COMMUNIST PARTIES AND UNPRAGMATIC POLITICS

 

As a student of political science, I have always wondered why communist parties like CPI and CPI-M have not fared well in Tamil Nadu elections, in spite of having a clear ideological inclination towards uplifting the life of the poor and oppressed. Communist parties are the pioneers of so-called ‘populist mobilisations’ which has become the way of political mobilisation in Tamil Nadu today. Starting from the way of including more than three fourth of people as oppressed to projecting themselves as the sole saviour of those oppressed, communist parties did set the tone of today’s politics even before the entry of Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu’s electoral scene. But today these parties are nothing more than any newly formed fringe parties with respect to electoral results in Tamil Nadu. Many reasons are attributed for this pathetic situation like lack of charismatic leadership at Tamil Nadu level, lack of elite political clienteles etc. But as we know, the so-called ‘Charisma’ is not entirely ‘ascribed’ attribute, but to a larger extent is an ‘achieved’ attribute in politics. It is an ever-going process by which a leader develops a ‘politically acceptable image’. Similarly, political clienteles are not eternally given to any political party as such. The electoral victories and perceived personal advantage to rent-seeking elites will distribute and re-distribute political clienteles from time to time. Hence, these reasons are not independent reasons but dependent reasons ‘or’ in Marxist terms, these reasons do not form the base but are part of superstructure with base still being elusive. My recent visit to CPI-M office in T-nagar, Chennai regarding my PhD research, and my half day stint with communist party cadres gave some interesting yet probable answers to the above question, which I thought worth sharing.

I reached the office by 3 PM and I already got the appointment from a veteran communist leader. As I reached the office well before the appointment time, I started interacting with the few party cadres available there while waiting in the lobby. The interaction was casual and all the people present there were very cordial and informative. But the striking point was, all the cadres present there addressed me with a distinct word ‘Thozhare’, a typical communist greeting meaning friend or fellow comrade. Even though I addressed them with words such ‘sir’, ‘boss’, ‘anna’, ‘thambi’, all of them preferred to address me as “thozhare”. Despite being used to this greeting from my childhood, the sincerity and casualness with which they uttered that word numerous times confounded me. Even forgetfully they didn’t address me with any other word other than ‘thozhare’. As I was interacting with the cadres, the veteran leader came and cordially welcomed me and answered all my research questions with utmost sincerity and humility. Since he looked like a septuagenarian leader, I preferred to address him with term ‘Ayya’ during the entire course of discussion. When we finished and as we got up, I thanked him uttering ‘nandri ayya’, meaning thankyou sir. He accepted my gratitude with a smile but immediately corrected my choice of words! He said “thozhare, always call me ‘thozhare’ as we always prefer to be a thozhar to all the cadres, common people and there should be equality in all relationship”! I smiled and thanked him again with his choice of words and departed. Even though I physically left the office, I couldn’t stop thinking about their greeting of ‘thozhare’ for the rest of the day. ‘Thozhare’ is definitely a great word and treating all as equals is an even greater political ideal to have. But is it suitable in a country like India and for region like Tamil Nadu? Tamil Nadu is a place where people love to worship their leaders. Here, the leadership status is solidified not on the basis of the quality of work done but based on the kind of continuous deference people show on you. Whether it is a cinema star or a cricketer, people love to worship their heroes. People innovate new ways of worshipping from time to time to create and recreate the ‘leadership image’ of their heroes. In fact, leaders are born in India not because of their innate qualities but are ‘made’ by their avid, ardent, diehard “bhakts’ and their innovative ways to show deference. The sorry state of affairs in Tamil Nadu is that, any person either a cinema star or a politician, who does not understand this dynamic can never become a leader in public eyes.

            It is not the problem of the people of Tamil Nadu, but the point is, they don't see this as a problem at all. The act of worshipping their heroes has its roots in the culture of Tamil Nadu which in turn is dialectically bound with the social psyche of its people. A child which encounters the act of worshipping like raising cut-outs, performing milk abhishekams, justifying every act of their heroes without logical thinking, belittling the perceived enemy of their heroes without any guilt etc, by their much-adored parents, leaders and elders in their locality from its childhood accepts these as universal truths and the way of leading life. These acts get emotionally connected and imprinted in the child's psyche in such a way that it seldom deems it necessary to use the rational mind before performing such acts from then on. When the child grows, their heroes change, but the feeling of showing unconditional deference to their heroes continues and is reproduced by them whenever required which socialize the new children they encounter, and the process continues. As a famous saying goes, ‘the mob don't think and then act; but they act and then think’, people generally act based on the psychological imprints they gained through their voluntary and involuntary socialisations from their childhood and for actions which they deem emotional and hinders their self-esteem they react based on a predetermined pattern set on their social psyche without applying the rational mind. When it comes to their heroes, the people of Tamil Nadu have always learnt to be emotional from their childhood!

            The problem does not lie with the communist parties either. Communist parties all over the world are known for the strategies and policies which tend to break the pre-existing power relations which control the world. They try to create a society which is more egalitarian in every aspect known, and hence they are always cautious in coining every term they use that it does not entail domination but faster equality. They tend to create ‘leaders’ in ‘everyone’ true to their ideal which Che Guevara beautifully phrased- “liberators don't exist; people liberate themselves”.  

            Then where is the real problem? The problem neither lies with the people nor with the communist parties but lies in the fact that these methods of communist parties are not suitable for the people like that of Tamil Nadu. The people of Tamil Nadu either do not want it or not confident in liberating themselves. They need liberators, demigods and messiahs to save them from their misfortune. They are not ready to attach themselves to the ongoing hard-fought struggle which the communist parties project as the road to liberation. They don’t have both time and energy and at the same time they are also not convinced yet, that struggle for liberation would uplift their life. They simply need a messiah, demigod to become their leader and change their lives.

            The leaders that communist parties project in Tamil Nadu are undoubtedly leaders with good qualities and great passion for people’s politics. But the fact that they are not allowing themselves to be worshipped is not helping the cause. In the eyes of the common man of Tamil Nadu, a true leader is the one who is worshipped by his followers publicly, thanks to the socialisation they received from their childhood.  They seldom try to understand the true attributes of their leader, rather try to imagine and attribute all non-worldly powers to their leaders and enjoy their omnipotence. Either of the two must change if communist parties wish to lay a solid foundation to change their electoral fortunes in this state; the people’s nature or communist parties’ unpragmatic politics.

A SHORT HISTORY OF TAMIL NADU

 

The region of Tamil Nadu has human presence since Palaeolithic age (Sharma D. , 2018). Many stone tools of Palaeolithic, Microlithic, Neolithic ages are being found in various regions of the state (Valayapathy, 2015). The region is also known for a specific kind of stone burials during the iron age called as megalithic culture which flourished around c 1000 BC till start of Christian era (Brubaker, 2000-2001, p. 255). The people of ancient Tamilakam[1] traded with foreigners especially with the people of Mesopotamian civilisation and Egyptian civilisation from around c.4000 BC (Pillai, 2000, p. 52). But continuous trade with foreign countries like Arab, Phoenicia started only around c. 700 BC. Ancient Tamilakam started its trade with the Greeks from c 500 BC (Pillai, 2000, p. 53). Sangam literature (Padmaja & Purushotaman, 2000, pp. 3,4) [2] informs us about the processes of state formation that happened in Tamil society from c 500 BC. One of the Ashokan inscriptions also shows us that during emperor Ashoka’s times the region had relatively strong states namely Cheras, Cholas, Pandyas and Satyaputras (Rajan, 2007, p. 1296).

            After the end of Sangam period, Khalabras ruled Tamilnadu. Even though the ethnicity and origin of the khalabhras is still not completely certain, many historians feel they were invaders from Karnataka (Pillai, 2000, pp. 184-186).  The khalabhra period was succeeded by Pallava Period from the late 6^th century AD. Even though Pallavas existed as local kings of Kanchipuram area in Tamil Nadu from 3^rd century AD, they became an empire only in the late 6^th century by ousting the Kalabhras from Tamil Nadu (Pillai, 2000, pp. 189-192). Narasimha Varman I was the most successful ruler of the dynasty (Pillai, 2000, p. 195), who along with his father is credited for building the rock cut structures in Mahabalipuram. During the Pallava period, art and architecture flourished in south India. They were considered as great temple builders (Basham, 1959, p. 74) and they credited themselves with building temples without using timber or lime or brick or metal for the first time in the region (Mate, 1970, p. 108).  The monolithic rock cut shore temple in Mahabalipuram and Kailasanatha temple in Kanchipuram built by NarasimhaVarman II are architectural marvels (Thapar, 2002, p. 331).

            The Pallava empire continued its supremacy till the end of 7^th century AD without much hinderance. The Pandyas of Madurai, Cheras of Kerala and Cholas of Uraiyur existed with much lesser prominence. After the period of Narasimhavarman II, the struggle for supremacy started between Pallavas and Pandyas. The next two centuries saw intense conflict between the two sides with Pandyan kings like Maravarman Rajasimhan I (735 AD to 765 AD) and Varguna I (765 to 815) (Mahajan V. , 2016, p. 570) stamping their authority during their times against the Pallavas. (Pillai, 2000, pp. 208-209). All these events led to the rise of imperial Cholas in 10^th century AD.

            The rise of Imperial cholas could be attributed to Vijayalaya Chola who captured Tanjore (Pillai, 2000, p. 249) and his son Aditya I, who killed the last Pallava king Aparajita Varman in a battle at the end of 9^th century AD (Mahajan V. , 2016, p. 545). The chola empire reached its zenith under the reign of Rajaraja, the great and his son Rajendra chola (Basham, 1959, p. 75). At the peak of his power, Rajaraja Chola (985 AD to 1014 AD) empire’s boundaries started from the south of river Tungabadra and extended till the north of Sri Lanka including Maldives (Mahajan V. , 2016, p. 547).. He built the famous Rajarajeswara temple at Tanjore which is known for its architectural greatness (Thapar, 2002, p. 386). His son Rajendra Chola was a great warrior. He went on an expedition till the banks of Ganges and conquered all the states on his way and brought the holy water back to Chola capital. He controlled the trade with west Asia, China and southeast Asia and in the process captured Srivijaya empire, which corresponds to modern day Sumatra islands of Indonesia and Malay peninsula, to ascertain Chola empire’s suzerainty over Indian ocean and Bay of Bengal region (Thapar, 2002, p. 365). The Great chola empire was demolished slowly by its own internal conflicts (Aiyangar, 1991, p. 38) and continuous Pandiyan expeditions. The final blow to the Chola kingdom was given by Maravarma Kulasekhara Pandyan in 1279 AD when he completely annexed Chola kingdom to his Empire (Pillai, 2000, p. 384).  But the Pandyan control did not last long as Malik kafur, the general of Alauddin Khilji plundered Madurai in 1311 AD (Pillai, 2000, p. 386). He continued his expedition till Rameshwaram and destroyed the Pandyan administrative fabric (Ray, 1957, p. 195). Later around 1323 AD general Ulugh khan[3] conquers Madurai and annexes it to Delhi Sultanate (Pillai, 2000, p. 390). The general of Madurai announced independence from Delhi sultanate in 1335AD and founded the ‘Sultanate of Madurai’. The rule of Madurai Sultans continued till 1365 and between 1365 to 1370 Kumara Kampanna, son of Vijayanagara King Bukka I dethrones Madurai sultan and brings forth Vijayanagara rule in the region (Pillai, 2000, pp. 390-392). 

            The disintegration of Pandyan and Chola dynasty in Tamil Nadu resulted in the fragmentation of the states of Tamilnadu. Many small independent sovereign states started to emerge in the region. At the same time, rulers of Vijayanagar controlled Madurai and few other parts of Tamilnadu. It should be noted here that, even the Later Pandyas after losing their Madurai seat (Pillai, 2000, p. 400)[4], started to rule from down south in and around Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram region. Many small independent monarchs started to assert their sovereignty. Even though Vijaya nagara rulers, especially Krishnadevaraya (1509 AD to 1529 AD) and his brother Achyuta Deva Raya (1529 AD to 1542AD) annexed whole of Tamilnadu and instituted Polygar system, the Polygars became relatively independent by the end of 16^th Century (Pillai, 2000, pp. 394-402). From 17^th century, various Nayaks and other independent Monarchs started to show their presence felt in Tamil Nadu political scene. The famous Nayak of the Madurai was Thirumalai Nayak (1625 AD to 1659 AD). He was a very good political diplomat and waged various wars against other poligars and Travancore state, and was successful most of the times. He also contributed to the development of art and architecture in the region (Pillai, 2000, pp. 406-407). Tanjore, the yesteryear seat of Cholas, on the other side was ruled by Nayaks from 16^th century. But with the sudden turn of political events Marathas came to power in Tanjore in 1676AD (Pillai, 2000, p. 410). 

            In the meantime, Europeans entered India and regions surrounding modern day Tamil Nadu for trading purposes at the end of 15^th Century. Portuguese enters Calicut in 1498 AD and established their colonies in modern day Kerala. They founded a Christian mission in Madurai in 1592 AD and started their missionary works in the state (Pillai, 2000, pp. 454-455). Dutch entered Pulicat[5] in 1610 (Markovits, 2004, p. 556) and Danish entered Tranquebar in 1620 (Ferguson, 1898, p. 627) and started their trading activities in the region. Similarly, British sets up a small trading establishment in Armagaon, a place 35 kms north of Pulicat, to trade in the regions of Northern Tamil Nadu and Andhra in 1620’s (Narasiah, 2008, p. 27). Later they founded the city of Madras in 1639 by buying some villages from Damarla Venkatapati Nayak (Narasiah, 2008, pp. 28-30).. Around 1674, French also established their powers in Pondicherry.

            Even though Europeans entered India, they were predominantly engaged in trade and related activities. The strong Mughal dynasty at Northern India and vibrant Maratha powers in west coast subdued the colonial ambitions of European powers for that moment. Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb made Zulfiqar Ali Khan, the son of his prime minister Asad Khan as the first Nawab of Carnatic[6] in 1690 AD (Anvar, 2008, p. 121).  The Nawab invaded Madurai and Tanjore and exacted contributions from Rani Mangamal the Nayak queen of Madurai (1689 AD to 1706 AD), and King Shahaji, the Maratha king of Tanjore (Rajaiyyan, 1970, p. 222). The disintegration of Mughal empire after the death of Aurangzeb led to decline of the powers of Carnatic. Tamil Nadu witnessed endless battles in eighteenth century among the Nawab of Carnatic, Marathas, Nayaks, Mysore Kingdom etc. All these political developments made the situation ripe for British to colonise these regions. Victories in the three Carnatic wars and wars with Hyder Ali and Tipusultan gave British the complete control over the South Indian territories at the end of 18^th Century. Many Polygars like VeeraPandiya Kattabomman, Marudhu Sagothirargal, Oomai Durai rised against the British imperialism and fought for independence. All were executed by the British. But the spirit for independence re-emerged through the Vellore sepoy mutiny in 1806 (Pillai, 2000, pp. 454-477). Everyone was suppressed and from then on British ruled the state relatively peacefully till the start of Indian independence movement in 20^th century.

            Tamil Nadu saw two independent movements at the end of nineteenth century. One was Indian freedom movement and other was non-brahmin movement. The freedom movement was led by the Indian National Congress and the Non-Brahmin movement was led by Justice party. Justice party[7] which was started on 1916[8] to carry out the upliftment of Non-Brahmins started to take part in provincial elections after Montagu-Chelmsford reforms of 1918 and passing of GOI act of 1919 (Thirunavukarasu K. , 2019, p. 57). 

            At the same time, the Indian independence movement was led by Congress party and its members. During Swadeshi movement when Congress leaders asked the public to use swadeshi products, V O Chidambaram Pillai, a lawyer from Tuticorin started a swadeshi steam navigation company in 1906. Similarly, many independent thinkers and poets like Bharatiyar, Subramaniam siva, VVS Iyer also contributed to the struggle for Indian independence (Perumal & Thandavan, 1985, p. 423). Extremists like Vanchinathan (Jayapalan, 2001, p. 67) also took part in the freedom movement through their militant ways[9]. After the coming of Mahatma Gandhi, Tamil Nadu congress led by Rajaji remained loyal to all the policies framed by the national leaders of the party and Mahatma Gandhi. Meantime, non-brahmin movement started to make deep impact in Tamil society with the advent of EV Ramaswamy, commonly called as ‘Thanthai Periyar’. He started Self-respect movement in 1925 and gave a rationalistic, atheistic colour to the movement (Vasanthan, 1999, pp. 5-8). He proclaimed anti-Brahminism and negating their ideals as the chief tools to attain Dravidian upliftment. He travelled all over the world, gave ferocious speeches against Hindu belief system and towards following rationalism in public life. He questioned all the superstitions in Indian culture and asked his followers to analyse them with a rationalist mind and then accept it. He became the president of Justice party in 1938[10], merged Justice party with his movement, renamed it as Dravidar Kazhagam in 1944 and took a resolution to abstain from electoral politics (Maraimalaiyaan, 2021). Dravidar Kazhagam demanded a separate home land for Dravidians called “Dravida Nadu” from the British. Periyar organised many anti-Hindi  agitations in Tamilnadu against Hindi imposition by Indian National congress. All these political positions of Periyar made him the most popular leader among the Tamils.

            After independence and after the first election of Indian republic, the Indian National Congress formed the first ministry under the leadership of Rajaji in Tamil Nadu. The Congress rule in Tamil Nadu continued till 1967 under the leadership of Rajaji, K.Kamaraj and Bakthavatchalam. In 1967 elections, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, a party founded in 1949 by CN Annadurai after coming out of Dravidar Kazhagam, came to power and C.N.Annadurai assumed office of the Chief Minister. Soon after the demise of Anna , the chief ministership went to Kalaignar Karunanithi which he continued till 1977 AD. In 1977 elections M G Ramachandran, the reigning super star of Tamil cinema and an ex-member of DMK, contested the elections under his own new party called Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu. MGR died in 1987 and after a short period of political turmoil in the state, J.Jayalalitha, a famous actress of Tamil cinema and a prominent member of ADMK under MGR’s leadership became the chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in 1991 (Muthukumar, 2011, p. 65). After that election, both the Dravidian parties namely DMK and ADMK alternatively came to power till 2011[11].  In 2016 elections ADMK made history by coming to power for a successive term. Its leader Jayalalitha became the chief Minister of the state. But within a year of becoming CM, she died unexpectedly on December 2016 (Majumder, 2016). Following her, DMK supremo Kalaignar also died on August 2018 (India Today, 2018). After the death of Jayalalitha and after few political dramas, Edapadi K Palaniswamy became the chief minister of Tamil Nadu on February 2017 (Rao, 2019).  In the subsequent general elections held to the legislative assembly of Tamil Nadu in 2021, DMK party won majority seats and MK Stalin, son of former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi assumed the office of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu (Mariappan, 2021).

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[1] Ancient tamilakam consists of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Before roughly 800AD Tamil was the language of the people of kerala or chera country.

[2] The ancient literature of Tamil language which was compiled in Third sangam held by Pandyan king is known as Sangam literature. The literature speaks about various aspects of Tamil society. Today 2381 poems written by more than 1000 poets are available. The period of sangam is still debatable. Some people say it is from c 600 BC to c 100 AD and others date it little later.

[3] This Ulugh Khan later takes Delhi throne in the name of Muhammed Bin Tuqlaq

[4] The famous one of the Later Pandyas was Jatavarma Parakrama Pandyan (1422 AD – 1463 AD).

[5] It is modern day pazhavercadu, a sea shore in the district of Thiruvallur, near Chennai.

[6] The capital of Carnatic was Gingee and later it was changed to Arcot around 1715 AD

[7] Officially called as South Indian liberation federation. It started a daily called as Justice and hence was commonly called as ‘Justice Party’.

[8] Started on November 20, 1916

[9] In 1911 district Magistrate Ashe of Tirunelveli was shot dead by Vanchinathan at Maniachi.

[10] He became the president of Justice party in 29^th December 1938, when he was Bellari jail, Andhra.

[11] In 1991 ADMK won, 1996 DMK won, 2001 ADMK won, 2006 DMK won and in 2011 ADMK won.

References

Aiyangar, S. K. (1991). South India and her muhammadan Invaders. New Delhi: Asian Educational Services.

Anvar, S. (2008). Islam. In S. Muthiah, Madras, Chennai: The Land, People and their Governance. Chennai: Palaniappa Brothers.

Basham, A. (1959). The Wonder That was India. New YOrk: Grove Press.

Brubaker, R. (2000-2001). Aspects of mortuary variability in south Indian Iron age. Bulletin of Deccan college Post-graduate and research Institute, 60/61, 253-302.

Ferguson, D. (1898, July). The settlement of Danes in Tranquebar and serampore. The journal of Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain, 625-629.

India Today. (2018, August 7). Karunanidhi, Tamil Nadu's Kalaignar, dies at 94. India Today. Retrieved April 27, 2020, from https://www.indiatoday.in/india/story/kalaignar-karunanidhi-dead-at-94-1307893-2018-08-07

Jayapalan, N. (2001). History of India: From National Movement to Present Day. New Delhi: Atlantic.

Mahajan, V. (2016). Ancient India. New Delhi: S Chand.

Majumder, S. (2016, December 6). India Jayalalitha death: Masses mourn 'iron lady'. BBC News. Retrieved April 27, 2020, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-38218232

Maraimalaiyaan, A. (2021). Periyar - A biographical Sketch. Retrieved from Periyar Maniammai University: https://www.pmu.edu/centres/pdf/Biographical_Sketch.pdf

Mariappan, J. (2021, May 7). MK Stalin becomes Tamil Nadu chief minister. Times of India. Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/chennai/mk-stalin-becomes-tamil-nadu-chief-minister/articleshow/82449380.cms

Markovits, C. (Ed.). (2004). A History of Modern India 1480-1950. London: Anthem Press.

Mate, M. (1970, March-June). The Origin of Pallava art: The Undavalli Caves. East and West, 20(1/2), 108-116.

Muthukumar, R. (2011). Tamilaga Pothu Therthal Varalaru (History of Tamil Nadu's General Election). Chennai: Kizhaku Pathipakam.

Narasiah, K. (2008). Madras: Tracing the growth of the city since 1639. Chennai: Oxygen Books.

Padmaja, R., & Purushotaman, V. (2000). Sanga Kaaala Mannargalin Kaala Nilai (Timeline of Sangam Kings) (Vol. 1). Chennai: International Institute of Tamil studies.

Perumal, C., & Thandavan, R. (1985, October-December). Moderates and Extremists in Indian National Congress in Tamil Nadu: 1900-1920. Indian Journal of Political Science, 46(4), 421-429.

Pillai, K. (2000). Tamilaga Varalaru Makkalum Panpaadum (HIstory of Tamil Nadu, People and Culture). Chennai: International institute of Tamil Studies.

Rajaiyyan, K. (1970). The Marathas of Trichinopoly: 1741 to 1743. Annals of Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute, 51(1/4), 222-230.

Rajan, K. (2007). Situating early historic times of Tamil Nadu. Proceedings of Indian History Congress, 68(2), 1268-1301.

Rao, M. (2019, August 23). Edappadi Palaniswami: How the accidental CM has become a crafty politician. The News Minute. Retrieved April 27, 2020, from https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/edappadi-palaniswami-how-accidental-cm-has-become-crafty-politician-107705

Ray, S. (1957). Was Rameshwaram Raided by Malik Kafur. Proceedings of Indian History Congress, 194-196.

Sharma, D. (2018, February 06). Stone Age tools found in Tamil Nadu suggest re-framing of ‘Out of Africa’ theories. Down to Earth. Retrieved January 06, 2020, from https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/science-technology/stone-age-tools-found-in-tamil-nadu-suggest-re-framing-of-out-of-africa-theories-59635

Thapar, R. (2002). The Penquin history of South India. London: Penquin.

Thirunavukarasu, K. (2019). Neethikatchiyin Varalaru (History of Justice Party) (Vol. 1). Chennai: Nakeeran Publishers.

Valayapathy, R. (2015, June 30). Tamil Nadu: Rare Stone Age tools found in Ariyalur, Perambalur districts. Deccan Chronicle.

Vasanthan, M. (1999). Ivar Than Periyar (He is Periyar). Chidhambaram: Puratchikanal.

 

Ancient Political thought of Tamil Nadu

 The history of Tamilnadu goes well before the Christian era, which could be traced through the archeological evidences and ancient Tamil literatures. The ancient Tamil region was segregated into five geographical regions like Mullai, Kurunchi, Marutham, Neythal and Paalai. According to the ancient Tamil literatures, the total Tamil land was ruled by more than 300 chieftains and small kings. But three famous kingdoms namely, Cheras, Cholas and Pandyas, are mentioned all over the body of ancient Tamil literatures. An inscription of Emperor Ashoka, along with the above three kings also mention Satyaputras, identified as the celebrated sangam age king Adiyaman neduman anji.

The ancient Tamil literatures like Sangam literature, Tirukural, silapathikaram, manimegalai etc threw light, not only on the geography, society, economy of the ancient Tamil people, but also on the politics of the land. The ‘ancient Tamil political thought’ was idealistic in many respects as it searched for a good and ideal way of polity. But at the same time the political thought also depicted the exact political situation of the Tamil land. Sangam literature is a body of Tamil poems written during 5^th BC to 2^nd AD and which was compiled by the third Sangam (date of which is unknown). These sangam literatures are considered as the oldest Tamil thought which depicts the ancient Tamil life. Thirukural are short poems written by Thiruvalluvar, approximately dated close to the start of Christian era. Thiruvaluvar was an idealist and he wrote extensible on the attributes of the state and king. He detailed the elements of the state and also preached the best way of governance. The impact of Thirukural in the ancient Tamil life could be very evident, as the literatures written after Thirukural like silapathigaram, Manimegali, seevagasinthamani reiterated the values of the social and political life preached by Thiruvalluvar. The political thought mentioned in these above body of literatures is compiled as the ancient Tamil political thought.

Sangam Political Thought

            The sangam age was characterised by small kings and chieftains fighting among themselves for supremacy. War was an essential part of the life of a typical sangam age man. But at the same time, the feeling of ‘brotherhood’ and ‘oneness’ was also present among the Tamil people during those times. One of the oldest Tamil grammer books ‘Tholkapium’ mentions ‘vada venkatam then kumari aayidai Tamil koorum Nal uzhagathu’, that is, ‘the region between vengata mountain in the north and kanyakumari in south is Tamil speaking land’[1]. It clearly shows that even though the kings and chieftains in the ancient Tamil land were fighting among themselves, they had a feeling of the ‘Tamil nation’. This literary finding is also substantiated by a stone inscription of Kalinga King Kharavela (BC 165), who claims to have destroyed a ‘Tamil federation’ which existed for 113 years[2]. Similarly such a Tamil federation of kings to fight foreign invasion is also mentioned in ‘Agananooru’, a sangam literature. Hence, today’s Tamil nationalism is not a new one or a product of colonialism, but has its roots in a typical ‘Tamil psyche’ which could be traced even in the sangam age.

            The concept of state was not developed during the Sangam age, in fact the state was in its formation during the sangam age. The sangam literatures however throw some light on how small chiefdoms were captured by kings like Pandyas, Cholas, Cheras, Adiyas (according to Aganananooru, Adiya kingdom was much bigger than Pandya kingdom during Mouryan times) and was made as a big kingdom and how statehood formed. Earlier Sangam poems did not mention about taxation as a source of income for small kings and chiefs. But, the chronologically later sangam poems (Pattinappaalai) speak about different types of taxations like customs duty, income tax, toll tax etc as a specific source of income to the King. It is pertinent here to note that, the ruler of the state – ‘king’ is not separate from the concept of state in sangam political thought as monarchy is the only form of government which finds its mention in sangam literatures.

            The whole body of sangam literature preaches some ideal political principles worthy to be followed kings. They are summed up as follows

1. A kingdom should have a good fort to protect its people from invasions (puranaanooru even speaks about forests as forts on all four sides).

2. A good king is the one who fights and conquers his enemies[3]

3. Justice is an essential element in a king’s rule. A good king should never forgo justice and should always do good deeds, which will bring him everlasting fame[4].

4. The major work of the king is to secure food to all the poor in his country and remove their hunger[5].

5. A king is a king only as long as he enjoys people’s support and he loses legitimacy if he loses their support.

The sangam political thought gives lot of importance to war and its nature, as war is considered as an essential element of Ancient Tamil life. Hence in sangam political thought, a king should be a person who fights his enemies with courage and never escapes a battlefield. Even if a warrior dies in battle field with a wound in his back, is considered derogatory in ‘Sangam’ thought[6]. Lots of good practises of war find its mention in sangam literatures. Purananooru, a sangam literature, hails a Pandyan king who announces all the women, children, sick people, cattles, childless people to go to safety zone before invading a country. Similarly the institution of ‘spy’ is considered a necessary institution in sangam thought, for maintaining peace in the state. Hence many poets preach the kings to keep good spies to be efficient.

            Slavery was an accepted institution in Sangam times. The king is measured with the number of efficient slaves he has. Kings are known to have built their country with the help of the captured slaves during invasions. But the institution of slave trade is absent in Sangam times and slaves are transferred only by gifts.

            The sangam age also throws some light on the status of sangam women. Women are highly respected in the sangam society and they had their rights to choose their partners. In sangam literature we find contributions of 26 female poets, the most famous one being ‘Avvaiyar’. Avvaiyar was an idealist philosopher who wrote many ethical doctrines and was respected by all three major sangam powers, namely, Chera, Chola and Pandya. She even functioned as a diplomat during the war times between these three kingdoms. This shows not just that women’s words were respected in the sangam society but also how the institution of  ‘diplomacy’ played a major role in maintaining regional peace.

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[1] http://www.geotamil.com/pathivukalnew/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1678:2013-08-24-03-32-41&catid=56:2013-09-02-02-58-06&Itemid=73 accessed on 04-09-2019

[2] Padmaja, R, Purushothaman, V.P (2000). Sanga Kaala Mannargalin Kaala Nilai. Volume 1. International institute of Tamil Studies: Chennai. Pg 43

[3] 400^th  verse of puranannoru….. See ‘Purananooru, moolamum thelivum, manimegalai presuram, pg 228

[4] 367^th verse of puranannoru….. See ‘Purananooru, moolamum thelivum, manimegalai presuram, pg 172

[5] 400^th  verse of puranannoru….. See ‘Purananooru, moolamum thelivum, manimegalai presuram, pg 228

[6] 278^th verse of puranannoru….. See ‘Purananooru, moolamum thelivum, manimegalai presuram, pg 82

Process of Caste formation in Tamil land

 A conscious study of sangam literature will enlighten us about the existence of slaves and different classes in ancient Tamil land. Sangam literatures mention the names of ‘Paanan, Parayan, Thudiyan and Kadamban’[1] as ‘Kudi’ (settled ethnic groups) in Tamil land. But there is no mention of them constituting as a caste in Sangam literature[2].  In ‘Marutham’ land, where people lived by doing agriculture, the presence of slave system was heavy. Sangam literature mention names of class of people like Ooran, Magizhnan, Kizhavan, Manaivi, Kizhathi who were upper class and were slave owners. Similarly, classes like Uzhavar, Uzhathiyar, Kadayar, Kadaisiyar, Kalamar, Thozhuvar,[3] were slaves or lower class people. Slaves were employed everywhere in sangam age from agriculture to war field. Women slaves were employed to help the queens and wives of landlords. The life of the slaves was pathetic in sangam age. Their settlement was little away from the main settlements and was called as “pura-chaerry” in sangam texts. It is pertinent here to note that all the people’s settlements were called as ‘chaerry’, but the prefix ‘pura’ was associated with settlements of slaves[4].

The sangam literature also mentions about class of people like kammiyar, kuyavar, thachhar, kollar[5], kanavar, idiyar, valaiyar[6] who do a specific job for their livelihood. But, there is no evidence of the presence of any endogamy[7] between these job groups during the sangam age. Guild system was present during the Sangam period. Many archeological evidences suggest the presence of guilds like Thisa, bharatha[8], Thithan operating in the ancient Tamil land. All the above evidences clearly educate us about the class system in ancient tamil land. As Rajan Gurukal notes[9], the Brahmins were present in the Sangam age, but were very less in number to exert domination on the Tamil mass. But we assume that the process of aryanisation starts in the later stage of the sangam period with the development of material forces.

The development of caste in Tamilnadu starts with the Brahminisation of Tamil culture and traditions. Ancient Tamil kings start to do ‘yajna’ in Brahminic style. The institution of Brahmin ministers start to emerge in Tamil land which was absent in earlier sangam period. As M.N.Srinivas notes, the process of sanskritisation[10] of the Tamil masses happen silently in the earlier ages of Christian era. This could have crystallised the class into caste in Tamil land.

But the caste formation gets completed only during the imperial Chola period between 10^th to 13^th century AD. The sangam period is followed by the period of Kalabhras who were Buddhists[11]. Later, the kalabhras were again replaced by Pandyas in south and Pallavas in north. This period correlated with the period of revival of Saiva-sithaantha tradition in Tamil Land in 8^th century AD, where again Brahminism becomes the dominant discourse replacing Buddhism and Jainism. One of saints of Saiva-sithaantha tradition Thirugnana Sambanthar, a Brahmin was responsible for the mass killings of Jains and Buddhists in the Pandya kingdom during that period. Similarly many nayanmars openly sang about the need for killing the Jains and Buddhists in Tamil land[12].  The other Buddhists who escaped the mass killings were captured and were made slaves. Many Dalit scholars[13] claim citing this historical evidence that, dalits of Tamilnadu are Tamil-buddhists of the Kalabhra period[14]. All these things culminates with the start of the era of Imperial Cholas who were strong saivaites and followed Brahminic traditions completely. They created ‘brahmadeya’[15] villages for Brahmins and donated lots of land for their livelihood. The process of Brahminism gets completed and Tamil society becomes a pure Caste bound Brahminic society during this Chola period.

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[1] Sittrambalam, C.K. (1999) Pandaya Thamizhagam. Kumaran Publishers: Chennai. Pg 231

[2] Gurukkal, R. (1994). The formation of caste society in Kerala: Historical antecedents. In K. L. Sharma (Ed.), Caste and Class in India (pp. 393 - 404). Jaipur: Rawat Publications. Pg 394.

[3] Perumalsaami, V. (2007) Sanga Kaala Thamizhagathin Samooga Nilai. Bharathi Poothakalayam: Chennai. Pg 73

[4] Ibid, Pg 74

[5] Op.cit., Sittrambalam, pg. 230

[6] Op.cit., Gurukkal, Pg. 394

[7] According to Dr.B.R.Ambedkar presence of endogamy is the real institution which sustains and continues caste system. Hence he suggests inter caste marriages as a solution for annihilation of caste.

[8] Rajan, K. (2004).  Tholiyal Noakkil Sanga Kaalam. International institute of Tamil studies: Chennai. Pg 98

[9] Op.cit., Gurukkal, Pg. 395

[10] Singh, Y. (1986) Modernisation of Indian Tradition. Rawat: New Delhi

[11] Padvamathy, A. (2003) Chozhar aatchiyil Arasum Madhamum. Kumaran Publications: Chennai. Pg 27

[12] Thirumavalavan, Thol. (2004) Thamizhargal Hindukala. Thaimann: Chennai. Pg.16

[13] Ibid., pg 10

[14] This concept made Pandit Iyothee Thass, a Dalit – anti brahminic scholar to embrace Buddhism in final stages of his during 19^th century. https://www.countercurrents.org/dalit-ravikumar280905.htm accessed on 03-09-2018

[15] Appadorai, A. (1990). Economic conditions in South India (1000 – 1500 AD). University of Madras: Chennai. Pg 112 - 113