The Self-Respect Movement, founded in 1925 by E.V. Ramasamy (widely known as Periyar), was a bold social reform initiative in Tamil Nadu focused on uprooting caste oppression, Brahminical supremacy, and social injustice. Its goals included the annihilation of caste, promotion of rationalism over blind faith, recognition of women’s rights (education, property, divorce, widow-remarriage), and breaking down social norms that reinforced hierarchical separation. 

Periyar used tools like the Tamil weekly Kudi Arasu to spread these ideas among people across caste, gender, and literacy divides. He also promoted “self-respect marriages” (marriages without Brahmin priests), inter-caste unions, and critiqued religious texts and rituals seen as supporting oppressive social orders.

Over the decades, the movement left a lasting legacy: influencing Tamil Nadu’s politics (forming the basis for Dravidian parties like DMK, AIADMK), inspiring legal reforms, and fostering a strong culture of rationalist critique. Today, its challenge is to adapt these ideals to new inequalities—caste intersecting with class, gender, sexuality, and dealing with rising homogenizing ideologies while keeping its core commitment to dignity, equality, and self-respect alive.