Universalism as a Political Theology: Tamil Saivism, Neo-Saivism and Dravidian Movement

Abstract

Tamil Saivism broadly consists of two doctrines: the dualistic, Bhakti Brahmanism, and the monistic, Cittar tradition. The monistic enlightenment philosophy of the Cittar tradition advocates the self-criticality/rationality of an individual in search of the ultimate truth of the cosmos. Since the Medieval period, Bhakti Brahmanism has been deeply rooted in Tamil society by controlling the temples. It aggrandizes the concepts of purity-pollution, Varna-jati, Sanskritisation, and patriarchy. In the late 19th century and early 20th century, the neo-Saivites strived to revive Tamil Saivism from Brahmanism by creating a “Tamil Religion” which had to be secular, non-Brahmanical, non-Sanskrit, and anti-caste based on the Universalistic appeal of the Cittar tradition. For more than a century, the Dravidian Movement has been working towards de-Brahmanisation of the religious sphere. The de-Brahmaniastion began with the Statehood of temples and their properties by the Justice Party in the British Raj. In independent India, DMK extended it by making Tamil along with Sanskrit as a liturgical language, and priesthood was opened to non-Brahmins. The Dravidian Movement kept religion outside the political sphere, but its social justice policy revolved around the Universalistic philosophy. It viewed God as one and also regarded that god can be seen in a poor’s smile. Presently, the DMK government has opened the priesthood to women and proposed to establish an international centre for Vallalar, a 19th-century Cittar, to propagate his teaching of Universalism. The Universalistic political theology of the Dravidian movement has resulted in social harmony coupled with egalitarianism.