A Revolutionary Swami Of Kerala

Swami Ananda Thirtha is a noted social reformer of Kerala and founder of the Sri Narayana Vidyalaya, Payvanur. N Kerala, which is celebrating its golden jubilee from Jan. 1 to 3. Young Anantha Shenoy, a Brahmin, son of Rao Bahadur Ramachandra Shenoy of Tellicherry, Kerala, and a post-graduate in physics of Madras University, plunged into freedom movement in the 1920’s. Attracted by the lofty ideals of Narayana Guru, the great social reformer of Kerala who gave the message, “One caste, one religion, one god for man”, Anantha Shenoy, the young revolutionary soon became his disciple and assumed the name Ananda Thirtha. Instead of confining to monasteries wasting time in meaningless rituals, he chose to continue his cherished work of uplifting the Untouchables and fight Apartheid practised by Hindus on their own “co-religionists” in the name of god and religion. The Narayana Vidyalaya was founded on Nov. 21, 1931 to serve as the headquarters of the swami’s activities and as a free hostel for poor dalit children. His sphere of activities is Kerala, S. Kanara, (Karana taka) and Madurai (TN). He has been carrying on relentlessly for the past 50 years his lonely crusade against caste system, untouchability and social disabilities perpetrated on dalits. During this long crusade he had to encounter murderous assaults on several occasions by the custodians of god and Hindu religion for taking dalits to temples, teashops and barber shops where entry and service to them were denied. Such grievous assaults occurred at Mankulam near Madurai (TN) and Agalpady near Kasırgod (Kerala) as a result of which he suffered multiple fractures and had to remain in hospital for months. During his early years he used to visit remote villages to find it admission to schools was denied to dalit children. In such schools he used to get his own Vidvalaya students admitted since the local dalit parents were reluctant to send their children fearing reprisal once the swami leaves the village. During his long padayatras-not the modern padayatras of Sankaracharya- he used to live in dalit huts eating their cooked food. He bathed the unclean dalit children with his own hands and distributed new clothes and sweets to them. He caressed the dalit children, placing them on his lap during such halts. One of his targets in those days was the village temple. During temple festivals he visited the village with a posse of young inmates of his vidyalaya clad in khadi uniforms to prevent the dalits from offering money, grains and fowl to temples where they were denied entry. The superstitious and illiterate dalits some times sent their offerings secretly fearing the wrath of the presiding diety. As a result of his consistant propaganda this myth was shattered in the course of time. Dalits in these areas now refuse to go to temple as a result all the swami’s conscientization drive. Though he started his mission as a Gandhian, very soon the orthodox and obscurantists masquerading as ‘Harijan sevaks’ deserted him dubbing him as a “communist“. But at the same time, he was not accepted by the communists either as they never believed in dalit upliftment. Eventually, Swami Anandha Thirtha had to plough his lonely furrow. Though Ananda Thirha is fast approaching his 77th birthday, he is even now running from village to village whenever indignities are hurled on dalits in any form. On this occasion of the celebration of golden jubilee of the Narayana Vidyalaya and the 77th birthday of its founder, we dalits wish that his precious life be spared for another quarter of century to complete his mission. How we wish other high castes produce some more Ananda Thirthas.