On a breezy evening in mid-March, after a spell of unseasonal summer rain, several women on the roadside gathered crushed dried ulundu (black gram) stalks into their baskets for winnowing. Tractors carrying neatly rolled paddy stalks passed by. In the fields, farmers were resting on sacks of grain, waiting for their comrades to join them for chit-chat and tea. Their movements were unhurried, free from any anxiety over productivity. The evening felt light and peaceful.

For the now land-owning Dalit farmers of Keezhvenmani and the surrounding villages of the Thanjavur delta in Tamil Nadu, such an evening was unthinkable even 50 years ago. In a region where flogging was a common tool of caste-based oppression, this peace did not come easy. It had to be wrested.

In a country where caste hierarchies determine land ownership, the fact of Dalits owning land is a radical act of reclaiming dignity. Thousands of Dalits in Tamil Nadu have been quietly but powerfully politicised by a Dalit-Gandhian leader, Krishnammal Jagannathan, who secured their path to land ownership. Although her Gandhian methods were seen as not sufficiently revolutionary, her name evokes joy and immense gratitude from the Dalit population in the undivided Thanjavur jilla, which now comprises Thiruvarur, Nagapattinam and Thanjavur districts. The people fondly call her Amma.

Now approaching 100, Krishnammal has limited her visits to the Delta region, yet her interactions with its people endure. She lives in Gandhigram, Dindigul district, where she was politicised, married, and began her fight against caste discrimination and inequality. She still wears khadi, a proof of her lifetime commitment to Gandhian principles. Her physical movements may have slowed down, but she still reaches for her favourite copy of Bharathiyar Kavithaigal, reading it every now and then whenever the quiet of Gandhigram grows too heavy.

While her early morning routine of prayer has changed, she still wakes up to the 19th-century Tamil poet-prophet Vallalar’s famous spiritual slogan “Arutperumjyothi, thanipperum karunai” (great light of compassion, infinite mercy).

Krishnammal was born on June 16, 1926 into a Devendrakula Vellalar (classified as a Scheduled Caste) household in Aiyyankottai, near Pattiveeranpatti, in Dindigul. She was the fourth of 12 children born to landless labourers Ramasamy and Nagammai. Of the twelve children, only five survived.

Her father, a sports enthusiast, once successfully tamed a bull in the Mattaparai jallikattu for which he received four kaani (approximately 5 acres) of land as a prize. But this brief status as a landowner did not promise Nagammai or their children a better future.

The family lived precariously, driven by Ramasamy’s growing alcoholism and violence. “My mother bore the brunt of domestic violence,” Krishnammal told Frontline. “My siblings and I suffered abuse as well.” Driven by the belief that education would ensure their survival in society, Nagammai enrolled her children in a government primary school in Pattiveeranpatti.

Krishnammal’s elder brother Rathinasamy completed his school education; her second elder brother Muniyandi pursued a law degree; Krishnammal completed her teacher training; and her younger sister Rajalakshmi studied to be a doctor. However, her other sister Govindammal turned to farm labour after primary education.

When Ramasamy died after many years of alcohol abuse, Nagammai was forced to sell their land to repay his debts. This childhood memory of loss gave Krishnammal a stark perspective on why women must hold property in their own names.

Ramasamy once beat Krishnammal severely for a minor slip-up: while bringing him lunch, she had stumbled and spilt his kanji on the floor. This brutality prompted Nagammai to urge her second son, Muniyandi, to take Krishnammal away to Madurai, where he was studying. There, under his care, she could continue her high school education as well.

The siblings travelled from Aiyyankottai to Kodai Road by bus. From there, they reached Madurai by train. Muniyandi, who had a ticket, was seated. Krishnammal, with no ticket, crawled under the seat to avoid being noticed.

After high school, Krishnammal was introduced to Harijan Sevak Sangh activist Marudhaiyan, who later introduced her to Dr T.S. Soundaram Ramachandran, daughter of the founder of the TVS Group of Companies, T.V. Sundram Iyengar. With Soundaram’s support, Krishnammal completed her intermediate education at American College, becoming the first Dalit woman to graduate from the undivided Madurai district.

She later worked at MeenakshiViduthi, a shelter for widows and sex workers, where she taught them to read, write, and spin khadi. In the 1940s, spinning khadi was a subversive political act, a part of the Swadeshi movement against mill-made textiles from Britain.

In 1946, Krishnammal met Mahatma Gandhi on his last visit to Madurai. Soundaram introduced Krishnammal as her adopted daughter. Travelling with Gandhi to Palani, Krishnammal absorbed the ideologies that would guide her life. After Independence, she moved to Dindigul to help build Gandhigram.

Meeting Jagannathan

Jagannathan Sankaralingam, a fellow Gandhian and a freedom fighter, sought to marry Krishnammal in the late 1940s. He conveyed this wish to Soundaram. “There was tension since he was from a dominant Agamudaiyar caste, a subgroup of the Mukkulathor community, and I’m a Dalit woman. Both families strenuously opposed our union,” Krishnammal recalled. Despite family disapproval, Krishnammal and Jagannathan married on July 6, 1950, in the presence of around 20 people, including Soundaram and the Gandhian economist J.C. Kumarappa, in the Workers Home of Gandhigram. There were no Hindu rituals, and they exchanged khadi threads instead of garlands. As noted in the book Nilamadanthaikku: Krishnammal Jagannathan Iyakka Varalaru (For a woman of land: Krishnammal Jagannathan’s Activist History), Jagannathan’s gift to his bride was a khadi saree he had woven himself.

“Jagannathan dropped out of college to participate in the freedom struggle. His parents never thought he would end up marrying someone. But when they were informed about their relationship, they were reluctant about what their relatives might say. However, when the couple visited Jagannathan’s home in Sengarpadai, Ramanathapuram, the family welcomed her,” said Gandhi Parankundram, Jagannathan’s nephew.

The couple has a son, Bhoomikumar and a daughter, Sathya. Bhoomikumar is a child psychiatrist and works in Cambodia. Sathya is a paediatrician who served as an associate professor at Chengalpattu Medical College; she now stays with her mother and continues her practice. Krishnammal and Jagannathan dedicated themselves to public life together for 62 years, until the latter passed away in 2013.

Participating in the Bhoodan movement

Days after their wedding, Jagannathan left for Uttar Pradesh to join Acharya Vinoba Bhave’s Bhoodan (land gift) movement. Meanwhile, Krishnammal was sent to Madras for a teacher training course.

The Bhoodan movement was started to address unequal land ownership in the country, where privileged-caste men owned the vast majority of land, whereas the marginalised population who tilled it owned nothing .

The unequal ownership of land was a major problem across Asia. A few countries found a solution by force, while several countries enacted laws for land reforms. Bhave started the Bhoodan in Pochampalli, Telangana and Gramdan in Mangroth in Hamirpur district, Uttar Pradesh. The first one involved securing lands from landlords and redistributing them to landless people, whereas in the second one, all land in a village was treated as community property. People were encouraged to donate their land, contribute equal labour, and receive equal benefits.

Jagannathan watched both movements gain momentum in North India. When Bhave asked him to return to Tamil Nadu to start the movement, Krishnammal joined Bhave in Patna, Bihar.

In 1952, Krishnammal and Jagannathan brought the movement to Tamil Nadu. The first Bhoodan yatra started in Ramanathapuram district, presided over by Shankarrao Deo, the then general secretary of the Congress party, on October 2, Gandhi’s birth anniversary. Within the first three months, the movement gained traction with 3,500 acres of land donated, including major contributions from the Raja of Ramnad. Within three years, 75,000 acres were redistributed to 53,000 families. The first Gramdan was successfully implemented in Vayalur village, in Chengalpattu. While some donations were acts of genuine generosity, others were compelled by the enactment of the Tamil Nadu Land Reforms (Fixation of Ceiling on Land) Act, 1961, which capped individual family holdings.

Keezhvenmani: The crucible of land rights

The Thanjavur delta region—Tamil Nadu’s “rice bowl”—was built on the blood and sweat of landless Dalits. Here, the caste hierarchy was enforced with savukkadi (whipping) and saanipaal (forced drinking of cow-dung water). On December 24, 1968, this tension erupted in horror. After Dalit labourers agitated for higher wages, landlords and their henchmen set a hut ablaze in Keezhvenmani. Gopalakrishna Naidu was among the few landlords accused of the brutal attack against Dalit residents. Forty-four people, including women and 22 children, were burned alive.

Krishnammal and Jagannathan rushed to the village the next day. Though initially met with suspicion by Communist factions, who viewed her Gandhian identity as a dilution of their struggle, she stayed. She opened an office, started an anganwadi, and doggedly lobbied the government. By 1971, she had secured one acre of land each for 74 Keezhvenmani residents.

Her resistance found new approaches. New wells were dug in Dalits residential areas, which were prohibited earlier, temple entries were achieved, and Dalits were paraded on the streets, which had long been denied to them.

Following the successful seizure of 304 acres of land that belonged to Irudhaya Kamala Nadhar Temple, which was in the possession of Valivalam Desigar, she redistributed the land to Dalits in seven villages. During her protest in Valivalam, she was arrested and imprisoned for two months in Thanjavur prison.

“My grandparents worked at Desigar’s farms and were subjected to brutal harassment. The time has changed. Now, I own this land. Unlike my grandparents, I come to my field without any anxiety of being flogged by anyone,” said Saraswathy Srinivasan of Keerangudi, one of the beneficiaries of Krishnammal’s initiatives.

LAFTI: Empowering women through ownership

In 1981, Krishnammal founded the Land for Tillers’ Freedom (LAFTI) to purchase land directly for the landless. She soon noticed a disturbing pattern: men often sold or pledged their land to meet small financial needs. Recalling her own mother’s struggle, she made a pivotal shift in 1984: LAFTI began registering land titles exclusively in women’s names. “The lesson was learned in my own childhood home,” she noted. Today, LAFTI has benefited 20,000 people, redistributed thousands of acres, and built nearly 1,000 homes.

Krishnammal and Jagannathan were named winners of the 2008 Right Livelihood Award, known as the alternative Nobel Prize, for their contribution. Krishnammal received the Opus Prize in the same year. In 2020, the Indian government conferred the Padma Bhushan on Krishnammal.

“The historical success of LAFTI was that the relatives of Gopalakrishna Naidu donated 340 acres to landless Dalits in 2006. They also donated a building, which was used as a boys’ hostel between 2008 and 2018,” Gandhi Parankundram noted.

The centenary legacy

Krishnammal’s journey remains a subject of debate. To her supporters, she is the unsung hero who secured Dalits the economic foundation—land—to stand against oppression. Yet, a faction of anti-caste activists argues that her work was hardly recognised by major political parties. The journalist Jeyarani notes that Krishnammal identifies herself as a true Gandhian rather than solely as a Dalit woman—a universalist approach that may explain why she remains partly obscured by history.

Communist leaders offer a sharper critique. Sa. Tamilselvan, the author of Thiruppiyaditha Varalaru: Thanjai Mannil Marxia Iyakkam Porattangalin oru Nootrandu (A History of Resistance: A Century of Marxist Struggles in Thanjavur), alleges that the Bhoodan movement was strategically deployed to dilute radical agrarian struggles. He suggests that while both the Union and State governments facilitated Krishnammal’s initiatives, it was the Communist cadres who sacrificed their lives to secure the Land Reform Act.

However, for those in Keezhvenmani, the distinction is simpler. Says K. Palanivel, a survivor: “The Communists gave us the courage to question landlords. But Krishnammal gave us the ground to stand on. Today, as landowners, we do not worry about who would knock on our doors in the middle of the night to vacate the house. Today, people from privileged castes share the table with us for lunch. The roads do not deny us anymore, nor do the educational institutions. For us, land has always been political. Krishnammal helped us to find a way to become who we are today”.

Now entering her centenary year, Krishnammal’s impact is undeniable. From the Padma Shri in 1989 to the Padma Bhushan in 2020, her tireless activism has been noted globally.

Today, in the Thanjavur delta, Dalit farmers walk their own fields without the anxiety of the whip. As Palanivel says, for them land was always political, and Krishnammal was the one who turned that politics into a reality.

Nithya Pandian is an award-winning journalist who reports on gender, caste, tribal rights, and social justice issues in South India.

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