Key Points
Idyllic charm meets history at Vaikom, a temple town on the western-most stretch of Kottayam..
Outside, however, the Vaikom episode continues to be recalled often for its own intrinsic interest and as the beginning of what would go on to become a temple entry movement, which still continues nation-wide..
While the seeds of its origin can be traced to a decision by the Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam in 1917 to promulgate a demand for temple entry for all castes, the satyagraha pursued a much limited objective of attaining all castes the right to use the four roads around the Vaikom temple...
Sukumaran Moolekattu, who has chronicled the history of the satyagraha extensively since the early 1970s and has authored the book Vaikom- an epic struggle, too highlights the democratisation aspect as a key point...
EVR (or Periyar), whose lead role in the struggle would later earn him the epithet Vaikom Veeran, joined the satyagraha on an invitation from George Joseph, who had already been jailed for leading the movement..
