For about 11 months between 1924-25, the streets around the Sree Mahadeva Temple at Vaikom witnessed an epic struggle for social equality.
With reinforcements from the likes of Mahatma Gandhi, Chattambi Swamikal, Sree Narayana Guru and Periyar, it also built a bridge between social justice and swaraj — confronting the Hindu orthodoxy elsewhere with the ugly reality of untouchability.
In the 95 years since, this movement has been largely forgotten, except for the occasional references in the texts or speeches on history. But this December, the backwater town is getting the first-ever museum to commemorate this tumultuous yet ultimately progressive period of its history.
Nearly four-and-half decades after it was first proposed, the authorities are all set to open a museum that chronicles the important events and personalities associated with the Vaikom Sathyagraha. Established on a property near the famed Vaikom Boat Jetty with assistance from the Centre and the State, the project was first initiated in 1975 with a stone laying ceremony attended by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
According to J. Reji Kumar, Director, State Archives Department, the project is being established through the Kerala Museum, the government-appointed nodal agency for all museums in the State. Upon opening, it will put on display several hundreds of documents currently in possession of the Archives Department. Alongside, a theatre room is also being set up to screen documentaries on the topic.
“Considering that it was the country's first successful movement involving Mahatma Gandhi, it will also have a special gallery to narrate his role in the historic movement,” said the official.
Some of the key documents to be put on display included the entire script of the three-hour-long conversation between Gandhiji and Idanthuruthil Devan Neelakandan Namboodiri, leader of the caste Hindu camp, intervention of Sree Narayana Guru, Periyar among others.
“The documents on almost all crucial turn of events and conversations, as reported by the secret cops to the King of Travancore, are available with the Archives Department. This is in addition to the related developments such as the canteen run by the Sikh volunteers and the story of the Amachadi Thevan, the Dalit fighter who played an active role in the movement,” said R. Chandran Pillai, Executive Director, Kerala Museum.
