NEWS: Tamil Nadu’s Chief Minister paid floral tributes to Pandit Iyothee Thass on his 181st birth anniversary.

About

• Prominent social reformer, thinker, anti-caste activist and pioneer of the Dalit Buddhist movement in South India.
• Born on 20th May 1845 in Thousand Lights, Madras, in the Madras Presidency during British rule.
• Worked extensively against caste discrimination and untouchabilityà Dignity and equal rights for oppressed communities.
• Buddhist Revivalà Argued that oppressed castes were originally Buddhists and promoted the revival of Buddhism among Dalits in Tamil society.
• Organised the Depressed Classes through the Advaidananda Sabhaà Opposed religious conversion pressures and explored Advaitic ideas to challenge caste discrimination.
• He later led the Dravida Mahajana Sabha in 1891
• Established the Sakya Buddhist Society in Madras in 1898, strengthening social awareness, anti-caste mobilisation and Buddhist revival among oppressed communities.
• In the context of the 1881 Census, he demanded that oppressed and outcaste communities be identified as Original Tamils rather than classified as Hindus.
• Journalismà He launched the Tamil journal Oru Paisa Tamizhan in 1907, later renamed Tamilan, as a key platform for social reform and anti-caste discourse.