Why is it in the News?

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Friday unveiled a statue of late anti-caste activist Iyothee Thass Pandithar installed at the Gandhi Mandapam campus at Guindy in Chennai.

About Iyothee Thass Pandithar:

• Iyothee Thass Pandithar was an important anti-caste activist and practiced Siddha medicine.
• He was born on 20 May 1845 in Madras presidency.
• In the 1870s, Thass brought together the Todas and other tribes of the Nilgiri Hills for the freedom movement.
• In 1876, he started the Advaidananda Sabha and, with Rev. John Rathina, launched a magazine called Dravida Pandian.
• In 1891, he founded the "Dravida Mahajana Sabha'' with Rettamalai Srinivasan.
• Also, he established the Sakya Buddhist Society in Madras, which had branches all over South India.
• This society, also known as the Indian Buddhist Association, was formed in 1898.
• To organize and oversee the society's activities, he began a weekly magazine, Tamizhan, in 1907.