Published: 6th Nov, 2021
Context
Recently, Prime Minister paid homage to Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar on 114th Thevar Jayanthi (Guru Pooja).
- It is celebrated on 30th October every year to commemorate the birth anniversary of Pasumpon Muthuramalingam Thevar.
About
About Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar
- He was born on the 30th of October 1908 in Pasumpon in the Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu.
- He was a spiritual freedom fighter cum spiritual leader.
- He is seen as a deity among the Mukulathor community, a cluster community comprising the Kallar, Maravar and Ahambadiar.
- The people of the Mukulathor community still make offerings as is done for the deities in temples to the statue on his Jeyanthi and Guru Pooja celebrations.
- He did not accept traditional Hinduism because it supported the ‘Varnashrama’. He regularly fought against the evils of the Hindu religion.
- He openly rejected religious superstition and narrow-mindedness.
- Being a social worker and a colleague of Subhash Chandra Bose, he served as deputy chairman of the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) since 1952.
- He has been elected three times to the AIFB national parliament constituency.
- The Temple Entry Authorization and Indemnity Act was passed by the government of C. Rajagopalachari in 1939.
- It removes restrictions that prevent Dalits from entering Hindu temples.
- He supported the change and in July 1939 assisted activist A. Vaidyanatha Iyer took Dalits to the Meenakshi Temple in Madurai.
- The Criminal Tribes Act (CTA), enacted by the British in 1920, was against the Mukulathor community, in which Thevar protested by mobilizing people and starting protests that was a major milestone in his career.
- CTA criminalized entire communities by designating them as habitual criminals.
- He was instrumental in getting the act repealed after continuous efforts in 1946.
- He died on October 30, 1963, from an illness.
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