Sree Narayana Guru Biography

Narayana Guru was an eminent figure of social reform movement in South India. He is best known for his relentless fight against the evil of untouchability. Sree Narayana Guru Swami was born on August 22, 1856 in Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala in an Ezhava caste family. Ezhavas were the victims of the evil of untouchability in those limes in Kerala.

Madan Asan and Kutti Amma were the parents of Narayana Guru. Narayana Guru attained knowledge of Vedas and other Vedic scriptures. He learned Sanskrit from a famous Sanskrit scholar named Raman Pillai Asan. Being a man of intellectual mind and pious ideas, he renounced worldly life and dedicated his life for truth. He visited several places in South India. He was very disappointed seeing miserable life and deplorable conditions of lower caste people. He decided to uproot the evil of untouchability from Indian society.

Narayana Guru set up ‘Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalna Yogam (SNDP) in various parts of South India, especially in Kerala. He gave stress on two points to uplift the Ezhavas. First, total end of untouchability and second, building temples open to people of all castes. He also simplified rituals of marriage, funerals and other religious occasions to end the dominance of priests of upper castes. He succeeded in bringing awareness among people of lower castes for their basic rights. Narayana Guru rejected the ‘chaturvarna’ system(four caste system) terming it the root cause of evil of untouchability. After a long and relentless battle against the evil of untouchability, Narayana Guru passed away on September 20, 1928.

Some Important Points

No:1. In 1921, Narayana Guru gave his famous slogan, “One caste, one religion and one God for mankind” in the All Kerala Fraternity Conference held at Aluva.

No:2. He also gave his support to the Vaikom Satyagraha in 1925 to ensure entry for lower caste people in the Lord Shiva temples in Kerala.