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In the Madras Presidency Vaidyanatha lyer of Madurai started tl~c crusade for the Harijans Temple Entry. He in his capacitj as the ]'resident 01 Tamil Nadu Harijan Sevak Sangh from 1936 to 1955 uorked for the upliftment of the Scheduled Castes. On seeing various ameliorative measures taken bj the Government of Madras for the progress of the Scheduled Castes he got aid from the Government for running schools and hostels all over Tamil Nadu. Such work earned him the glorious epithet "Father of Tamil Nadu I-~nrijans""' 146 Being an ardent follower of Gandhiji and Rqjaji, he wished to brcak rhc practice of untouchability. So he decided to lead a batch of Harijans devotces into the Meenakshi temple in Madurai. Accordingly on 8 July 1939, he along with a group of Harijans entered the Sri. Meenakshi Amman temple went to the Golden Lilly tank inside the temple and after finishing their ablution visited the various shrines situated inside it. By this action, f'or the first time in Madurai one of the worst forms of untouchability was defied. Mahatma Gandhi on hearing the message of opening of Mecnakshi temple for the Harijans on 8 July 1939 wished that opening of the Meenakshi temple would be followed by the opening of other great temples of South ~ndia.~' As such an entry by the excluded classcs into the Hindu teinple constituted the offence of defile~nent of places of worship, the orthodox pcoplc showed their protest. A criminal coinplaint was filed against them on 11 JUI)
1939. To ensure the removal of obstacles in the way of the Harijans entering the temple, Rajaji's Government published an Indemnity Bill. AS the Legislature was not in session, on the advise of Rajaji, the Governor of Madras issued an ordinance under section 88 of the Government of India Act. *I'his\\.as I47 known as 'Temple Entry Ordinance'. 2 1 In the August scssion of' the Legislature, the Premier, Rajaji introduced the, 'Madras Temple EII~s!, Authorization and Indemnity Bill', on 8 August 1939. It secci\,cd thc 3ssc'n~ 01' the Governor General on 4 September 1939. Thus hc got thc Icgislation passcd so quickly and cleverly that the new law obtair~cd rctsospccti\,e cf'f'ect on thc action of Sri. Vaidyanatha Iyer and his group." S.Srinivasa Sastri a popular Congress leader denounced the procedure which the Government had adopted first throwing open the Madurai Mecnakshi temple to the Harijans and then passing legislation rctrospectivc effect'?. This Act provided state support for the temple entq of thc I'ntouchables and other lower castes in the Madras Presidency. Othenvise it would ha\fe constituted an offence of defilement of places of worship under the Indian Penal code.24 The government gave strict instructions to the officers to implement the temple entry act properly.25 Through this Act a number of temples in Madurai. Taqjore, Tirunelvely etc., were opened26 and they were the following.
Page 1 and 2: CHAPTER 1V ERADICATION OF UNTOUCHAB
Page 3 and 4: Those who adhere to the laws of Man
Page 5 and 6: "The worst was the position of sudr
Page 7 and 8: the Round Table Conference in 1930
Page 9 and 10: After that Periyar was called as "V
Page 11 and 12: Rajaji argued that the Municipal pr
Page 13: introduced by M.C.Rajah. The Bill w
Page 17 and 18: to remove untouchability and other
Page 19 and 20: class were reluctant to send their
Page 21 and 22: 0.p.Ramaswamy Reddiar, enabled Raja
Page 23 and 24: education was not to aggravate the
Page 25 and 26: END NOTES Suddhananda Bharati, Thir
Page 27: Marimuthu, E. History of Education

ERADICATION OF UNTOUCHABILITY But

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