![]() The proponents of Dravidistan constructed elaborate historical anthropologies to support their theory that the Dravidian-speaking areas once had a great non-Brahmin polity and civilization, which had been destroyed by the Aryan conquest and Brahmin hegemony. Periyar was an atheist, and considered the Indian nationalism as "an atavistic desire to endow the Hindu past on a more durable and contemporary basis". Ramasami Naicker (popularly known as "Periyar") stated that the Tamil society was free of any societal divisions before the arrival of Brahmins, whom he described as Aryan invaders. The Brahmins, on the other hand, were described not only as oppressors, but even as a foreign power, on par with the British colonial rulers. ![]() ![]() Since the late 19th century, the anti-Brahmin Tamil leaders stated that the non- Brahmin Tamils were the original inhabitants of the Tamil-speaking region. The major political party backing this movement was the Justice Party, which came to power in the Madras Presidency in 1921. However, over the time, it came to include a separatist movement, demanding a sovereign state for the Tamil people. The early demands of this movement were social equality, and greater power and control. The concept of Dravidistan had its root in the anti-Brahmin movement in Tamil Nadu, whose aim was to end the alleged Brahmin dominance in the Tamil society and government. The movement was continued by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, which formally gave up its demand for a separate sovereign state in 1963. Ramaswamy Naicker gave up the demand for Dravidistan in 1956. The reorganization of the Indian states along linguistic lines through the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 weakened the separatist movement. Even in Tamil Nadu, where the anti-Hindi agitations attracted many supporters, there was no serious demand on the part of the common people for a sovereign Dravidian state. The movement for Dravidistan was at its height from 1940s to 1960s, but failed to find any support outside Tamil Nadu. Other names for the proposed sovereign state include "South India", "Deccan Federation" and "Dakshinapath". ) Some of the proponents also included parts of Ceylon ( Sri Lanka), Orissa and Maharashtra. Initially, the demand of Dravida Nadu proponents was limited to Tamil-speaking region, but later, it was expanded to include other states with Dravidian speakers in majority ( Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Karnataka. Dravidistan, Dravidasthan, or Dravida Nadu was the name of a proposed sovereign state for all non- Brahmin speakers of Dravidian languages in South Asia.
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