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Becoming Dravidian
Power, Identity, and the Making of Modern Tamil Nadu
Speakers
How does ideology become actionable?
In the padippakkam (reading rooms) of Tamil Nadu, ideas spread like wildfire. Pamphlets passed from hand to hand and conversations stretched endlessly. What began as intellectual restlessness soon crystallised into a shared civic consciousness.
The Dravidian Pathway traces how this cultural churning transformed into one of India’s most enduring political movements. Vignesh Rajahmani’s study illuminates the Dravidian movement’s sophisticated synthesis of anti-caste thought, aspirations for socio-economic mobility, and an inclusive Dravidian–Tamil identity; an evolution that culminated in the emergence of the electorally formidable DMK. In his account, ideology is never abstract: it is lived, negotiated, and embodied by ordinary people seeking dignity and opportunity.
In this discussion, Rajahmani is joined by Dr. Srikrishna Ayyangar and Dr. Atreyee Majumder, to examine the strategies of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, K. Kamaraj, C.N. Annadurai, and M. Karunanidhi, and consider how their ideas continue to shape Tamil Nadu’s political imagination in an age of rising majoritarianism.
A Q&A with the audience will follow.
Speakers
Vignesh Rajahmani
Vignesh Rajahmani is a visiting research fellow in Indian and Indonesian politics at the Royal Netherlands Institute of Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies, and holds a PhD in Political Science and Public Policy from King’s College London. He is also a postdoctoral affiliate at the Center for Information, Technology and Public Life at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a research affiliate at the King’s India Institute. With over five years of experience in public policy, legislative research, and political consulting, he has advised multiple Indian parties on electoral strategy and manifesto development. His work spans mobilisation, democratic development, political communication, and the intersections of domestic and foreign policy. Alongside The Dravidian Pathway, he is associate editor of Caste and the Crisis of Dignity: Periyar E. V. Ramasamy Speaks and is currently working on three additional book projects.
Srikrishna Ayyangar
Srikrishna Ayyangar is Associate Professor at National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru. Before joining NLSIU, he taught at Azim Premji University, the University of the South–Sewanee, and the University of Hartford. He also worked at the Centre for Policy Research in New Delhi. His research, published in journals such as Studies in International Comparative Development and Studies in Indian Politics, engages with themes in comparative politics, democratic institutions, and political economy, with a particular interest in South Asia.
Atreyee Majumder
Atreyee Majumder is an anthropologist, poet, and writer based in Bengaluru. She holds a PhD from Yale University and was an Andrew Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto. Currently Associate Professor of Social Sciences at NLSIU, Bengaluru, her research and writing span anthropology, religion, and cultural studies. Her essays appear in EPW, India Today, 3AM Magazine, and SAMAJ, while her poetry and fiction are published in RIC Journal, Gulmohur Quarterly, and Bangalore Review. Her debut poetry collection, The Book of Blue (Red River, 2024), explores intimacy, loss, and the passage of time through vivid, lyrical reflection.
