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| Pandit Iyothee Thass |
C. Iyothee Thass (20 May 1845 – 1914) was an Indian anti-caste activist and a practitioner of Siddha medicine. He famously converted to Buddhism and called upon the Paraiyars to do the same, arguing that this was their original religion.Iyothee Thass was born Kathavarayan on 20 May 1845 in Thousand Lights, a neighbourhood in Madras (now Chennai), and later migrated to the Nilgiris district.
Work :
- In the 1870s, Iyothee Thass organized the Todas and other tribes of the Nilgiri Hills into a formidable force for the freedom movement. In 1876, Thass established the Advaidananda Sabha and launched a magazine called Dravida Pandian in collaboration with Rev. John Rathina.
- In 1886, Thass issued a revolutionary declaration that Scheduled caste people (Dalits) were not Hindus. Following this declaration, he established the “Dravida Mahajana Sabha '' in 1891 along with Rettamalai Srinivasan.
- During the 1891 census, he urged the members of Scheduled castes to register themselves as “ Casteless Dravidians ” instead of identifying themselves as Hindus. His activities served as an inspiration to Sri Lanka’s Buddhist revivalist Anagarika Dharmapala.
