By a proud ideological grandson, born two decades after Thanthai Periyar left us

I never met E.V. Ramasamy, the man we reverently call Thanthai Periyar—the Great One. I was born twenty years after his passing in 1973, yet his revolutionary spirit courses through my veins like inherited DNA. I am his ideological grandson, shaped by the world he dared to imagine and the battles he fought so we could think freely.

Today, as I witness the same superstitions he fought against making a sinister comeback, I feel compelled to honor his memory by examining why this fearless iconoclast remains more relevant than ever.

The Lion Who Roared Against God

What audacity it took for Periyar to stand in a deeply religious society and declare, \”There is no God!\” Not as a whispered doubt, but as a thunderous proclamation that shook the very foundations of faith-based social order. While millions prostrated before stone idols, this extraordinary man dared to ask the question that terrified the powerful: \”If God exists, why does he permit such inequality among his children?\”

Periyar didn\’t just question God\’s existence—he exposed the economic and social machinery behind religious belief. He showed us how the concept of God had been weaponized to make the oppressed accept their suffering as divine will. \”Your poverty is God\’s test,\” they said. \”Your low birth is karma,\” they preached. Periyar ripped away these comforting lies and revealed the uncomfortable truth: there is no cosmic justice system—only human systems designed to benefit some at the expense of others.

His atheism wasn\’t mere intellectual posturing. It was a surgical strike against the philosophical foundation of inequality. If there is no God ordaining your station in life, then no human has divine right to be above another.

The Surgeon Who Operated on Religion\’s Lies

Where others saw sacred texts, Periyar saw propaganda manuals. He dissected the Ramayana and revealed Rama not as a perfect king, but as a casteist ruler who abandoned his wife to appease public opinion. He examined the Mahabharata and pointed out how Krishna, supposedly the divine incarnation, used deceit and manipulation to achieve his goals. He read the Manusmriti and exposed it as a legal framework designed to permanently subjugate women and lower castes.

This was blasphemy of the highest order in a society that considered questioning scriptures equivalent to questioning existence itself. Yet Periyar persisted because he understood a fundamental truth: any text that justifies human inequality cannot be divine. Any religion that teaches some humans are inherently superior to others is not spiritual—it\’s political.

What moves me most about Periyar\’s critique of religion is his focus on its real-world consequences. He didn\’t argue theology for intellectual sport. He showed how religious beliefs translated into social oppression, how scriptures became legal precedents for discrimination, how devotion became a mask for exploitation.

The Revolutionary Who Challenged Brahminical Supremacy

Periyar\’s war against Brahminical hegemony was perhaps his most dangerous battle. The Brahmins had convinced society of their genetic superiority, their ritualistic purity, their monopoly over knowledge and spirituality. They had created a system where accident of birth determined access to education, occupation, and social respect.

Thanthai Periyar demolished this castle of lies brick by brick. He pointed out the absurdity of claiming purity based on birth while engaging in the most impure thoughts and actions. He exposed how Sanskrit, positioned as the divine language, was simply a tool to exclude the masses from knowledge. He revealed how the caste system was not cosmic order but calculated oppression.

But Periyar went beyond critique—he provided alternative vision. He showed that Tamil culture, Tamil language, and Tamil people had rich traditions that predated and surpassed Brahminical impositions. He gave the oppressed not just anger against their oppressors, but pride in their own identity.

The Feminist Who Saw Women as Complete Humans

In an era when even progressive men viewed women as glorified servants, Periyar recognized women as complete human beings deserving equal rights, opportunities, and respect. This wasn\’t mere political correctness—it was revolutionary insight born from rational thinking.

He understood that women\’s oppression wasn\’t natural or inevitable but constructed and maintained through social conditioning. He saw how religion portrayed women as inherently impure, how customs restricted their mobility and autonomy, how laws denied them property rights and decision-making power.

Periyar\’s feminism was intersectional before the term existed. He recognized that women from lower castes faced double oppression—as women and as \”untouchables.\” He advocated for women\’s education not as decoration but as empowerment. He supported widow remarriage not as charity but as justice.

What strikes me most is how he practiced what he preached. He married Maniammai, a woman decades younger, and made her his intellectual and political partner. He demonstrated that relationships could be based on mutual respect rather than male dominance.

The Power Critic Who Saw Through All Hierarchies

Periyar\’s iconoclasm extended beyond religion and caste to all forms of unjustified authority. He criticized British colonialism, Indian nationalism, political parties, and any system that concentrated power in few hands while keeping masses powerless.

He understood that power, regardless of its source, tends to corrupt and needs constant questioning. He taught us to be suspicious of anyone who demands unquestioning loyalty, whether they wrap themselves in religious robes, national flags, or revolutionary rhetoric.

This is perhaps his most enduring lesson for us today: maintain healthy skepticism toward all forms of authority. Question your leaders, your traditions, your inherited beliefs. The moment you stop questioning, you become a slave.

Why We Need Periyar\’s Iconoclasm Today

Three decades after his death, I see the same demons he fought rising again. Religious fundamentalism masquerades as cultural pride. Caste discrimination finds new expressions in modern institutions. Women\’s agency is attacked in the name of tradition. Critical thinking is labeled as Western influence.

We need Periyar\’s iconoclastic spirit now more than ever.

We need his courage to call lies lies, regardless of how many people believe them. We need his commitment to reason over faith, equality over hierarchy, justice over tradition.

But most importantly, we need to internalize his core message: every human being has the capacity for rational thought and deserves to live with dignity. No god, no scripture, no tradition, no authority has the right to convince you otherwise.

As his ideological grandson, I pledge to carry forward his revolutionary spirit. Not through blind worship of his memory, but through continued application of his method: question everything, accept nothing without evidence, and never stop fighting for human equality.

Periyar showed us that one person with courage and reason can indeed challenge centuries of accumulated nonsense. The question is: will we follow his example, or will we become the very sheep he tried to awaken?

The choice, as always, is ours to make.

Long live the spirit of rational rebellion. Long live the memory of the Great Iconoclast.