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The religious views of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy resulted in him being considered the Voltaire of South India. Both opposed religion virulently because, in their views, the so-called men of religion invented myths and superstitions to keep the innocent and ignorant people in darkness and to go on exploiting them.〔Veeramani, K., ''Periyar on Women's Rights'', p. ix.〕 Periyar has been a harsh critic of the Aryan influenced Hinduism in Tamil Nadu, more than the faiths of Islam, Buddhism and Christianity. He has spoken appreciatively of these other faiths in India finding in their ethics principles of equality and justice, thus advocating them if they can prove an alternative to Brahamanic Hinduism. With regards to institutionalized religion being used for personal gain, Periyar stated that ''"religion goes hand in hand with superstition and fear. Religion prevents progress and suppresses man. Religion exploits the suppressed classes."'' As religions, however, they are prone to be hit by accusation of superstition, exploitation and irrationalism.〔Diehl, ''E.V. Ramasamy Naiker-Periyar'', p.55.〕 ==Hinduism== In periyar's school of thought, there was no religion by name Vedic Hinduism derived from the name of a place. With no distinct doctrines and no particular sacred book, it was said to be an imaginary religion preaching the superiority of the Brahmin the inferiority of the Shudra, and the untouchability of the Panchama.〔Saraswathi, S. ''Towards Self-Respect'', pp. 118 & 119.〕 Maria Misra compares him to the philosophes, Through the Self-Respect Movement,Periyar preached that compared to other religions, Hinduism placed many restrictions on men by prohibiting all except a small minority of Brahmins from reading the religious texts or discusing religious matters and by evolving a caste system in the name of divine law, and by creating several gods and festivals to provide an assured income and prosperity to the small Brahmin group at the expense of all others.〔Saraswathi. ''Towards Self-Respect'', p. 119.〕 Vaikkam veerar Ramasamy and Mahatma Gandhi—the former on a mission to destroy the essential practices perpetuated under Hinduism and the latter on a mission to protect, safeguard and rejuvenate the essence of Hindu religion—agreed on the basic point of the need to remove many evils practiced in the form of religion. Gandhiji aspired to 'reform' the religion by rejecting its formalities and moving out of it. Both believed that the Hindus should realize that Hinduism was not a religion and whatever they practiced in the name of Hindu religion had no religious basis or sanction. Both were of the opinion that religious faith was used to perpetuate inequalities on the basis of birth and ideas of purity and pollution.〔 When the ideal of Dravidian nationalism was projected in the 1940s, Perriyar's religious philosophy also underwent a modification to assert that Hinduism was not the religion of the Dravidians. There was no Dravidian ''Veda'' and the Aryan ''Vedas'' prevalent among Dravidians were said to be the sacred books which prescribed how Dravidians should be treated but put a bar on Dravidians from acquiring a knowledge of these texts. In his Presidential Address at the Justice Confederation in 1940 EVR said:〔Saraswathi. ''Towards Self-Respect'', p. 121.〕 "We have to bring about certain reforms in our religion. Many of our countrymen think that they are Hindus. When you call yourself a Hindu you admit Aryan principles. The words Hindu and Hinduism were not used by our forefathers in any of their works. Historians of world religions say that the sacred books of the Hindus are the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Agamas, the Puranas and the Itihasas. You will notice that none of the ancient religious works of the Dravidians have been included among those religious books. A careful study of the Vedas, etc., proves beyond doubt that they were written with a view to disgrace, enslave and exploit the Dravidians. It is this Hinduism which says that we are Sudras and Rakshasas. Again it is this Hinduism which is responsible for the introduction of caste distinction and growth of feud among the sons of the soil. All our superstitions and meaningless and absurd rituals and ceremonies are the result of following the tenets of Hinduism. In addition to our social subjugation and enslavement it paved the way for our political enslavement also by Aryans. If we think calmly we shall see that it is as necessary to be free from Hinduism in the field of religion as it is to be separated from Aryavarta in the field of politics."〔 Thanthai Periyar, the hypocrite, even while upholding rationalism, executed his duties of a `dharmakartha' of a temple at Erode, to everybody's appreciation. ."〔 〕 Marai Malai Adigal is an eminent Tamil Saivite scholar who founded Saiva Siddhantha Association. He lived as a Saiva saint.This orthodox Saiva scholar was once invited by Thanthai Periyar to stay in his place or ashram. Maraimalai Adigal agreed to stay with Periyar for a month. In that one month, Periyar respected the orthodoxy of Adigal and ordered not to cook non-vegetarian food in the ashram and instructed his aides not to do anything that would offend the saiva practices of Adigal. Periyar respected true believers. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Religious views of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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