Context

• Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi has paid tributes to Sree Narayana Guru on his Jayanti.
• Narayana Guru was a philosopher, spiritual leader and social reformer in India.

Contribution

• He led a reform movement against the injustice in the caste-ridden society of Kerala in order to promote spiritual enlightenment and social equality.
• Casteism was practised in Kerala during the 19th and early 20th centuries and the lower caste people such as Ezhavas and the untouchable castes like Paraiyars, tribals and Pulayars had to suffer discrimination from the upper caste community.
• Shri Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam (also known as SNDP Yogam) is an Indian spiritual organization that was formally founded by Dr. Padmanabhan Palpu in 1903, with the guidance of Shri Narayana Guru.
• The main aim of SNDP Yogam was to spiritually uplift the people of the Ezhava/Tiyyar communities.
• Vaikom Satyagraha (1924–25) was a social protest in erstwhile Travancore against untouchability and caste discrimination in Hindu society of Kerala.
• Sree Narayana Guru involved himself with the Vaikom Satyagraha and extended much co-operation.
• It was he who propagated the motto, One Caste, One Religion, One God for All
• Guru published 45 works in Malayalam, Sanskrit and Tamil languages which include Atmopadesa Śatakam, a hundred-verse spiritual poem and Daiva Dasakam, a universal prayer in ten verses.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1748236

Download PDF