C. Iyothee Thass was a prominent Tamilanti-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. He also founded the Punchmar Mahajana Sabha in 1891 along with Rettamalai Srinivasan. Punchamas are the ones who do not come under Varna system; they are called as Avarnas. "Iyothee Thass" is the most common Anglicized spelling of his name; other spellings include Pandit C. Ayodhya Dasa, C. Iyothee Doss, C. Iyodhi Doss, C. Iyothee Thoss, K. Ayōttitācar or K. Ayōttitāsa.
Early life
Iyothee Thass possessed deep knowledge in Tamil, Siddha medicine and philosophy, and literary knowledge in languages such as English, Sanskrit and Pali. Iyothee Thass was born Kathavarayan on 20 May 1845 in Thousand Lights, a neighbourhood in Madras, and later migrated to the Nilgiris district. His family followed Vaishnavism and on that basis he named his children Madhavaram, Pattabhiraman, Janaki, Raman and Rasaram. His grandfather worked for George Harrington in Ootacamund and little Kathavarayan profited immensely from this association.
In the 1870s, Iyothee Thass organized the Todas and other tribes of the Nilgiri Hills into a formidable force. In 1876, Thass established the Advaidananda Sabha and launched a magazine called Dravida Pandian in collaboration with Rev. John Rathinam. In 1886, Thass issued a revolutionary declaration that Scheduled caste people were not Hindus. Following this declaration, he established the "Dravida Mahajana Sabha" in 1891. 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.
Conversion to Buddhism
Iyothee Thass met Colonel H. S. Olcott with his followers and expressed a sincere desire to convert to Buddhism. According to Thass, the Paraiyars of Tamilakam were originally Buddhists and owned the land which had later been robbed from them by Aryan invaders. With Olcott's help, Thass was able to visit Ceylon and obtain diksha from the Sinhalese Buddhist monk Bikkhu Sumangala Nayake. On returning, Thass established the Sakya Buddhist Society in Madras with branches all over South India. The Sakya Buddhist Society was also known as the Indian Buddhist Association and was established in the year 1898.
On 19 June 1907, Iyothee Thass launched a Tamil newspaper called Oru Paisa Tamizhan or One Paise Tamilian. Iyothee Thass died in 1914 at the age of 69.
Legacy
Iyothee Thass remains the first recognized anti-caste leader of the Madras Presidency. In many ways, Periyar, Dravidar Kazhagam, and B. R. Ambedkar are inheritors of his legacy. He was also the first notable Scheduled Caste leader to embrace Buddhism. However, Iyothee Thass was largely forgotten until recent times when the Dalit Sahitya Academy, a publishing house owned by Dalit Ezhilmalai, published his writings. Ezhilmalai, then the Union Health Minister, also made a desired to name the planned National Center for Siddha Research after the leader. However, the proposal did not come into effect until 2005, when vehement protests by Se. Ku. Tamilarasan of the Republican Party of India forced the Government to take serious note of the matter. The institute for Siddha Research was subsequently inaugurated by Indian Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and Dr Anbumani Ramadoss the then Union Health Minister on 3 September 2005 and named it after the anti-caste Buddhist leader. At its inauguration, the hospital had 120 beds. The patients were treated as per the traditional system of Siddha medicine. A commemorative postage stamp on him was issued on 21 October 2005. His works are nationalized and solatium was given to their legal heirs in 2008.
Criticism
In the early part of the 20th century, he indulged in vehement condemnation of the Swadeshi movement and the nationalist press remarking that he could "locate the power of the modern secular brahmin in the control he wielded over public opinion."
