VidBodh AcademyThe art and science of civil services preparation
Student login
All 24 themes of modern India Now open: Caste movements and the depressed classes

Part A The British conquest 1707 to 1857

  1. 01Mughal decline and the regional powers
  2. 02The European trading companies
  3. 03The Carnatic Wars
  4. 04The conquest of Bengal
  5. 05The wars of expansion
  6. 06Instruments of expansion and the frontiers
  7. 07Resistance before 1857
  8. 08The Revolt of 1857

Part B Awakening and early nationalism 1857 to 1915

  1. 09Socio religious reform movements
  2. 10Rise of organised nationalism
  3. 11Partition of Bengal and Swadeshi
  4. 12Revolutionary nationalism, first phase

Part C The Gandhian era 1893 to 1947

  1. 13Gandhi in South Africa
  2. 14The First World War years
  3. 15Khilafat and Non Cooperation
  4. 16Civil Disobedience
  5. 17The Left in the national movement
  6. 18Caste movements and the depressed classes
  7. 19Peasant, worker, tribal and princely state movements
  8. 20Quit India and the INA
  9. 21Communal politics and the Muslim League
  10. 22Partition and independence
  11. 23Women, capitalists, foreigners and others

Part D After 1947 1947 to 1975

  1. 24Integration and reorganisation

Theme 18Part C · The Gandhian era

Caste movements and the depressed classes

1902 to 1956 · non Brahmin movements, temple satyagrahas, Ambedkar and Gandhi

Alongside the fight against British rule ran a fight against caste. This theme maps the non Brahmin and anti caste movements, looks closely at three famous satyagrahas, and sets out the debate between Ambedkar and Gandhi.

1900191019201930194019501960MovementsKolhapurJustice PartySelf Respecttemple entrySatyagrahasVaikomMahadGuruvayurAmbedkar and GandhiPoona PactSCFNagpur

Event 11902 to 1936

Non Brahmin and anti caste movements on the map

In the twentieth century the castes kept out of temples, schools and public life organised for themselves. Their movements were strongest in the south and west, but they appeared across India.

MadrasJustice Party ErodeSelf Respect 1925 Vaikom1924 to 1925 Guruvayur1931 to 1932 TrivandrumProclamation 1936 KolhapurShahu 1902 Mahad1927 NasikKalaram 1930 Yeola1935 Bombay JalandharAd Dharm 1926 KanpurAdi Hindu OrakandiMatua

Swipe the map sideways to see all of it.

The Justice Party (South Indian Liberal Federation, 1916 to 1917; T. M. Nair, P. Theagaraya Chetty) wins power in Madras under the 1919 reforms. E. V. Ramasamy, Periyar, starts the Self Respect Movement (1925) from Erode. Temple road and temple entry satyagrahas at Vaikom (1924 to 1925) and Guruvayur (1931 to 1932) lead to the Travancore Temple Entry Proclamation (1936).

Event or centreCentre of revoltCaste and anti caste movements

Event 21924 to 1932

Vaikom, Guruvayur and Mahad

Three satyagrahas against untouchability became famous. Two were in Kerala, using Gandhi's method; one, in Maharashtra, was Ambedkar's own.

Vaikom, 1924 to 1925

  • For the right of avarnas to use the roads around the Vaikom temple in Travancore.
  • Led by T. K. Madhavan, K. P. Kesava Menon and K. Kelappan; Periyar came and was jailed.
  • Gandhi visited in 1925; three of the four roads were opened.

Guruvayur, 1931 to 1932

  • For temple entry at Guruvayur, led by K. Kelappan with A. K. Gopalan.
  • Kelappan fasted; a referendum of caste Hindus in Ponnani showed a majority for entry.
  • Led on to the Temple Entry Proclamation of Travancore (November 1936).

Mahad, 1927

  • At the Chavdar tank in Mahad, opened to all by law in 1923 but closed to untouchables in practice.
  • Ambedkar and thousands drink its water (20 March 1927).
  • On 25 December 1927 they burn the Manusmriti.

Event 31924 to 1956

Ambedkar and Gandhi

The two men agreed that untouchability had to go. They disagreed about how, and about whether caste itself could be reformed.

Gandhi

Untouchability is a sin of caste Hindus, who must atone for it. He called the untouchables Harijans, founded the Harijan Sevak Sangh (1932) and the weekly Harijan (1933), and toured India against untouchability (1933 to 1934). He opposed separate electorates as a division of Hindu society.

and

Ambedkar

Untouchability springs from caste, and caste from the shastras; the remedy is political power, education and, if necessary, leaving Hinduism. Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha (1924), Independent Labour Party (1936), Scheduled Castes Federation (1942), Annihilation of Caste (1936).

Their clash came to a head over the Communal Award and was settled, for the time, by the Poona Pact (1932), described in Theme 16. Ambedkar chaired the Drafting Committee of the Constitution and, on 14 October 1956 at Nagpur, embraced Buddhism with several hundred thousand followers.

  1. 1924 Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha
  2. 1927 Mahad; Manusmriti burnt
  3. 1930 to 1932 Round Table Conferences
  4. 1932 Poona Pact
  5. 1935 Yeola declaration
  6. 1936 Independent Labour Party; Annihilation of Caste
  7. 1942 Scheduled Castes Federation
  8. 1956 Nagpur: conversion to Buddhism

Who's who9 people

People

Shahu Maharaj

Kolhapur

Reservation for non Brahmins (1902).

T. M. Nair and P. Theagaraya Chetty

Justice Party

Founders.

E. V. Ramasamy (Periyar)

Self Respect Movement

Vaikom hero; rationalist.

T. K. Madhavan

Vaikom

SNDP leader who began the satyagraha.

K. Kelappan

Guruvayur

Kerala Gandhi.

A. K. Gopalan

Guruvayur

Later a communist leader.

B. R. Ambedkar

depressed classes

Mahad, Poona Pact, the Constitution.

Mangu Ram

Ad Dharm

Punjab, 1926.

Harichand Thakur

Matua

Founder of the Matua sect in Bengal.

Key terms7

Terms

Avarna
Those outside the varna order, including untouchable castes.
Harijan
Gandhi's name for the untouchables: people of God.
Depressed classes
The official term before Scheduled Castes (1935).
Justice Party
South Indian Liberal Federation (1917).
Self Respect Movement
Periyar's movement from 1925.
Temple Entry Proclamation
Travancore, 12 November 1936.
Bahishkrit Hitakarini Sabha
Ambedkar's society for the welfare of the excluded (1924).

Maps are drawn on the Survey of India outline used across VidBodh; maps that leave the subcontinent use a world base with India shown as the Survey of India depicts it. Coloured glows show where a power held sway, a movement spread or tribute was collected; they are not borders.