IYOTHEE THASS AND DEPRESSED CLASS INTELLECTUALS'S PRINT AND PRESS MEDIA IN LIBERATION STRUGGLE IN TAMIL NADU

Iyothee Thass, a depressed class by birth and Buddhist by conviction , was an outstanding figure in the role to emancipate the Depressed Classes and women in Tamil Nadu. He initiated socio-cultural awakening which preceded the specular rise of the Dravidian Movement in the second decade of the Twentieth Century Tamil Nadu. An Idealogue and a cultural crusader, Iyothee Thass and a host of Depressed Class intellectuals of Tamil Nadu initiated a dozen of Tamil journals and magazines and ventilated novel ideas and their print and press activities opened a new ground in the subaltern struggle for identity, human dignity, equality, justice and above all social emancipation. Iyothee Thass and R.Srinivasan who started the journals, Tamilan and Parayan respectively heralded the 'Age of Struggle for Social Justice and Social Acceptance' in Tamil Nadu. Iyohtee Thass also spearheaded a campaign of press media for the liberation of women from the age old suppositious customs of the Hindu Society.He ran the popular Tamil Weekly, Tamilan, for years. Besides, he published scores of pamphlets and tracts by him and his associates which were widely circulated among Tamils everywhere. The articles and write- ups he contributed for Tamilan provide an idea of the astounding range of his concerns: caste hegemony, untoucbability and issues involved in census which are considered still great obstacles for the emancipation of Depressed classes and women.