In my last article under this column (‘An anti-Dharmic movement’, IE, September 27), in the backdrop of Udhayanidhi Stalin’s hate-filled statement calling for eradication of Sanatan Dharma, I had promised to chart the anti-Dharmic origins and journey of the Dravidian Movement. However, no discussion on the origins of the movement is complete without a short primer on the early ethnographic work undertaken by Christian missionaries in 18th century southern Bharat. Their work laid the foundation for the British colonial establishment’s understanding (especially in colonial Madras) of Bharat’s social organisation through the prism of “caste” and “tribe”.
This contributed significantly to the creation and shaping of a “Dravidian” identity on ethnic, religious and linguistic lines, which went hand-in-hand with the colonial formulation of the Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT). Given the nature of the topic, it’s important to inform the readers of the material (non-exhaustive) I will be drawing from to present facts and to substantiate my views.
Yukti 