Freedom Struggle in Tamil Nadu

Freedom Struggle in Tamil Nadu

Learning Objectives

To acquaint ourselves with:

• Anti-colonial struggles in Tamil Nadu

• Contribution of Christian missionaries to the development of education and amelioration of the depressed classes

• Challenge of the Justicites to the Congress in Tamil Nadu

• Militant mass movement of the Congress in Tamil Nadu

Introduction

Tamil Nadu showed the lead in resisting colonial rule. As early as the late eighteenth century the Palayakarars, resisted the English attempts to establish their political hegemony in Tamil Nadu. Even after the defeat of the Palayakarars, an uprising was organised by Indian sepoys and officers in Vellore Fort in 1806 that had its echoes in several cantonments in south India. Thanks to the introduction of Western education and eventual emergence of educated Indian middle class, the struggle against the British took the constitutional path. The freedom struggle in Tamil Nadu was unique, because from the beginning it was not only a struggle for independence from the English rule but also a struggle for independence from social disability imposed by the obnoxious caste system. In this lesson we shall study the role played by nationalists wedded to diverse ideologies in Tamil Nadu.