Published Paper Details:

Abstract Poikayil Yohannan was a revolutionary Dalit leader and social reformer who hailed from Eraviperur near Tiruvalla, Pathanamthitta District of Kerala. With the co-operation of people from various Dalit communities, Yohannan led a movement to uplift them. They were subjugated by the upper-caste. Though at birth he was named Komaran, later he was renamed Kumaran. Being a slave to a Christian family, Kumaran had to follow Christianity and have a Christian name Yohannan. In that period, Dalit communities practiced untouchability among themselves. Recognizing the commonalities among the Paraiyar, Pulayar and Kuravar communities, Yohannan sought to create a sense of unity among them. With this thought, he joined the Marthoma church, a reformist sect among the Syrian Christians, but realized the church treated Dalits as an inferior class and left the church. He then joined a new sect called the Brethren Mission where he faced similar instances of caste-based discrimination. In 1909, Yohannan left Christianity and started his own Dalit liberation movement named Prathyaksha Raksha Daiva Sabha (PRDS).