Pandit Iyothee Thass, born on 20 May 1845 and remembered as a pioneer of anti-caste thought in Madras, founded the Sakya Buddhist Society in the city in 1898 and launched the Tamil weekly Oru Paisa Tamizhan on 19 June 1907. On 20 May 2026, his 181st birth anniversary, Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay garlanded his statue at Gandhi Mandapam in Chennai in his first public function after taking office, UNI reported.
Iyothee Thass worked in the Madras of the 1880s to 1910s, and much of what Chennai later knew as Dravidian and Dalit politics drew on ideas he put into print first. Here is a plain account of his life, his work in the city and where he is remembered today.
A Siddha physician from Coimbatore
He was born Kathavarayan in a Paraiyar family, with accounts giving Coimbatore district or the Nilgiris as his birthplace. He trained in Siddha medicine, and the honorific Pandithar, later part of his name, reflected that skill.
His early public work was in the Nilgiris, where he set up the Advaidananda Sabha in the 1870s. He then made Madras his base, and the city’s growing Tamil press gave him the platform he needed. Most of what he wrote over the next three decades was printed and circulated from Madras.
His work in Madras
His main organisations and publications, with the dates most accounts agree on:
- Dravida Pandian, a magazine started with the Rev. John Rathinam in the 1880s.
- Dravida Mahajana Sabha, founded in 1891. During the census that year he urged Dalits to record themselves as casteless Dravidians rather than as Hindus, Round Table India notes.
- Sakya Buddhist Society, founded in Madras in 1898 after he received initiation in Sri Lanka. It was also called the Indian Buddhist Association and opened branches across south India.
- Oru Paisa Tamizhan, a weekly launched on 19 June 1907 and later known as Tamizhan. DT Next notes that from its first issue he serialised his life of the Buddha, Buddharathu Aathivedam.
Colonel H.S. Olcott of the Theosophical Society in Adyar helped him travel to Sri Lanka. As early as 1886 he issued a declaration that the people treated as untouchable were not Hindus, an argument he developed through his Buddhist writing. He is widely credited as among the first to use Tamizhan and Dravidan as political identities. He died in 1914, at the age of 69.
How Tamil Nadu remembers him
| Memorial or scheme | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Postage stamp | Issued 21 October 2005 | iStampGallery |
| Siddha hospital, Tambaram Sanatorium | 220-bed Ayothidoss Pandithar Hospital at the National Institute of Siddha | NIS |
| Manimandapam with statue, Chennai | Listed as nearing completion | DIPR memorials page |
| Habitation development scheme | Rs 1,000 crore over five years from 2023-24 | ADTW Policy Note 2024-25 |
The Ayothidoss Pandithar Hospital on GST Road, Tambaram Sanatorium, is the teaching hospital of the central government’s National Institute of Siddha, fittingly named after a Siddha practitioner. It has 220 beds and runs outpatient and inpatient services all year.
The state’s Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Policy Note 2024-25 describes the Iyothee Thass Pandithar Habitation Development Scheme, which funds roads, street lights and drinking water in Adi Dravidar habitations. It was launched in 2023-24 at Rs 1,000 crore over five years and given Rs 230 crore in 2024-25. The same note says translations of books on his thought are in progress, and that a translated work on the line from Iyothee Thass to Periyar has been reprinted.
The DIPR memorials page lists a manimandapam with a statue for Ayothidasa Pandithar in Chennai as nearing completion; check the department’s page for its opening.
Where to read more
The policy note says the Tamil Nadu Adi Dravidar Art and Literary Development Association has reprinted a translated work with the state’s textbook body, and that more translations are under way. The Connemara Public Library in Egmore, as a national depository, is a good place to look for Tamil editions of his writing. His birth anniversary on 20 May is marked at Gandhi Mandapam, as it was by the Chief Minister in 2026.
Quick answers
When was Iyothee Thass born?
On 20 May 1845. He died in 1914.
What was the Sakya Buddhist Society?
An organisation he founded in Madras in 1898 to promote Buddhism as a path out of caste.
Where is the Iyothee Thass statue in Chennai?
At Gandhi Mandapam, Guindy, unveiled in December 2023.
What scheme is named after him?
The Iyothee Thass Pandithar Habitation Development Scheme for Adi Dravidar habitations.
Information checked against official sources on 18 October 2026. Fees, dates and rules can change; confirm on the linked official pages before acting.
Sources
- Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department Policy Note 2024-25 (Government of Tamil Nadu)
- Memorials section (Department of Information and Public Relations, Tamil Nadu)
- Ayothidoss Pandithar Hospital (National Institute of Siddha, Ministry of Ayush)
- Iyothee Thass, founder of the Sakya Buddhist Society (Round Table India)
- Visionary scholar Pandit Iyothee Thass and the Tamil Buddhist revival (DT Next)
- CM Vijay pays tributes to Pandit Iyothee Thass (UNI, 20 May 2026)
- Ayothi Dasa Pandithar 2005 stamp (iStampGallery)
