Pampady John Joseph (Pampady, 1887-Jul 1940), known as Pampady John or Pampady Joseph, was a Dalit activist and the founder of the socio-religious movement Cheramar MahajanSabha. [1]
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[edit]Early life
Joseph was born in 1887 at Pampady, Kottayam to his father was Pampady John. His father was a Christian who was converted from Pulaya (then untouchable) caste to Catholic Christian. Joseph was educated up to the sixth standard at Trukkakara Mission School. He came to Kottayam in 1910 and then toThiruvananthapuram in 1918. For sometime he served as a teacher in Alapra[why?].[1] Joseph felt that the Catholic Church[where?] was not treating newly-converted Christians as equals to their Syrian counterparts, leading to dissatisfaction among the converts. Pampady John organized Cheramar Mahajan Sabha on 14 January 1921 to protest against the traditional attitude and customs of the caste Hindus and caste Hindu converts. In Cheramar Mahajan Sabha, caste Christians as well as untouchable Hindus were allowed to be the members.[1]
[edit]Cheramar Mahajan Sabha
Joseph was of the openion of Pulayars were the original inhabitants of Kerala and hence he changed the caste name to Cheramar - which means the people of Kerala. The sabha's intention was to struggle against the Hindu mentality and obtain their lost rights under the banner of Sabha. [1]
Joseph initiated Sadhujan Dootan, a Magazine, in 1919, in which he wrote inspiring articles. The magazine was live till 1924. [1]
Joseph, in his book Cheruma Boy, was questioning the Syrian Christian's apethetic and discriminatory attitude towards the untouchable Christians. [1]
[edit]Joining Shri Moolam Legislative Assembly, Travancore
On 8 June 1931, he became a member of the Shri Moolam Legislative Assembly, Travancore. Joseph presented a memorandum to the British Parliament on 24 April 1935 and pleaded it to accord all the civil rights to untouchables on a par with the others. As he found untouchable Christians not getting equal privilege and treatment in the Church, Joseph adviced to construct own Churches and temples. Along with Ayyankali, Joseph acquired land and distributed among Dalits. [1]
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