SNDP History
SNDP History
SNDP History
By the end of the 19th century, the English educated among the Ezhavas
showed resentment against the inequalities and social injustices suffered by their
seeking methods to solve the same. The Ezhavas, who were the highest in the
hierarchy of the low casts, championed the cause of the back word communities.
As stated another, because of age old customs and lack of a well built
organization on their part, their grievances are looked upon with decision by the
official circles. The need to from an organization for the redressal of their
taken by Dr. Palpu'. However, his relentless efforts to solve the grievances of
the community did not bring about the desired effect. This proved that without
Dr. Palpu, therefore, made attempts to form an organization called the Ezhava
Mahajana Sabha, the necessary regulation for it was formed and published in a
journal from Quilon. Several meeting were held at Mayyamad and Paravoor.
1 Dr. Palpu, - the Patron of SNDP Yogam & the founder Cum - Organiser of Ezhava
Mahajana Sabha.
2 Velayudhan Panikkassery, Dr. Palpu,{W), p.95; the publications committee of
S.N. Centenary Celebrations, Narayana Gum Antholog\\ p. 62.
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However, Dr. Palpu's attempt failed to create any enthusiasm among the Ezhava
masses.
importance in India had for the past several centuries been connected with
religious revival of some sort or other, Dr. Palpu made attempts in this way. It
suggested Palpu that they should organize under a religious or spiritual leader
and put forth their demands, that prompted Dr. Palpu to meet Narayana Guru
man capable of doing this in the person of Narayana Guru who had already
fight the prevalent injustice under the guru's spiritual leadership. After obtaining
Kerala Kaiimiidi, 13 Feb, 1988; M.K. Sanu, Narayana Guru Swami, p.60;
M.K. Kumaran , SNDP Yogam and the progressive institution of Kerala;
SNDP Yogam platinum jubilee souvenir, p. 29.
Mitavadi. Vol.1, No.l, 1913, P.16; Address of M. Hovidan in the 12th meeting at
Travandrm in 12 and 13 May 1915; 1st Report in 1904; Vivekodavam, Vol.1,
No.l, 1904; P. 15.
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the consent of the Guru, Dr. Palpu made arrangements with Kumaran Asan and
Aruvippuram Kshetra Yogam, convened by the Swamy the rules and regulations
regarding the SNDP Yogam, written earlier, were read out. All those present
were agreeable to the Swamy's desire that the Yogam should be registered as a
Joint Stock Company and entrusted the temple Manager P. Parameswaran and
was submitted to the Dewan on 8"' January 1903, who granted the licence in
March 1903.^
and it was transferred into the SNDP Yogam. Kumaran Asan States that the
early history of the SNDP Yogam was mostly the unwritten history of the Siva
5 Mitavadi, Vol. 1, No. 1, 1913, P. 16; 1 st Report in 1904; Vivekodayan, Vol. 1, no. 1,
1904, PP.23-4; Rates of the SNDP Yogam, Quilon, 1952, P.2.
6 Vivekodayam, Vol. 1, no. 1, 1904, P. 19. Thus the SNDP Yogam was registered on
15 May 1903, according to Regulation 100 1063 M.E. (number b. 10 of in the
Company's Act of 1882).
7 File No. 8338 of 1903, purpose regarding the registration of the SNDP Yogam
under seetion 26 of Regulation 1 of 1063 M.E, English Records. 1st Report
in 1904; 'Historical records about the registration of the Yogam; in Kerala
Kawnudi. 7 Dec. 1978; Dr. K.K. Rahulan. -SNDP Yogam in its 9th year \
Mathruhhiimi. 15 May 1993.
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temple and Mutt at Aruvippuram.*^ The activities of the SNDP Yogam with
and Dr. Palpu as Patron, made the Yogam popular throughout Travancore within
a short time. With the formation of the Yogam, other local organizations of
Even though the SNDP Yogam was formed in Travancore, within four
parts of Kerala.'" As Mitavadi reports, the SNDP Yogam soon became the
of Malabar as well."
Though Dr. Palpu gave shape to the SNDP Yogam, for reasons unknown
many were reluctant to accept this.'"^ The general belief is that Narayana Guru
was the founder. Nityachaitanya Yati rightly observes that Narayana Guru was
not the founder of the SNDP Yogam.'" When Dr. Palpu"s individual attempts to
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obedience to the advice of Swami Vivekananda. This meeting resulted in the
This explicitly reveals that Dr. Palpu was the person responsible for the
formation of the Yogam. Nitya Chitanya Yati accepts this fact and observes,
"It was Dr. Palpu who transfonned the Aruvippuram Kshetra Yogam into the
observation.'^
Though Dr. Palpu did not bear any official post of the Yogam, he was the
soul of the Yogam during that time. The credit for the formation of the Yogam
and its growth in the early phase goes largely to Dr. Palpu. It does not mean that
other leaders head no role in it. Narayana Guru's presidentship had a magical
Kumaran Asan as General Secretary also contributed a lot to the fame and
Actually these three personalities were responsible for the progress of the
SNDP Yogam in one way or other. There were also a large number of
prominent Ezhava members who worked sincerely for the progress of the
14 Ibid.,
15 Address of C.R. Kesavan Vaidyar and Prathap Singh, inaugurating the
Symposium at Aruvippuram on Dr. Palpu and the SNDP Yogam, during the
Centenary Celebrations of Aruvippuram installation, Mathnihhiiini, 14" February
1988.
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Yogam. Besides, the influence of Dr. Palpu in transforming Kumaran of
Kayikkara into Kumaran Asan, the social reformer is very great. As a social
reformer, Kumaran Asan became popular through the SNDP Yogam. All these
are self - explanatory of how Dr. Palpu helped the Yogam in its formative days
The SNDP Yogam was an organization for the spirimal and material
advancement of the Ezhava community. As has been noted in part III of the
Yogam, its aims were (a) to manage the temple, to perforai daily poojas and
celebrate armual festivals, etc, in the Aruvippuram temple and sub other temples
under it, and (b) to foster and promote the religious, secular educational,
temples, ashrams, schools, etc, and to give financial assistance for the
In the words of Dr. Palpu, the objects of the Yogam were the educational,
industrial, religious and social advancement of the Ezhava or Tiyas. The said
aims of the Yogam were clearly stated in the request for the registration of the
39
Yogam and repeated in the annual general meeting of the Yogam by General
Vivekodayam, the official journal of the SNDP Yogam was started in 1903
with. M. Govindan as the editor. Later on, Kumaran Asan became its editor.
Some called this journal as the 'Ezhava Gazette'^** Kumaran Asan observes that
their results, but to record than and there all the major developments that take
of the Yogam.'
The magazine served the twofold purpose of interpreting the acts of the
great treasure house of knowledge regarding the activities of the Yogam and the
40
To promote its aims and ideals and to create public opinion, annual
conferences of the Yogam were held at different parts of Kerala. The Yogam
meeting held along with the annual sessions. T.K. Madhavan observes that the
addresses of Dr. Palpu on these occeasions helped to win their favour towards
the Yogam and to create firm belief and respect towards its activities.^"^ Besides
this, reports about these meetings were published in almost all leading
resolution passed in the second annual general meeting of the Yogam, it was
it was shifted to Quilon""* to Alleppey '^ and finally to Quilon.'^*' During the
41
In the Aritcles of Association of the Yogam-part II, h was mentioned that
membership was limited to those Ezhavas who pay Rs.lOO/-. So, only the well -
to - do had the privilege of membership and this only a few became members.
Later, there rules were liberalized, and membership was given to those who paid
membership be opened to member of all castes who were willing to pay Rs.5/-.^"
like the Yogam, which was sectarian in character. To pacify the Guru, a
1925, membership fee was reduced to Rs.5/- and two types of membership were
introduced Permanent and temporary. Those who paid Rs.5/- and above were
given permanent membership and those who paid an amount below Rs.5/- were
considered temporary members till they paid Rs.5/-.^ Out of this Rs.5/-, one
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rupee was to go to the pennanent fund of the Yogam and Rs.4/- to the permanent
organizational work of the Yogam even to remote villages. Despite the work of
the Yogam for around twenty-five years, the membership of the Yogam was
only 4000, out of a population of five lakhs. ^^ One of the important messages of
the Guru was to strengthen the organization. It was T.K. Madhavan, who put
this message into practice and succeeded in raising the membership of the
Yogam to about 60,000, and the number of branches to more than a hundred the
Even after twenty years of its inception, the SNDP Yogam failed to
numerical strength of the Ezhavas. In order to rectify this defect of the Yogam,
T.K. Madhavan raised the slogan of Narayana Guru, "Organize and be strong".
43
T.K. Madhavan and K. Ayyppan were selected as the Joint Secretaries of
the Yogam in the 18"' Annual General Meeting, where it was decided to
establish branches of the Yogam at the village and taluk levels.^^ With the
the need for strong organization. To increase the membership of the Yogam
Within fifteen months he was able to rise the membership of the Yogam
from 3,878 to 50,684 and fifty five branches were organized. '^' Within a few
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years, the membership of the Yogam rose to 63,674 and there around 300
branches."*^
Guru social times objected to this and refused to co-operate with the SNDP
Yogam. To, consider the opinion of the Guru, a resolution was passed in the
17th Annual General Meeting of the Yogam by which it was deeded to throw
social or religious differences. At for that, Narayana Guru gave the message to
admit all classes of people to SNDP Yogam with out religious or caste
communities and other religionists, his attempts did not bear fruit. Keraka
Kaumudi reported that only eight or ten people joined from other communities
The main reasons for the survival of the SNDP Yogam for more than nine
Yogam is functioning at state, taluk and village levels, and known as SNDP
At the time of the formation of the Yogam, (1903) its leaders had the
intention to form branches. But the condition for the formation of branches was
45
that it would be allowed only if two hundred members jointly made a request up
to 1922, no branches were formed. In 1922 this condition was changed, so that
remitted Rs.l5/- to the Yogam."*^ The idea was to have a unit in every village,
and such units were to be controlled and co-ordinated by the Taluk Unions. ^^
Even in Tamil Nadu, branches of the Yogam were opened. The Tamil
Nadu SNDP Union had eighteen branches."*^ The administration of the Yogam
The General Body is the supreme authority of the Yogam and it consists of
the Board of Directors, President of the Union and permanent members elected
elected partly by the district unions and partly by the General Body. The
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There is also a still smaller executive council to look after the affairs of the
SNDP Yogam.
Below the General Body are the unions which are organized and formed
with several branches in one or more taluks. Below the union are the local
branches. All Unions and branches are coming under the Yogam. The General
The Board of Directors of the SNDP Yogam has many powers and duties,
some of them are to implement the aims and decisions of the Yogam, to decide
commission for membership of the Yogam to fill the vacancy of the President
and General secretary fill the next annual general meeting, by electing one from
among the Board. The Board has also powers to make rules for the proper
council consisting of not more than fifteen members including the President,
Vice-president and Davaswom Secretary. With the sanction of the Board, the
council has to manage and administer the properties of the Yogam. It is the duty
of the council to keep all records of the Yogam properly. It has many important
powers also.
In the administration of the Yogam vast rights and duties are vested with
the president. He has to preside over the General Body meeting, Board meeting
50 Ibid..'g.\\.
41
and the council meetings. In the absence of the President, the Vice - President
organization. Usually the council and the Board meeting, and if necessary the
For the administration of the temples under the SNDP Yogam, there is an
members including one President, one Treasurer and one Secretary. This
There were four important phases in the history of the SNDP Yogam, each
related to one leader of the Yogam. The first phase of the Yogam was associated
Early phases
President. Dr. Palpu, the founder of the Yogam, did not bear any official post of
the Yogam. But, as mentioned earlier, he was the patron of the Yogam and
51 Ibid.,
52 Ibid.,p.\\.
53 31''Report in 1934.
48
Kumaran Asan was the General secretary (1903 - 1919) with the exception of
one year. During this time Palpu and Asan worked in close co-operation for
Kumaran Asan was the most trusted disciple of Narayana Guru. Even
though there were several disciples of the guru staying at Aruvippuram, the
responsibility of keeping the key of the safe and checking the accounts
directives of the Guru and the Yogam, mnning Vivekodayam, Yogam's journal,
the members of the community in the matter of education and in getting jobs,
and meeting the authorities and correspond ding with them for the sake of job-
Apart from arousing the social consciousness of the Ezhavas in and around these
places, Palpu and Kumaran Asan also served to demonstrate that, unity is
strength and to foster a sense of solidarity among the Ezhavas from Cape
54 Asan's Dairy of Jan. 1911 quoted by K. Prabhakaran, 'Through Asan 's Diaij
Asan Smaranika, vol.1, no.4, 1986, P.25.
49
As a member of the Prajasabha, Asan took the legislative work in right
and untouchability. The themes of his poems were the social inequalities that
equalities community man of the civic rights which had been denied to them.
In the initial stage of the Yogam, its financial position was very weak
Kumaran Asan had to try hard to manage the affairs of the Yogam, on account of
lack of necessary funds. This fact is clear from the letter sent by Kumaran Asan
to C.Krishnan, the edictor of 'Mitavadi'. "There have been just a clerk and
myself in the SNDP Yogam office for the past several months. Owing to lack of
funds, we have not been drawing any salary for the past many months.
Even important letters of the welfare of the community cannot be sent for
leak of funds. Funds are urgently need to purchase items of stationery, stamps,
and printing. So convene the next general body of the Yogam. So Directors
who have defaulted in the payment of their monthly subscriptions are requested
55 Ibid.,
50
to pay at least a part of their arrears and others are requested to donate whatever
they can." ' From this, we can understand the financial stringency faced by
Even though Asan devoted the good years of his life to the service of the
Kumaran Asan began to mount.^' In the 9"' meeting held at Varkala along with
the installation of the Sarada temple at Sivagiri, and in the succeeding sessions
wrote, "have been spent in his effort. I am decided to give up the General
Secretaryship. The 12"^ sessions of the Yogam granted bh one years leave. But
he was again elected, in the 13"' general meeting, as General Secretary.^^ Finally
in 1918, he wrote to Narayana Guru about his desire to relinquish the General
56 Letter sent by Kumaran Asan to C. Krishnan with Letter no.216 on 8 March 1916
from the Yogam office Records, Trivandurm, Kumaran Asan, as General
Secretary of the Yogam.
57 N.K. Damodaran, 'Kumaran Asan and T.K. Madhavan.' Asan Smaranika vol.1,
No.3, 1985, PP.34-35.
58 M.K. Kumaran and K. Sreenivasan, Kumaran Asan, (M.), P. 187.
59 Letter of Kumaran Asan dated 12 May 1915, Vivekodayam, vol. 12, no.l, 1915.
60 Mitavadi, June 1910 quoted in M.K. Kumaran and K. Sreenivasan,
op.cit.. PP. 190-91.
51
about his desire to relinquish the General Secretaryship of the Yogam/'' In
1918, at the 15"' annual general meeting at Kottarakara owing to the pressure of
many, he was forced to continue as General Secretary for one year. At the 16"'
community, scattered and confused, to give them asense of purpose and proper
direction with clear social objectives to help them to carry forward the struggle
for progress against heavy odds, by means of organizational work all over
and so forth.
T.K. Madhavan became the joint secretary of the Yogam. N. Kumaran's General
Secretaryship from 1919 to 1930 is known as the T.K. Madhavan period and this
was the second phase of the SNDP Yogam.''^ T.K. Madhavan focused attention
61 Mtova^/, vol.6, no.3, 1918, P.40; Letter no. 166, dated 4 March 1918, SNDP
Yogam office Trivandrum, records of N.Kumaran Asan, as General sectary.
62 16th Report in 1919; Desahhirnani. 24 May 1919.
63 N.K. Damodaran, op. cit.,
52
entry, prohibition movement, and above all, on the well-imit organization of his
community. His attempts to solve the disabities of the ezhavas spread to an all-
Public Service Bureau stated by it, to prepare statistics of different posts held by
The service rendered by T.K. Madhavan in this regard were very great. He
in public service, which helped to open the eyes of the authorities to the rights of
the avamas. In 1922, he began his work to strengthen the Yogam. In the same
increasing the membership of the Yogam. '"* Thus, if we make a study of then
T.K. Madhavan was the centre of all political and social agitations of the period,
like the efforts of the Civic Rights League, anti-untouchability work, temple-
64 8th Report in 1911; Kenika Kaumiuli; 24 May 1923. Other member of the
Committee were C.V. Kunjuraman. K. Ay\'appan. and Swamy Sathyavrathan.
53
The Third Phase
The third phase in the history of SNDP Yogam was associated with
Mayyanad. He studied Law and devoted all his energy to the agitation for
and became the General Secretary of the SNDP Yogam. Sahodaran Appyapan
termed this period in the history of the Ezhava community and the history of
assumed charge as the Secretary of the Yogam on 20* December, 1944, the
Yogam had already been developed into 9 well-knit organisation. Most of the
disabilities faced by the Ezhavas had already been removed. Socially and
politically, they were greatly cow leaned . Some even went to the extent of
saying that since the community was not having any grievances, there was no
need for maintaining the organization. But Sankar felt that it was suicidal to
54
At the 41" general meeting at Quilon, it was decided to establish a First
Dewan Sir. C.P. Ramaswamy lyear and got an extensive plot in the heart of
Quilon town for the purpose. Immediately a state wide donation campaign was
launched. Within a short period the Sree Naraya Guru College sprang upon the
plot (June 1948). After this, a network of schools and colleges were started
At the 46"^ annual general meeting of the Yogam, it was decided to form
the Sree Narayana Trust (S.N. Trust) to govern the educational institutions.''^
The S.N. Trust came into being in August 1952.^" It was successful in founding
In 1905 itself, there was an Educational Fund under the Yogam. ' Sankar
formed an Education Fund to give financial assistance to the poor students at the
(1) Primary and Secondary and (2) General Education Fund. " Under his
Secretaryship, the Yogam decided to collect Re.l/- from Ezhava houses and he
67 Ibid..
68 45th Report in 1948; Combined Report.
69 Combined Report for the Years 1961 -63 in 1966.
70 Yoganadam, vol. 19 no.6, 1993, p. 14; M. Sreenivasan, "R. Sankar and S.N. Trust"
Sankar Shastiyabdapurthi Commemoration volume; P. 132.
71 For details See. Chapter FV.
72 45* Annual Report in 1948.
55
succeeded in collecting Rs. 1,50,000 within twenty-four hours. ^^ He introduced
the Primary Educational Fund , and in 1947 the Secondary Education Fund. By
Concerning it self with public lost all their faith in the leadership of the Yogam,
its enthusiastic General Secretary R. Sankar tried to infuse new blood into it by
making the Yogam strong and advocating literary service to the masses.^^ The
for the formation of the S.N. Trust and his period was resplendent with
educational activities.
The formation of the Yogam and its success prompted other communities
like Playas, Nairs, Nambudiris and other to form their own organizations. As a
result of the successful work of the SNDP Yogam, the Sadhu Jana Paripalana
Yogam came into being in 1904, the Yoga Kshema Sabha in 1909, and the Nair
56
Service Society (N.S.S.) in 1914. The change evoked by the SNDP Yogam
The SNDP Yogam was active at the all-Kerala level at a time when the
idea of a united Kerala had not originated among the politically divided Ezhavas
The aim of the SNDP Yogam was to restore social rights to a vist segment
of society. The Propaganda and agitations led by the SNDP Yogam against
57
Organizational set up of the SNDP Yogam.
Office President
General Secretary
+-
Director Board Branches
I
Council
Office
President Union
Secretary HE
General Body
Committee
Council
Office
President BRANCHES
Secretary 4
- General Body
Managing Committee
t
Council
58