AYOTHIDASAR BIRTH DAY-MAY 20

 Pandit C. Ayothidasar   was a practitioner of Siddha medicine,  and was regarded as a pioneer of the Dravidian Movement. Born on May 20, 1845 in a Dalit family from  Coimbatore District and was named as Kathavarayan. His grandfather worked for Lord Arlington and little Kathavarayan profited immensely from this association. Soon, he became an expert on Tamil literature, philosophy and indigenous medicine and could speak Tamil, English, Sanskrit and Pali.

          In the 1870s, Ayothidasar organized the Todas and other tribes of the Nilgiri Hills into a formidable force. In 1876, he established the Advaidananda Sabha and launched a magazine called Dravida Pandian .He established the Dravida Mahajana Sabha in 1891. During the 1891 census, he urged Dalits to register themselves as "casteless Dravidians" instead of identifying themselves as Hindus. On June 19, 1907, he launched a Tamil newspaper called Oru Paisa Tamizhan. Pandit C.Ayodhyidasar died in 1914 at the age of 69.

           

The Hospital attached to National Institute of Siddha, Tambaram Sanatorium is named after him by the Union Minister of Health Thiru.ANBUMANI RAMADOSS. His statue was unveiled by The Union Minister Thiru.RAM VILAS PASWAN on 25^th October 2008.