Started by E.V. Ramaswamy Naicker (also Known as Periyar)in the 1920s in Madras Presidency.
The movement aimed at rejection of the brahmanical religion and culture which Naicker felt was the prime instrument of exploitation of the lower castes. For instance, he sought to undermine the position of brahmin priests by formalising weddings without brahmin priests.
It was a dynamic social movement aimed at destroying the contemporary Hindu social order in its totality and creating a new, rational society without caste, religion and god.
