Periyarism traits that I saw in my father

- September 16, 2020

My father was an ardent follower of Periyar from whom I have visualized a few ideologies of Periyar which I was able to correlate in my later years after learning about Periyar. Every year on September 17th, the birth anniversary of Periyar, my father never forgets to offer his respect. I was amused to know that when my father was the students’ secretary during his college days, they used to invite Periyar as their chief guest. This personal contact with Periyar is due to the admiration my father had on his speeches and ideologies which I saw reflecting in my father’s life. I would like to share a few such incidents.

The very name Periyar was given to E.V.Ramasamy by the Neelambikai Ammaiyar, daughter of Maraimalai Adigal, as a token of appreciation for raising his voice in support of the freedom of women. When I was born my mother and grandmother were not happy of me being a female child because they were expecting a boy and even my mother neglected to take me in her hands, it was my father who took me claiming that girls are no lesser than boys and he will bring me up in a way where I will be both son and daughter of the family. He really brought me up with a lot of courage and freedom allowing me to evolve in a way I chose.

In our family deity temple, once there was worship after which the male members of the family are considered as the heirs of the family and will be respected by adorning with garlands. My father made me also sit in the row shocking everyone and proudly declared that I am his heir and I deserve the respect. Here a question may arise that one of the major ideologies of Periyar is atheism then how come my father attends worship. This is where many people are hugely confused with the very ideology of Periyar. It was the superstitious beliefs that were opposed by Periyar and he never wanted to hurt the sentiments of the public. But without opposing the idolatry worship it was not easy to break the superstition and it was misunderstood by many about breaking idols and temples and blindly followed such acts. Being a public servant my father had to respect the public's faith and he did it keeping aside his personal belief.

My father never hurt our sentiments over the supreme power but he did break the superstitious beliefs of my mother such as fasting, worshipping fake sadhus, etc. Whenever my mother wants me to do some charity for temples in my future days, he does not oppose that instead, he asks me to build dining halls and choultries for poor people of all caste. My sister’s marriage happened in a traditional way for the satisfaction of my mother but my father dreamt of self-respect marriage in my case. But when I said that I have decided to stay single forever he initially tried to explain things but when he learned that I was strong in my decision he wholeheartedly accepted it and supported me thus allowing me to live a life of my choice.

My father followed the principles of Periyar in his police career too. After getting selected in the sub-inspector examination my father wanted to convey that to Periyar and during that meeting, Periyar suggested to him three things to follow as a police officer which my father followed as ideals in his entire career. 1. Never register fake complaints or cases 2. Never indulge in bribery 3. Never beat the poor common man misusing the power. I have always felt like a proud daughter of a great police officer. And finally coming to rationalism, my father always followed the saying of Periyar to question everything and not to follow even his own sayings blindly. In many situations when I oppose any mistake done by my father and question him, instead of getting angry he used to pat me for being rational and not emotional. He always encouraged me to stand by the right side even if it is against him or the family.

I really cherish these traits in my father and feel proud of him. I strongly believe that by nature my father had all these qualities in him which was kindled by the speeches and ideologies of Periyar thus playing a vital role in its emergence.