Portrait of E. V. Ramasamy (Periyar)
Wikimedia Commons, from Lakshmi (Tamil monthly, Madras), October 1924
The twentieth century

E. V. Ramasamy (Periyar)

1879–1973
Atheist (he took the word only conditionally until the 1971 formula)

Periyar was a merchant's son who said he could never remember believing. He fought caste first and God second. His paper denied saying "there is no God" in the 1920s; after his Soviet journey he called God each member's private business; he rejected the word "atheist" while asking what God had ever done for anyone. Only at ninety-one did he give the flat formula that his followers carved on his statues.

The belief timeline

18791973Faith (the household's)c.1885–1891Doubt (the crack)c.1885–1904Declaration (movement)1925–1929Declaration (against religion)Aug 1931Revision1932–1947Late formula1971–1973
  1. Faith (the household's) (c.1885–1891) — Vaishnava home, Ramayana and Bhagavatam recitals; he is already mocking the preachers by twelve [5][6]
  2. Doubt (the crack) (c.1885–1904) — Caste rules at school; preachers' contradictory answers; Kashi, c.1904 [3][6][9][10]
  3. Declaration (movement) (1925–1929) — Leaves Congress (Nov 1925); "Swaraj or self-respect" (Jan 1926); Self-Respect conferences 1927–29, while the paper still denies "no God" [23][25][27][38]
  4. Declaration (against religion) (Aug 1931) — Virudhunagar conference resolves to abolish religions; Dec 1931 he sets out to study atheism in the Soviet Union; Dec 1932 his paper prints Lenin on religion [70][71][72][73][80]
  5. Revision (1932–1947) — Nov 1932: God is each member's private opinion; 1947: "atheist" is a meaningless word, the only God he allows is a nameless ideal [78][87][88]
  6. Late formula (1971–1973) — "There is no god... he who created god is a fool"; statues carry it [93][94][96]
Notes to the timeline (20)
  1. [5] The father's house was "always" full of sannyasis, bhagavatars, pandits and religious mendicants reciting Ramayana, Bhagavatam and Saiva and Vaishnava stories, and his mother listened devoutly; EVR disliked them, mocked them and put contrary questions to them, and thinks this may be what began his loss of faith in caste, religion, God, shastras and puranas (his own 1937 account) — Sami Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar (Tamil biography; first published 1939 by Tamil Nool Nilayam, forewords dated Sept 1939; page references are to the 8th ed., Chennai: Arivukkadal Achchagam, 1983), pp. 38–39, 48–49; K. Veeramani (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (Chennai: Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution, 2007; English translations of speeches and sayings, mostly undated or dated only by heading). Internet Archive item periyarcollectedworks. In copyright (read to check facts, paraphrase only; research/texts/collected-works-2007.txt, keep untracked in git). The OCR has no page numbers; passages are cited by the speech heading, ("Genesis of Self-Respect Movement"). Paraphrase is the only source for this, as for the other details in this chapter cited to that source alone.
  2. [6] At twelve, in the shop, he argued that fate ("talaividhi") is a hoax; he knocked down a bamboo screen on the head of a Brahmin shopkeeper, Ramanatha Iyer, who said all was fate, and said "fate pushed it" — Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 47–48. An anecdote in the biography, not a documented event.
  3. [3] EVR was sent to a veranda school at six; the Vaishnava family told him not to drink water in the houses of Vaniya Chettis, Christians and Muslims around the school; he drank there anyway by a ruse and ate their food, and his parents took it as pollution (his own account, written for the Navamani annual of 1937; the same account is in CW 2007 under "Genesis of Self-Respect Movement") — Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 41–44; (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007).
  4. [9] Kashi: at about 25, after a rebuke from his father, he left home with two friends, travelled Madras, Vijayawada (two Tamil Brahmin companions joined), Hyderabad (begged, and Tamil officials in Hyderabad, including a clerk Murugesa Mudaliar, looked after him), Calcutta and reached Kashi with money for one day — Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 62–67.
  5. [10] At Kashi he found the free-food houses fed only Brahmins; a gatekeeper threw him out as a non-Brahmin; he ate leaf scraps thrown out; he shaved head and moustache, took a place at a mutt, quarrelled and was expelled; for 30–40 days he queued for food at funeral offerings; what turned him away was the immorality, drink and open prostitution he saw there; he sold a gold ring to get home. NOTE: the 1939 text says nothing of an inscription on the choultry showing a Tamil merchant built it, nor that Kashi made him an atheist; that detail appears only in the DK sketch and (from it) Wikipedia — Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 67–70; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy: A Biographical Sketch, translated by A. S. Venu (Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam e-book, 2021; same text opens [CW 2007] and the old periyar.org "Biographical Sketch" pages), (the inscription); "Periyar", English Wikipedia, revision 1380316929 of 2026-10-15T01:12:26Z (texts/wikipedia-en-periyar.txt). Not verified.
  6. [23] The Tamil Provincial Congress conference met at Kancheepuram on 21–22 Nov 1925 under Thiru. Vi. Kalyanasundara Mudaliar; EVR's communal-representation resolution was refused; he said his task now was to end Congress; many walked out with him. Kudi Arasu announced the dates (1 Nov) and reported it (29 Nov, 6 Dec) — Kudi Arasu (Tamil weekly, Erode), issues of 1925–1933 cited by date and Internet Archive identifier, 1 Nov, 15 Nov, 22 Nov, 29 Nov, 6 Dec 1925; Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 102–104; Eugene F. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahman Movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916–1929 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969). Internet Archive item PoliticsAndSocialConflictInSouthIndia (unauthorised upload; read only under the 2026-10-14 reading rule). Page numbers read from the running heads. research/texts/irschick-1969.txt (keep untracked), p. 330.
  7. [25] Kudi Arasu, 24 Jan 1926: self-respect, not swaraj, is man's true birthright; a people forbidden roads, sight and gods has no self-respect; British rule did not make caste; the editorial praises Gandhi's anti-untouchability and khadi as "life-veins of self-respect" — Kudi Arasu, 24 Jan 1926.
  8. [27] First provincial Self-Respect conference at Chengalpattu (Chingleput), 17 Feb 1929, about three thousand attended, Subbarayan opened it — Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 341; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, p. 125 ff.; Kudi Arasu, 17 and 24 Feb 1929 (not yet read).
  9. [38] 5 Feb 1928: "Kudi Arasu has not said there is no God"; 11 Mar 1928: critics charge that it says there is no God, talks shastra and wants to destroy religion; 17 Jun 1928: "Did Kudi Arasu ever say there is no God?" — Kudi Arasu, 5 Feb 1928 (tdl.4849), 11 Mar 1928 (tdl.4898), 17 Jun 1928 (tdl.4890).
  10. [70] The third provincial Self-Respect conference met at Virudhunagar on 8–9 August 1931 (the paper of 16 Aug 1931 says "this month, the 8th and 9th"), together with the second women's and the eighth youth conferences; R. K. Shanmugham presided, at the invitation of W. P. A. Soundarapandian (the president's own address says so) — Kudi Arasu, 16 Aug 1931 (tdl.4564); V. Geetha and S. V. Rajadurai, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium: From Iyothee Thass to Periyar (Calcutta: Samya, 1998). Internet Archive item v.-geetha-s.-v-rajadurai-towards-a-non-brahmin-millennium-from-iyothee-thass-to-periyar-samya (unauthorised upload; read only). The OCR carries no usable page numbers, so passages are cited by section and by the book's index pages (atheism 302, 307, 331–32, 423; Atheist Association 424; Saivites 342–46). research/texts/geetha-rajadurai-1998.txt (keep untracked), (Virudhunagar passages).
  11. [71] The conference passed a resolution calling for the abolition of religions: GR says religions were held to deter humanity from realising itself and that religious norms militated against fraternity and equality; the paper's headline over the resolutions reads "religion–God–Congress–khadi–Hindi–condemnation" (Q11); the editorial says the speeches and resolutions rested on two principles, the first to destroy old religious and God-related beliefs and customs; young Gurusamy had written in Puduvai Murasu (2 Feb 1931), six months earlier, that "all religions should be destroyed at their roots". This replaces the earlier note that placed a "Virudhunagar" atheism speech in 1944 — Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (sections on Virudhunagar and on the religion critique; Kudi Arasu, 16.8.31, 23.8.31, PM 2.2.31); Kudi Arasu, 16 Aug 1931 (tdl.4564).
  12. [72] Following a suggestion at Virudhunagar, EVR and S. Ramanathan went to the Soviet Union and Europe to see "the practical effects and uses of atheism as a doctrine of the state" (a Soundarapandian suggestion); in the USSR they registered as honorary members of an Atheists' Association — Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (Soviet passages; index "Atheist Association 424"). Reported at second hand; the original has not been seen.
  13. [73] He and S. Ramanathan left Madras for Europe on the night of 16 December 1931 on the French ship "Amboise", planning a month in Colombo first; Wikipedia also gives Dec 1931. The issue labelled 13 Dec 1931 in the Archive (tdl.4569) reports the sailing, so its metadata date is wrong — Kudi Arasu, tdl.4569, tdl.4570 (20 Dec 1931), tdl.4572 (27 Dec 1931); "Periyar"; "ஈ. வெ. இராமசாமி", Tamil Wikipedia, revision 4599151 of 2026-07-13 (texts/wikipedia-ta-periyar.txt).
  14. [80] 11 and 18 Dec 1932 (and 25 Dec, 8, 15, 22 Jan 1933): Kudi Arasu printed in translation Lenin's writing on religion (headed "Written by Lenin about religion", chapter 1 "Religion and the people"); the 11 Dec instalment has a section headed "Why do we not call ourselves atheists?", which is Lenin's argument that a workers' party does not make atheism a condition of membership. GR says EVR and Ramanathan published the series after their return — Kudi Arasu, 11 Dec 1932 (tdl.4794); Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (Soviet section, KA 11, 18, 25.12.32; 8, 15, 22.1.33).
  15. [78] 6 Nov 1932 (the week EVR returned): an unsigned editorial in Kudi Arasu says that in the movement some say "there is no God", others say there is a God and believe, "this is each person's private opinion", and the movement "has no concern about God"; the occasion was a Catholic youth conference at Tiruchirappalli on 30 Oct 1932 that condemned the movement — Kudi Arasu, 6 Nov 1932 (tdl.4960); same line in 15 May 1932 (tdl.4951, counted).
  16. [87] 1947 speech at Salem Arts College on "Philosophy, Periyar's perception" (the principal presided and introduced him as an atheist, hater of religions and opponent of politicians): theists call him an atheist out of ignorance; denying a God who is omnipotent and omniscient proves only that no such God exists; "atheist" is a senseless word; he asks what God has done for humanity ("Did god do anything good to the humanity so far?"); religion's work is to keep rulers and ruled, rich and poor, in place. Paraphrase only — (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("Philosophy – Periyar's Perception", Salem Arts College, 1947).
  17. [88] Undated saying: "The thing I call god": a god without name or form, who makes all people equal and free, speaks for high thinking and plain living, does not stop free thinking and research and does not ask for food, money, flattery or temples can certainly be an object of worship; "for saying this much I have been called an atheist, a term that has no meaning"; Wikipedia (citing Diehl) gives the same passage as from his address on philosophy — (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("Golden Sayings", section "The thing I call god"); "Periyar", ("Religion and atheism", citing Diehl).
  18. [93] 22 June 1971, Mettupalayam, inaugurating the Rationalist Association: he says he spoke against God in the presence of the Saivite abbot Kunrakkudi Adigalar ("I denied the existence of god and expressed that only a fool would believe in god"); argues that a God said to be pure, kind, honest and unbiased who cannot even make him believe is not worth respect; and gives the formula "There is no god! There is no god at all. He who created god is a fool. He who propagates god is a rogue. He who worships god is a barbarian", adding that he says this "instead of attacking individuals"; claims 125–200 crore people are non-believers. Paraphrase only — (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("Rationalist Thoughts!", speech of 22.6.1971; section "Atheists").
  19. [94] 1973 Tamil speech "God and Man": "He who invented god is a fool"; belief in God is the outcome of ignorance of causes; recounts the Erode cholera years about 75 years earlier when villagers took cholera for the goddess Kali's game and refused medicine, and says deaths fell from about 300 a year to 20–30 as belief in God's power faded; says those who define God as omnipotent, omniscient and kind are knaves ("God is a myth"); the believer who says God is needed should "leave it to god himself to prove his existence". Paraphrase only — (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("God and Man", Tamil speech delivered 1973).
  20. [96] By 1998 busts and statues of EVR across Tamil Nadu carry the inscription "There is no God. Whoever believes in God is a fool" (GR); in Nov 2023 and July 2026 the Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai said he would remove statues and plaques that "denounced God" if his party won power, a row The Hindu covered — Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, ("Five aspects" opening); "Focus Tamil Nadu | The controversy over Periyar's statue and 'No God' slogan", The Hindu (video page; published 16 Nov 2023, updated 29 July 2026).

No God in Stone

Statues of him across Tamil Nadu carry a few lines on their plinths: there is no God; whoever made God is a fool, whoever spreads God is a rogue, whoever worships God is a barbarian. The wording differs from plaque to plaque.12 The earliest dated speech in which he used the full formula that this research found is from June 1971, when he was ninety-one.3 Forty years earlier his own weekly paper had denied, more than once, that it had ever said there was no God.45

This chapter asks how E. V. Ramasamy, the merchant's son from Erode whom his followers called Periyar, "the great one", came from those denials to the lines on the statues, and what he meant by them.

E. V. Ramasamy in October 1924, the year of the Vaikom satyagraha, in a portrait printed in the Tamil magazine Lakshmi.
E. V. Ramasamy in October 1924, the year of the Vaikom satyagraha, in a portrait printed in the Tamil magazine Lakshmi.Wikimedia Commons, from Lakshmi (Tamil monthly, Madras), October 1924

The merchant's house

He was born at Erode, in the Madras Presidency, on 17 September 1879, the second son of Venkata Nayakkar, a merchant who had risen from poverty to wealth and who gave money to temples, a rest-house and a school.67 His father was a devout Vaishnava, and the house, as he remembered it, was always full of holy men and reciters of the Ramayana and the Bhagavatam, to whom his mother listened devoutly.8 His timeline places his faith in that household, though the faith was the family's, and he later said it was never his.

His schooling began at six and ended at about ten.910 At school, by his own account, his family forbade him to drink water in the houses of the merchants, Christians and Muslims who lived around it; he drank there anyway, by a trick, and ate their food, and his parents treated it as pollution. In the shop, where he was put at about twelve, he mocked the holy men, put contrary questions to them, and argued that fate was a hoax. He thought, looking back, that this was where his loss of faith in caste, religion and God began.9811 His timeline places the crack here.

Kashi

At about nineteen he married Nagammai, who was thirteen.12 At about twenty-five, after a rebuke from his father, he left home and wandered north, through Madras, Hyderabad and Calcutta, to the holy city of Kashi, Varanasi. There, as he later told it, the free feeding houses fed only Brahmins, and a gatekeeper threw him out; he ate scraps from discarded leaves, and he was repelled by the drink, the immorality and the open prostitution of the holy city. He sold a gold ring to get home.1314 The story is his own, first written down in a biography of 1939. Later tellings add an inscription showing that a Tamil merchant had built the feeding house that turned him away, and some say Kashi made him an atheist; neither detail is in the 1939 account, and he himself said he could not remember ever believing.141516

The public man

Back at Erode he became a public figure. When his father died in 1911 he argued, against his brother, for a burial with a memorial.17 He became chairman of the municipality and held twenty-nine public offices, among them the chairmanship of the taluk temple committee, which he ran scrupulously, though he disliked idol worship, and left with a surplus.1819 In 1919–20, drawn in by his friends C. Rajagopalachari and P. Varadarajulu Naidu, he gave up his offices for Gandhi's Congress, closed the family business, wore khadi and picketed toddy shops with his wife and sister.20

In April 1924 he went to Vaikom, in the princely state of Travancore, where untouchables were forbidden the roads around a temple, and took over the satyagraha there; he was jailed twice, though accounts differ on how long, and Nagammai came to lead the women.212223 Gandhi, who wanted the work done by Hindus, said at the Belgaum Congress that December: "It is a blasphemy to say that God set apart any portion of humanity as untouchable."2425 That was a believer's argument for the cause that Ramasamy had joined.

Self-respect

The break with Congress came over caste. A Congress-funded school at Cheranmadevi fed Brahmin boys apart from the others, and its founder refused to stop.26 In May 1925 Ramasamy started a Tamil weekly at Erode, Kudi Arasu, "the Republic".27 In November, at the provincial Congress conference at Kancheepuram, his resolution for reserved places for non-Brahmins was not taken up; he walked out, and many went with him.2829 In January 1926 his paper said that self-respect, not self-rule, was a person's true birthright; in our translation, "a person without self-respect can only be called a corpse".3031 It was the movement's name: Self-Respect.

Kudi Arasu, the weekly that Ramasamy founded at Erode in May 1925. This front page is from the issue of 24 January 1926, which carried the editorial on self-respect as a birthright.
Kudi Arasu, the weekly that Ramasamy founded at Erode in May 1925. This front page is from the issue of 24 January 1926, which carried the editorial on self-respect as a birthright.Tamil Virtual Academy / Internet Archive, Kudi Arasu collection (tdl.*)

Gandhi visited the Tamil country in 1927, and Ramasamy and his colleague S. Ramanathan tried to persuade him to give up the doctrine of the four castes. In October Gandhi told a Madras audience of his "belief that Varnashrama Dharma [printed Vamashrama] is not an unmitigated evil but it is one of the foundations on which Hinduism is built".3233 Ramasamy broke with him. His paper had already called for an end to Congress, Hinduism and Brahmanism, and the attacks on the Sanskrit epics grew sharp enough that Rajagopalachari, the old friend who had brought him into Congress, wrote in April 1928 that the movement had embarked on "a suicidal crusade against the language, literature, the customs and the sacred books of Sanskrit including the Ramayana and Mahabharata".343536

"Who said there is no God?"

From 1927 his opponents called him a nastika, an atheist, and the crowds shouted that whoever said there was no God was a hater of Brahmins.3738 His paper denied it. "Kudi Arasu has not said there is no God," it wrote in February 1928; and in June 1929, "We have not said there is no God", adding that it was not needed.453940 When a Saiva conference resolved in April 1929 that belief in God was indispensable to a good moral life, the paper mocked the resolution.4142 Yet in May 1928 it began printing Robert Ingersoll's lectures in Tamil, and in November 1929 a chain of sayings signed with his initials ran from no temples to no religion, no religion to no God, and on to no king, no rich man and no high caste.434445 By then the paper was calling him Periyar.46 In February 1930 it defended him against critics who said he preached that there was no God, and in March it printed among a conference's slogans "there is absolutely no God in stone".474849 His timeline places his doubt here, though for him the doubt was public and the denials were tactical.

The front page of Kudi Arasu for 5 February 1928, the issue that answered the critics: "Kudi Arasu has not said there is no God."
The front page of Kudi Arasu for 5 February 1928, the issue that answered the critics: "Kudi Arasu has not said there is no God."Tamil Virtual Academy / Internet Archive, Kudi Arasu collection (tdl.*)
The front page of Kudi Arasu for 13 May 1928, the issue that printed Robert Ingersoll's lecture "What is religion?" in Tamil.
The front page of Kudi Arasu for 13 May 1928, the issue that printed Robert Ingersoll's lecture "What is religion?" in Tamil.Tamil Virtual Academy / Internet Archive, Kudi Arasu collection (tdl.*)

Virudhunagar and Moscow

In August 1931 the third provincial Self-Respect conference at Virudhunagar passed a resolution to abolish religions, and someone proposed that Ramasamy and Ramanathan go to see how atheism worked as the doctrine of a state.505152 They sailed from Madras in mid-December 1931 and were away almost a year, about three months of it in the Soviet Union, where they were made honorary members of an atheists' association; a biography of 1939 prints photographs of him with the officers of an atheist society in Tiflis.53545552 His timeline places his declaration here: the movement, which had denied saying "no God", now resolved against religion itself.

Madras and its harbour, about 1901. Ramasamy sailed from Madras for Europe and the Soviet Union in December 1931.
Madras and its harbour, about 1901. Ramasamy sailed from Madras for Europe and the Soviet Union in December 1931.Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Stereograph Cards

He came back in November 1932, and his paper's line turned out to be cautious. The week he returned, an unsigned editorial answered a Catholic youth conference that had condemned the movement: some in the movement said there was no God, others believed, this was each member's private opinion, and the movement had no concern with God.5657 In December the paper printed Lenin on religion, including his argument for why a workers' party should not call itself atheist.58 Nagammai died in May 1933.59 In 1935 the government moved against a Tamil translation of Bhagat Singh's essay Why I Am an Atheist from his press; the translator and Ramasamy's brother were arrested, and Ramasamy had the translator apologise, which a historian reads as tactics against repression.6061

"I cannot recall believing"

In 1937 he wrote for a magazine's annual that from childhood he had had no caste or religion in practice, that he had never acted from fear of God's anger or hope of reward, and that he could not recall a time when he sincerely believed.15 A Tamil biographer wrote in 1939 that he openly did not care about God, called heaven, hell and the scriptures a hoax, and had never once tried to call himself a theist.62 In December 1938, in prison for leading the campaign against compulsory Hindi, he was elected president of the Justice Party, and in August 1944 at Salem the party became the Dravidar Kazhagam.63646566

In 1947, introduced at Salem Arts College as an atheist, he said that believers called people atheists out of ignorance, that "atheist" was a senseless word, and that to deny an all-powerful, all-knowing God was only to say that no such God existed; then he asked what good God had ever done for humanity.676869 The only God he would allow, he said elsewhere, was one without name or form who made people equal and free and asked for no food, money, flattery or temples: an ideal of conduct, not a being who listens.7071 If rationalism was atheism, he said, they would not hesitate to call themselves atheists, but in fact they had nothing to do with God.7273 His timeline places his revision here: not a retreat, but a refusal of the word while keeping the denial.

The other side

His critics were real people with real reasons. Gandhi held that the order of the four castes was a foundation of Hinduism, and that untouchability was a blasphemy against God, not an argument against Him.3324 Rajagopalachari saw in the movement an assault on a whole literature.36 The Saivite scholar Thiru. Vi. Kalyanasundara Mudaliar, drawn to self-respect, objected to the atheistic speeches, and Saivite journals published reasoned refutations, a historian records. The Saiva conference of 1929 put the believers' case in one sentence: a good moral life needs the belief that God exists.42 And in 1939 even the Brahmin-owned magazine Ananda Vikatan wrote that Tamils had not lost hope that his intelligence, energy and unselfishness might turn in a good direction.74

The formula

In July 1949 he married Maniammai, much younger than he, and C. N. Annadurai and his followers left to form the DMK; the reasons are disputed between the marriage and a quarrel over elections.7576 In the 1950s his followers broke images of Ganesh and burned pictures of Rama, accounts from his own side record.77 At a Buddhist conference in Burma in 1954 he told B. R. Ambedkar not to leave Hinduism, so as to keep the right to criticise it, by the same accounts; he admired the Buddha but did not want him worshipped as a god.78

On 22 June 1971 at Mettupalayam, opening a Rationalist Association, he said that a God who was supposed to be all-powerful could not even make him believe, and then gave the four lines that are now on the statues, saying he spoke them instead of attacking individuals.37980 In a speech of 1973 he remembered the cholera years at Erode, seventy-five years before, when villagers refused medicine because they thought the disease was the goddess's game, and called God a myth and a hoax.8182 He held his last public meeting in Madras on 19 December 1973 and died on 24 December, in the Christian mission hospital at Vellore. He was given a state funeral.8384 The quarrel over the statues still runs: in 2023 and again in July 2026 the state leader of the BJP promised to remove plaques that denounced God.2

Did his unbelief change shape?

The belief, by his own account, never existed, and the denial did not change. What changed was what he would say aloud. In the 1920s his paper denied saying there was no God, because the fight was against caste, not heaven. After Moscow it called God a private matter. In 1947 he called "atheist" a meaningless word while asking what God had done for anyone. Only at ninety-one did he put it in four flat lines, and his followers carved them in stone, the medium his old slogan said held no God at all.

Bhagat Singh, whose essay Why I Am an Atheist came out in Tamil from Periyar's press, has his own chapter in this book.

Footnotes

  1. V. Geetha and S. V. Rajadurai, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium: From Iyothee Thass to Periyar (Calcutta: Samya, 1998). Internet Archive item v.-geetha-s.-v-rajadurai-towards-a-non-brahmin-millennium-from-iyothee-thass-to-periyar-samya (unauthorised upload; read only). The OCR carries no usable page numbers, so passages are cited by section and by the book's index pages (atheism 302, 307, 331–32, 423; Atheist Association 424; Saivites 342–46). research/texts/geetha-rajadurai-1998.txt (keep untracked), ("Five aspects" opening); Lingaraj Azad, "Periyar's Statue at Srirangam", Round Table India, 27 Nov 2024. ↩

  2. Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, ("Five aspects" opening); "Focus Tamil Nadu | The controversy over Periyar's statue and 'No God' slogan", The Hindu (video page; published 16 Nov 2023, updated 29 July 2026). ↩ ↩2

  3. K. Veeramani (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (Chennai: Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution, 2007; English translations of speeches and sayings, mostly undated or dated only by heading). Internet Archive item periyarcollectedworks. In copyright (read to check facts, paraphrase only; research/texts/collected-works-2007.txt, keep untracked in git). The OCR has no page numbers; passages are cited by the speech heading, ("Rationalist Thoughts!", speech of 22.6.1971; section "Atheists"). ↩ ↩2

  4. Kudi Arasu (Tamil weekly, Erode), issues of 1925–1933 cited by date and Internet Archive identifier, 5 Feb 1928 (tdl.4849), 11 Mar 1928 (tdl.4898), 17 Jun 1928 (tdl.4890). ↩ ↩2

  5. Kudi Arasu, 6 Jan 1929 (tdl.4971), 14 Apr 1929 (tdl.4943), 2 June 1929 (tdl.4986). ↩ ↩2

  6. Sami Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar (Tamil biography; first published 1939 by Tamil Nool Nilayam, forewords dated Sept 1939; page references are to the 8th ed., Chennai: Arivukkadal Achchagam, 1983), pp. 35–39; "Periyar", English Wikipedia, revision 1380316929 of 2026-10-15T01:12:26Z (texts/wikipedia-en-periyar.txt). ↩

  7. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 35–40. ↩

  8. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 38–39, 48–49; (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("Genesis of Self-Respect Movement"). Paraphrase is the only source for this, as for the other details in this chapter cited to that source alone. ↩ ↩2

  9. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 41–44; (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007). ↩ ↩2

  10. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 32–33, 45–46; the 1929 speech should also be in KA 26 May 1929 (tdl.5017), not yet read. ↩

  11. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 47–48. An anecdote in the biography, not a documented event. ↩

  12. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 51–53; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy: A Biographical Sketch, translated by A. S. Venu (Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam e-book, 2021; same text opens [CW 2007] and the old periyar.org "Biographical Sketch" pages); "Periyar". ↩

  13. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 62–67. ↩

  14. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 67–70; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, (the inscription); "Periyar". Not verified. ↩ ↩2

  15. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 33–34 (quoting Navamani 1937); (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("Genesis of Self-Respect Movement", undated there). ↩ ↩2

  16. "Periyar", ("Kashi pilgrimage Incident"). Accounts differ; see the disputed points. ↩

  17. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, p. 81. ↩

  18. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 77, 82–83. ↩

  19. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, p. 77; (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), (same account). ↩

  20. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 82–86; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. ↩

  21. H. N. Mitra (ed.), The Indian Quarterly Register, 1924 vol. I and July–Dec 1924 (Calcutta, 1924–25). Texts in research/texts/iqr-1924-v1.txt, iqr-1924-jul-dec.txt, 1924 vol. I pp. 635 ff.; M. K. Gandhi, Young India 1924–1926 (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1927), (Gandhi letter, quoted at char 1625125). ↩

  22. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 91–94; Mitra, Indian Quarterly Register, 1924 vol. I (9 June entry); "Periyar". ↩

  23. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 94–95; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. ↩

  24. M. K. Gandhi, Belgaum Congress, Dec 1924: Gandhi, Young India 1924–1926, presidential address (OCR near "Vaikom Satyagrahis are showing us the way"); Mitra, Indian Quarterly Register, July–Dec 1924. ↩ ↩2

  25. Mitra, Indian Quarterly Register, July–Dec 1924; Gandhi, Young India 1924–1926. ↩

  26. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 97–99. ↩

  27. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, p. 96; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; Eugene F. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahman Movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916–1929 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969). Internet Archive item PoliticsAndSocialConflictInSouthIndia (unauthorised upload; read only under the 2026-10-14 reading rule). Page numbers read from the running heads. research/texts/irschick-1969.txt (keep untracked), p. 334. Reported at second hand; the original has not been seen. ↩

  28. Kudi Arasu, 1 Nov, 15 Nov, 22 Nov, 29 Nov, 6 Dec 1925; Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 102–104; Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 330. ↩

  29. Kudi Arasu, 6 Dec 1925. ↩

  30. Kudi Arasu, 24 Jan 1926. ↩

  31. Kudi Arasu editorial: Kudi Arasu, 24 Jan 1926. Not checked against the original (OCR read; image not checked). ↩

  32. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, pp. 337–38 (citing The Hindu, 27 Oct 1927). ↩

  33. M. K. Gandhi, Madras, 27 Oct 1927: Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 338 (quoting The Hindu, 27 Oct 1927). ↩ ↩2

  34. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, pp. 337–38; Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 102–103 (cited by Irschick, not re-read); Kudi Arasu, 28 Aug 1927 (tdl.3470). ↩

  35. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 339 (citing Sitamparanar p. 102 and The Hindu, 12 Apr 1928). ↩

  36. C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), former friend who had brought EVR into Congress, in The Hindu, 12 Apr 1928: Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 339 (quoting The Hindu, weekly ed., 12 Apr 1928). ↩ ↩2

  37. Kudi Arasu, 30 Jan 1927 (tdl.4644), 25 Sept 1927 (tdl.4790). ↩

  38. Orthodox crowd as reported by Kudi Arasu: Kudi Arasu, 30 Jan 1927 (tdl.4644). Not checked against the original (OCR read; image not checked. Own translation: "He who says there is no God at all is a Brahmin-hater." Reported speech, not a named critic.). ↩

  39. Kudi Arasu: Kudi Arasu, 5 Feb 1928 (tdl.4849), OCR. Not checked against the original (OCR read; image not checked). ↩

  40. Kudi Arasu: Kudi Arasu, 2 June 1929 (tdl.4986), OCR. Not checked against the original (OCR read; image not checked). ↩

  41. Kudi Arasu, 7 Apr 1929. ↩

  42. Saiva conference resolution, 1929 (as quoted by Kudi Arasu, which mocked it): Kudi Arasu, 7 Apr 1929 (tdl.4940). Not checked against the original (OCR garbled ("நல்ல 3 இழுக்க ..."); text reconstructed from the sense; image must be checked. Own translation: "For a good moral life the belief that God exists is indispensable."). ↩ ↩2

  43. Kudi Arasu, 13 May 1928 (tdl.4902). ↩

  44. Kudi Arasu, 20 Jan 1929 (tdl.4976); a search of the cached issues, tdl.4892, 4879, 4884, 4920, 4840 (only the 1928 and 1929 hits for tdl.4902 and tdl.4976 were read). ↩

  45. Kudi Arasu, 3 Nov 1929 (tdl.5021), signed E. V. R.. ↩

  46. Kudi Arasu, 28 Apr 1929 (tdl.4948), 1 Sep 1929 (tdl.5031), 9 Feb 1930 (tdl.5055), 23 Feb 1930 (tdl.5062); Periyar E. V. Ramasamy. ↩

  47. Kudi Arasu, 9 Feb 1930 (tdl.5055), 23 Feb 1930 (tdl.5062), 1 Sep 1929 (tdl.5031). ↩

  48. Kudi Arasu, 23 Mar 1930 (tdl.5076); Kudi Arasu, 6 Dec 1947 (tdl.4700, counted only). ↩

  49. slogan in a list of conference slogans; speaker not fixed: Kudi Arasu, 23 Mar 1930 (tdl.5076), saved as texts/ka-1930-03-23.txt. ↩

  50. Kudi Arasu, 16 Aug 1931 (tdl.4564); Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (Virudhunagar passages). ↩

  51. Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (sections on Virudhunagar and on the religion critique; Kudi Arasu, 16.8.31, 23.8.31, PM 2.2.31); Kudi Arasu, 16 Aug 1931 (tdl.4564). ↩

  52. Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (Soviet passages; index "Atheist Association 424"). ↩ ↩2

  53. Kudi Arasu, tdl.4569, tdl.4570 (20 Dec 1931), tdl.4572 (27 Dec 1931); "Periyar"; "ஈ. வெ. இராமசாமி", Tamil Wikipedia, revision 4599151 of 2026-07-13 (texts/wikipedia-ta-periyar.txt). ↩

  54. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, (dates garbled); "Periyar", and Wiki-ta (both from Saraswathi p. 54); Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (return "November 1932"); Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 345 (trip "in 1931"). ↩

  55. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, p. 101 (plates). Plates is the only source for this, as for the other details in this chapter cited to that source alone. ↩

  56. "ஈ. வெ. இராமசாமி"; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium. ↩

  57. Kudi Arasu, 6 Nov 1932 (tdl.4960); same line in 15 May 1932 (tdl.4951, counted). ↩

  58. Kudi Arasu, 11 Dec 1932 (tdl.4794); Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (Soviet section, KA 11, 18, 25.12.32; 8, 15, 22.1.33). ↩

  59. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; "Periyar", (1933). ↩

  60. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, p. 163; Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (section on the 1935 statement of intent; Kudi Arasu, 24.2.35, 10 and 31.3.35). ↩

  61. Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, (section on 1935 and the statement of intent; Kudi Arasu, 24.2.35, 10 and 31.3.35). ↩

  62. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 34–35. ↩

  63. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, p. 326; Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 346 (Dec 1938, in prison). ↩

  64. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 346. ↩

  65. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; Kudi Arasu, 7 Oct 1944 (tdl.4642); Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 347. ↩

  66. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 347. ↩

  67. (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("Philosophy – Periyar's Perception", Salem Arts College, 1947). ↩

  68. EVR, Salem Arts College, 1947: (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), "Philosophy – Periyar's Perception". ↩

  69. EVR, Salem Arts College, 1947: (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), "Philosophy – Periyar's Perception". ↩

  70. (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("Golden Sayings", section "The thing I call god"); "Periyar", ("Religion and atheism", citing Diehl). ↩

  71. EVR: (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), "Golden Sayings", section "The thing I call god"; also in Wiki-en Periyar quoting Diehl. ↩

  72. (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), (sections "On the great Buddha", "The meaning of Nastika", self-respect marriage passage). ↩

  73. EVR (a speech defending Self-Respect marriages): (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), passage on self-respect marriage. ↩

  74. Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar, pp. 31–32. ↩

  75. Rangaraj R., "The September which split Dravidians: Periyar weds Maniyammai, DMK is born", The News Minute, 14 Sept 2016; Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 347; (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), (introduction); Wiki-en and Wiki-ta. ↩

  76. R, "The September which split Dravidians: Periyar…" (2016); Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in…, p. 347; "ஈ. வெ. இராமசாமி", (citing Diehl p. 29). ↩

  77. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; "Periyar", (Rama pictures, 1955/56). ↩

  78. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; "Periyar", and Wiki-en Religious views; Geetha, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium, ("Five aspects" section, citing Viduthalai 26.5.54, 19.4.56). ↩

  79. EVR, 22 June 1971, Mettupalayam: (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), "Rationalist Thoughts!". ↩

  80. EVR, 22 June 1971: (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), "Rationalist Thoughts!". ↩

  81. (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), ("God and Man", Tamil speech delivered 1973). ↩

  82. EVR, 1973, "God and Man": (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (2007), "God and Man". ↩

  83. "ஈ. வெ. இராமசாமி"; "Periyar"; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy, (CW 2007). ↩

  84. Periyar E. V. Ramasamy; Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, condolence debate on his death, 18 Jan 1974 (official record, mostly Tamil). research/texts/tnla-1974-demise.txt; Wiki-en and Wiki-ta (death date). ↩

Sources cited in the notes: V. Geetha and S. V. Rajadurai, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium: From Iyothee Thass to Periyar (Calcutta: Samya, 1998). Internet Archive item v.-geetha-s.-v-rajadurai-towards-a-non-brahmin-millennium-from-iyothee-thass-to-periyar-samya (unauthorised upload; read only). The OCR carries no usable page numbers, so passages are cited by section and by the book's index pages (atheism 302, 307, 331–32, 423; Atheist Association 424; Saivites 342–46). research/texts/geetha-rajadurai-1998.txt (keep untracked).; Lingaraj Azad, "Periyar's Statue at Srirangam", Round Table India, 27 Nov 2024.; "Focus Tamil Nadu | The controversy over Periyar's statue and 'No God' slogan", The Hindu (video page; published 16 Nov 2023, updated 29 July 2026).; K. Veeramani (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (Chennai: Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution, 2007; English translations of speeches and sayings, mostly undated or dated only by heading). Internet Archive item periyarcollectedworks. In copyright (read to check facts, paraphrase only; research/texts/collected-works-2007.txt, keep untracked in git). The OCR has no page numbers; passages are cited by the speech heading.; Kudi Arasu (Tamil weekly, Erode), issues of 1925–1933 cited by date and Internet Archive identifier.; Sami Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar (Tamil biography; first published 1939 by Tamil Nool Nilayam, forewords dated Sept 1939; page references are to the 8th ed., Chennai: Arivukkadal Achchagam, 1983).; "Periyar", English Wikipedia, revision 1380316929 of 2026-10-15T01:12:26Z (texts/wikipedia-en-periyar.txt).; Periyar E. V. Ramasamy: A Biographical Sketch, translated by A. S. Venu (Dravidar Viduthalai Kazhagam e-book, 2021; same text opens [CW 2007] and the old periyar.org "Biographical Sketch" pages).; H. N. Mitra (ed.), The Indian Quarterly Register, 1924 vol. I and July–Dec 1924 (Calcutta, 1924–25). Texts in research/texts/iqr-1924-v1.txt, iqr-1924-jul-dec.txt.; M. K. Gandhi, Young India 1924–1926 (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1927).; Eugene F. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahman Movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916–1929 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969). Internet Archive item PoliticsAndSocialConflictInSouthIndia (unauthorised upload; read only under the 2026-10-14 reading rule). Page numbers read from the running heads. research/texts/irschick-1969.txt (keep untracked).; "ஈ. வெ. இராமசாமி", Tamil Wikipedia, revision 4599151 of 2026-07-13 (texts/wikipedia-ta-periyar.txt).; Rangaraj R., "The September which split Dravidians: Periyar weds Maniyammai, DMK is born", The News Minute, 14 Sept 2016.; Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, condolence debate on his death, 18 Jan 1974 (official record, mostly Tamil). research/texts/tnla-1974-demise.txt.

In their own words

It is a blasphemy to say that God set apart any portion of humanity as untouchable.

M. K. Gandhi, Belgaum Congress, Dec 1924 · YI, presidential address (OCR near "Vaikom Satyagrahis are showing us the way"); IQR July–Dec 1924

As to Vykom I think that you shall let the Hindus do the work. It is they who have to purify themselves.

M. K. Gandhi to George Joseph, 6 April 1924 · YI (Gandhi's article on Vykom, quoted letter)

The Congress congratulates the Satyagrahis of Vaikom, who are engaged in asserting the right of way of untouchables through a thorough-fare which is open to caste Hindus, on their non violence, patience, courage and endurance

Indian National Congress, Belgaum, 1924 · IQR July–Dec 1924 (resolutions)

மனிதனுக்கு உண்மையான பிறப்புரிமை என்று சொல்லுவது அவனது சுயமரியாதையும், பசோபகாரமென்பதுமேதான்

Kudi Arasu editorial · KA 24 Jan 1926 (tdl.3433), OCRunverified

சுயமரியாதை அற்றவனைப் பிணமென்று தான் சொல்ல வேண்டும்

Kudi Arasu editorial · KA 24 Jan 1926unverified

நமது நாட்டு மக்களின் சுயமரியாதைக்கு விரோதமாயிருப்பது, நம் நாட்டார் சிலரின் ஆதிக்கத்தினாலே யல்லாமல், அந்நிய அரசாங்கத்தின் ஆதிக்கத்தினாலல்ல

Kudi Arasu editorial · KA 24 Jan 1926unverified

கடவுள் இல்லை என்று குடிஅரசு சொல்லவில்லை

Kudi Arasu · KA 5 Feb 1928 (tdl.4849), OCRunverified

கடவுள் இல்லையென்று நாங்கள் சொல்லவில்லை

Kudi Arasu · KA 2 June 1929 (tdl.4986), OCRunverified

சாதியில்லை சமயமில்லை சாஸ்திரமில்லை சத்தியில்லை கடவுள் இல்லை ஒன்றுமில்லை என்று கூறுகிறார்கள்

Kudi Arasu, quoting what opponents cry · KA 21 July 1929 (tdl.4982)unverified

நாம் ஏன் நாஸ்திகர் என்று சோல்லிக்கொள்ளவில்லை

Lenin, in Tamil translation in Kudi Arasu · KA 11 Dec 1932 (tdl.4794), saved as texts/ka-1932-12-11.txt

ம தம்-கடவுள்-காங்பெ ஸ்-கதர்-ஹிந்தி-கண்டனம்

Kudi Arasu headline · KA 16 Aug 1931 (tdl.4564), saved as texts/ka-1931-08-16.txt

நமது இயக்கத் தில் “கடவுள் இல்லை” என்று சொல்வோரும் இருக் கின்றார்கள்

Kudi Arasu editorial (unsigned) · KA 6 Nov 1932 (tdl.4960), saved as texts/ka-1932-11-06.txt

அமெரிக்காவில் “இங்கர்சால்” என் பவர் நிகழ்த்திய சொற்பொழிவு

Kudi Arasu heading · KA 13 May 1928 (tdl.4902), saved as texts/ka-1928-05-13.txt

கடவுள் இல்லையென பிரசங்கம் செய்வதாய் ஈம் சுயமரியாதைத் தலைவர்

Kudi Arasu article defending the leader · KA 9 Feb 1930 (tdl.5055), saved as texts/ka-1930-02-09.txt

கல்லிற்கடவுள் இல்லவேயில்லை

slogan in a list of conference slogans; speaker not fixed · KA 23 Mar 1930 (tdl.5076), saved as texts/ka-1930-03-23.txt

To say that those who deny god are atheists is based on ignorance. It is senseless to call a man as an atheist.

EVR, Salem Arts College, 1947 · CW 2007, "Philosophy – Periyar's Perception"

Did god do anything good to the humanity so far?

EVR, Salem Arts College, 1947 · CW 2007, "Philosophy – Periyar's Perception"

The god that is without a name and a form, the god that makes all people equal and free, the god that speaks for high thinking and plain living, the god that does not stop free thinking and research, the god that does not ask for food, money, flattery, and temples can certainly be an object of worship.

EVR · CW 2007, "Golden Sayings", section "The thing I call god"; also in Wiki-en Periyar quoting Diehl

There is no god! There is no god at all He who created god is a fool. He who propagates god is a rogue. He who worships god is a barbarian.

EVR, 22 June 1971, Mettupalayam · CW 2007, "Rationalist Thoughts!"

If it is true that god has super-natural powers, why is he not able to make me believe him?

EVR, 22 June 1971 · CW 2007, "Rationalist Thoughts!"

God is a big hoax.

EVR, 1973, "God and Man" · CW 2007, "God and Man"

If rationalism, a system by which everything is reasoned out, is atheism, we shall not hesitate to admit ourselves atheists. But the fact is that we have nothing to do with god.

EVR (a speech defending Self-Respect marriages) · CW 2007, passage on self-respect marriage

I am taken for an atheist. If nastika means a person who denounces the Vedas, Sastras (Doctrines) and Puranas (Mythologies), I am undoubtedly one.

EVR, Buddha Jayanti speech (1950s) · CW 2007, "On the great Buddha"

From my tenth year onwards, (as far as I can remember), I have been an atheist.

EVR, undated saying · DK-site, "Revolutionary Sayings" (Wayback 2008); CW 2007

The other side

நல்ல ஒழுக்க வாழ்க்கைக்குக் கடவுள் உண்டு என்னும் கொள்கை இன்றியமையாதது

Saiva conference resolution, 1929 (as quoted by Kudi Arasu, which mocked it) · KA 7 Apr 1929 (tdl.4940)unverified

கடவுளே இல்லை என்பவன் பிராமண துவேஷி

Orthodox crowd as reported by Kudi Arasu · KA 30 Jan 1927 (tdl.4644)unverified

See above, Q1–Q2: Gandhi's 1924 argument that untouchability is a blasphemy against God is the nearest to a believer's reply seen so far

indulge in a suicidal crusade against the language, literature, the customs and the sacred books of Sanskrit including the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Ravana is held up as the hero and beau-ideal of good Dravidian conduct! Rama was a wicked and unjust Aryan.

C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji), former friend who had brought EVR into Congress, in The Hindu, 12 Apr 1928 · Irschick p. 339 (quoting The Hindu, weekly ed., 12 Apr 1928)

belief that Vamashrama Dharma is not an unmitigated evil but it is one of the foundations on which Hinduism is built

M. K. Gandhi, Madras, 27 Oct 1927 · Irschick p. 338 (quoting The Hindu, 27 Oct 1927)

Where accounts differ

PointOne accountAnotherHow the page handles it
Kashi, what changed himImmorality, drink and prostitution at the "holy" city; the Brahmin-only feeding houses (Chid 1939, EVR's telling)Choultry inscription showing a Tamil merchant built it for Brahmins; "hatred of the Aryan race" (DK sketch, 2000s); "theist until Kasi, then an atheist" (Wikipedia citing Gopalakrishnan)Say the story is his own, first written in 1939; give the 1939 version; mention the inscription detail as a later addition; note that he elsewhere says he never believed [11][98][99]
Kashi date"About 25", so c.1904 (Chid; DK sketch 1904)—"Around 1904"
When he stopped believing1937: cannot recall when he ever believed (Chid, CW 2007)Undated saying: "From my tenth year onwards ... I have been an atheist" (DK-site, CW 2007); 1947: "atheist" is a meaningless word [87]Tell it in his words and say the sayings are undated; let the household faith stand as the mark
Vaikom termsChid: one month from 22 Apr 1924, then six months, released after about four when the Maharaja diedDK sketch: two six-month terms; IQR lists him among leaders arrested in the May campaign"He was jailed twice in 1924; accounts differ on how long"
Vaikom arrivalChid: mid-April, soon after the first arrests of 11 April; Wikipedia: 14 AprilIQR lists outside leaders only in MaySame
Kudi Arasu launch2 May 1925 (DK sketch; Chid prints 1935)Irschick p. 334: May 1924"May 1925"
Kancheepuram date21–22 Nov 1925 (KA 1, 15 Nov)DK sketch puts the walk-out "May 2" and "Dec" in a garbled runUse 21–22 Nov
Kudi Arasu banDK sketch: banned 1933, replaced by Puratchi (first editorial 26 Nov 1933, GR)Chid: security demanded again 1935; Wikipedia, none"Banned or put under security in 1933–35"; needs a source
When he first said "no God"KA 1928–29: the paper denies it [38][39]; 1930: slogan "no God at all in stone" and a defence of "our Periyar" against the charge of preaching it [67][68]; Aug 1931: resolution against religions [71]; Nov 1932: God is each member's private opinion [78]Full three-line formula first found dated 22 June 1971 [93] and 1973 [94]; statue wordings differ [55]; no earlier dated use of the formula in the 548 cached issues of Kudi Arasu by my search patterns (OCR is noisy, so absence is not proof)Present the change as the arc: from "we do not say it" through "God is private opinion" to the flat formula, and say the formula is dated only from 1971
"Atheist" as self-descriptionChid says he never claimed to be a theist (1939); 1947: the word has no meaning; the 1950s: "if nastika means ... I am undoubtedly one"; "if rationalism is atheism, we shall not hesitate to admit ourselves atheists" [87][89]Undated saying "I have been an atheist from my tenth year" [98]; Wikipedia: "atheist and rationalist in his own right" [Wiki-en Religious views]Say he accepted the word only in a conditional sense and rejected it as a label for years
The 1944 Virudhunagar speechThe earlier note placed a KA 30 Sept 1944 speech at VirudhunagarThe Virudhunagar conference of the second pass was the third provincial conference, 8–9 Aug 1931 [70]; the 30 Sept 1944 issue (tdl.4641, saved) has only a short OCR and nothing on atheismDrop the 1944 Virudhunagar reference; the open item is only to read the 1944 page images
Title "Periyar"13 Nov 1938, by a women's conference at Madras (DK sketch)Used for him in the paper on 28 Apr 1929, 1 Sep 1929, 9 and 23 Feb 1930 [66]"Known as Periyar, the respected one, from the late 1920s; a women's conference at Madras gave him the title formally in 1938"
Return from Europe1 Nov 1932 (Wiki-ta)11 Nov 1932 (DK sketch); "November" (Wiki-en, GR)"November 1932"
Departure for Europe"Dec 1931" (both Wikipedias; Irschick "1931")16 Dec 1931 on the Amboise (KA Dec 1931, OCR); the Archive date of tdl.4569 (13 Dec) must be wrong"Sailed from Madras in mid-December 1931"
Maniammai marriage9 July 1948 (English and Tamil Wikipedia, infobox)July 1949: News Minute (statements 3 and 10 July 1949), Irschick (1949), Veeramani introduction"July 1949"; Wikipedia's 1948 is probably an error
Ingersoll's influencec.1931, through Annadurai (Irschick p. 345)Kudi Arasu printed Ingersoll in Tamil from 13 May 1928 [64][65][76]Say his paper was translating Ingersoll in 1928, three years before Annadurai's influence
Statue and inscriptionSrirangam statue "1967" (widely said)RTI 2024: Srirangam statue erected 2006 by Karunanidhi; "1967" is the Trichy bus-stand statue unveiled by Annadurai; PDK 2008 preface says the Srirangam statue was damaged in 2006 [54][97]; wording of the plaque differs by source [55]Say the statues carry the formula; do not date the Srirangam statue until a primary is found
Meeting with AmbedkarMandalay, 1954 (DK sketch)Rangoon, 1954 (Wikipedia photo caption)"At a Buddhist conference in Burma in 1954"
Bhagat Singh translationSeized by the government in 1935 (Chid)Translator and EVR's brother arrested Feb 1935 (GR, KA 24.2.35)"In 1935 the government acted against it; the translator and his brother were arrested"

List of illustrations

This page uses only public-domain and Creative Commons images; each is credited with its source and licence.

  1. Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy (portrait printed in Lakshmi, October 1924) — Lakshmi, Tamil monthly (Madras); photographer not named, 1924-10 · Wikimedia Commons, from Lakshmi (Tamil monthly, Madras), October 1924 · Public domain (Wikimedia Commons licence box: Public domain; credit: Lakshmi, Tamil monthly, October 1924, Madras, British India)
  2. Kudi Arasu, 24 January 1926, front page — E. V. Ramasami Naicker, editor and publisher (Erode), 1926-01-24 · Tamil Virtual Academy / Internet Archive, Kudi Arasu collection (tdl.*) · Public domain (published before 1931; Internet Archive item states no rights, so status rests on the publication date)
  3. Kudi Arasu, 5 February 1928, front page — E. V. Ramasami Naicker, editor and publisher (Erode), 1928-02-05 · Tamil Virtual Academy / Internet Archive, Kudi Arasu collection (tdl.*) · Public domain (published before 1931; Internet Archive item states no rights, so status rests on the publication date)
  4. Kudi Arasu, 13 May 1928, front page — E. V. Ramasami Naicker, editor and publisher (Erode), 1928-05-13 · Tamil Virtual Academy / Internet Archive, Kudi Arasu collection (tdl.*) · Public domain (published before 1931; Internet Archive item states no rights, so status rests on the publication date)
  5. Madras and harbor, India (stereograph No. 12501) — Keystone View Company, 1901 · Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Stereograph Cards · The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections (rights advisory, no licence stated); public domain by date of publication, before 1931

Sources

Tier 1 — the subject's own words (writings, letters, speeches, official records)

  • [KA] Kudi Arasu (Tamil weekly, Erode), issues of 1925–1933 cited by date and Internet Archive identifier. Scans with OCR from the Tamil Virtual Academy on the Internet Archive (identifiers tdl.NNNN-itlll-kuttiarcu; the date is in the file name, not in the number order). Issues read in the second pass and saved in research/texts: 28 Aug 1927 (tdl.3470), 13 May 1928 (tdl.4902), 28 Apr 1929 (tdl.4948), 1 Sep 1929 (tdl.5031), 9 Feb 1930 (tdl.5055), 23 Feb 1930 (tdl.5062), 23 Mar 1930 (tdl.5076), 7 Jun 1931 (tdl.4612), 16 Aug 1931 (tdl.4564), 30 Aug 1931 (tdl.4566), 13/20/27 Dec 1931 (tdl.4569, 4570, 4572), 12 Jun 1932 (tdl.4924), 6 Nov 1932 (tdl.4960), 4/11/18 Dec 1932 (tdl.4792, 4794, 4806), 22 Jan 1933 (tdl.5030). Earlier ids: 11 Oct 1925 = tdl.3413, 24 Jan 1926 = tdl.3433, 5 Feb 1928 = tdl.4849, 11 Mar 1928 = tdl.4898, 2 June 1929 = tdl.4986, 7 Apr 1929 = tdl.4940. 1925–1930 issues are US public domain (published before 1931); 1931 issues become public domain on 1 Jan 2027, 1932 on 1 Jan 2028. Tamil OCR is noisy; page images checked only where stated. Unsigned editorials are by the paper, which EVR owned and edited; while he was abroad (Dec 1931–Nov 1932) editorial authorship is not his. Pen-name dialogues signed "Chitraputhiran" are his [86].
  • [CW 2007] K. Veeramani (comp.), Collected Works of Periyar E.V.R. (Chennai: Periyar Self-Respect Propaganda Institution, 2007; English translations of speeches and sayings, mostly undated or dated only by heading). Internet Archive item periyarcollectedworks. In copyright (read to check facts, paraphrase only; research/texts/collected-works-2007.txt, keep untracked in git). The OCR has no page numbers; passages are cited by the speech heading.
  • [DK-site] periyar.org, "Revolutionary Sayings" page (Dravidar Kazhagam site; Wayback capture of 26 Dec 2008). Undated, partisan translation. research/texts/dk-site-sayings-2008-archived.txt.
  • [YI] M. K. Gandhi, Young India 1924–1926 (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1927). https://archive.org/details/youngindia19241900gand . Text in research/texts/young-india-1924-26-b.txt.
  • [IQR] H. N. Mitra (ed.), The Indian Quarterly Register, 1924 vol. I and July–Dec 1924 (Calcutta, 1924–25). Texts in research/texts/iqr-1924-v1.txt, iqr-1924-jul-dec.txt.
  • [Travancore 1924] Travancore Legislative Council questions on Vaikom, 1924 (Kerala Legislative Assembly library scan, tdl). research/texts/travancore-vaikom-1924.txt.
  • [TNLA 1974] Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly, condolence debate on his death, 18 Jan 1974 (official record, mostly Tamil). research/texts/tnla-1974-demise.txt.

Tier 2 — scholarly biographies and encyclopedias

  • [Chid] Sami Chidambaranar, Tamizhar Thalaivar (Tamil biography; first published 1939 by Tamil Nool Nilayam, forewords dated Sept 1939; page references are to the 8th ed., Chennai: Arivukkadal Achchagam, 1983). https://archive.org/details/tamizhar-thalaivar-samy-chidambaranar-8th-edition-1983 . A supporter's life, written with EVR's co-operation; prints long passages of EVR's own writing (1929, 1937). In copyright (India restored in US to 2034): paraphrase and cite only. Text research/texts/chidambaranar-1983.txt.
  • [Irschick] Eugene F. Irschick, Politics and Social Conflict in South India: The Non-Brahman Movement and Tamil Separatism, 1916–1929 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969). Internet Archive item PoliticsAndSocialConflictInSouthIndia (unauthorised upload; read only under the 2026-10-14 reading rule). Page numbers read from the running heads. research/texts/irschick-1969.txt (keep untracked).
  • [GR] V. Geetha and S. V. Rajadurai, Towards a Non-Brahmin Millennium: From Iyothee Thass to Periyar (Calcutta: Samya, 1998). Internet Archive item v.-geetha-s.-v-rajadurai-towards-a-non-brahmin-millennium-from-iyothee-thass-to-periyar-samya (unauthorised upload; read only). The OCR carries no usable page numbers, so passages are cited by section and by the book's index pages (atheism 302, 307, 331–32, 423; Atheist Association 424; Saivites 342–46). research/texts/geetha-rajadurai-1998.txt (keep untracked).
  • Not obtained: Anita Diehl, E. V. Ramaswami Naicker-Periyar (Stockholm, 1977; quoted at second hand through Wikipedia); S. Saraswathi, Towards Self-Respect (1994/2004; second hand through Wikipedia); Anaimuthu, Periyar E.V.R. Sindanaigal (Tamil; the Archive items are parts of a 1974 compilation, not read); Karthick Ram Manoharan, Periyar: A Study in Political Atheism (2023, named by Round Table India). Borrow Diehl and Manoharan for the script.

Tier 3 — popular biographies, journalism and partisan sources

Tier 4 — Wikipedia (cited as a reference and used as a map to sources)

  • [Wiki-en Periyar] "Periyar", English Wikipedia, revision 1380316929 of 2026-10-15T01:12:26Z (texts/wikipedia-en-periyar.txt).
  • [Wiki-en Religious views] "Religious views of Periyar", English Wikipedia, revision 1370368982 of 2026-08-20 (texts/wikipedia-en-religious-views.txt).
  • [Wiki-en SRM] "Self-Respect Movement", English Wikipedia, revision 1376890079 of 2026-09-26 (texts/wikipedia-en-self-respect.txt).
  • [Wiki-en DK] "Dravidar Kazhagam", English Wikipedia, revision 1317506829 of 2025-10-18 (texts/wikipedia-en-dk.txt).
  • [Wiki-en KA] "Kudi Arasu", English Wikipedia, revision 1376673976 (texts/wikipedia-en-kudi-arasu.txt).
  • [Wiki-ta] "ஈ. வெ. இராமசாமி", Tamil Wikipedia, revision 4599151 of 2026-07-13 (texts/wikipedia-ta-periyar.txt).
  • Britannica returned HTTP 403 to the fetch tool; not cited.

Opposition sources

  • [Saiva Mahanadu 1929] Resolution of a Saiva conference quoted by Kudi Arasu, 7 Apr 1929, p. 62943 of OCR (tdl.4940).
  • [Orthodox charge 1927] Kudi Arasu, 30 Jan 1927 (tdl.4644), reporting the cry "he who says there is no God is a Brahmin-hater".
  • [Rajaji 1928] C. Rajagopalachari, as quoted in Irschick p. 339 from The Hindu (weekly ed.), 12 Apr 1928 (original not seen).
  • [Gandhi 1927] M. K. Gandhi, Madras, 27 Oct 1927, as quoted in Irschick p. 338 from The Hindu (original not seen).
  • [Saivite and Catholic critics] Desabandhu (founded to counter the Self-Respecters' "godless" propaganda), Kumaran and Siddhantam (principled refutations) per GR; the Catholic youth conference at Tiruchirappalli, 30 Oct 1932, which condemned the movement (KA 6 Nov 1932). Paraphrase only.

Held back, not used (licence)

  • The Kudi Arasu 1925–49 "entire collection" PDFs on the Archive (same item as [CW 2007]): authorship of the uploads unclear, Tamil OCR unreadable. Not used. [CW 2007] English text, previously deleted, was read in the second pass under David's 2026-10-14 rule (reading and paraphrase only; nothing from it is to be quoted in a published script).