--- layout: default title: "Swami Anand Thirth: Preface" permalink: /amaa/swami-anand-thirth-preface/ categories: [A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel, Swami Anand Thirth] description: "The preface to A. M. A. Ayrookuzhiel's 1987 study of Swami Anand Thirth, written by Fr. Sebastian Kappen. The preface reflects on social transformation, anti-caste struggles, and the significance of Swami Anand Thirth's life and work." authors: Sebastian Kappen created: 2026-06-05 --- The **Preface to *Swami Anand Thirth: Untouchability, Gandhian Solution on Trial*** was written by Fr. Sebastian Kappen and appeared in the original 1987 edition of the book. The preface was not reproduced in [*Essays on Dalits, Religion and Liberation*](/amaa/edrl/) (2006). Kappen situates Swami Anand Thirth within a broader tradition of social transformation driven not only by revolution or gradual evolution, but also by individuals whose ideas and actions reshape society. He argues that Anand Thirth's lifelong struggle against untouchability represented one such transformative force and highlights the book's importance for understanding caste, social reform, and the legacy of Sri Narayana Guru in Kerala. The full text of the Preface is reproduced below. ## Preface It is fashionable nowadays to speak of social change exclusively in terms of revolution understood as a cataclysmic and sudden transformation of the social system. Seldom does one speak of other ways of social change that are equally radical but can by no means be called revolution in the sense defined above. Significant changes are also taking place through a gradual process of social evolution. An instance is the transition from joint families to nuclear families that has occurred under the impact of capitalism. There is yet another mode of social transformation which lies midway between revolution and evolution. I mean the changes brought about through the intervention of creative individuals who act as radiating centres of new ideas, values, and hopes. In course of time, such ideas, values, and hopes find adherents at least among a minority of the intelligentsia and slowly percolate to the lower strata of society. The changes which the new awareness brings about can be fundamental, though they may not have the glamour of revolution. The persons responsible for such changes stand out head and shoulders above their generation and often think ahead of their times. It is one of the poignant facts of history that such men and women are more often than not marginalised and eventually forgotten. Swami Anand Thirth was one such person. As I went through the manuscript of this book, I was reminded of the saying of the great German philosopher, Heidegger, that all great men think only one great idea. Anand Thirth thought and worked for one great idea — removal of untouchability. In translating this idea into practice, he had the courage to differ even with a towering personality like Gandhi. Gandhi too was staunchly opposed to the practice of untouchability. But he entertained the naive hope that the evil can be eradicated through a change of heart on the part of caste Hindus. In contrast, Swamiji was convinced that the solution lies in the struggles of the untouchables themselves. And history has proved him right. No meaningful change has taken place in Hinduism or Indian society as a whole, for that matter, through any change of heart on the part of the privileged castes and classes. Whatever changes have taken place have been due either to the historical initiative of the masses or to the systemic constraints of money economy. Seen from this angle, this book is not just the story of an individual's convictions and struggles but, more importantly, a guidepost to the future and a severe judgement on the ambivalence of the Gandhian approach. The author has marshalled all the facts available to bring into full relief the life and work of Swami Anand Thirth. In the process, he has also thrown light on the mission of his revered master, Sri Narayana Guru, the prime mover of the Ezhava renaissance in Kerala. Both men subjected Hinduism to a radical critique, a critique that goes far beyond the one made by Gandhi, who in his attitude to caste was more a reformist than anything else. In fact, they represent the stirrings of a new humanism on the Indian soil. Their life and practice are all the more relevant today when Hindu revivalists are shouting from housetops the grandiose slogan of a Hindu Rashtra that will reduce the followers of other religions to second class citizens. Swami Anand Thirth and Sri Narayana Guru are products of their age and, as such, have their own limitations. Though it is not fair to judge the past by the standards of the present, the question has to be raised whether they were sufficiently critical of their basic assumption that the Ezhavas ought to be integrated into the Hindu community. The Ezhavas and the other Avarnas had their own cultural tradition going back to tribal days, a tradition that was richer and more humane than that of mainstream Hinduism. If so, did not Sri Narayana Guru and his disciples help incorporate the Ezhavas within Hinduism as but one caste among other castes, and that in spite of their commitment to a casteless society? This critical remark does in no way detract from the great contribution they made to cultural renewal in Kerala. Ayrookuzhiel's work nevertheless is destined to remain a source book for all those who want to understand a crucial phase in the cultural history of Kerala, a phase characterised by much anguishing self-criticism on the part of enlightened caste Hindus as well as by the upsurge of the disprivileged castes for a new social order in tune with the dignity of the human. The work will also be of much help to social activists in fashioning an appropriate strategy of action for the uplift of the hitherto dispossessed castes and classes in Indian society.
Trivandrum
29-9-1986.
Sebastian Kappen
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