shahu of kolhapur organized the non brahmin movement in maharashtra.
shahu of kolhapur organized the non brahmin movement in maharashtra.
who organized the non brahmin movement in maharashtra?
shahu of kolhapur
as late as the turn of 20th century, the brahmin priests of shahu, the maratha ruler of kolhapur refused to use vedic mantras and would not take a bath before chanting, on the grounds that even the leading marathas such as shahu and his family belonged to the shudra varna. this opinion about the shudra varna was supported by brahmin councils in maharashtra and they stuck to their opinion even when they (the brahmins) were threatened with the loss of land and property. this led to shahu supporting satyashodhak samaj as well as campaigning for the rights of the maratha community. he soon became the leader of the non-brahmin movement and united the marathas under his banner.
maratha
the victory of the swarajists has been attributed to declining justice party and superior campaign tactics of swarajists most notably s. srinivasa iyengar and s. satyamurti. they used public demonstrations, meetings, door to door canvassing, "bhajanai" processions to woo public support. in contrast, the justice party stuck to its traditional method of electioneering - canvassing support from persons of influence and strong men of the villages and cities. the mass outreach campaign of the swarajists proved successful. they worked together with the tamil nadu congress to defeat the justice party. v. kalyanasundara mudaliar and m. p. sivagnanam were among the congress leaders who worked hard for the swarajist victory. however, another notable congress leader c. rajagopalachari, did not participate in election activities. the swarajists countered periyar's charges of brahmin dominance against them, by fielding non brahmin candidates in the tamil speaking areas of the presidency and were thus able to blunt the anti-brahmin movement. the following table shows communal distribution of the elected and non-elected members.
1926 madras presidency legislative council election