoil, was the first to call him EV Ramasamy Periyar.
However, it was on 13 November 1938, at this Women’s Conference, that the title was officially and publicly conferred upon him by the people of Tamil Nadu.
After this, Ramasamy came to be widely known as “Thanthai Periyar” (Father Periyar). Even his magazine, Kudiarasu (The Republic), updated his name accordingly — marking the beginning of his identity as the revered social reformer who transformed the political and cultural consciousness of Tamil Nadu.
(Edited by Majnu Babu).
