Dalit Journals in Colonial Madras (1869–1943)

J Balasubramaniam (balumids@gmail.com) teaches at the Department of

Journalism and Science Communication, Madurai Kamaraj University, Tamil
Nadu.

The contribution of Dalit journals is virtually undocumented in the history of

Tamil print media, and the only historiographic trends that have received
scholarly attention so far are the Brahmin nationalist perspective and the non-
Brahmin Dravidian perspective. Based on colonial records and journals, this
article attempts to construct a history of Dalit journals in colonial Madras by
analysing the sociopolitical contexts and the content of 42 journals published
from 1869 to 1943. The wide-ranging conversations in these journals suggest
that Dalits were not only active agents in creating a modern identity,
questioning their marginalisation, but were also involved in knowledge
production in an otherwise restricted public sphere.

This article is an abridged version of the author’s PhD thesis, completed at the
Madras Institute of Development Studies, Chennai, in 2012. It was presented in
a two-day workshop titled “Turning the Page: New Directions in South Asian
Book History” held on 9 and 10 March 2017 at the University of Chicago
Center in Delhi. The author is grateful to their doctoral advisor A R
Venkatachalapathy and the reviewers for EPW for their valuable feedback and
comments.

Colonialism was an important but contradictory phase for Indian subalterns.

During this time, they experienced rigidity of social status through
standardisation and legitimisation of caste through various institutions. At the
same time, they got the opportunity to escape the caste system through colonial
governing systems like the rule of law, political representation and education for
all. The British policy of non-interference in the culture and tradition of Indian
society helped Brahmins uphold the system of caste, but the interests of “lower
castes” were also protected by the state policy of equality before law. These
kinds of changes positively influenced the Dalits and other minorities to emerge
as political groups and start movements. They used print media like journals,
pamphlets and books for not only sociopolitical advan-cements but also to
transform society at large.

The Rise of a Dalit Press

G Aloysius (2006: 58), whose work focuses on Dalit emancipation during the
late 19th century, writes
 The pariahs, a large untouchable community, opened up several fronts
for negotiating the power structure in the northern districts—Madras,
South and North Arcot etc. By adopting their indigenous and
autonomous Tamil literary traditions, they evolved a strategy to face
the new reality. During the third quarter of the 19th century several
journals sprang up. As socio-political organs, they informed people on
the need to give up the old and appropriate the new through the spread
of education.

From the middle of the 19th century, the institution of caste had begun to extend
from its traditional space of society and ritual to include a modern political
space. Many reasons have been noted by scholars for the development of caste
clusters in the political lives of people in colonial India. A few important issues
must be mentioned here. Liberal education, governmental patronage and a
slowly expanding franchise had been the three important influences that had
penetrated the caste system and invol¬ved it in stages (Kothari 2004: 13).
Buil¬ding of roads all over India, the introduction of railways, postage,
telegraph, cheap paper, and printing, especially in the regional languages,
enabled castes to organise as they had never done ¬before (Srinivas 1962).
Establishment of a centralised bureaucratic government stimulated caste
clusters. Nicholas B Dirks (1992: 56–78) argues that “only with the introduction
of modern democratic politics has caste begun to undergo the major
transformation of ‘substantialisation.’” The decennial census was one of the
other important factors that acted as a catalyst for caste movements because it
was a starting point for Indians to organise themselves on modern lines in the
name of castes. Since the decennial census recorded caste, it accidentally came
to the aid of social mobility. Many articulate members of lower castes, and
others who were not prosperous, claimed new and high-sounding Sanskrit
names. New lea¬ders and movements emerged to claim respectable positions in
the census records.

Internal and external migration of Paraiyans, one of the most prominent lower-
caste groups, took place in the 1840s in Tamil Nadu. The breaking up of Mirasi
dominance in some parts of Tamil Nadu facilitated the migration of Tamils to
overseas settlements. Overseas mig¬ration was preferred by the erstwhile
untouchables because it gave them an opportunity to escape the feudal
agricultural system of South India into a cash economy that provided higher
wages. Émigrés returning from overseas territories like Sri Lanka, South Africa,
Malaysia, and Burma (now Myanmar) invested their savings in the purchase of
land, and this instilled a feeling of independence and freedom among them
(Basu 2011: 111). The recruitment for government jobs, particularly in the
army, was notable for the economic betterment and independence it offered to
the Dalits. For Dalits of north Tamil Nadu, some internal migration, such as
those to the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF), was prominent because it freed them
from the clutches of the caste system. In and around Madras (now Chennai),
Dalits were mostly preferred by the British as butlers and housekeepers.
Although these were menial jobs, they granted economic independence and
gave an opportunity to interact with the British.

The British governance system was an important cause for the politicisation of
caste. Following the Morley–Minto ¬reforms in 1909, the Madras government
began to nominate men to the legislative council as caste representatives. Some
caste associations were formed with the intention of acquiring political power.
For ins¬tance, the Kurmi Conference and the ¬Nadar Mahajana Sangam were
founded in response to the colonial government’s utilisation of communal
designations in the granting of public appointments and political
representations, respectively (Carroll 1978). The British government considered
claims and petitions only from associations and not from individuals; this was
one of the main reasons for the growth of caste sabhas. Mostly, these sabhas
were started by Western-educated elites with the support of a few caste
members to exploit public appointments and political representations.

The British government’s policy of giving preference to the lower castes in

relation to education, jobs and political representation made them look up to the
British for protection from caste-based oppression. Some lower-caste leaders,
taking an “anti-nationalist” stance, argued that freedom is nothing but a transfer
of power from the British to caste-minded Indians. Iyothee Thass (1845–1914),
a Dalit intellectual and the editor of the journal Tamilan, wrote that British rule
was better as freedom would give more power to caste oppressors and would
not help people from the lower castes (Tamilan 1908). Another important
condition for the emergence of a Dalit press was the esta¬blishment of schools.
At the end of the 19th century, separate schools for Pariahs were established
around Madras (Balasubramaniam 2017). These schools became the most
important avenue for the modern education of the erstwhile untouchables, and
they later played an important role in the intellectual sphere.

Social Associations and Dalit Press

In Tamil Nadu, during the early decades of the 20th century, “the English-
educated leaders of some of these backward and outcaste groups formed
associations which acted as instruments of social and political mobilisation”
(Visswanathan 1983). Here, I mention only associations started by Dalits like
Paraiyar Mahajana Sangam (1892) (Paraiyar People’s Soci¬ety), Dravida
Pandian Sangam (1885), Sathipedhamatra Dravidar Mahajana Sabha (1891)
(Non-caste Dravidian People’s Society), Otrumai, Kalvi, Kaitholirchalai
Aikkiya Sangam (Society for Unity, Education and Vocational, founded by
Pandian of the Salvation Army, Suthesa Madhu Vilakku Sangam (Native
Society for Alcohol Prohibition), Angileya Aranmanai Sangam (Society of
English Bungalow Servants), and the Poorva Tamil Abimana Sangam (Society
for Native Tamils) (Tamilan 1907). The Adi Dravida Mahajana Sabha started in
1916 became a registered body in 1928 as the All India Adi Dravida Mahajana
Sabha (Ponnoviyam 2003: xxiv). Rettaimalai Srinivasan also started an
organisation known as the Madras Provincial Depres¬sed Classes Federation in
1928.

Many of these associations started journals as forums to propagate their ideals

and political activities. Rettaimalai Srinivasan (1860–1945), editor of the
Pariyan, a pioneering Dalit leader, associate of M K Gandhi in South Africa,
representative of the Depressed Classes in the Round Table Conferences (1930–
32) and an associate of B R Ambedkar, wrote in his autobiography about what
triggered him to start the Pariyan:

In 1893 the British Government brought out an order to educate the Pariah
people but unfortunately the matter did not reach the people concerned. As a
result, I started a journal called Pariyan to inform and educate the people. This
four page journal was sold for two annas. The Pariah people recognised it with a
lot of expectations. The production and advertisement cost came to around `10
for the first issue. Within two days 300 issues were sold in the Madras city.
Within three months, it became a weekly and we owned a press also. This
journal advocated the interest of the Pariah people, approached the British
Government for support. Wherever the Pariah people gathered, they commented
about the journal. (Srinivasan 1999: 20)

Inspired by Srinivasan, many Dalits started journals for the ¬development of

their people. Within this broad context of the changing nature of caste under
British colonialism and the rise of a new caste identity, we look into the pattern
of Tamil Dalit journals in ¬colonial Madras.

Organs of Movements
The Sooryothayam (Rising Sun) is the first Dalit journal, started in 1869 by
Pandit Thiruvenkatasamy from Madras. Archival records and old documents
¬revealed 42 journals run by Dalits from 1869 to 1943. Since only four of these
Dalit journals were available in private libraries and state archives—of which
only few copies were accessible—state archival materials like native newspaper
reports (NNRs), annual reports and government orders (GOs) were important
sources for writing a history of Dalit journalism. Translated excerpts recorded in
the NNRs were consulted when even a single copy of the journals was
unavailable.
From 1869 to 1930, 17 journals out of the 27 journals published by Dalits
(63%) were published from the urban ¬regions of Madras. But after the 1930s
(1930–43), out of 15 journals surveyed, only four (26%) were published from
the urban regions of Madras. The remaining 11 journals were published from
Tamil-speaking rural districts. Early periodicals concentrated in Madras and
slowly spread to rural districts due to the spread of ideas, movements and other
factors like roads and transportation. Out of the 42 journals, we know the
¬periodicity for 22 journals. One was a quarterly, one bimonthly, eight
monthlies, four fortnightlies and the remaining eight were weeklies.

Most Dalit leaders started journals as organs of their movements like the
Pariyan for the Pariyar Mahajana Sabha, the Tamilan for the South India
Sakkiya Buddhist Society, the Madras Adi Dra¬vidan (Early Dravidians of
Madras) for the Adi Dravida Mahajana Sabha, the Valikattuvon (The Guide and
Organ) for the The South India Oppressed Classes Union and the Adi Dravidan
¬(Early Dravidian) for the Sri Lanka South ¬Indian Association. When
Ambedkar founded the All India Scheduled Castes Federation in 1942, Tamil
journals like the Samathuvam (Equality) and the Jaibheem started as organs of
this movement. There were many local-level orga¬nisations, like district-level
associations, who also started journals to reach out to people.
The political ideology and affiliation of the Dalit leaders-cum-editors was
diverse. In 1898, Iyothee Thass founded the South India Sakkiya Buddhist
Association for the renaissance of Buddhism, which had its presence till the
1980s in the northern districts of Tamil Nadu and KGF of Bangalore (now
Bengaluru). M C Rajah, the editor of the Madras Adi Dravidan, was the founder
of the Adi Dravida ¬Mahajan Sabha in 1916 and became the first Depressed
Classes member of the legislative council from Madras province, and later was
nominated for four consecutive periods as a member of the -Madras legislative
council. Later, he also became a member of Parliament. For a few years, he
associated himself with the Justice Party, a prominent non-Brahmin movement
in the Madras Presidency. K Veeraian, editor of the Adi Dravida Pathukavalan
(Guardian of Adi Dravida) also served as a legislator from 1920 to 1930. Swami
Sahajananda, the spiritual leader of Dalits and the editor of the Jothi (Torch)
journal served as an Indian National Congress (INC) legislator.

Barring a few, all the editors were also the proprietors and publishers of the
journals. Out of the 42 journals, 13 were printed in their own press, 14 were
printed in other presses, and no details were available for the rest. The Dalit-
owned presses were functioning as commercial printing presses involved with
job works and book publishing. In the case of the Tamilan (1907–14), the
members of the South India Sakkiya Buddhist Society from the KGF donated a
printing mac¬hine for the journal within a year of its esta¬blishment. The
Pariyan (1893–1900) also managed to acquire a printing press within a year.
Circulation and Donations
The circulation of Dalit journals ranged from 300 to 1,500. For instance, the
Maha Vikata Dutan, a Dalit journal published from 1893 to 1927, had a
circulation of 1,500 during 1893–1900. This is the highest circulation among
the Tamil journals at that time. In comparison to the circulation of other Tamil
journals brought out by Brahmin and higher castes at that time, it seems that the
circulation of 1,500 copies was better and profitable. From 1897 to 1899, the
Swadesamitran’s (edited by G Subramaniaya Aiyar, a devoted nationalist)
circulation ranged between 900 and 1,050, the Arya Jana Priyan’s circulation
was 450, the Loko¬pakari’s 1,200, and the Prapanchamitran’s was 1,000.

The Dalit journals distributed widely not only within their linguistic region but
also wherever Dalits migrated and settled overseas. The Adi Dravidan,
published from Colombo, had agents in Madras and KGF. The Tamilan,
published from Madras, had agents in Marikuppam in Bangalore, Bombay (now
Mumbai), Rangoon (now Yangon), Durban, and Natal. Contributors to the
journals were also from different places. Although the Adi Dravidan published
from Sri Lanka, the content of the journal dealt with problems of the home
villages of the migrant Dalits. Except a few, most Dalit journals did not receive
a sizeable number of subscriptions, which made it difficult to meet their printing
expenses. But journals run by associations managed to exist through donations
from members and community. In 1913, while appealing to its readers to renew
their subscriptions, the editor of the Tamilan noted that the cost of production
for an issue was `50, which at that time was a month’s salary of two
schoolteachers. One reader advised that the subscription be increased while
adding one more page to the journal (Tamilan 1913). The Adi Dravidan
regularly registered the name and amount of donations received. In 1918, the
total donations were `249.64, which decreased to 99.50 in 1919, and
subscriptions in 1918 amounted to `81.01. The donor’s list revealed that internal
and external migrant Dalit labourers contributed gene¬rously. S Kasturi Ranga
Iyengar, the editor of the Hindu from 1905 to 1923, had also donated `50 in
May 1919 to the Adi Dravidan.

Educational Background of Dalit Editors

The educational background of Dalit editors sheds light on the intellectual
tradition of Dalits. Among the 16 Dalit editors, nine were educated in
missionary schools and seven were educated in traditional thinnai1 schools.
Eight of them were Tamil scholars, five were Christian priests, three were
schoolteachers, two were printers, one was a butler, one was a siddha medicine
practitioner, one was a businessperson and one of them was a Saivaite priest.
Iyothee Thass, claimed that there were more than 100 Dalit Madura Kavis
(poets) in and around Madras. The contributions of Dalits in the form of articles
and letters in various journals bore testimony to the intellectual traditions of
Dalits. For instance, Iyothee Thass argued that before the Aryan inva¬sion,
native Buddhists who were priests were the yatharththa Brahmanas (actual
Brahmins), whereas the Aryans who imitated some ritual practices of the native
Buddhists and started to cheat people out of selfish motives were the vesha
Brahmanas (pseudo-Brahmins).

Content of Dalit Journals

Dalit journals dealt with a wide range of issues from philosophy to everyday
oppression. It is important to note the discussion on the identity of Dalits in
Dalit journals. The titles of journals like the Dravida Pandiyan, the Pariyan, the
Tamilan, the Adi Dravidan and the Adi Dravida Mitran themselves tell us how
Dalits contested for different identities. The titles of the journals also tell us
about the ideology of Dalits. The Valikattuvon meant “the guide and the organ,”
the Bhuloka Vyasan meant “world” (bhuloka) and “teacher” (vyasan) the Madu
Vilakku Thuthan meant “agent for prohibition,” the Jathibedhamatron meant
“casteless,” the Samuttuvan meant “equality,” and the Tamilar Sevai meant
“service for Tamils.” These names suggest that Dalits appropriated modernity,
which meant being casteless and practising equality. During the early 20th
century, many interme¬diate castes’ journals claimed higher status within the
varna system like Ksha¬triya or Vaishya. Even they started journals like the
Sathriyakula Mitran, the Vanniyakula Kshatriyan and the Vaisya Mittiran. But
Dalit associations through their journals claimed casteless identity out of the
varna system like the Sathipetha¬matra Dravidan (“casteless Dravidian”), the
Adi Dravidan (“original Dravidian”), the Adi Tamilan (“original Tamilan”) and
the Poorva Bouthar (“native Buddhist”).

The journals covered political, social and religious issues and included a range
of literary forms, such as serialised novels, dramas, articles, poetry, moral
stories, letters to the editor, book reviews, announcements like marriages and
deaths, advertisements, local news and world news. Although educated Dalit
professionals living in cities were the main contributors, a few progressive
Brahmins and non-Brahmins also wrote articles.

Dalit journals intervened significantly in state policies, illustrated by the case of

the Pariyan (1893–1900) on the issue of simultaneous examinations of the
Indian Civil Service. The Pariyan opined against simultaneous exams, which
was the goal of the Congress leaders. As a part of its campaign, a meeting was
convened by Srinivasan, the editor of the Pariyan. At the convention, a 112-feet
length memorial (called Pariya Memorial) signed by 3,412 members of the
Pariya caste was submitted to Parliament through General Chesney, protesting
against the proposal to hold simulta¬neous civil services examinations in
¬India.
From the six translated excerpts of the Pariyan on the issue of simultaneous
-examinations, it was clear that if the proposal of simultaneous examinations
succeeded, it would grant more power to the Brahmins or caste oppressors. For
instance, a news item in the June 1894 issue of the Pariyan says:

The National Congress, composed mos¬tly of Bengalis and Brahmins, with

selfish motives has been agitating for ¬Sim¬ultaneous Examination in India.
The dispatch of the Secretary of State Mr Fowler has once and for all silenced
the selfish congressmen for the good of the country.

The secretary of state clearly anno¬unced that there was no conducive

environment to conduct the Indian Civil ¬Service examinations simultaneously.
A Kannada journal, the Vrittanta Chinta¬mani, agreed that the decision of the
Secretary of State for India on the question of Simultaneous Examination was
entirely due to the petitions forwarded by Muslims and Pariahs praying against
the holding of the examination in India. (NNR 1894)

The Pariyan’s strong criticism against the INC compelled it to adopt policies in
favour of the Depressed Classes. Dadabhai Naoroji, one of the founding
members of the INC and the first Asian to be a British member of Parliament,
advised the Madras Congress Committee to adopt necessary steps for the
improvement of the Depressed Classes.

In 1895, the issue was revived before Parliament by Naoroji. In this situation, an
article published in the Pariyan read:

Mr Dadabhai Naoroji is intending to move before Parliament a proposition that

the decision of the Secretary of State on the question of simultaneous
examination was unjust, while exhorting the Sudras, Muha¬mmadans and
Pariyas to bind themselves together and oppose the proposition and not to be led
astray by the Congress orga¬ni¬sed by the crafty Brahmins. The Pariyan gave
an open call to the oppressed people—Sudras and Muhammadans—to opp-ose
the issue (Pariyan, 15 June 1895 in NNPR).

The opinion of the Pariyan was widely debated by many Malayalam, Kannada
and Telugu journals. By no means was support for British policies a unique
¬phenomenon, as Dalits in Maharashtra resisted the Swadeshis and the
Namashudras in Bengal supported the British.

Readers
Most of the readers were from Madras and comprised labourers, government
servants, schoolteachers, armed forces staff, and people working as servants in
colonial officers’ houses. Those who benefited from colonialism and
industrialisation emerged as a reading class among the Dalit community. They
participated in the public life of colonial Madras, challenged caste hegemony
and the supremacy of caste Hindus and Brahmins of Tamil society through
reading and discussion of periodicals. The Tamilan found its readers among this
new generation (non-agricultural labourers). The list of subscribers and content
contributors suggests that the journal was circulated not only in Lucknow,
Hyderabad, Secunderabad, KGF, Marikuppam and Vellore, but also in South
Africa, Burma, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Mauritius, Singapore, Malaysia and Tanzania,
wherever Tamil people, especially from the lower castes, migrated and settled
for jobs.

Many readers actively participated in the debates carried out in the journal.
Sometimes people wrote to the editor about problems they were facing in the
villages. In the Tamilan issue of 27 January 1909, the people of Orathur village
in Mathuranthagam taluk, near Chengalpattu of Tamil Nadu, wrote a letter in
which they complained that Pariahs in the village were not being allowed to
fetch drinking water from the public pond by the Brahmins. In response to this
letter, the editor wrote in the next issue that if the problem was not solved, then
the Che¬nnai non-caste Dravida ¬Mahajana Sabha would bring it to the
attention of the government (Tamilan, 3 February 1909). Several other cases
suggest that grievances published in the journals got the attention of
government officials. Although circulation was 500, the number of readers may
have been double or triple this number. As it was functioning as an organ of the
Sakya Buddhist Society, it was read aloud before members during meetings of
all the branches of the Sakya Buddhist Society, in the districts of Chennai,
North Arcot and Sri Lanka, and Natal in South Africa. The published
proceedings of Dalit associations prove that whenever news appeared in any
newspaper or journal, it was read aloud in front of the members who attended
their meetings.

Conclusions
Journals started by Dalit leaders and intellectuals focused on educating their
people and voicing their grievances before the rulers. Moreover, these journals
formed an important tool in the contested terrain of identity politics. The list of
Dalit journals in the study confirm that Dalits were active agents not only in
terms of creating a modern identity questioning their marginalisation but were
also agents of knowledge production in an otherwise restricted public sphere.
Another important aspect of the Dalit print milieu was its inclusiveness, as it
provided space for members of the non-Dalit castes to express their opinions in
the form of major contributions to these journals. It included people who fought
for self-respect, reformers and liberals. Moreover, Dalit print culture never
confined itself to Tamil as we find that there were bilingual journals.
A history of Dalit journals makes it clear that Dalits of the Tamil region used a
tool of modernity—the print medium—and expressed their views and opinions
on political and social issues during a crucial time of the modernisation of
Indian society. So far, in history writing only two views—nationalistic and
imperialistic—were given importance, but it is clear that during the same period
there existed another distinct view, that of the Dalits, which was neglected.
Dalits questioned the claim of the INC that it was the sole representative of all
Indians and never believed that home rule would bring change in their lives.
They stressed on social transformation rather than political transformation,
worked for the larger transformation of society and the annihilation of caste,
and constructed a unique political identity for the erstwhile untouchables such
as Pariyan, Tamilan, Dravidan, and Adi-Dravidan.

Note
1 Thinnai is an elevated platform in front of the house where people sit and talk.
In a thinnai school, students sit in the thinnai of the teacher’s house and learn.
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