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In 2024, Sukumaar and Elakkiya chose a self-respect marriage in Salem, Tamil Nadu—exchanging vows without a priest, rituals or a Tali (Mangalsutra). Inspired by Periyar’s movement, their union reflects a growing wave of couples rejecting caste hierarchies and patriarchal traditions, reclaiming love revolutionary ideas. | Photo: Indira Kumar
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At Periyar Thidal in Chennai, stone-carved graffiti immortalise Periyar’s radical Dravidian ideals. Visitors of all ages stop to read these words etched in stone—ideas that continue to provoke, inspire, and ignite social awakening. | Photo: Indira Kumar
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After walking through Periyar Thidal, visitors often stop at the campus bookshop, picking up Periyar statues and books—keepsakes they can carry home as reminders of his ideas. | Photo: Indira Kumar
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Jeyanathan Karunanidhi and his partner, Dr. Yazini PM, at Periyar Thidal — a space where love, longing, and Dravidian ideals come alive through pragmatic politics. The couple chose a self-respect marriage to affirm their relationship, rejecting traditional rituals and embracing egalitarian values. | Photo: Indira Kumar
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Periyar’s statue at Periyar Thidal in Chennai stands ungarlanded, not worshipped but embraced — a site where people offer not ritual devotion but affection, gratitude, and often, quiet tears. | Photo: Indira Kumar
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In 1991, Isai Inban, 63, and P. Senthil Kumari sealed their self-respect marriage while in police detention during a protest. Activist elders offered their own rings-engraved with Periyar’s image as a symbolic passing of Dravidian ideals across generations. The couple still wear rings and flaunts it with pride. | Photo: Indira Kumar
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An advertisement board for the Periyar Matrimony platform promotes unions beyond caste and faith, while also supporting divorcee and widow remarriages. | Photo: Indira Kumar
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Dravidian revolutionary Periyar’s resting place at Periyar Thidal in Chennai. | Photo: Indira Kumar
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A 1928 editorial by Periyar on marriage and consent, published in Revolt magazine. His essays, columns, and writings remain strikingly ahead of their time—bold, radical, and foundational to the self-respect movement. | Photo: Indira Kumar
